ESPNU to Showcase Colgate vs. Yale
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Colgate and Yale will be the showcase game
Sunday as the two teams face-off at 4 p.m. from Ingalls Rink in New
Haven, Connecticut. The ECAC Hockey contest will be televised live
on ESPNU.
Meeting for the 82nd time overall, the Raiders and Bulldogs convene
at Ingalls Rink for the 44th time in the series history. Yale leads
the overall series at Ingalls with a mark of 23-18-2; however, the
two teams are deadlocked in their last five meetings with each team
claiming a pair of victories, and settling for a 0-0 overtime tie
in February 2005. Colgate holds the edge in the overall series at
44-34-3.
Colgate, which battles Brown Friday in ECAC Hockey action, seeks to
secure its first two league victories of the young season. The
Raiders, under the guidance of head coach Don Vaughan, sport an
overall record of 3-4-1 and league mark of 0-1-1. Colgate opened
league play last weekend, hosting Quinnipiac and Princeton at Starr
Rink. The Raiders garnered a 1-1 tie Friday with the Bobcats, and
dropped a 2-0 decision to Princeton Saturday.
Seniors Tyler Burton and Jesse Winchester and freshman Brian Day
lead the Colgate offense. Burton, who set up the game-tying goal
against Quinnipiac to give the Raiders the tie, has compiled 123
career points, including a league-best nine this season. The total
places him in a three-way tie for 24th place on Colgate's career
scoring list. Winchester has amassed seven points through the
Raiders' first eight games and has 84 in his career. Day has lit
the lamp a team-high five times this season. The five goals rank
second nationally among freshmen.
Goaltender Mark Dekanich is the last line of defense for the
Raiders. The senior netminder, a draft choice of the Nashville
Predators, enters the weekend seeking to retain the form which saw
him stop 48 of 51 shots versus Quinnipiac and Princeton, a .941
save percentage. Dekanich recorded a goals-against-average of
1.46.
Yale, like Colgate, seeks its first league triumph of the young
campaign. Head coach Keith Allain's Bulldogs opened their league
schedule in the Capital District last weekend, battling Rensselaer
and Union to draws. Yale, which owns a 1-1-2 overall record and
0-0-2 league mark, came within 46 seconds of victory against the
Engineers Friday before settling for a 1-1 deadlock; the Bulldogs
and Dutchmen battled to a 3-3 tie Saturday in Schenectady, New
York.
Defensively, sophomore goaltender Billy Blase backstops the
Bulldogs. A week ago, Blase turned aside 65 of 69 attempts to
help the Bulldogs secure two league points on the road. The young
netminder has yielded only four goals in four games thus far,
turning away 86 of 90 shots for a save percentage of .956. Blase
owns a scintillating goals-against average of 1.14.
Offensively, Yale is led by senior Jean-Francois Boucher, junior
Michael Karwoski and sophomore Mark Arcobello. The trio has
combined for five goals and three assists in the Bulldogs' four
contests. The five goals accounts for 60-plus percent of the team's
eight goals.
About ECAC Hockey
ECAC Hockey boasts elite student-athletes and teams from 12 of the
nation's most prestigious institutions - Brown University, Clarkson
University, Colgate University, Cornell University, Dartmouth
College, Harvard University, Princeton University, Quinnipiac
University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, St. Lawrence
University, Union College, and Yale University.
About ESPNU
ESPNU is a 24-hour college sports network that launched March 4,
2005. ESPNU featured almost 500 live events (regular-season and
championships) and doubled its distribution in its first year.
Action includes a variety of top football and men's and women's
basketball mixed with baseball, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, ice
hockey, wrestling and more. ESPNU also offers comprehensive studio
programming, such as SportsCenterU, ESPNU Coaches Spotlight, ESPNU
Recruiting Insider and National Signing Day, replays of ABC Sports,
ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Regional Television games, plus specials and
more.
