MEN'S HOCKEY GAME CENTRAL

HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/14/12) – The Colgate men's hockey team will make the trip to Atlantic City for the second year in a row and will take on top-seeded Union on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at Boardwalk Hall.

Cornell will face Harvard in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. and all games will not be televised by can be streamed live on America One. The championship game is set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night with the third-place game at 4:30 p.m. on the boardwalk. For all the game day links, including live video and live stats, visit the Men's Hockey Game Central webpage.

THIS WEEK: RAIDERS IN ATLANTIC CITY FOR SECOND-STRAIGHT YEAR
Colgate will be making its second-straight appearance in the ECAC Hockey semifinals at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The 20th-ranked Raiders are joined by Cornell as returners to South Jersey. Colgate will be taking on top-seeded and No. 6 Union, who made it after defeating Rensselaer in a quarterfinal sweep. These two schools are very familiar with each other recently as they have played twice in the last month. The last time they met in the playoffs was last season, when the Raiders eliminated the Dutchmen in the quarterfinals to make it to Boardwalk Hall last year. The Raiders had a combined 2-3-1 record this season against the three teams that are at championship weekend.

OTHER SEMIFINAL: IVY LEAGUE SHOWDOWN IN AC
The second matchup of the semifinals will also feature a pair of nationally-ranked teams as 19th-ranked Harvard faces No. 13 Cornell. The Crimson jumped to the quarterfinals after beating rival Yale with a decisive 8-2 win in the final game on Sunday. The Big Red swept Dartmouth in its first series of the playoffs and it didn't come easy as Cornell won the first game in double overtime by a 4-3 score and then beat the Big Green in game two with three goals in the first nine minutes and allowed one Dartmouth goal in a 3-1 win.

LAST TIME OUT: GRINDING OUT A SERIES WIN OVER QUINNIPIAC
The Raiders had their hands full with a good Quinnipiac team last weekend and it turned into a very competitive three-game series. Colgate took game one, 4-2, behind two goals from Chris Wagner and two-point games from linemates Joe Wilson and Austin Smith. The Bobcats evened the series with its own 4-2 win on Saturday night to force a third game. Colgate dominated Quinnipiac in the third game and came out with a 4-0 shutout win after Wagner scored twice against and Eric Mihalik turned aside 31 shots in his second career shutout.

COLGATE BY THE NUMBERS
   314 - Career wins for Raiders head coach Don Vaughan.
   120 - Points by seniors.
   128 - Points scored by the Wilson-Wagner-Smith line.
     57 - Goals by seniors (52% of scoring).
     50 - Smith & Wagner, First duo since M. Harder '97 and C. DeProfio '96 to have 50 points each.
     41 - Career multi-point games by A. Smith.
     36 - Goals by A. Smith, most in a season since 1981.
     37 - Scores in the first period (+7 margin).
     34 - Power play goals, second-most since 2006-07.
     29 - Goals scored by Colgate in the first or last two minutes of periods.
     19 - Games allowing two or less goals (13-3-3).
     17 - Players on the team with at least one goal.
     17 - Career multi-goal games by A. Smith (9 in 2011-12).
     14 - Raiders that have multi-point games this year.
     16 - Wins when leading after two periods.
     16 - Games with four or more goals (15-1-0).
     11 - Shorthanded goals this season (6 by A. Smith).
     10 - Smith became the 10th player in Colgate history to reach 75 goals and 75 assists in a career.
       9 - Appearances in semis or Final Five under Vaughan
       9 - Players with power play goals.
       9 - Skaters with at least 100 games played in career.
       9 - Power play goals in the last seven games (24.3%)
       8 - Career playoff goals by C. Wagner in two years.
       6 - Overtime games this season (2-1-3).
       6 - Skaters with over 20 points.
       5 - Wins over nationally-ranked teams.
       2 - Shutouts this season.

RAIDERS JUMP BACK INTO NATIONAL POLLS
Colgate made another appearance in the national polls at No. 20 in the USCHO National Poll after being knocked out of the poll the previous week. All four teams participating in this weekend's ECAC Hockey Championship are in the rankings as Union rose to sixth, Cornell sits at 13 and Harvard is one spot ahead of the Raiders in 19th.

COLGATE MAKES IT BACK TO AC
The Raiders will be making their second trip to Atlantic City in the last two seasons after becoming the first 12th seed to reach the semifinals. Colgate had its run stopped by Yale in the semifinals and then the Raiders lost to Dartmouth in the third-place game.

PLAYOFF SNIPER
Chris Wagner has emerged as a huge playoff scoring threat in his two seasons with eight goals and four assists for 12 points. He scored five goals in the series win over Quinnipiac last weekend, which was half of the goal output by the Raiders. He scored the first penalty shot in the playoffs since 2007 as he got Colgate on the board in the second game. He had a total of six points in the three games and is riding a 10-game point streak in which he has 16 points.

A PAIR OF 50-POINT SCORERS
Wagner joined Smith as one of seven players in the nation to reach 50 points this season, but are the only two from the same team in the top-five in points per game. They continue to be one of the top one-two punches in the country. There is only one other duo that matches Smith and Wagner's output this season. Minnesota-Duluth's tandem of Jack Connolly and Travis Oleksuk are leading the way with 109 combined points, while Wagner and Smith have 106 combined points for second. They are the first Colgate duo since Mike Harder '97 and Chris DeProfio '96 had over 50 points in the 1995-96 season. On the all-time scoring list, Smith is now tied with DeProfio for 15th all-time with 159 career points.

THE “PRODUCERS”
The Raiders have relied extremely on its “Producers” line of Joe Wilson, Chris Wagner and Austin Smith this season. The trio has accumulated 128 points on 61 goals and 60 assists. The three have only been held off the scoresheet twice this year with one coming in a shutout at Yale and the other a 3-1 loss at Union. They have scored 10 power play goals, nine shorthanded goals and nine gamewinners.

A PLAYOFF COMPETITOR
Eric Mihalik came through for the Raiders in the third game against Quinnipiac, making 31 stops, including a few that were highlight-reel stops. He has a 6-5 record in his playoff career with a .920 save percentage and a 2.88 goals against average. He made a total of 89 saves in the three games against Quinnipiac and has 345 stops in 10 playoff games. He has stopped 30 or more shots in five of the 10 games.

GOALS FOR GOOD A GREAT SUCCESS
With the conclusion of league play last weekend, it brought an end to the first season of the Goals for Good charitable competition. The program was excited to announce that over $22,000 was raised this year with Colgate adding over $15,000 to the total. Kevin McNamara, the program's founder said it was unbelievable to watch his idea grow over the course of the season and that it meant a lot to see everyone get involved. Since Colgate raised the most money of the 12 members of ECAC Hockey, the Raiders will receive a $1,700 donation from the Belmont Hill School. All the earnings from that donation will go to the Hamilton Food Cupboard and the check will be presented on Friday night.

SCOUTING THE DUTCHMEN
Sixth-ranked Union heads to Atlantic City as the top-seeded team in ECAC Hockey with a 22-7-7 overall record and finished the regular season with the Cleary Cup with a 14-4-4 mark in conference play. The Dutchmen reached the semifinals after sweeping Rensselaer last weekend by scores of 3-2 and 4-2. They have been on a roll, going 9-1-1 in its last 11 games with the lone loss coming at Cornell.

Kelly Zajac leads the team with 41 points on eight goals and is tied with Wagner for the league lead in assists with 33. Jeremy Welsh has been the recipient of some of those assists as he has a team-high 23 goals and 36 points. Daniel Carr and Welsh have been powerhouses on the man advantage with nine goals each. Wayne Simpson has 30 points on 17 goals and 13 assists with eight power play goals.

In net, Troy Grosenick, who is a finalist for the Ken Dryden Award, is 18-5-3 and has posted five shutouts. He has a league-low 1.66 goals aganst average and a league-high .936 save percentage.

SERIES HISTORY
The Raiders and Union have matched up 59 times prior to this weekend and Colgate has had the advantage in the series with a 37-20-2 advantage since the first meeting back in 1928-29. The two schools have played just about even the last 15 games with Union holding a 9-6-1 lead. The two teams faced each other in the playoffs last season for the first time in the series and the Raiders pulled off the upset to advance to Atlantic City. This season, Union won both meetings this year.

SCOUTING THE BIG RED
Cornell makes the trip to Atlantic City as the 13th-ranked team in the nation and joins Colgate as repeat contenders. The Big Red is 17-7-7 overall and finished the year two points behind Union in the race for the Cleary Cup. Last weekend, Cornell swept Dartmouth in its quarterfinals series with a 4-3 double-overtime win and then a 3-1 win to eliminate its Ivy foe.

Greg Miller leads the way with 29 points on 14 goals and 15 assists, while Sean Collins is second with 22 points on 12 goals and 10 helpers. Cornell has only scored 92 goals in 31 goals, but haven't had to score many as the Big Red has given up just 69 scores. Nick D'Agostino has been a threat all season on the power play with six of his eight goals coming while a man-up. Rookie Brian Ferlin has also been a factor with 21 points in 26 games with Cornell.

In net, Andy Iles has played every minute this season and has been steady with a 2.08 goals against average and a .920 save percentage. He has posted five shutouts to tie him with Grosenick for the conference lead. He hasn't had success against the Raiders this year, going 0-2 with seven goals allowed.

SERIES HISTORY
Colgate and Cornell will possibly be meeting for the 142nd time in the series this weekend with the Big Red holding a 73-56-12 advantage. Colgate halted Cornell's 12-game unbeaten streak by sweeping the Big Red for the first time since 2003-04. The series is the second-longest for Colgate as Clarkson and the Raiders have played more games, but if the two teams play on Saturday, it will tie the Clarkson series.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON
Harvard makes the trip south as the 19th-ranked team in the country with a 12-9-11 record overall. The Crimson are scoring 3.09 goals a game, while giving up three to its opponents. Harvard is coming off a tough series with its Ivy-rival Yale at Bright Hockey Center. Like most of the games this season for the Crimson, the first two games went to overtime with each team earning a win. Harvard had to come back after dropping game one. It took them two overtimes in game two and then the Crimson put an eight-spot on the board in game three to win 8-2.

Alex Killorn continues to play as one of the best players in the league with 20 goals and 22 assists for 42 points. He leads the team with nine power play goals and has three gamewinners. He recently reached his 100th point and has 50 goals and 55 assists in his career. Danny Biega is the top scoring defensemen in the league with 34 points on 10 goals and 24 assists. Marshall Everson has 30 points on 11 goals and 19 assists.

In net, Raphael Girard has taken over the starting job and has started the last five games and is 4-1-0 in those games. Overall, he is 5-2-3 with a 2.25 goals against average in 10 starts. Steve Michalek was the starter most of the season and had a 7-7-8 record with a 3.19 goals against average.

SERIES HISTORY
Colgate and Harvard could be facing each other for the 75th time since the first meeting back in 1960-61, which was the opening season of ECAC Hockey. The Crimson hold a 46-21-7 advantage in the series, but the matchup has been even as of late with it tied at 3-3-3 in the last nine meetings, including the 2-2 tie on Jan. 20. The two teams have played 11 overtime contests with Harvard owning a 4-1-6 record in those games.