Team Notes: Raiders Skate into League Play

HAMILTON, N.Y. – After a shutout victory in the home opener, the Colgate men’s hockey team starts ECAC Hockey play on the road this weekend at Clarkson and St. Lawrence.

The weekend begins Friday night at Cheel Arena for a 7 p.m. faceoff, followed by another 7 p.m. start at Appleton Arena against St. Lawrence on Saturday. For all of your links to live video, audio and stats visit Men’s Hockey Game Central at gocolgateraiders.com.

RAIDERS BLANK PIONEERS
Colgate evened its record with a dominant performance on Saturday in a 5-0 win over Sacred Heart in the Starr Rink opener. Junior Alex Evin (Castlegar, B.C.) recorded his first collegiate shutout, stopping 21 shots, and the Raiders put 55 shots on Pioneer goaltender Steve Legatto. Junior Corbin McPherson (Folsom, Calif.) tallied a career-high three points, including two goals from the blueline with one coming on the power play. The Raiders had a complete team effort with 10 skaters earning at least a point. 

CONFERENCE PLAY OPENS THIS WEEKEND
Each ECAC Hockey team will be playing in-conference this weekend. Colgate and Cornell are headed to northern New York to play Clarkson and St. Lawrence. Dartmouth and Harvard host No. 19 Rensselaer and No. 15 Union, while Princeton and Quinnipiac are set to play Brown and Yale. 

PLAYING OLD-TIME RIVALS
Colgate has played Clarkson more than any other program in the country. The teams have played 138 times since 1927-28. The Raiders have skated against Cornell 137 times, while Saturday’s opponent, St. Lawrence and Colgate have hooked up in 134 games. 

PEPPERING THE GOALTENDER
Colgate had target practice last Saturday afternoon with 55 shots on net, which was the highest since the Raiders posted 70 in 2003 at Dartmouth. They had 22 shots alone in the first period, which tied a season-high. The other time they posted 22 shots was in the season opener against Army in the second period. Colgate finished the night with 18 shots in the third. The Raiders have outshot their opponents in three of four games this season. 

EARNING FIRST SHUTOUT
Evin came into the game without a shutout in 34 career starts. He pushed aside all 21 shots in the game. He had allowed just one goal in six games in his career. He took over as the primary goaltender last season with 23 starts and earned nine victories and is off to a good start with two wins in the first two games. 

CAREER DAYS FOR MCPHERSON, BOURDON
The two juniors combined for six of the 14 points scored in Saturday’s win over Sacred Heart. McPherson set career-highs in goals and points, while Robbie Bourdon (Montreal, Que.) also had three points for a career-best with a goal and two helpers. McPherson had his two goals in the first 20 minutes and assisted on Bourdon’s power play goal in the third period. 

SCORING LINE HELD DOWN
The scoring line of senior captain Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.), senior Francois Brisebois (Montreal, Que.) and junior Austin Smith (Dallas, Texas) were held scoreless against Sacred Heart. It was the first time Day, Brisebois and either Smith or rookie Chris Wagner (Walpole, Mass.) had been held without a point this season. The four had come into the game with a total of 13 points in three games with five goals and eight helpers. 

AMERICAN WEARING THE “C”
Day enters this season as the captain for the Raiders and is the first American-born single captain for Colgate since Tim Brokaw in the 1998-99 season. 

ALL- AMERICAN RECRUITS
For the first time under the tutelage of head coach Don Vaughan the Raiders welcomed an all-American born recruiting class. Two newcomers are from Massachusetts, two from the Midwest and one from Phoenix, Ariz.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Clarkson enters ECAC Hockey play with a 4-2-1 mark in its first seven games of the season. After an 8-0 loss to Nebraska-Omaha, who is now ranked eighth in the nation, Golden Knights fired back with a 6-2 win over nationally-ranked St. Cloud State. They won 4-0 in the home opener against Bowling Green and that started a streak going unbeaten in four of their last five. Last weekend, they beat St. Lawrence with a 2-1 overtime win at the Halloween Faceoff at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid.

Clarkson leads the league with 20 different skaters with at least one point and the top two scorers only have five, so the scoring for the Golden Knights has been spread out so far this year. Senior Brandon DeFazio and rookie Matt Zarbo have five points apiece on two goals and three assists. DeFazio has played in all seven games, while Zarbo has seen action in just three games. Junior Jake Morley leads the team with three goals and has added an assist for four points. Rookie Ben Sexton has two goals and two assists, while Bryan Rufenach is the leader among defensemen with a goal and three assists for four points. 

In net, Paul Karpowich has started all seven games and has a 4-2-1 record with one shutout, which came against Bowling Green in the home opener. He has made 203 saves on 217 shots for the eighth-best save percentage in the nation at .935. The St. Louis Blues draft pick has a 2.07 goals against average. 

The one area where the Golden Knights have struggled has been on the power play. They are scoreless in their first 33 opportunities this season. Clarkson is the only team in Division I without a goal on the power play. However, the Golden Knights have made up for it on the penalty kill by allowing just three goals to opponents in 41 chances for a 92.7 percentage kill percentage. 

SERIES HISTORY
These two upstate New York schools will be playing for the 139th 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 the program. Clarkson has an 80-44-14 advantage in the series. The Raiders have put a dent in the series by going unbeaten in the eight of the last 10 games and have been sent home without a loss in the last six. 

SCOUTING THE SAINTS
St. Lawrence enters its first contest of the ECAC Hockey season without a win, going 0-4-3 in the first seven games. The season opened for the Saints at Minnesota State and they left with a pair of ties. They then dropped three straight with two against Ferris State and one at Western Michigan. St. Lawrence earned its third tie of the season in the second game at Broncos. The Saints matched up against Clarkson last Saturday and dropped a 2-1 game in Lake Placid. 

The Saints, like Clarkson, has spread out their scoring with 15 skaters with at least one point. Senior Sean Flanagan has a team-high six points on two goals and four assists. His four helpers are first on the team. Rookie Greg Carey is the team leader in goals with three and has added an assist for four points. Flanagan and Carey have each scored on the power play, while junior Peter Child has one as well. Child leads the defensive unit with two goals and an assist for three points. 

In net, rookie Matt Weninger has stepped into the starting role with six starts in the first seven games. He has struggled with his record as he is still searching for his first win at 0-4-2. He has earned a save percentage of .906, while posting a 2.57 goals against average. Junior Robby Moss has appeared in one game and stopped 44-of-49 shots in a 5-5 tie against Minnesota State. 

The power play for the Saints is struggling somewhat with four goals in 32 opportunities for a 12.7 percent success rate. On the kill, they have given up five goals in 38 chances.

SERIES HISTORY
These two upstate New York schools will be playing for the 135th time since Colgate and Clarkson met back in 1927-28. The series is just about even with the Saints holding a 69-62-3 advantage. The Raiders have gone winless in the last six matchups, including a two-game sweep in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals a year ago.