MEN'S HOCKEY GAME CENTRAL

HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/10/11) – The Colgate men's hockey team will be traveling back to the Capital District to take on fourth-ranked Union in the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals with the best-of-three series beginning on Friday night.

All game day links are available at the Men's Hockey Game Central link at gocolgateraiders.com. Friday and Saturday night's games will be broadcast live on Time Warner Sports. Friday's game will be shown locally on channel 13 and 813, while game two will be on TWCS2 (Channel 1026). If the game should go to a third game, it will not be televised.

A limited number of tickets are available at the Colgate Ticket Office at (3150 228-7600 until noon today.

RAIDERS ADVANCE TO QUARTERFINALS
Colgate will be playing in the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals for the second-straight year and seventh time in the last eight seasons. Robbie Bourdon's double overtime tally got the Raiders to the next round with a 2-1 series win over RPI. Eric Mihalik had a tough first period in game one, but responded throughout the series and was a major reason the Raiders are still on the ice. Austin Smith had four points in the series, while Francois Brisebois and Nick Prockow each scored two goals in the game two win.

BACK TO THE QUARTERFINALS
For the second-straight year, Colgate has gotten to the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals. Last season, the Raiders made it with a bye after placing fourth in the league. Under Coach Vaughan, the Raiders have made the quarterfinals 15 times in his 18 years as head coach. He last won a first round series in 2007-08 in the same fashion as last weekend. Down 1-0 to St. Lawrence at home, the Raiders advanced with 3-2 and 3-1 wins in the final two games. That season, they made it to the semifinals.

TEAM DEFENSE
In the series with Rensselaer, Colgate's team defense improved dramatically and was one of the main reasons the team advanced. In the three games, Colgate blocked a total of 74 shots, including 37 in the final game of the series. Of the 98 total attempted shots by the Engineers in that final game, 57 did not reach goaltender Eric Mihalik as they were either blocked or wide. RPI only manage to block 20 shots of Colgate's 80 attempted.

POSTSEASON LEADERS
Colgate scored nine goals and tallied 24 points in the three games with Rensselaer. Austin Smith led the way with four points and has 10 career postseason points on six goals and four helpers to lead the team. Brian Day is second with nine points on two goals and seven assists. Defensemen Kevin McNamara and Wade Poplawski have enjoyed great success in the playoffs with six points apiece. McNamara's have all come as assists, while Poplawski has a goal and five helpers. Francois Brisebois has come on as a scoring threat in this year's postseason and has five points on two goals and three helpers.

MIHALIK GAINS NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Eric Mihalik was brilliant in net for the Raiders last weeekend and because of his efforts he earned Inside College Hockey's Player of the Week award. He also earned his third conference weekly award as the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week for the second time this season. Three weeks ago, he was voted as the Rookie of the Week after sweeping Dartmouth and Harvard.

PENALTY KILL IS A MUST THIS WEEKEND
If the Raiders want to advance to Atlantic City, they must be able to shut down a power play that has been scoring all season long. Union comes into the weekend, scoring more than 30 percent on the power play and has led the nation basically all season long. Colgate has improved on the kill. During 6-3-1 run over the last 10 games, opponents are 7-for-44 on the power play, so the kill for Colgate has been at 84.1 percent, which is well above its average of 79.3. They held RPI to three goals in 13 chances and kept the Engineers off the board in game three.

ROOKIE WINS SERIES
Mihalik became the first rookie goaltender since 1994-95 to win a playoff series. Dan Brenzavich was the last and it came against Vermont, who featured Tim Thomas, Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin. Don Vaughan was in his third year and current assistant coach Brad Dexter was a defenseman on the squad.

DOUBLE-OVERTIME THRILLER
Sunday night's 2-1 win over RPI in double overtime was the 33rd longest game in NCAA Division I history and 16th longest featuring an ECAC Hockey team. The game lasted 90:06 and two overtimes. Colgate has been involved in four of the top 30 longest games in the history of D-I hockey. The longest game in Colgate history was in 2003 when Kyle Wilson scored in the fourth OT to beat Dartmouth, 4-3, in Thompson Arena in Game 1 of the quarterfinals. That game is the fifth longest in D-I history. All of the current top-10 games have come in the last decade.

SCORING A SHORTIE
Colgate is no longer scoreless on the penalty kill as the Raiders scored their first shorthanded goal of the season in game three. Only Alabama-Huntsville and UMass have not scored shorthanded this season. Huntsville is independent, so its season is over, but UMass has a shot to score as the Minutemen play Boston College in the Hockey East Quarterfinals. The Raiders scored their first shortie on their 162nd penalty kill of the season.

SMITH HITS MILESTONE
Austin Smith became the 49th player in Colgate history to reach 100 points in a career after tallying an assist in the 5-2 win over Rensselaer in game two. He joins Brian Day as the second to reach the milestone this season. Smith was the first junior to reach the mark since Tyler Burton in 2006-07. He has 101 points overall with 42 goals and 59 assists and has nine points in the last 10 games and a +4 rating.

BRISEBOIS ENJOYING SUCCESS
The senior from Montreal currently leads the team in points with 31 after tallying two goals in game two at RPI. His 31 points this season are a career-high and he has led the team in points for the second half of the season. Brisebois has scored points 23-of-37 games this season. He is now tied for 75th on the all-time scoring list with 38 goals and 45 assists for 83 points in 140 games. He has never led the team in points in his career.

DAY INCHING UP CHARTS
Brian Day played in his 144th game on Sunday at Rensselaer and is currently 10th all-time in games played. He has played in 34 games this season and played over 30 games in all four years with a career-high 41 as a freshman.

BARTLIFF HAVING BREAKOUT SECOND HALF
Kurtis Bartliff has enjoyed his best season as a Raider with career-highs in all offensive categories. He has six goals, with three on the power play, a team-leading 20 helpers and 23 points. Since posting a goal and an assist against #5 Boston College at the Ledyard Classic, Bartliff has recorded 17 points on five goals and 12 assists. He has had six multiple point games since then. He has 10 points in seven of his last 11 games.

THE STREAK IS OVER
Bartliff entered last weekend without a penalty in 59-straight games, but the streak came to an end in the first period of game one. He was called for holding with 1:22 left in the first period. His last penalty prior to the holding call came as goaltender interference on Halloween of 2009 against Niagara in the second period. His first ever penalty came the night before against Army. So he had two-straight games with a penalty and went 59 games without one.

THIRD PERIOD IMPROVEMENTS
The final 20 minutes for the Raiders has been very interesting this season. Colgate is outshooting its opponent by 26 shots in the period, which is the largest amount than any other frame. However, the net has been hard to find as the Raiders have 33 goals on 379 shots. Meanwhile, opponents have scored 47 goals for a difference of 14. The 47 tallies is the most in any period for the enemy. The Raiders turned it around last weekend, dominating the third period and beyond, giving up just one goal all weekend at RPI, while scoring five.

COACH VAUGHAN AGAINST UNION
Under Coach Vaughan, the Raiders have played Union 39 times and hold a 26-11-2 record. His career against Union started off well with an 8-1-1 mark in the first 10 games. Recently, its been Union holding a 2-6-1 mark in the last nine after a 6-3 defeat on Feb. 12. He has yet to face the Dutchmen in the ECAC Hockey Playoffs.

SHOWING NO FAVORITES
Bourdon scored his first goal of the 2010-11 season in the second game at LSSU with a power play goal coming in the third period. He has now scored 18 goals in 18 different games in his career. He has the most against Brown and Yale with three goals apiece against the Bears and Bulldogs for six of his 17 goals. He is still searching for his first career multi-goal game.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
The Raiders advance to the next round with a 9-25-3 record and are 6-3-1 in its last 10 games. Colgate is averaging three goals a game in the last 10 contests, which is above its season average of 2.57. The Raiders have climbed to ninth in the conference in scoring offense after the weekend. The team is allowing 2.7 goals in the last 10 and that is well below the season average of 3.35.

Colgate is one of four teams in ECAC Hockey that have had every skater score a point, but the Raiders are the only team with two points for every skater. Francois Brisebois is the team leader in goals and points with 15 scores and 31 points. He has set a new career-high for points in a season. Five of his goals came on the power play and he has four points in his last four games. Austin Smith is second on the team with 29 points on nine goals and 20 assists after tallying a team-high four points in the series at Rensselaer. Kurtis Bartliff is tied for the team lead in assists with 20 and has 10 points in his last nine games. Robbie Bourdon added to his goal total with the gamewinner in game three and has 10 goals and 14 helpers. His 10 goals is second on the team. Jeremy Price is the leader in points on the blueline with five goals and 12 assists.

In net, Rookie Eric Mihalik has taken over as the primary netminder with 16 starts in the last 17 games. He has a 6-12-2 overall record with a 2.83 goals against average. He rebounded after two-straight losses with a pair of huge performances in game two and three to win his first playoff series. Junior Alex Evin has started 14 games for the Raiders and has a 3-10-1 mark. He added his second career shutout on Dec. 4 against Army with 24 saves and has recorded an .891 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.22. Junior Bryan Bessette earned his second start against Dartmouth on Jan. 29, but was pulled in the second period. He is 0-3-0 and has a save percentage of .892 and a goals against average of 3.91.

The Colgate power play had two goals in 12 chances at Rensselaer with goals in game one and two. Overall, they are 11th in the league at 13.3 percent (25/188). On the kill, Colgate held Rensselaer to three goals in 13 chances for a 76.9 percent success rate. The Raiders allowed two goals in game one and one in game two, but held the Engineers off the board in the final game.

SCOUTING THE DUTCHMEN
Union enters the series as the hottest team in the country as the Dutchmen are unbeaten in their last 11 games. They won the Cleary Cup as the regular season champion to earn a first-round bye. They are fourth in the nation and second in ECAC Hockey in scoring offense, averaging 3.75 goals per game. Yale leads the country at 4.28 goals a game. Scoring defense is where Union has really separated itself from other teams in the league and nation. The Dutchmen have given up just 2.03 goals per game as they have allowed 73 goals in 36 games.

Union has been explosive all season and the Dutchmen have done it with two players in the top-10 in scoring. Overall, they have 15 skaters with 10 or more points and eight above 20 points. Kelly Zajac is the team leader in points with 38 on 12 goals and 26 assists. He is tied for second in the conference in total points. He has five gamewinners and 21 of his 38 points have come in ECAC Hockey play. Jeremy Welsh is second on the team and seventh in the conference with 36 points on 15 goals and 21 assists. Seven of his 15 goals have come on the power play. Union's lead in power play goals is Daniel Carr who has 12 of his 20 goals on the man advantage and half are against ECAC Hockey opponents. On the blueline, rookie Mat Brodie is leading the way with five goals and 24 helpers for 29 points.

In net, Keith Kinkaid has been on of the most consistent goaltenders in the league as he leads the conference in goals against average at 1.94 in 2014 minutes played, which is the most in ECAC Hockey. He is fifth in save percentage at .923 and boasts a .750 winning percentage with 24 wins in 34 starts. His GAA is well below his career average of 2.46 and his save percentage is an improvement as he has a career mark of .908 in 81 games played.

The power play has been the strength of the Dutchmen all season long. They have not dipped below 30 percent on the man advantage all season. Currently, Union leads the nation with a 31 percent success rate (48/155). The next closest team is Air Force of Atlantic Hockey at 25 percent. In the previous two meetings this season, Union is 2-for-5 with the extra man with a goal in each contest. Union is averaging four opportunities on the power play a game and is scoring 1.3 goals a game with the extra man. The penalty kill is solid at 83.9 percent, but a weakness on this year's squad. The Dutchmen have scored only two shorthanded goals and have allowed 24 goals on opponent power plays in 149 chances.

SERIES HISTORY
The Raiders and Union have matched up 54 times prior to this weekend and Colgate has dominated the series with a 35-17-2 advantage since the first meeting back in 1928-29. The two schools have played just about even the last 11 games with Union holding a slim 6-4-1 lead after winning both meetings this year. The Dutchmen snapped a 12-game winless streak in Hamilton with its first win at Starr Rink since 1998. Union had only won once at Starr Rink prior to the 2-1 win on Jan. 14. That stat will not matter this time around as the two teams will be playing for the first time in the playoffs in the history of the series.