MEN'S HOCKEY GAME CENTRAL

HAMILTON, N.Y. (10/20/10) – The Colgate men's hockey team will be jumping back into the season this weekend with a two-game set on the road at Lake Superior State, beginning on Friday night.

The first game on Friday night is set for 7 p.m., while the Saturday game will be played at 5 p.m. in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The Lakers will be providing live stats and fans can listen to the Raiders on gocolgateraiders.com. All links are available at the Men's Hockey Game Central.

RAIDERS BEAT ARMY ON CAPE COD
Colgate kicked off its season two weeks ago with a 3-1 win over Army on Cape Cod at the inaugural Cape Cod Classic. The Raiders got two points from senior captain Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.), while rookie Mike McCann (Barrington, Ill.) scored the gamewinner with his first collegiate goal. The game brought a standing-room only crowd of 1,689 and was deemed a success. Junior goaltender Alex Evin (Castlegar, B.C.) pushed aside 22-of-23 shots from Army, including 10 in the first period when the Black Knights out shot the Raiders 10-5.

CCHA BACK ON COLGATE'S SCHEDULE
The Raiders will be facing its first team from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association since these two teams hooked up in Hamilton back in 2008 in a weekend series at Starr Rink on Jan. 8-9. The two teams split the two-game set with the Raiders winning 5-4 in overtime, followed by a dominating 6-1 win by the Lakers the next night.

COLGATE BEATS BROCK IN EXHIBITION
The Raiders played their lone exhibition game this season last weekend with a 3-2 win over Brock on Saturday night. The Badgers took a 2-0 lead after the first period, but Colgate fired back with three unanswered goals in the final two periods to escape with a 3-2 win. Senior Francois Brisebois (Montreal, Que.), junior Kevin McNamara (Chestnut HIll, Mass.) and McCann each scored for the Raiders. Junior Bryan Bessette (Melrose, N.Y.) made 15 saves in his two periods of play, while freshman Eric Mihalik (Avon Lake, Ohio) made seven stops in his first action of the year.

SILVER PUCK WEEKEND
On the weekend of Nov. 12-13 against Princeton and Quinnipiac, Colgate will be hosting its annual Silver Puck Weekend. The Silver Puck Club is the principal fundraising arm of the men's hockey program, which exists for the betterment of the men's hockey program and Colgate University as a whole. The Colgate Silver Puck Club at Colgate was founded in 1958 as a booster club for the University's varsity hockey program.

EVIN REMAINS PERFECT IN OPENERS
Evin remains unbeaten in his season openers in a Colgate uniform. He is 3-0-0 in his first three individual openers. Evin pushed aside 22 shots in the win over Army, including 10 in the first frame. Last year he made 29 saves in a 3-2 win over National Semifinalist RIT to start his season.

LOOKING FOR A MILESTONE
Day is 13 points away from reaching the 100-point plateau as he has 45 goals and 42 assists for 87 points after a two-point day against the Black Knights with a goal and an assist. He is looking to become the 48th Colgate skater to reach the milestone. The last player to reach 100-points was David McIntyre last season as he posted 41 points to post 131 points in four years.

OPENING GAME FULL OF FIRSTS
Sophomore Billy Rivellini (Great Falls, Va.) and rookies Chris Wagner (Walpole, Mass.) and McCann each recorded their first collegiate points in the win over the Black Knights. McCann scored the gamewinner in the 3-1 win with the assist going to Rivellini. Wagner added an assist on Colgate's first goal of the season coming from Day.

RAIDERS ON TV THIS SEASON
Colgate will be featured on Time Warner Sports seven times this season and once on ESPNU. The schedule is below and the first game on TV will be Nov. 19 against Brown.

TIME WARNER SPORTS
Nov. 19 vs. Brown
Nov. 20 vs. Yale
Nov. 23 at Niagara
Feb. 4 vs. St. Lawrence
Feb. 5 vs. Clarkson
Feb. 18 vs. Dartmouth *
Feb. 19 vs. Harvard
* - Subject to Change

ESPNU
Jan. 9 at Princeton

ECAC HOCKEY STARTS SEASON
ECAC Hockey started its 50th season with six of the 12 members playing last weekend. The league put up a 5-3-2 mark in 10 games. Union went a perfect 2-0 with dominating wins over Sacred Heart. Quinnipiac, Clarkson and Colgate each earned wins, while St. Lawrence tied twice at Minnesota State and Rensselaer took a loss and a tie at Colorado College. The lone win for Clarkson came against St. Cloud State at Nebraska-Omaha's Maverick Stampede Tournament. Quinnipiac split its two-game set with Ohio State.

ECAC HOCKEY TURNS 50
One of the oldest hockey conferences in the country turns 50 this year as ECAC Hockey begins its 50th season on the ice. The league has seen over 15,000 games, 500 NHL players, 300 All-Americans and three Hobey Baker winners. The league will be doing promotions throughout the season, including a throwback weekend where teams will be wearing uniforms from the inaugural 1961 season.

FOURTH IN MEDIA PRESEASON POLL
The Colgate men's hockey team was selected to finish fourth by ECAC Hockey media. The Raiders earned 263 points in the poll and also garnered two first-place votes, which was the same as Cornell. Yale was the huge favorite to win the league earning 25 of 30 first-place votes. The Big Red was picked second with 288 points and two first-place votes, while Union was chosen third with 276 points and a first-place vote. Rensselaer rounded out the top-5 with 211 points.

FIFTH COACHES' PRESEASON POLL
The ECAC Hockey Coaches' saw the Raiders differently as they picked Colgate to finish fifth, instead of the fourth selection by the media. Yale was once again the choice to repeat as league champions with a total of 121 points and 11 of the 12 first-place votes. Cornell was given the other first-place vote and finished second with 92 points. Union was taken third, followed by Rensselaer with 79 points as the Engineers jumped the Raiders in the coaches' poll. Colgate was given 69 points to round out the top-5.

SMITH NAMED PRESEASON ALL-LEAGUE
Junior Austin Smith (Dallas, Texas) was one of six ECAC Hockey skaters to be named to the Preseason All-League Team. Smith skated in all 36 games for the Colgate men's hockey team last season and recorded a team-high 41 points on 16 goals and 25 assists. He posted 13 multi-point games and had four games with two or more goals. In his two years with the Raiders, he has seen ice time in all 73 games and has tallied 72 points on 33 goals and 39 assists. He is the second-consecutive Raider to be named as David McIntyre was selected in 2009-10.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
Lake Superior State enters this weekend's two-game set with a 0-3-1 mark overall and an 0-2-0 mark in CCHA play. The Lakers started the year with a 6-6 tie against Minnesota-Duluth as each team score twice in all periods. Following that game, Lake Superior dropped a 6-2 contest against another WCHA team in Michigan Tech. Last weekend, LSSU made the trip south to Notre Dame and fell to the Irish by back-to-back 4-2 margins as the Lakers started the CCHA season with an 0-2 mark. Lake Superior is allowing five goals per game, while only scoring three with one coming on the power play each game.

The Lakers have 10 different skaters with at least one point. They are led by a pair of seniors up front with Rick Schofield and Will Acton adding six points each. Schofield is tops in goals with three on the year to go with three assists. Acton netted a goal and posted five assists in the first four games. His five helpers are the most on the team. Sophomore Domenic Monardo has five points so far with two goals and three assists, while classmate Zach Trotman has three goals and an assist for four points. The Boston Bruins draft pick is on the blueline for the Lakers. Schofield, Acton, Monardo and Trotman each have power play goals as well.

In net, senior Brian Mahoney-Wilson has seen action in three games and has a 0-2-1 mark. He has registered a .873 save percentage and a 4.62 goals against average in the three games. He has allowed 14 goals on 110 shots. Freshman Kevin Kapalka saw his first action in the loss to Michigan Tech as he made 19 saves and allowed six goals.

The Lakers are ranked 14th nationally on the power play with a 22.7 success rate with five goals in 22 opportunities. They have given up two shorthanded goals early in the season for the most in the country. Lake Superior has struggled on the penalty kill, allowing five goals in 16 chances for its opponents. LSSU has a low 68.8 percentage rate on the penalty kill.

SERIES HISTORY
Colgate leads the series with a 6-2-1 advantage over the Lakers. The teams first met back in 1984-85 at the Syracuse Invitational Tournament and the Lakers came away with a 4-1 win. Following that loss, the Raiders went on a five-game unbeaten streak with a 4-0-1 mark until 2005-06. Lake Superior State has won two of the last three meetings, dating back to 2005-06 as the Lakers took the second game of the two-game set during that year. Two seasons ago, the Raiders skated to a 5-4 overtime win at Starr Rink, but LSSU took the second game by a 6-1 margin. This will be the 10th meeting between these two universities.