Team Notes: Colgate Hosts Waterloo in Exhibition Play

HAMILTON, N.Y. -- The Colgate men’s hockey team is eight days away from its regular-season opener at Niagara. But, this Saturday evening head coach Don Vaughan will get a first hand glimpse of what his team needs to work on as it the University of Waterloo Warriors come to Starr Rink for an exhibition. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

“I’m not sure what to expect because its’ just so early,” said Vaughan, who enters his 17th season at the helm of the program. “Obviously, we will get a good look at some of the new guys and begin the process of working our systems, but more than anything we want the guys to get use to playing at game speed and tempo.

“We have a lot of work to do before we open our regular season at Niagara and only have a few short days to get ready,” continued Vaughan. “This game against Waterloo will go along way in helping us prepare for next week.”

Colgate, which comes into its’ 79th season of hockey following a 12-18-7 campaign, returns 18 lettermen off last year’s squad that broke a national record with 19 overtime appearances. The Raiders are led by 2009 first team All-American and Hobey Baker Award finalist David McIntyre (Pefferlaw, Ont.). The senior, a pre-season first team all-ECAC Hockey honoree, finished his campaign with 21 goals and 22 assists – the highest point total for a single season since Andy McDonald in 1999-2000. The return of sophomore Austin Smith (Dallas, Texas), as well as juniors Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.) and Francois Brisebois (Montreal, Quebec) gives Colgate its top four scorers back from 2008-09. Smith (17-14-31) finished among the top rookies in the country in scoring, while Day (14-13-27) and Brisebois (7-10-17) were two of the ECAC Hockey’s top goal scorers on the power play. This foursome tallied for 10 of the Raiders’ 12 game-winning goals last year.

In goal, Vaughan returns senior Charles Long (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) along with sophomores Bryan Bessette (Melrose, N.Y.) and Alex Evin (Castlegar, B.C.). Long grabbed a hold of the net minding duties late in the season and finished with a 10-10-6 mark and a 2.52 goals against average. Evin saw action in 11 games and made eight starts as a freshman while positing a 1-7-1 mark and a 3.63 goals against average, while Bessette went 1-1 overall with a 2.47 goals against average in his four appearances.

The blue line will look noticeably different as five fixtures to the lineup the previous four seasons have graduated. Sophomore Corbin McPherson (Folsom, Calif.) is the lone returning defenseman to play a significant amount of games. He was one of eight players to see action in all 37 games. The return of junior Wade Poplawski (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and sophomore Kevin McNamara (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) gives Vaughan three players with collegiate playing experience. Poplawski played in 12 games in 2008-09 before sustaining a season ending injury against Colorado College, while McNamara sat out the entire 2008-09 campaign with a hip injury. Newcomers figure to play a prominent role on this year’s defense.

The 2009-2010 roster features six NHL draft picks. McIntyre, whose rights are now property of the New Jersey Devils, was a former Dallas Stars pick in 2006 Draft. Day (New York Islanders), Smith (Dallas Stars), McPherson (New Jersey Devils), as well as two newcomers – defensemen Jeremy Price (Milton, Ont.) by the Vancouver Canucks and Thomas Larkin (Cocquio Trevisago, Italy) by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Thus far, Waterloo is 2-1 in its exhibition season. The Warriors dropped an 8-0 decision to US Under 18 Team in its opener. Waterloo posted a 6-3 win over the Concordia Stingers and a 6-4 triumph over the Ottawa Gee-Gees.