MEN'S HOCKEY GAME CENTRAL

HAMILTON, N.Y. (2/15/12) – After a weekend sweep at Starr Rink, the Colgate men's hockey team will hit the road for one final time in the regular season with a visit to St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

The battle for home-ice advantage in the playoffs has begun and the Raiders sit in third place with 23 points. The top four in the standings receive a bye in the upcoming ECAC Hockey playoffs, while the next four get a home first-round series and then go on the road for the quarterfinals. This weekend will be a big one for the Raiders and the league to determine who is going on the road and who is staying home. Colgate starts the weekend with St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena, followed by a Saturday night matchup at Cheel Arena against Clarkson. Both games are at 7 p.m. and all necessary game day links can be access by the Men's Hockey Game Central webpage.

THIS WEEK: A TRIP TO THE NORTH COUNTRY
The Raiders will be on the road for the final time in the 2011-12 regular season with a visit to St. Lawrence and Clarkson. Colgate has not visited the North Country since early in the 2010-11 season. The Raiders swept the two teams in December, outscoring them 10-4 in the two games. The two wins came during their seven-game unbeaten streak. The Saints are one of the hottest teams in ECAC Hockey with four-straight wins. They swept Quinnipiac and Princeton last weekend, scoring eight goals in the two games. The Golden Knights have continued to ride the roller coaster with a 3-3-0 mark in their last six and split with the Bobcats and Tigers last weekend.

LAST WEEK: TAKING TWO FROM THE IVIES
Colgate continued its run through the Ivy League with a pair of wins over Yale and Brown. John Lidgett tallied a career-high four points on two goals and two assists in a 4-2 win over the Bulldogs on Friday. He joined Austin Smith and Chris Wagner as players with a four-point game this season. The next night, no lead was safe as both teams combined for 13 goals from 13 different skaters. The Raiders came back from deficits twice in the first period and built a three-goal lead. The Bears mounted a comeback, but Corbin McPherson helped Colgate hold on with the seventh goal of the night for the Raiders to earn a 7-6 win. Colgate is 7-4-1 against the Ivy League this season and finished the regular season against them with a 4-0 record after a 3-4-1 start. 

NEXT WEEK: UNION & RPI FOR FINAL REGULAR SEASON WEEKEND
For the second time in the final four weeks of the season, Colgate will take on Rensselaer and Union. The two last met in the beginning of the month in the Capital District. After dropping a 3-1 decision at Messa Rink, the Raiders made up for it in a big way with an 8-3 triumph over the Engineers. Smith had four goals in that game and Joe Wilson and Robbie Bourdon posted three points apiece. Union has continued to be at the top of the league standings and is riding a five-game unbeaten streak. The Engineers have climbed out of the basement, but have only one win in their last five games (1-2-2).

COLGATE BY THE NUMBERS
   312 - Career wins for Raiders head coach Don Vaughan.
   114 - Points by seniors.
   107 - Votes in USCHO National Poll (Outside Top-20)
     54 - Goals by seniors (52% of scoring).
     39 - Career multi-point games by A. Smith.
     32 - Goals by A. Smith, most in a season since 1981.
     33 - Scores in the first period (+11 margin).
     27 - Goals scored by Colgate in the first or last two minutes of periods.
     24 - Goals on the last four Saturday nights (3-1-0)
     22 - Players on the Raiders with at least one point.
     17 - Players on the team with at least one goal.
     17 - Career multi-goal games by A. Smith (9 in 2011-12).
     16 - Games allowing two or less goals (11-2-3).
     14 - Raiders that have multi-point games this year.
     14 - Wins when leading after two periods.
     14 - Games with four or more goals (13-1-0).
     11 - Shorthanded goals this season (6 by A. Smith).
     10 - Smith became the 10th player in Colgate history to reach 75 goals and 75 assists in a career.
       9 - Players with power play goals.
       9 - Skaters with at least 100 games played in career.
       6 - Overtime games this season (2-1-3).
       5 - Wins over nationally-ranked teams.
       4 - Number of players in the top-25 on the all-time scoring list that have worn or are wearing the #9.
       1 - Games left against current nationally-ranked teams.
       1 - Shutouts this season.

RAIDERS OUTSIDE RANKINGS
The Raiders continue to be on the bubble for top-20 as they are the first team to be receiving votes this week. Union and Cornell are the only ECAC Hockey teams that are in this week's national polls. The Raiders were 25 points out of the poll with 107. Ferris State, who beat Colgate earlier this year is the new No. 1 team in the nation at 20-8-4.

TOP DUOS IN THE COUNTRY
Austin Smith and Chris Wagner continue to be one of the top one-two punches in the country. There are four other duos that match Smith and Wagner's output this season. Maine's Spencer Abbott and Brian Flynn and Minnesota-Duluth's tandem of Jack Connolly and Travis Oleksuk are tied at the top with 89 combined points. Smith and Wagner are not far behind with 85 points between the two of them.

SMITH REACHES 150-POINT MILESTONE
The senior forward became only the 10th player in Colgate history to reach 75 goals and 75 assists in a career. He was the 21st to get his 150th career points and is now tied with Steve Spott '90 for 20th all-time in points after scoring against Brown on Saturday night. Smith became the fourth Colgate player in its history to reach 30 goals in a season after four against Rensselaer on Feb. 4. He was the first ECAC Hockey player since RPI's Brad Trapper netted 31 in 1999-2000. His four goals was the most by a Colgate player since Jon Smyth '06 in 2003. Smith has hit 41 points for the second time in his career and Colgate has had a 40-point scorer six of the last seven seasons.

VOTE SMITH FOR HOBEY
Fan voting for the Hobey Baker Award, which is given to the nation's top player, has begun and Colgate's Smith is among the names you fans can vote for. Your vote accounts for a full one percent for the total ballot. Award criteria include candidates emulating the exceptional character traits exhibited by the award's namesake, Hobey Baker, a World War I flying star better known as America's greatest amateur athlete in his day.  Award candidates must demonstrate strength of character both on and off the ice, contribute to the integrity of his team and display outstanding skills in all phases of the game.  Consideration should be given to scholastic achievement and sportsmanship. VOTE HERE!

LIDGETT NAMED ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
After posting six points over the weekend, rookie John Lidgett was named ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week as he enjoyed two great wins with three goals and three assists, including a four-point night against Yale. He posted a career-high four points by factoring in all four goals for Colgate in a 4-2 victory over the Bulldogs. He notched a gamewinning goal, a power play and added two helpers. The following night he tallied two more points with a goal and an assist in a wild 7-6 win over Brown. He extended his point streak to three games, which ties his season high, which came in the first three games of the season.

HOME SWEET HOME
Starr Rink has been a refuge for the Raiders this season with a 9-3-2 overall record and a 7-1-1 mark in conference play, which makes home-ice in the playoffs very important. The offense has really come alive recently at home with 20 goals in the last four games in Hamilton. Overall, Colgate has scored 39 goals in conference games at home and have allowed just 24. The Raiders have scored 64 of their 101 goals on home ice.

McPHERSON SCORING IN BIG SPOTS
Corbin McPherson has only 10 career goals, but the big defenseman has a knack for scoring big goals for the Raiders. He had two goals over the weekend and one was a gamewinner, giving him five career gamewinning goals. Two of his four goals this season have given Colgate a win.

WILSON EMERGING
Joe Wilson has been on the first line all season and the last five weeks, he has really made an impact. He has tallied 10 points in his last eight games, including seven in his last five. He had a goal and two helpers against Cornell on Jan. 28 and then posted three assists in the 8-3 win over RPI. He scored his first shortie of his career in the win over Brown, which gave Colgate its 100th goal of the season.

SCORING FIRST
In 17 of the 30 games played this season, Colgate has scored first, including both games last weekend and eight of the last nine games. The Raiders are 11-5-1 when scoring first. The opening period has been a successful one for the Raiders in 2011-12 as they have 33 goals in the frame, but its their defense that makes it the best as they have allowed 22 scores for a plus-11 scoring margin. They have 35 goals in the third, but have given up 31 goals in the final frame. Colgate is 8-1-0 when scoring two or more goals in the first and the Raiders have only given up two goals in the opening 20 minutes four times and have won all four.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME
Chris Wagner has been just as consistent as Smith with 10 goals and 28 assists for 38 points, which is second in the league behind his linemate. He has already eclipsed his scoring from a season ago as he had 19 points. Wagner had his seven-game point streak snapped in the loss at Union on Feb. 3, but rebounded with two helpers at RPI. He jumped to fifth in the nation with 26 helpers and fifth in assists per game. Wagner is 11th in the country in points per game and is second in ECAC in assists. He has 16 points since the turn of the new year.

UNDER THE RADAR
Robbie Bourdon doesn't play on the top line, but has made his impact as the top forward on the second line. He has 11 goals and seven assists for 18 points. He is tied with Smith with five power play goals this season and posted his third career two-goal game and second this year at RPI. His 11 goals are second on the team and he is the highest career scorer after Smith on the squad with 68 career points.

WEARING THE #9 FOR COLGATE
In the history of Colgate hockey, 14 players have worn the number nine and five of them are in the top-20 in all-time scoring at Colgate. Mike Harder '97 wore the number and is the all-time leading scorer with 214 points. Tyler Burton '08 had 158 points in his career with the number, while Steve Spott '90 tallied 150 points. Joey Cyr is hanging on at No. 24 all-time in scoring with 133. Austin Smith is ranked fourth among the 9s at 148 points.

PRICE IS RIGHT
Jeremy Price has been the top blueliner for most of the season for Colgate and he has 19 points on two goals and 17 assists to lead all defensemen on the Raiders. Price is tied for fourth in the league among blueliners in points and is second in assists. He has 13 points in his last 16 games, including his third career three-assist game against Rensselaer in the 8-3 win on Feb. 4.

AN EXPERIENCED GROUP
The Raiders have one of the most experienced teams in the conference with nine players with 100 or more games played. Kevin McNamara, Nick Prockow, Corbin McPherson, Matt Firman and Austin Smith have all appeared in 140 games and each will enter the top-10 in career games soon. Thomas Larkin became the ninth player on the team to play in his 100th game and first junior.  There is also experience in net as Alex Evin has appeared in 60 career games and Mihalik has seen action in 47 games in his first two years.

STRIKING EARLY & LATE
This season, Colgate has started and ended periods with strong performances as 27 of the team's 101 goals have come in the first or last two minutes of periods. Austin Smith added an empty netter against Yale, while Matt Firman and Spiro Goulakos added goals at the beginning and end of the first period against Brown.

SCOUTING THE SAINTS
Colgate will be facing a tough task on Friday night as St. Lawrence has gotten hot recently with four-straight wins to jump to seventh in the conference. The Saints are coming off a sweep of Quinnipiac and Princeton at home last weekend. In the middle of the season, they were 5-10-0, but since then they are 7-5-3. St. Lawrence is in the bottom of the league in both scoring defense and offense. The Saints are 11th at 2.47 goals per game and have given up 99 goals overall this season.

St. Lawrence has four players with 20 or more points, led by Kyle Flanagan with 30 on the year with 12 goals and a team-high 18 assists. Eight of his 12 goals have come on the power play, which leads the team. Greg Carey is tied with Flanagan with 12 goals and has added 17 assists for a total of 29 points. Chris Martin has 21 points on nine goals and 12 helpers, while George Hughes has posted 20 points on three goals and 17 assists.

In net, Matt Weninger has started 26 games and is 11-12-3 in those games with two shutouts. He has allowed 78 goals this year and has a .900 save percentage and 3.07 goals against average. He has started all four games during the win streak and has a 2.74 GAA during the streak.

SERIES HISTORY
These two upstate New York schools will be playing for the 138th time since Colgate and St. Lawrence met back in 1927-28. The series is just about even with the Saints holding a 71-63-3 advantage. The Raiders stopped an eight-game winless streak with a 6-2 win in Hamilton on Dec. 3. Colgate enters Appleton Arena with a record of 21-37-2 all-time.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Clarkson has enjoyed an up-and-down season under first-year head coach Casey Jones. The Golden Knights are 14-13-5 overall and 8-7-3 in ECAC Hockey play. They have split their last six conference games and two of the three losses came on Saturday night, which is when Colgate plays at Cheel Arena. The Golden Knights did have a great start to the season with a seven-game unbeaten streak back in October and November, but have eight wins since. They are fourth in the conference in defense, allowing 2.69 goals per game and seventh in offense at 2.81 scores per contest.

Like the Raiders, Clarkson has two 30-point scorers in Louke Oakley and Nick Tremblay. Oakley leads the way with 31 points on 14 goals and 17 helpers. Tremblay isn't far behind with 30 points on 14 goals and 16 helpers. Each skater has three power play goals as well. Ben Sexton is tied with Oakley for the team lead in assists with 17, to go along with seven goals, five of which have been power play goals and is tops on the team. He is third on the team with 24 total points.

In net, Paul Karpowich has started 30 games and has posted five shutouts and a 14-11-5 record. He has allowed 73 goals on 947 shots for a .923 save percentage. He has a 2.41 goals against average on the year. He has been the mainstay between the pipes for a long time with 120 career starts for the Golden Knights and he has logged over 7,000 minutes and has recorded 44 wins in his career.

SERIES HISTORY
These two long-time hockey schools will be playing for the 142nd time since Colgate and Clarkson met back in 1927-28. The Raiders have played the Golden Knights more than any other team in the history of their program. Clarkson has an 80-46-15 advantage in the series. The Raiders have put a dent in the series by going unbeaten in 11 of the last 13 games, including a 4-2 win on Dec. 3 at Starr Rink. Clarkson is 39-16-10 against Colgate at home, but the Raiders are unbeaten in nine of the last 10 at Cheel Arena, including a five-game streak.