MEN'S HOCKEY GAME CENTRAL

HAMILTON, N.Y. (11/2/11) – The 18th-ranked Colgate men's hockey team jumps into ECAC Hockey play this weekend with a visit to Brown on Friday night and a matchup against ninth-ranked Yale on Saturday evening.

The game on Friday night is set for 7 p.m. at Meehan Auditorium and the matchup between ranked teams at Ingalls Rink starts at the same time on Saturday night. Fans can view all the necessary game day links by visiting the Men's Hockey Game Central link.

THIS WEEK: CONFERENCE PLAY OPENS AT BROWN & #9 YALE
The 18th-ranked Raiders will open their 51st ECAC Hockey season this weekend with visits to Brown and Yale. This is the second year in a row that Colgate will begin the conference season on the road after traveling to Clarkson and St. Lawrence to start last year. This starts three-straight conference weekends and six games up until Thanksgiving. Colgate will take on Brown at Meehan Auditorium on Nov. 4, followed by a matchup at Ingalls Rink against the Bulldogs, who is ninth in both polls and is receiving a first-place vote in each poll. Last season, Yale knocked the Raiders out of the conference tournament in the semifinals, while Brown won both matchups last year.

LAST WEEK: RAIDERS SPLIT TWO-GAME SET WITH NIAGARA
Colgate, who was 16th in the nation going into the weekend, exploded for seven goals for the first time since 2008 in a 7-6 overtime shootout victory. Austin Smith and Austin Mayer had two goals apiece, with Smith tallying the gamewinner 1:21 into overtime. It was the 10th time in his career that he has reached two goals. The teams combined for six power play goals with four coming from Colgate and the Raiders held two, two-goal leads in the game. The next night at Starr Rink, it was a different story as the teams were scoreless through two periods. Thomas Larkin scored midway through the final frame for a 1-0 lead, but the Purple Eagles scored twice down the stretch to earn the split with a 2-1 win.

NEXT WEEK: LEAGUE ROAD TRIP CONTINUES AT HARVARD & DARTMOUTH
The open to the ECAC Hockey season continues the following weekend with another long road trip for the Raiders as they head to New England again for games at Harvard and Dartmouth. The Crimson will be in action for the first time this season with Quinnipiac and Princeton coming to Cambridge on Friday and Saturday. The Big Green started the year by hosting the Ivy Shootout and coming away with a 1-1-0 record. Colgate and Dartmouth played four times last year with the Big Green taking three of the four matchups and they lead one of the closely contested series in ECAC Hockey with a 42-41-5 record against Colgate. Harvard and the Raiders split the series last year and the series is 3-2-0 in favor of the Crimson over the last five games.

ALUMNI TAILGATE AT HARVARD
The Colgate Club of Boston will be holding its annual Harvard Tailgate next weekend when the Raiders take on the Crimson. The reception will be will be from 5:30 - 9:30 p.m. at the Mezzanine of the Gordon Track & Tennis Center, located adjacent to the rink. Please join fellow alumni, parents, and friends as Colgate faces off against Harvard. To sign up, log on to www.colgateconnect.org/harvardhockey.

COLGATE BY THE NUMBERS
2004 - Last time Colgate had tri-captains.
   299 - Career wins for Raiders head coach Don Vaughan.
   136 - Votes received by Colgate in the USCHO.com National Poll.
     17 - Players on the Raiders with at least one point.
     12 - Active coaches that have reached 300 wins.
     10 - Colgate picked to finish 10th in both ECAC Hockey Preseason Polls.
       8 - Games left against current nationally-ranked teams.
       8 - Raiders that have multi-point games this year.
       8 - Austin Smith's point streak.
       6 - Power play goals in the last five games.
       5 - Newcomers on this year's squad.
       4 - Power play goals against Niagara on Oct. 28, most in a single game since 2009.
       3 - Overtime games this season (2-0-1).
       3 - Straight weeks in USCHO.com Poll
       2 - Wins over nationally-ranked teams.

RAIDERS RANKED
Colgate is ranked for the third-consecutive week, coming in at 18th in the nation. Colgate sits at 4-2-1 on the season with two wins over ranked opponents. The Raiders are one of four teams in ECAC Hockey to be in the top-20 as Yale sits at No. 9, Union at No. 13, Quinnipaic at No. 19. . Colgate lost 20 points in the poll after the Army tie, but remained at the 16th spot, which they are tied with Miami, who they split a two-game series against.

COACH VAUGHAN INCHING CLOSER TO #300
Head coach Don Vaughan is one win away from his 300th win and came close to reaching the milestone on Saturday night against Niagara, but missed it. He will become the 13th active coach to reach No. 300. He is four wins ahead of the next coach, Tim Whitehead of Maine, who has 395 career wins. He will be the fourth active ECAC Hockey head coach to join the club as his former boss Joe Marsh at SLU, Cornell's Mike Shafer and Dartmouth's Bob Gaudet.

SMITH OFF TO CAREER START
Austin Smith is off to his best point-scoring start in his career with seven goals and four helpers for 11 points. He has scored a point in eight-straight games, dating back to last season. He has three multi-point games and two multi-goal games in the last three games. Two of his goals have come on the power play and he has a gamewinner and a game-tying and shorthanded goal in the first seven games. He was named ECAC Hockey Player of the Week for his four points over the weekend against Niagara. He points a season-high three points, including the overtime gamewinner in Friday night's 7-6 win.

SMITH JOINS 50-50 CLUB
Smith became the 32nd player in Colgate hockey history to reach the 50-50 club with 50 goals and 50 assists in a career. He reached the milestone with the overtime gamewinner against Niagara last Friday in the 7-6 win. He currently has 114 career points with 50 goals and 64 helpers. He is tied with current NHLer Jesse Winchester '08 for 33rd on the all-time scoring list.

McNAMARA TO LAUNCH GOALS FOR GOOD SITE
Senior Kevin McNamara has started a new charitable platform revolving around the hockey teams in the ECAC Hockey called Goals for Good and the goalsforgood.org website will be launched on Thursday to take donations. He has been working with both men's and women's teams in the league to partner with a charity in close relation to their team, school and community. Contributors can donate monetary gifts concurrent with the amount of goals that a team will score over the duration of the season, over the course of a weekend series, or can be a one-time amount. Each week, Goals for Good will post standings on its web site, which will show the rank of each team in the amount their fans have given to the team's charity. For more information, “Like” Goals for Good on Facebook at facebook.com/goals4good.

A CLICKING POWER PLAY
After starting the season without power play goals in the first two games, the Raiders have tallied nine goals with the extra man in last five games and has scored at least one in those five games. They had two in each of the games against Miami and then exploded for four against Niagara on Oct. 28 in the 7-6 win. Colgate sits sixth in the league with a 22 percent success rate and fourth in the league in power play goals. Austin Mayer leads the team with three power play goals and he had his first career two-goal game against Niagara with both goals coming on the power play. Five different players have power play goals.

ONE-GOAL GAME SUCCESS
Colgate has really turned around its fortune from a season ago with a 3-2-0 record in one-goal games through the first seven games. The Raiders played 15 one-goal games last season and went 4-11, so to start off 3-2 has been a huge plus for Colgate. The Raiders have been on both ends of the trail to get to the one-goal. They have come back in four of the five games and also given up leads in two of those games. The Raiders have played the most one-goal games in the league so far this season. Quinnipiac has the second most with three games decided by one-goal.

VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
The Raiders are off to a great start against ranked opponents after beating #4/5 Miami and #14 Nebraska-Omaha. Colgate still faces eight games against teams that are in this week's USCHO.com Poll. The Raiders have played three games against ranked opponents and face their third ranked team this weekend in #9 Yale. They are 2-1 overall this season against top-20 teams and got two weeks off with games against Army and Niagara. Last season, Colgate faced 18 schools that were ranked in the top-20 and posted a 6-11-1 record, including a 4-4 record down the stretch during last year's playoffs.

TOP LINE LEADERS
Colgate has found its top line early this season as Joe Wilson, Chris Wagner and Austin Smith have played all seven games together. The line has combined for 23 points on 10 goals and 13 assists. Three of the goals have been on the power play with Smith, Wagner and Robbie Bourdon, but the trio is the only line combination that hasn't changed since the start of the year. The three came through on the tying goal against Miami on Oct. 15 as Wilson and Wagner were given assists on Smith's third goal of the season. They also connected on the overtime gamewinner against Niagara on Oct. 28. The trio capitalized on a Purple Eagle turnover and Wilson found Smith at the far post for the win.

TV SCHEDULE FOR 2011-12
The Raiders will be featured five times on television this season, including one on national TV. The nationally-televised game will be on CBS Sports Network on Jan. 27 as the Raiders visit Lynah Rink at Cornell. The rest of the TV schedule is below.

Dec. 2       Clarkson   TWCS
Jan. 27      Cornell     CBS Sports
Feb. 10      Yale         TWCS
Feb. 24      RPI          TWCS

SCOUTING THE BEARS
Brown enters the weekend with a 1-1-0 record after a 2-1 loss to Dartmouth and a 3-2 win over Princeton in last weekend's Ivy Shootout. Last year the Bears finished with a 10-16-5 overall record and a respectable 8-12-2 mark in conference play. The Bears are replacing one of their scoring leaders from last season, but Jack Maclellan returns for his senior season after 31 points in 2010-11.

Garnet Hathaway leads the way early in the season with three points on a goal and two assists and all three points came in the 3-2 win over the Tigers. His goal came during a delayed penalty and with the extra attacker. Rookies Ryan Jacobson and Massimo Lamacchia had a great first weekend with a goal and an assist apiece. Senior Jarred Smith also scored during the weekend. Brown struggled on the power play, going 1-for-9 with the extra skater.

In net, Mike Clemente, who was named ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week, made 56 saves on 60 shots in the two games last week. He started the season with a 2.02 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. He enters his final season with 77 career starts and a 25-40-11 overall record with a 3.13 GAA.

SERIES HISTORY
Colgate leads the series 49-20-3 in the previous 72 meetings. The first game between these two schools came back in 1934-35. The Raiders have dominated at home with a 28-5-2 record, while Colgate has a smaller advantage in Providence with a 19-12-1 record. With a win, Colgate will get its 50th victory against Brown and the Bears will be the fourth team that Colgate has reached 50 wins against. They will join Cornell (54), Rensselaer (55) and St. Lawrence (62).

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Ninth-ranked Yale will be home for the first time this weekend and welcome Colgate and Cornell with a 1-0-1 record after the Ivy Shootout. The Bulldogs beat Dartmouth 2-1 after tying Princeton 2-2 in the opening game of the shootout. Yale posted a 28-7-1 mark last season and a 17-4-1 mark in conference play. They won the ECAC Hockey Tournament championship and reached the NCAA East Regional Final.
 
No player has jumped out after the first two games as 11 different skaters have one point. Brian O'Neill returns as the top player with 46 points in 2010-11. Andrew Miller is also back after a 45-point year, but Yale has to replace Broc Little (43 points), Denny Kearney (41 points) and Chris Cahill (34 points).

In goal, Jeff Malcom replaces Ryan Rondeau as the go-to goaltender and he made 55 saves on 58 shots in the first weekend of the season. He posted a 1.44 goals against average and a .948 save percentage. So far, he has done a great job replacing Rondeau and Nick Maricic might see time as well, as he played in the NCAA Regional last year.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 93rd meeting between these two schools, dating back to Colgate's second season as a varsity program back in 1916-17. Yale has recorded a 3-0-2 over the last five games and the teams have played a very entertaining series in the last seven matchups with four overtime games and the series is tied in those games with 1-1-2 records.