MEN'S HOCKEY GAME CENTRAL

HAMILTON, N.Y. (10/19/11) – The No. 14/16 Colgate men's hockey team will look to improve on its 3-1-0 start as the Raiders travel to Hyannis, Mass., to take the ice against Army on Saturday in the second annual Cape Cad Collegiate Classic.

The game is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center. Tickets are priced in advance at $12 for adults and $8 for children under 12. If fans choose to buy tickets on the day of the game, adult tickets are $15 and $10 for children under 12. Fans can purchase tickets at the HYCC Box Office or by calling the Colgate Ticket Office at 315-228-7600.

THIS WEEK: SECOND ANNUAL CAPE COD COLLEGIATE CLASSIC
No. 14/16 Colgate will be making the trip to Cape Cod for the second-straight season for the Cape Cod Collegiate Classic at the Hyannis Community Center. The Raiders will be matched up with the Army Black Knights once again. Last year, Colgate defeated Army, 3-1, in the first classic in front of a sold out crowd. The game is set for 7 p.m. and tickets are priced in advance at $12 for adults and $8 for children under 12. If fans choose to buy tickets on the day of the game, adult tickets are $15 and $10 for children under 12. Fans can purchase tickets at the HYCC Box Office or by calling the Colgate Ticket Office at 315-228-7600.

LAST WEEK: RAIDERS SPLIT WITH #4/5 MIAMI AT STARR RINK
Colgate opened the home season with two exciting games at Starr Rink against the Redhawks as both were decided by one goal. On Friday night, the Raiders held Miami to just 15 shots on the goals, but dropped a 4-3 decision to their CCHA counterpart. The Raiders then earned the split with a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory as Colgate erase two separate deficits in the game. Austin Mayer tipped home a power play goal with just over two minutes left in overtime for the gamwinner. Chris Wagner finished with three points on the weekend with a goal and two assists, while Austin Smith continued his hot start with two goals in the two games, including the tying goal on Saturday to force overtime. Eric Mihalik went 1-1 with a total of 31 saves and got a great effort from his defense with 35 blocked shots with nine from Corbin McPherson.

NEXT WEEK: HOME-AND-HOME WITH NIAGARA
Colgate will renew its upstate rivalry with Niagara next weekend with a home-and-home series beginning at the Purple Eagles at 7:05 p.m. on Friday night. The Raiders will return to Starr Rink on Saturday night for a 7:30 p.m. face off. These two teams have played a lot since 2006 with eight contests. They started with three games in 2006-07 and then continued with three more in 2009-10. Last season, Niagara took a two-game lead in the series with a pair of wins over the Raiders and now lead the series at 7-5-2. This will be Colgate's third opponent from Atlantic Hockey early this season. The Raiders beat Robert Morris in the season opener and face Army this weekend.

COLGATE BY THE NUMBERS
2004 - Last time Colgate had tri-captains.
   331 - Miles traveled to Hyannis from Hamilton.
   297 - Career wins for Raiders head coach Don Vaughan.
   202 - Votes received by Colgate in the
            USCHO.com National Poll.
     38 - Colgate's all-time wins over Army.
     21 - Returning players for 2011-12.
     14 - Colgate's highest ranking since 2006.
     12 - Active coaches that have reached 300 wins.
     10 - Colgate picked to finish 10th in both ECAC Hockey Preseason Polls.
       8 - Games left against current nationally-ranked teams.
       5 - Newcomers on this year's squad.
       4 - Power play goals in the last two games.
       4 - Unbeaten streak against Army.
       2 - Wins over nationally-ranked teams.
       1 - Returning players that have reached 100 points in their career.

RAIDERS RANKED
After splitting with #4/5 Miami this weekend and starting the season at 3-1-0, the Colgate men's hockey team found spots in both national polls on Monday afternoon. The Raiders are ranked 14th in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine National Poll and 16th in the USCHO.com National Poll. It is the first time the Raiders have been ranked since sitting at No. 20 in 2009-10. Colgate jumped multiple teams that were in the USCHO top-20 a week ago and the Raiders joined Ferris State, Northern Michigan and Lake Superior as teams to enter the rankings for the first time this season. It is the first time since 2006 that the Raiders were up as high as No. 14 in either poll.

COACH VAUGHAN INCHING CLOSER TO #300
Head coach Don Vaughan is three wins away from his 300th win. He will become the 12th or 13th active head coach to reach the milestone. Only Bob Gaudet at Dartmouth is closer to 300 than Vaughan as he has 299 career wins.  Cornell's Mike Shafer and St. Lawrence's Joe Marsh are the only active ECAC Hockey coaches that have won 300 games.

ONE-GOAL GAME SUCCESS
Colgate has really turned around its fortune from a season ago with a 2-1-0 record in one-goal games through the first four games. The Raiders played 15 one-goal games last season and went 4-11, so to start off 2-1 has been a huge plus for Colgate. The team has had to come back from deficits in both of the wins and both have come against nationally-ranked teams.

GETTING IN THE WAY
The Colgate defense has done a great job getting in passing and shooting lanes this season, which has helped turn in a 3-1-0 record in the first four games. The Raiders have blocked a total of 67 shots, including 18 from 6-4 defense and captain Corbin McPherson. Joe Wilson has done a great job getting back on defense and causing five blocks to lead the forwards in the category. The defense showed up against Miami and gave up just 35 shots on goal in the two games.

ROOKIES ALREADY MAKING AN IMPACT
In their first four games of their careers, the rookies have been a major part of the early success for Colgate. They have accounted for nine points on two goals and seven helpers and three of the five have two or more points. John Lidgett leads the way with four points on four helpers and he leads the conference in rookie points.

TOP LINE LEADERS
Colgate has found its top line early this season as Joe Wilson, Chris Wagner and Austin Smith have played all four games together. The line has combined for 12 points on six goals and six assists. A pair of the goals have been on the power play with Smith, Wagner and Robbie Bourdon, but the trio is the only line combination that hasn't changed since the start of the year. The three came through on the tying goal against Miami on Saturday night as Wilson and Wagner were given assists on Smith's third goal of the season.

TV SCHEDULE FOR 2011-12
The Raiders will be featured four more times on television this season, including one on national TV. The nationally-televised game will be on CBS Sports Network on Jan. 27 as the Raiders visit Lynah Rink at Cornell. The rest of the TV schedule is below.

Dec. 2     Clarkson         TWCS
Jan. 27   Cornell             CBS Sports
Feb. 10   Yale                 TWCS
Feb. 24    RPI                 TWCS

FAMILIAR START FOR COLGATE
Colgate is off to its best start in three years with a 3-1-0 record through the first four games, but this is arguably the best start since 2004 with the Raiders taking down two top-20 teams in the first two weeks of the season.

MIHALIK, WILSON TAKE HOME WEEKLY HONORS
The Raiders took home two ECAC Hockey weekly honors after their Stampede victory. Eric Mihalik was named ECAC Hockey Goalie of the Week for his 33-save effort in the 4-3 win over Nebraska-Omaha. Joe Wilson was honored as the league's rookie of the week after two goals during the weekend, including the gamewinner against the Mavericks.

TWO-HEADED MONSTER IN NET
Colgate got two great efforts at the Stampede from both of its netminders. Evin saw his first start since Jan. 9 of last season at Princeton in a 5-4 loss. He was tremendous, making a couple of key saves prior to Wilson's insurance goal in the third period. He earned the win with 16 stops, including nine in the second frame. Mihalik was his typical self against Nebraska-Omaha with his 12th career game with 30-plus saves and he has put up those numbers in 12 of his 27 starts in a Colgate uniform. He made 16 stops alone in the first period to keep the Raiders in the game. Mihalik went 1-1 against Miami, making a total of 31 saves in the two games.

VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
The Raiders are off to a great start against ranked opponents after beating #4/5 Miami and #14 Nebraska-Omaha. Colgate still faces eight games against teams that are in this week's USCHO.com Poll, but the Raiders get a break from the rankings with a game against Army. It's the first game against a non-ranked opponent since Robert Morris in the season opener. Last season, Colgate faced 18 schools that were ranked in the top-20 and posted a 6-11-1 record, including a 4-4 record down the stretch during last year's playoffs.

QUICK STRIKE SHORTHANDED
The start to the title game against the Mavericks didn't start out well as Colgate took a cross-checking penalty 36 seconds into the game. However, Austin Smith gave Colgate a 1-0 lead with his fourth career shorthanded goal and the team's first of the year. It took the Raiders 37 games to score a shorthanded goal last year, which was scored by Austin Mayer in the ECAC Hockey playoffs last season against RPI. So Colgate has two shorties in the last eight games played.

HOLDING ON FOR A ONE-GOAL WIN
The Raiders did a great job protecting leads all weekend in Omaha. After struggling in one-goal games last season, the Raiders were able to turn the tide in the first two games in 2011-12. Colgate was able to increase its lead to two-goals against RMU after playing with the lead since the 15:43 mark of the second period. Against UNO, the Raiders erased a pair of one-goal deficits and protected their own in the final period to earn the win.

SCOUTING THE BLACK KNIGHTS
Army makes the trip to Cape Cod with an 0-3-0 record overall and a 0-1-0 mark in Atlantic Hockey. The season started out with an 8-1 loss to #11 Union at Tate Rink and then the Black Knights opened their conference season with an 5-0 blanking by UConn last Friday night. Last Saturday, Army traveled to #13 Merrimack and dropped a hard fought game to the Warriors at 3-2. The Black Knights are averaging just one goal a game after just three in the first three games and they are giving up over five a game for a four-goal difference.

Zak Zaremba, a rookie for Army, has a goal and an assist to lead the way for the Black Knights. Mike Henderson and Andy Starczewski are the other goal scorers with Starczewski scoring the lone power play of the season so far. This is a fairly experienced team as seven have played over 75 career games and four with 100 or more games of experience. However, The Black Knights lost their 100-point scorer and leader last year in Cody Omilusik. Mike Hull returns as the leading career point scorer with 75 points on 21 goals and 54 assists. Michael Alvarez is the anchor on the defense and has 60 points in a team-high 110 games played. He scored Army's lone goal in last year's Cape Cod Collegiate Classic.

In goal, Ryan Leets returns for his third season and has started two of the three games this year. He has struggled so far with a 6.54 goals against average and has allowed 12 goals on 74 shots for a .838 save percentage. Rookie Rob Tadazak earned one start and stopped 37 shots in the 3-2 loss to Merrimack.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 60th all-time meeting between Colgate and Army and the second on Cape Cod. The Raiders hold a 38-16-5 advantage in the series that began in 1916 with Colgate earning a 5-2 win over Army. The series is the second oldest rivalry for the Raiders. The only other series that has lasted longer is Rensselaer, which began a year earlier in 1915. The Black Knights and the Raiders have competed against each other consistently as the longest drought without playing each other was 11 years, from 1973 to 1984.