Team Notes: Raiders Skate Back into Conference Play

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Colgate men's hockey team jumps back into ECAC Hockey this weekend with a visit to Quinnipiac on Friday night and a Sunday matinee at Princeton on national television. Sunday's game will be featured on ESPNU nationally at 4 p.m., while Friday's night game is set for 7 p.m. at the TD Bank Sports Center. All game day links for live audio and video, as well as live stats is available at the Men's Hockey Game Central link at gocolgateraiders.com. 

CORNELL TICKETS NOW ON SALE
Tickets for the upcoming game against Cornell on Jan. 21 are now on sale at the Colgate Ticket Office. Fans can purchase their tickets by calling 315-228-7600 or by logging onto gocolgateraiders.com.

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. 

RAIDERS DROP ONE-GOAL GAMES AT LEDYARD CLASSIC
Colgate fell in both games at the Ledyard Classic at Dartmouth with a 6-5 loss to #4 Boston College and a 4-3 overtime defeat at the hands of the hosts. Junior Austin Smithand sophomore Kurtis Bartliff led the way with three points on a goal and two helpers apiece. The Raiders had nine different goal scorers during the weekend, while juniorBryan Bessette made his first start of the year and made a career-high 39 saves against the Big Green.

TOUGH DEFEATS FOR THE RAIDERS RECENTLY
Colgate had its chance to win each of its last seven games despite the team's record. The Raiders have lost five one-goal games during the seven-game stretch. Four of the last five losses have been by one goal and three losses have come in overtime. In both games at the Ledyard Classic, Colgate was able to get early two-goal leads, but couldn't hold off its opponents. 

BACK TO LEAGUE PLAY
The Raiders jump back into league play this weekend after a long break away from ECAC Hockey. Colgate has just conference games left and has work to do with an 0-5-1 mark in league. The Raiders have 16 conference matchups remaining, so there is still time to make a move in the standings. 

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.

LEADING BLUELINER
Junior Corbin McPherson has been a consistent scorer from the blueline and is a physical presence as well. The Devils draft pick and 6-4 defenseman has already reached his career-high in points with eight this year and his four gaols is a career best for the native of California. He added to his goal total against Boston College, scoring with eight seconds remaining in the game. 

DAY LOOKING FOR CAREER MILESTONE
Senior forward Brian Day 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 52 goals and 46 assists for 98 points and is two points away from reaching the 100-point plateau. He will be the 49th skater to obtain the milestone. He had his longest scoring streak of the season snapped on Dec. 11 against Niagara after scoring in four straight. He has scored in six of his last seven games. 

SMITH CATCHING FIRE
Junior Austin Smith is riding a six-game point streak and has posted eight points during the streak. He has two multi-point games in the last six games and has scored three times. Smith has actually scored in eight of the last nine contests and has taken over as the team's leading scorer. He has jumped to 13th in the league in points with 17 and he is ninth in assists with 12. He now has 89 points in his career, which is second behind Day on this year's squad.

“LIFF”TING HIS GAME
With the season at the midpoint, sophomore Kurtis Bartliff has stepped up to become a scoring threat for the Raiders. He passed his previous high in points last weekend with three points in two games. He has two goals, a career-high 10 assists and 12 points for another collegiate-high. His 10 helpers are second behind Smith. He set game highs against Niagara on Dec. 11 with three assists for three points and has seven in his last five games.

SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL
The Raiders have yet to find a consistent lineup this season. Overall the team has used 35 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 12 games together and are 3-8-1 with 12 points on five goals and seven assists. Prockow leads the way with three scores and three helpers for six points.

BESSETTE MAKES 39 SAVES IN SEASON DEBUT 
Junior Bryan Bessette got the call in the consolation game of Ledyard Classic and made the most of his opportunity with 39 stops, but took the loss in the 4-3 overtime defeat. The 39 saves were a career-high and he kept Colgate in the game in the second period with 17 saves and 12 in the third.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
Colgate enters the weekend with a 3-14-1 mark and will be facing its third and second-straight nationally-ranked program in Princeton. The Raiders are back in conference play for the first time since Nov. 20 against Yale. They went 1-7-0 during the break from conference foes with the lone win coming at Army on Dec. 4 in a 3-0 victory. 

Colgate has 21 different skaters with at least one point with 12 earning five or more points. Austin Smith has taken over as the team's leading scorer after a three-point weekend. He has 17 points on a team-high 12 assists, to go along with five goals. Smith is riding his longest point streak of the season at six games. Senior captain Brian Day has tallied a point in six of his last nine games and has 13 points, including a team-high eight goals. Day leads the team with four power play goals. Classmate Francois Brisebois is second on the team in points with 14 on five goals and nine assists. Junior Corbin McPherson leads all defensemen in points with eight on four goals and four assists. 

In net, junior Alex Evin has started 13-of-18 games for the Raiders and has a 3-9-1 mark. He added his second career shutout on Dec. 4 against Army with 24 saves and has recorded an .893 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.07. Rookie Eric Mihalik earned back-to-back starts for the first time this year with the two games at Robert Morris. He made a season-high 39 stops in the 3-2 overtime loss on Saturday. Mihalik dropped his GAA to 3.78, but remains winless at 0-4. Bessette earned his first start of the season against Dartmouth and posted 39 saves, including 17 in the second frame. He is 0-1-0 and has a save percentage of .907 and a goals against average of 3.84. 

On special teams, the power play is slowly getting back on track with at least a goal in six of the last seven games. They have moved up to ninth in the conference with a 14.6 (14-of-96) success rate. On the kill, Colgate is 11th in ECAC Hockey at 79.5 percent, but has drastically improved from the beginning of the season. They have allowed five power play goals in the last eight games and have killed off 32 of the last 37 opponent opportunities for a 86.5 percentage rate.

SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Quinnipiac is coming off a series sweep of Nebraska-Omaha at home last week and a 1-1 tie against Princeton on Monday night. The Mavericks were ranked eighth in the nation when they went to the TD Bank Sports Center. The Bobcats will skate onto the ice with a 10-9-2 record overall and a 4-5-2 mark in conference play and they currently sit in the fourth position in ECAC Hockey standings. Quinnipiac is unbeaten in its last three and four of its last five matchups. 

The Bobcats have six skaters with 10 or more points, led by Yuri Bouharevich with 13 on the year on four goals and nine assists and he has added the lone shorthanded goal for Quinnipiac this season. His nine helpers are the most on the team. Jeremy Langlois is second on the team with 12 points and leads the squad with four goals on the power play. Scott Zurevinski has eight goals, which is the most on the team with three coming on the power play. He has a total of 11 points and 33 penalty minutes. Defenseman Loren Barron is tied with Bouharevich in assists with nine and leads all blueliners with 10 points. 

In net, Eric Hartzell and Dan Clarke have split time between the pipes for the Bobcats. Hartzell has played in 13 games with 12 starts. He has an impressive record at 7-2-1 with a goals against average of 2.38. In his 13 games played, he has pushed aside 374 for a save percentage of .930, which is one of the best in the conference. Clarke has gotten nine starts and seen action in 11 games. He has a 3-7-1 record with a .871 save percentage and 3.48 goals against. 

On the power play, the Bobcats are seventh in ECAC Hockey with 16 goals in 95 chances for a 16.8 success rate. They have gotten power play goals from nine different players, led by Langlois. On the kill, they are dead last in the league, giving up 19 goals in 84 opportunities to their opponents for a 77.4 percentage rate. Quinnipiac is 11th in the conference in combined special teams and is one percentage point ahead of Colgate in the category. 

SERIES HISTORY
The series between Quinnipiac and Colgate is the only even historical matchup that the Raiders have. The two schools have played to an 8-8-2 mark over the last five seasons. In two of those years, the two played five times. The Bobcats took this season's first meeting at Starr Rink by a 3-1 score to make it four-straight against the Raiders. The teams have played seven overtime games out of the 18 in the series with Colgate holding a 3-2-2 advantage. The two teams played four extra-period games in one season back in 2008-09. The scoring is also very even with the Raiders scoring 44 goals in the series to the Bobcats' 45.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Princeton enters the weekend with its first national ranking of the season at No. 19 in the USCHO.com National Poll. The Tigers are unbeaten in their last six games, which is the third-longest current unbeaten streak in the nation behind Yale and North Dakota, who have gone without a loss in their last seven games. They won the UConn Holiday Classic with wins over Bowling Green and Connecticut and followed that with a 1-1 tie at Quinnipiac on Monday. During the streak, they dismantled UMass Lowell, outscoring the River Hawks, 12-4 in two games. 

Rookie Andrew Calof leads the team with 16 points on a team-high 14 assists and two goals. One of his goals came as a shorthanded score. Matt Arhontas is tops on the team in goals with seven and also leads the squad with four power play goals. Taylor Fedun and Derrick Pallis have been key contributors from the blueline as the two have 11 and 10 points, respectively. They each have four goals to lead all defensemen. 

In net, Mike Condon and Sean Bonar have split time for the Tigers. Condon has started seven games and has a 4-2-1 mark with a 1.99 goals against average and a save percentage of .932. Bonar has started six games and is tops in the league in both goals against average and save percentage. He has recorded a GAA of 1.16, giving up seven goals in 361 minutes of ice time. Bonar has a .905 save percentage with 132 saves on 139 shots and a record of 5-1-0. Alan Reynolds has seen action as well with three starts and is 1-2-0. 

The penalty kill is a strength of Princeton as the Tigers have given up eight goals in 75 opportunities for their opponents for a 89.3 percent success rate. There success on the kill is a main reason why they are leading ECAC Hockey in scoring defense and fourth in the nation. On the power play, they rank fourth in the conference with 19 goals on 86 chances for a 22.1 success rate. 

SERIES HISTORY
Princeton and Colgate will be matched up for the 96th time since the two schools first met back in 1935-36. The Raiders hold a 47-42-6 advantage in the series. The longest winning streak for either team is nine, which was Princeton in the mid-90s. The Raiders longest streak was seven from 1966 to 1970. The Tigers own a 3-2-0 record over the last five games with three of the games going to overtime. The teams played last November with the Tigers edging out Colgate 4-3 at Starr Rink.