HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/8/12) – Sophomore forward Chris Wagner was selected as a finalist for the ECAC Hockey Best Defensive Forward award, which was voted on by the league's coaches.

Wagner is second on the Raiders with 44 points on the year with 12 goals and a league-high 32 helpers. He has more than doubled up his scoring from a season ago as he had 19 points. He continues to put up points as he posted three points the last weekend of the regular season against Rensselaer and Union. He is fourth in the nation in both assists with 32 and assists per game at 0.97.

Wagner is ninth in the country in points per game and leads ECAC Hockey in assists. He has 22 points since the turn of the new year and Wagner is riding a seven-game point streak and has scored a point in 14 of his last 15 games.

The Walpole, Mass., native finished second in the league in scoring with 32 points on 10 goals and 22 assists in conference games. He more than doubled his point total from last year in overall games. The sophomore, who is one of the leaders on the team's penalty kill unit, finished tied for second in plus/minus rankings in conference play registering a plus-14 in 22 games and had a plus-20 in the 34 overall games played in the regular season.

Kelly Zajac of Union and Cornell's Greg Miller are the other two finalist up for the award. The winner will be announced at the ECAC Hockey Championship Banquet on Thursday, March 15 in Atlantic City.

Wagner and his teammates will take the ice on Friday night after a week off with the first-round bye. Tickets are still available for the quarterfinal series with Quinnipiac. Fans can purchase their ticket by calling the Colgate Ticket Office at 315-228-7860 or logging onto the online ticket page at gocolgateraiders.com.