Raiders Open ECAC Championship Friday

Colgate Travels to Dartmouth for First Round Series this Weekend

Game Central

HAMILTON – Colgate Men's Ice Hockey opens the 2016 ECAC Hockey Championship this weekend with a first round series at Dartmouth.

The best-of-three series between the No. 10 seed Raiders and the No. 7 seed Big Green takes place March 4-6 at Thompson Arena. Puck drop for the first two games is slated for 7 p.m. If necessary, a winner-take-all game three is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start.

The first round series serves as a rematch of a quarterfinal round matchup between the two programs last March at Starr Rink. Colgate swept Dartmouth, 3-1 and 3-2, in that best-of-three series to advance to the tournament semifinals for the second consecutive season.

Colgate heads into the postseason looking to build off a solid finish to the regular season after posting a sweep of Capital District foes RPI and Union at home last weekend during the final games for the Raiders inside Starr Rink.

Tylor Spink tallied both goals in a 2-0 shutout of the Engineers and added an assist in the Raiders 2-1 triumph over the Dutchmen to garner ECAC Hockey Player of the Week accolades. Spink heads into the series with Dartmouth red hot, tallying six points (5g,1a) in the Raiders last four contests. He ended the regular season second on the team in scoring with 30 points (11g,19a), trailing only twin brother Tyson and his team-high 35 points (13g,22a).

Junior goaltender Charlie Finn stopped all but one of the 58 shots he faced during the two contests last weekend to earn ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors. Finn's 25-save effort against the Engineers was the eighth shutout of his career, moving him into a tie for second place on the program's career shutout list.

Dartmouth attempts to right the ship against the Raiders after closing out the regular season with three straight losses. Jack Barre leads the Big Green attack in all three major offensive categories with 12 goals, 14 assists and 26 points. Fellow senior Brett Patterson is second on the team in both assists (12) and points (20) while sophomore duo Carl Hessler (10g,9a) and Corey Kalk (10g,6a) provide the Big Green considerable scoring depth.

In goal, seniors Charles Grant and James Kruger have split time between the pipes for Bob Gaudett's squad. Grant has compiled a 2.59 goals against average and a .906 save percentage in 18 contests while Kruger has a 3.56 goals against average and a .880 save percentage in nine appearances.

The Dartmouth-Colgate series is one of the most competitive in the country with the two teams having split their previous 100 meetings (47-47-6).

The Big Green swept the regular season series, recording a 3-2 victory at Starr Rink Jan. 23 before posting a 5-2 triumph at Thompson Arena Feb. 19.

These two teams have met a total of 11 times in the postseason. The Big Green hold a 6-5 edge in those matchups, but the Raiders swept a best-of-three quarterfinal round series last March at Starr Rink.

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Players Mentioned

#1 Charlie Finn: G; 5' 11"; Junior

#18 Tylor Spink: F; 5' 10"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#1 Charlie Finn
: 5' 11"; Junior
: G

#18 Tylor Spink
: 5' 10"; Senior
: F

Players Mentioned

#1 Charlie Finn

#18 Tylor Spink

Players Mentioned

#1 Charlie Finn

#18 Tylor Spink