HAMILTON, N.Y. (4/2/12) – The Colgate men's hockey team held its annual team banquet on Saturday night at the Colgate Inn and gave out its team awards and also announced the captains for the 2012-13 season.

All the awards given out at the banquet were voted on by the players, except for the Best Offensive Player and Coaches Award.

The big winner of the night was senior Matt Firman, who won the Steve Riggs Memorial Award and the Whit Williams Award. Firman played in 39 games this season and finished with 149 games in his career as a Raider. He had a great year on the ice, setting career-highs in the three offensive categories with seven goals and eight assists for 15 points. He also tied a career-high with two multi-point games this season. The Riggs award is given to the player who is most known for gentlemanly play and possesses a high standard of ability, while the Whit Williams Award is given to the most improved player. The winner has great integrity and a passion for the game of hockey and through his commitment to excellence, improved the most over his career or season.

Austin Smith also took home a couple of honors with the Best Offensive Player Award for leading scorer and the Terry Slater Trophy. The trophy is awarded by the Silver Puck Club and goes to the senior whose performance, leadership, and dedication on and off the ice during his career had the greatest impact on Colgate hockey. Slater, who presided over the Raider hockey program for 15 years, passed away due to a stroke at the midway point of the 1991-92 season.

Smith led the nation in goals with 36 and averaged just under a goal a game this season with 39 games played and is a Hobey Hat Trick Finalist. He still leads the country in shorthanded goals with six and is third in the nation with 57 points. He had 16 multi-point games and two hat tricks, including a four-goal game against Rensselaer on Feb. 4 in an 8-3 win. He was the first 36-goal scorer for Colgate since 1981 and finished two goals away from tying the all-time single-season goal-scoring record at Colgate. Smith had the most goals by an ECAC Hockey player since Clarkson's Todd White in 1996. He tallied a point in all but five games and finished the season with a team-high +25 on the ice.

The Rob Ries Award, which is given to the player who provided the most inspiration and leadership to the team, went to senior Mark Nasca. The forward played in a career-high 32 games this season for the Raiders and registered three points. He had great success in the classroom this season and is a finalist for the ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year Award, In addition to that honor, he was a recipient of a Dana Scholarship and was accepted a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

The Dan Coley “Barrell” Award, which is given to the best defenseman, was received by senior Corbin McPherson. A tri-captain for the Raiders, McPherson played in all 39 games and finished his career with 152 games played. He finished his career with 10 goals and 23 assists and five of his 10 goals were gamewinners, including two this season. McPherson had a three-game point scoring streak including an assist at Rensselaer (2/4) and goals against Yale (2/10) and Brown (2/11).

McPherson also won the Best Defensive Player Award, which was split with Chris Wagner. The two played exceptional defense all season long and both were at the top of the league in plus-minus throughout the season. Wagner finished the year right behind Smith with a +21 rating, while McPherson had a plus-nine. Wagner stepped up his game with 51 points this season to join Smith on the 50-point single season club and the two became the first duo to reach 50 points in the same season since Mike Harder '97 and Chris DeProfio '97. Wagner ended the year on fire with five goals in the best-of-three series against Quinnipiac and was held scoreless just three times since the New Year. He recorded 30 points in the final 21 games of the season and nine of those contests were multi-point games.

The coaching staff gave out its annual Coaches Award and that went to student manager Jaime Helibron. The senior from Panama has been with the team since his freshman year as the manager and has been in integral part of the Raiders ever since arriving on campus. He was always at the rink early to set up the benches and went to every practice. Helibron is also a sports editor for the Maroon News and wrote the stories for men's hockey throughout the season.

Colgate also named its captains for the 2012-13 season and all three are blueliners. Thomas Larkin will be a captain for the second-straight season and he will be joined by seniors Jeremy Price and Nathan Sinz.