HAMILTON, N.Y. (10/4/06) - The Colgate men’s hockey team will be looking for a strong start to the 2006-07 season when it takes to the ice at the Ice Breaker Tournament, Oct. 6-7. The Raiders begin their season against Vermont on Friday at 4:35 p.m., in Miami’s brand-new Goggin Ice Center. The game will be the first intercollegiate contest to be played in the new facility.
Colgate enters the tournament after receiving a national ranking of No. 14 in both of college hockey’s major Division I polls. This recognition comes at the beginning of a season in which the Raiders hope to make a lot of noise at the national level after winning two of the last three regular-season titles in the ECACHL.
Joining Colgate at the Ice Breaker are three teams who have received preseason recognition as well. The host school, Miami, received an ranking of No. 8 in both national polls, while Denver was ninth in both polls. Vermont was among those teams also receiving votes in both polls, making this weekend’s tournament a clash of four of the top teams in the country.
This type of competition has come to be expected at the Ice Breaker, which has developed into the most anticipated season-opening tournament in the nation. The tournament was first played to start the 1997-98 campaign, and annually features a top team from each of the four major conferences: the WCHA, CCHA, ECAC Hockey League, and Hockey East.
Colgate is appearing in the Ice Breaker for the second time in the tournament’s 10-year history. In 2000, the Raiders beat Michigan in a shootout to advance to the championship game, where they lost to New Hampshire. The Hockey East representative has won five of the first nine Ice Breakers.
Colgate returns three of its top four offensive threats from last season in junior All-America candidate
Tyler Burton (Langley, B.C.), senior
Marc Fulton (Vancouver, B.C.) and junior
Jesse Winchester (Long Sault, Ont.).
These three players combined for 50 goals and 63 assists last season, and are looking to improve upon those numbers this season. The Raiders also return the ECACHL’s Ken Dryden Award winner as the league’s best goaltender in junior All-America candidate
Mark Dekanich (North Vancouver, B.C.).
Vermont will play former leaguemate Colgate for the first time since leaving the ECACHL to join Hockey East after the 2004-05 season. That year, each team walked away with a home win against each another, and the Raiders beat the Catamounts in the last game UVM played as a member of the ECACHL, the tournament’s third-place game. Vermont is returning seven of their top ten scorers from last season, as well as goaltender Joe Fallon, a former ECACHL Rookie of the Year. The Catamounts finished sixth in the Hockey East standings last year.
The second game on Friday begins at 8:05 and showcases the host team, Miami, versus Denver in the dedication game for the Goggin Ice Center. Denver has won the national championship in two of the last three seasons, and tied eventual national champion Wisconsin for first place in the WCHA standings with 37 points and a 17-8-3 record in league play. The Pioneers lost 44 percent of their scoring from last season, but returns plenty of offensive weapons in addition to its two goaltenders, who split playing time last season.
The host RedHawks enter the tournament as the highest-ranked team of the four competitors at No. 8. Miami is coming off a dream season in which it won the CCHA regular-season championship and earned the school’s first No. 1 national ranking. The RedHawks return three of their top four scorers as well as their goaltending tandem.
Regardless of the outcomes of Friday’s games, Miami will be playing in the 7:35 p.m., game on Saturday, whether that turns out to be the tournament final or the consolation. The first game on Saturday will begin at 4:35 p.m. All four games of the Ice Breaker will be televised nationally by ESPNU. Friday's games are being broadcast live, while Saturday's action will be shown on Sunday on a tape-delay basis at the original game times.
