Team Notes: Raiders Visit Robert Morris

HAMILTON, N.Y – The Colgate men's hockey team will look to go into its short break on a high note as the Raiders travel to Robert Morris for a two-game set, beginning on Saturday night. 

Saturday's game starts at 7:05 p.m., while Sunday's contest begins at 4:05 p.m. Moon Township, Pa., which is outside of Pittsburgh. Fan can access all game day links by logging on to the Men's Hockey Game Central link at gocolgateraiders.com.

RAIDERS TAKEN IN SEASON SWEEP BY NIAGARA
Senior Francois Brisebois finished with three points, but Niagara scored 40 seconds into overtime to take a 4-3 win. Colgate saw Brisebois tie his career-high for goals with two and points with three after earning an assist on the second score of the night, while sophomoreThomas Larkin netted the other goal for the Raiders. Junior Kurtis Bartliff added a career-high three assists and the three points were also a best in the loss. Junior goaltender Alex Evin fell just four saves shy of his career best with 39 stops.

UPCOMING ALUMNI TAILGATE
The Colgate Club of New Haven invites all Colgate Alums to the Annual Pre-Game Hockey Tunk at Quinnipiac University on Jan. 7. The Tunk begins at 5:30 p.m. at the TD Bank Sports Center on the campus of Quinnipiac Univrersity, following by Colgate against the Bobcats at 7 p.m. For more information and to reserve your spot visit,www.colgateconnect.org/quinnipiactunk. 

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
Colgate will be playing a two-game set against the Colonials for the second-straight season after Robert Morris came to Starr Rink last year. The Raiders enter the weekend with a 3-10-1 overall mark and have split their last two games. This will be the fourth Atlantic Hockey foe that Colgate has faced this year and the Raiders are 3-2-0 in the previous five matchups. 

Colgate has 19 different skaters with at least one point with 11 earning five or more points. Sophomore Robbie Bourdon has been a main scoring threat recently with a seven-game point streak that was snapped against Niagara on Saturday, but has a team-high 12 points. Senior captain Brian Day has scored in four of the last five games and his seven tallies lead the team. Both Day and Bourdon have three power play goals for the most of the squad. Junior Austin Smith and Brisebois share the lead in assists with eight apiece and each skater has three goals. Junior Corbin McPherson leads all defensemen in points with seven on three goals and four assists. 

In net, Evin has started 12-of-14 games for the Raiders and has a 3-8-1 mark. He added his second career shutout on Dec. 4 against Army with 24 saves and has recorded an .902 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.84. Rookie Eric Mihalik got his second start against Yale on Nov. 20 with a 6-4 loss. He is 0-2-0 on the season and has a save percentage of .852 and a goals against average of 4.59.

On special teams, the power play is slowly getting back on track with six goals in the last five games. The Raiders are 11-for-77 on the man advantage for a 14.3 success rate. The penalty kill has seen some improvement allowing just two goals in the last 21 opportunities for Colgate's opponents. The Raiders have held four teams scoreless on the man advantage this season with the last coming at Army on Dec. 4. The team has jumped to 79.4 percent on the kill.

ALL IN THE FAMILY
Brothers Kevin McNamara and Jack McNamara played together for the first time in the game against Niagara. The siblings are one of seven sets of brothers in ECAC Hockey. Last game against the Purple Eagles, both teams had a set of brothers with Paul and Marc Zanette and the McNamaras. Kevin and Jack will be playing their father's alma mater in the coming weeks at the Ledyard Bank Classic at Dartmouth on Dec. 30 as the Raiders take on Boston College. John McNamara played hockey for the Eagles from 1982-86.

AGAINST ROBERT MORRIS
The Raiders have played the Colonials five times in the last three years with this year's senior class skating in each game. Day has seven career points against Robert Morris with five goals and two assists. He had a natural hat trick back in 2008 in a 5-2 win as he scored even strength, shorthanded and on the power play. Brisebois has five points in his career against the Colonials with a goal and four assists in five games. 

NO SOPHOMORE JINX
So far this season, the sophomore class has stepped up to lead the Raiders in scoring. The eight members of the Class of 2013 have combined for 40 points on 13 goals and 27 assists as all three are team-highs. Bourdon leads the way, but one of the main contributors has been Larkin, who has already eclipsed his goal total from a season ago with four, which ranks third on the team. 

McPHERSON'S MAKING 'EM COUNT
McPherson has five goals in his career and when he tallies a goal, the Raiders are 5-0. He scored a career-high two goals in the 5-0 shutout win over Sacred Heart on Oct. 30 and had another against Army in the 3-0 win on Dec. 4. He posted two goals last season in wins and two of his five scores have been gamewinners. 

MAKING AN UNUSUAL VISIT TO PA
With Robert Morris and Mercyhurst as the only two teams in Pennsylvania, Colgate doesn't have many opportunities to travel south. This will be the first time since 1991-92 that the Raiders will be in Pennsylvania. They played at Mercyhurst and beat the Lakers 7-5 that year. The Keystone State will soon have its third member in Penn State in 2012-13. Penn started a team in 1898, but the university dropped the sport from varsity competition in 1978.

NOT A GOOD RECIPE
So far this season, the recipe for the Raiders winning has been netting three or more goals and not allowing more than one. Colgate is 0-5-0 when scoring two or less and when the opponent scores two or more, the Raiders are 0-9-1. Another note is that Colgate has scored first in eight of its 14 games played and has a 3-5-0 mark in those contests. 

EVIN'S SECOND SHUTOUT
Evin came into this year without a shutout in his previous two seasons. He went 39 starts until he earned his first against Sacred Heart. But it only took seven games between the two shutouts after posting 24 stops at Army on Dec. 4. 

SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL
The Raiders have yet to find a consistent lineup this season. Overall the team has used 24 different line combinations in the four lines allowed. The three that have seen the most ice time together has been juniors Matt Firman and Nick Prockow and centered by senior Austin Mayer. The three have played 11 games together and are 3-7-1 with 11 points on five goals and six assists. Prockow leads the way with three scores and two helpers for five points. 

BREAK FROM LEAGUE OPPONENTS
Colgate will be technically playing in its fifth- and sixth-straight non-conference game, since the loss to Cornell was considered a non-league game. Colgate holds a 3-5-0 record games away from ECAC Hockey and are 1-3 in the last four. The Raiders have outscored its non-conference opponents by a tight 24-20 margin this year. 

MAYER SCORES FIRST IN COLGATE UNIFORM
Mayer scored his first Colgate goal in the loss to Cornell on Nov. 27. Mayer is playing in his first season for the Raiders after spending a pair of years at Providence College of Hockey East. He posted four goals and nine assists with the Friars and played in 46 games. His first point came back on Oct. 30 against Sacred Heart in a 5-0 win. 

DAY NETS 50TH CAREER GOAL AND LOOKING FOR CAREER MILESTONE
The senior forward became the 33rd skater in Colgate history to record his 50th career goal, which came on Nov. 23 at Niagara. Day scored on the power play in the third period. He has 51 goals and 45 assists for 96 points and is four points away from reaching the 100-point plateau. He will be the 48th skater to obtain the milestone. He added to his goal total with the first score against Cornell on Nov. 27. He had his longest scoring streak of the season snapped on Saturday at Niagara after scoring in four straight. 

A STREAKING BOURDON
Bourdon 's longest career point streak ended on Saturday in the loss to Niagara. He had at least one point in seven-straight games. He had two points against Niagara on Nov. 23 with a goal and an assist, while adding a helper against Cornell and Army. With the streak, the sophomore leads the team in points with 12.

SCOUTING THE COLONIALS
Robert Morris enters the weekend set with a 10-4-2 overall record and a 7-4-2 mark in Atlantic Hockey. The Colonials have reached the national rankings this season and have received votes throughout the year. They are currently on a four-game unbeaten streak after sweeping Alabama-Huntsville and earning three points against Bentley the week before. They started the season by winning six of their first eight games. 

Robert Morris is led by Nathan Longpre with 23 points and his 1.53 points per game is seventh in the country. He is second behind Paul Zanette of Niagara in Atlantic Hockey, who the Raiders faced last weekend. He leads the team with four power play goals and has 119 career points in 118 games. Denny Urban has 21 points of the year with six goals and 15 assists, which is tied with Longpre for the most on the Colonials. He has three power play goals as does Chris Kushneriuk, who has five goals on the year with 12 assists for 17 points. 

In net, Robert Morris has started Brooks Ostergard 14-of-16 games and he has a 9-3-1 mark this season. He has made 352 saves and has given up 31 goals for a .919 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.29. Eric Levine has seen action in three games and has three starts. He has a .940 save percentage and a 1.79 goals against average, to go along with a 1-1-1 record. 

On the power play, Robert Morris is in the middle of the pack with 14 goals in 76 opportunities for an 18.4 success rate. Six different skaters have power play goals. The Colonials average just under a goal a game with the man advantage. They have killed off 53-of-63 chances on the penalty kill for a percentage of 84.1. 

SERIES HISTORY
Colgate and Robert Morris will be playing for the sixth time in the series with the Raiders unbeaten in all five matchups with a 4-0-1 mark. The teams first met back in 2007-08 with a two-game set at Starr Rink with Colgate earning the sweep. Last season the Raiders came away with a win and a tie in two more games at Starr. The lone neutral game came in 2008-09 at the Governor's Cup in Albany, N.Y., with the Raiders winning 5-2. This is the first meeting between the two schools at Robert Morris.