MEN'S HOCKEY GAME CENTRAL

HAMILTON, N.Y. (2/17/11) – The Colgate men's hockey team will be playing in its final home series of the season with No. 16 Dartmouth and Harvard at Starr Rink and the Raiders will honor their three seniors on Saturday night against the Crimson.

Friday night's game against the Big Green is set for 7 p.m., followed by Saturday's game with Harvard at the same time. This weekend is filled with promotions and to view all of the events surrounding a three-day Colgate athletics weekend, visit the Marketing and Promotions web site. Fans can also access all game day links, including live stats, live video and audio, by logging onto the Men's Hockey Game Central link at gocolgateraiders.com.

RAIDERS TAKE TWO POINTS IN CAPITAL DISTRICT
Colgate earned its first win against a ranked opponent and its first one-goal victory of the season with a 2-1 overtime win against Rensselaer. Kevin McNamara was the hero with his first ever overtime gamewinner coming with 2:13 left in the extra frame. Robbie Bourdon and Nick Prockow were given the assists on a nice breakout that resulted in a 2-on-1 advantage. Austin Smith also scored as the Raiders came back from a third period deficit for the first time this year.

OPENING FACEOFF
The Raiders enter their final home weekend with a 5-23-2 record and a 2-14-2 mark in ECAC Hockey play with four games left in the regular season. Colgate welcomes 16th-ranked Dartmouth to Starr Rink on Friday night. The Big Green come into the weekend with wins in four of its last five and enjoy its highest ranking of the season. On Saturday night, Harvard comes to Hamilton for Senior Night. The Crimson is coming off a 5-4 win over BU in the consolation game of Beanpot Tournament. The last league win for Harvard came against the Raiders on Jan. 28.

FINAL GAME FOR THE SENIORS
Colgate and its fans will be seeing three players for the final time at Starr Rink on Saturday night. Captain Brian Day and assistant captains Francois Brisebois and Wade Poplawski will be playing in their final game. The three have played in a combined 385 games and have posted a 50-74-24 record in four years with a 28-42-14 mark in ECAC Hockey. The three made the second round of the ECAC Hockey Playoffs twice and in their freshmen season, went to the ECAC Hockey Final Four in Albany.

BRISEBOIS ENJOYING SUCCESS
The senior from Montreal currently leads the team in points and added to his total with a pair of helpers in the Capital District and has scored at least one point in nine of his last 11 games. Brisebois has scored in two-thirds of the games this season with points in 20 games. He is now tied for 80th on the all-time scoring list with 33 goals and 44 assists for 77 points in 133 games. Currently, he is tied for his best point output in a Colgate uniform. Last season, he had 15 goals and 10 assists. He has never led the team in points in his career.

SMITH UP NEXT
With four points in his last three games, Austin Smith is inching closer to 100 points in his career. He hopes to become the 49th player in Colgate history to reach the milestone after teammate Brian Day achieved the record earlier this year. In 103 games, he has 41 goals and 55 assists for 96 points. He is averaging just under a point a game in his career at 0.9.

McNAMARA COMES THROUGH
Kevin McNamara finished the weekend with a pair of goals and for the first time in his career he had goals in back-to-back games. Friday night's goal was the first overtime gamewinner of his career, but third overall gamewinner. The score was the first score since the overtime loss to Dartmouth on Dec. 31. His three goals this season is a career-high.

MIHALIK GETTING COMFORTABLE
The Rookie netminder has started nine of the last 11 games and has a 2-6-1 record in those nine games. Since taking over he has a 2.78 goals against average, which is below his season average of 3.10. His save percentage is around his season average at .883. Every game has been solid, except for a rough start at Harvard when he was pulled after 30 minutes of action in a 6-2 loss. He is the first rookie netminder to start 13 games since David Cann started 15 in 2000-01.

PRICE IS RIGHT
Sophomore Jeremy Price has been a consistent blueliner on the stat sheet with 12 points this season after scoring the game-tying goal against Cornell on Jan. 21 to give Colgate a tie with its rival. He had his biggest day of the year at Princeton on Jan. 9 with a career-high three assists. Two of the helpers came on the power play. The blueliner posted four of his eight assists against the Tigers this year. He is tied with Smith with 10 league points on two goals and eight helpers. He is tied for fifth in the league in conference points among defensemen.

FULL TEAM EFFORT
Despite the team's record, the Raiders have gotten contributions from everyone on the team. After Mike Leidl tallied an assist against Cornell on Jan. 22, Colgate, St. Lawrence and second-ranked Yale are the only teams in ECAC Hockey to have every skater score at least one point this season. With Leidl and Mark Nasca scoring goals at Dartmouth on Jan. 29, Colgate is the only team in the conference with each skater earning two points. The Raiders have a total of 184 points on the year, while the Bulldogs have 269 and the Saints have 192. Dartmouth, Quinnipiac and St. Lawrence are close to joining Colgate and the Elis as the three need one more skater to earn a point. It is the first time since 1999-2000 that the Raiders have had all skaters scored at least one point.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
Colgate enters the weekend with a 5-23-2 mark and will be facing its third-straight ranked opponent in Dartmouth on Friday night and then Harvard on Saturday. The Raiders made it two consecutive wins with the win at RPI, but fell to Union, who jumped to seventh in the national polls. Colgate is averaging 2.47 goals per game and is giving up 3.53 a contest. The six goals allowed at Union were the second most given up all season.

Colgate is one of four teams in ECAC Hockey that have had every skater score a point, but the Raiders are the only team with two points for every skater. Francois Brisebois is the team leader in goals and points with 10 scores and 25 points. The 25 points ties his career-high for a season and his 15 helpers is his best output of his time in Hamilton. Three of his goals came on the power play and he has at least one point in nine of his last 11 games and is on a three-game streak. Austin Smith has posted a team-high 16 assists after a two-helper night against Clarkson and scored his eighth goal of the season in the win over RPI. Kurtis Bartliff is enjoying a breakout season and is tied with Smith for the team lead in assists with 16 and has a career-high 21 points. Brian Day has nine goals, which is second on the team, while Robbie Bourdon's 18 points is a career-high for him.

In net, Rookie Eric Mihalik has taken over as the primary netminder with nine starts in the last 10 games. He has a 2-10-1 overall record with a 3.10 goals against average. He gave up just one goal for the second time this season in the win at RPI. Junior Alex Evin has started 14 games for the Raiders and has a 3-10-1 mark. He added his second career shutout on Dec. 4 against Army with 24 saves and has recorded an .891 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.22. Junior Bryan Bessette earned his second start against Dartmouth on Jan. 29, but was pulled in the second period. He is 0-3-0 and has a save percentage of .892 and a goals against average of 3.91.

The Colgate power play continues to be hit or miss. The Raiders were not given a lot of chances to improve their numbers on the man advantage, but went 1-for-5 in the two games. Overall, they are last in the league at 11.9 percent (19/160). On the kill, Colgate looked good during the weekend, allowing just one goal to the nation's leading power play team in Union. The Raiders held RPI scoreless in six chances. Overall, they are 11th in the league at 78.9 percent.

SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN
Dartmouth comes to Hamilton as one of the hottest teams in ECAC Hockey with four wins in their last five games, with the lone loss coming against then No. 3 Yale in a 4-2 loss. The 17th-ranked Big Green treks west with a 15-7-3 overall record and an 11-5-2 record, which is enough for third place in the league. Dartmouth is third in the league in scoring at 3.52 goals per game and has improved its defense as they are fourth, giving up 2.4 goals per contest.

The Big Green have spread out its scoring this season with nine different skaters with 10 or more points with Scott Fleming leading the way with 11 goals and 13 helpers for 24 points. He is tops in goals and is one point away from 100 points in his career. Rookie Matt Lindblad has been a welcomed addition this season with 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points. He is second in the conference in league points among rookies with 18 and that number puts him eighth overall. He leads the team in power play goals with five. Doug Jones and Matt Reber share the team lead in assists with 14 on the year.

In net, James Mello has started 21-of-25 games for Dartmouth and has posted a 13-4-3 overall record and two shutouts. He has a league-best .936 save percentage and is in the top-three in each goaltending category. His 2.00 GAA is third and his winning percentage of .725 is third as well. Jody O'Neill has only seen action in five games and is 2-2-0 with a 3.55 GAA and a save percentage of .861.

The power play for the Big Green has been consistent all year and it currently sits at 20.4 percent with 19 goals in 93 chances. Dartmouth has the same amount of goals as the Raiders, but with 67 less opportunities with the extra skater. On the kill, the Big Green is fifth in the conference at 84.7, allowing 15 goals in 98 chances to its opponents.

SERIES HISTORY
The Dartmouth-Colgate series is one of the most competitive in the country with the Big Green holding the series lead at 41-40-5 in 86 games. Dartmouth went from being a game down at the start of the season to a game lead coming into this weekend. The series has gone to overtime 13 times with Colgate holding a 5-3-5 advantage, which includes Dartmouth's triumph in the consolation game of the Ledyard Classic on New Year's Eve. These two teams played the longest game in Colgate history as it was just over 121 minutes long with Kyle Wilson scoring the gamewinner in 2003 in a 4-3 win. The series began in 1928-29 with Dartmouth winning 9-1 in Hamilton.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON
Harvard travels to campus with one win in its last five games after a 5-4 win over 15th-ranked Boston University in the consolation game of the Beanpot on Monday. The last conference win for the Crimson came against the Raiders on Jan. 28. Harvard is 5-18-1 overall and 3-13-1 in conference play and is one point ahead of Colgate in the standings.

The Crimson is led by Alex Killorn with 21 points on 10 goals and 11 points. The Tampa Bay draft pick has three power play goals and three gamewinners as well. He had a pair of goals, including a shortie in the win over BU. Defenseman Danny Biega had seven goals and 12 helpers for 19 points. His 12 helpers are first on the team and he had a hat trick the last time these two teams met back on Jan. 28. Fifteen of his 19 points have come in conference play. Brother Michael Biega had 16 points on six goals and 10 helpers and both brothers have two power play goals. Danny Biega had the game-tying goal in the third period against the Terriers to help the Crimson erase a one-goal deficit in the final five minutes.

In net, Kyle Richter and Ryan Carroll have shared time between the pipes recently. Richter has started more games with 14 starts, while Carroll has nine. Carroll got the win in the Jan. 28 game against Colgate. He has a .909 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.43, to go with a record of 2-8-0. Richter earned the tie against Princeton last weekend, making 29 saves. He has a .908 save percentage with a 2.77 goals against. He has three wins and a tie in 14 starts.

On the power play, Harvard ranks 10th in the league at 13.8 percent with 13 goals in 94 opportunities. The Crimson are also 10th on the kill, allowing 19 goals in 97 chances for its opponents for a 80.4 success rate.

SERIES HISTORY
Colgate and Harvard will be facing each other for the 72nd time since the first meeting back in 1960-61, which was the opening season of ECAC Hockey. The Crimson hold a 45-20-6 advantage in the series, but the matchup has been even as of late with the teams posting a 2-2-2 record in the last six meetings. The two teams have played 10 overtime contests with Harvard owning a 4-1-5 record in those games.