Team Notes: Colgate Hits the Road for Two Top-10 Teams

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Colgate men's hockey team will look to build off of its first conference win, but it won't come easy as the Raiders face two ranked opponents in Rensselaer and Union. 

First up for Colgate is eighth-ranked Rensselaer on Friday night at 7 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. faceoff at ninth-ranked Union. All necessary links for both games are available through the Men's Hockey Game Central link on gocolgateraiders.com. 

RAIDERS WIN FIRST CONFERENCE GAME
After being shutout for the first time in 39 games, Colgate put together its best game of the ECAC Hockey season with a 4-2 win over Clarkson to halt a 14-game winless streak. Kurtis Bartliff tallied his first collegiate two-goal game with both coming in the first period. The Golden Knights made it interesting with an extra attacker goal with less than two minutes left, but Matt Firman's empty netter sealed the deal to give the Raiders their first conference win. Francois Brisebois scored the gamewinner on a nice coast-to-coast play.

FULL TEAM EFFORT
Despite the team's record, the Raiders have gotten contributions from everyone on the team. After Mike Leidl tallied an assist against Cornell on Jan. 22, Colgate, St. Lawrence and second-ranked Yale are the only teams in ECAC Hockey to have every skater score at least one point this season. With Leidl and Mark Nasca scoring goals at Dartmouth on Jan. 29, Colgate is the only team in the conference with each skater earning two points. The Raiders have a total of 184 points on the year, while the Bulldogs have 269 and the Saints have 192. Dartmouth, Quinnipiac and St. Lawrence are close to joining Colgate and the Elis as the three need one more skater to earn a point. It is the first time since 1999-2000 that the Raiders have had all skaters score at least one point.

AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
The Raiders will be facing their seventh and eighth ranked teams this weekend and Colgate has not faired well in the previous six games against top teams. Four of the six games have been decided by one-goal, including the first two meetings between Rensselaer and Union, when both were 2-1 games. The best effort given by the Raiders against a ranked team came against then No. 4 Boston College. The Eagles are now ranked No. 1, but Colgate gave them a scare with a two-goal lead in the first period. Unfortunately, the defending national champs came back and got a 6-5 win on Dec. 30.

DOESN'T GET EASIER
If the Raiders want to move up the standings they will have to beat some very good teams. Four of the final six games of the regular season are against ranked opponents, starting this weekend with RPI and Union. Next week, they face 17th-ranked Dartmouth, who beat Colgate 7-3 on Jan. 29. The following weekend, the second-ranked Bulldogs will be waiting. 

BARTLIFF'S CAREER NIGHT
Sophomore Kurtis Bartliff recorded his first career multi-goal game after tallying two in the opening period in the win over Clarkson on Saturday. He entered the weekend with six career goals in six different games and had three tallies this season. He is one away from his career-best in goals. He has career-highs in assists (13) and points (18) this year. His first score of the night came on the power play.

NO OVERTIME PLEASE
The Raiders have not lost to the Engineers in regulation and in a league game since 2002. Earlier this season, Rensselaer earned the win in overtime on a penalty shot and it was the fifth overtime game since 2002. Colgate has a 1-3-1 record in those five matchups. The Engineers won 2-0 in regulation in 2007, but it came as a neutral site game at the Governor's Cup.

SMITH UP NEXT
After scoring two points in the win over Clarkson, Austin Smith is just six points from 100 in his career. He hopes to become the 49th player in Colgate history to reach the milestone after teammate Brian Day achieved the milestone earlier this year. In 101 games, he has 40 goals and 54 assists fro 94 points, which is 0.9 points per games in his career. 

McPHERSON'S MILESTONE 
Junior Corbin McPherson will be the fifth player this season to play in his 100th career game. If the 6-4 draft pick of the Devils plays on Friday night against Rensselaer it will be his 100th game. He has six goals and 16 assists in 99 games prior to the weekend.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
Colgate enters the weekend with a 4-22-2 mark and will be traveling to the Capital District to face ranked teams Rensselaer and Union. The Raiders came through with their first conference win and sit at 1-13-2 in ECAC Hockey. Colgate is averaging 2.46 goals per game and is giving up 3.54 a contest. The average went down after the shutout on Friday night, but Colgate scored four goals for the first time since Jan. 9 at Princeton in the win over Clarkson.

Colgate, St. Lawrence and Yale are the only two teams in ECAC Hockey that have had every skater score a point, but the Raiders are the only team with two points for every skater. Francois Brisebois is the team leader in goals and points with 10 scores and 23 points. He is two away from a career-high in points. Three of his goals came on the power play and he has three goals in the last four games and four points in the last four. Austin Smith has posted a team-high 15 assists after a two-helper night against Clarkson. Brian Day and Robbie Bourdon are tied for second on the team with eight goals, while Kurtis Bartliff is enjoying his best season with five goals and 13 assists for a career-high 18 points. 

In net, Rookie Eric Mihalik has earned the last two starts and got his first collegiate win on Saturday. He made 20-plus saves in each game over the weekend. Mihalik is 1-9-1 overall and has a 3.13 goals against and a save percentage of .883. Junior Alex Evin has started 14 games for the Raiders and has a 3-10-1 mark. He added his second career shutout on Dec. 4 against Army with 24 saves and has recorded an .891 save percentage and a goals against average of 3.22. Junior Bryan Bessette earned his second start against Dartmouth on Jan. 29, but was pulled in the second period. He is 0-3-0 and has a save percentage of .892 and a goals against average of 3.91. 

The Colgate power play continues to be hit or miss. The Raiders tallied one goal in the 13 chances last weekend, but had many quality chances. Overall, they are last in the league at 11.8 percent (18/155). On the kill, Colgate is at 78.4 percent and had a tough time on Friday night against St. Lawrence as the Raiders gave up three power play goals for the third time this season and for the first time since Princeton on Jan. 9.

SCOUTING THE ENGINEERS
Rensselaer hosts the Raiders with its highest ranking of the season as the Engineers are eighth nationally. They are 18-6-4 overall and 10-5-1 in conference, which puts them in third place in the league with 21 points. They are currently on a seven-game unbeaten streak and coming off a 3-3 tie at Quinnipiac and a 5-2 win at Princeton. Rensselaer enters the weekend as the nation's second-best team in scoring defense, allowing just 2.07 goals per game. The Engineers are averaging 3.11 goals per game on offense. 

Rensselaer is led by Chase Polacek, who has 42 points is tied for second in the nation and he is tied for fourth in points per game at 1.5. He has 17 goals and 25 assist for 42 points. He has the scoring lead in ECAC Hockey by 10 points. His eight power play tallies is second in the league and is tops with eight game-winning goals. Tyler Helfrich is not far behind with 30 points on 13 goals and 17 assists. He has five power play goals and three gamewinners. Nick Bailen is third with 29 points on eight goals and 21 assists. Bailen is the leading scorer among defensemen in the league. 

In net, Allen York has started 26-of-28 games and has a 16-6-3 record. The Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick has a .928 save percentage and a goal against average of 1.89. He is second in the league in each category. York has two shutouts and gave up just one goal in the first matchup between these two schools. Bryce Merriam has played in four games and has a .912 save percentage and a GAA of 3.20. 

On the power play, the Engineers are 20 percent with 30 goals on 150 chances. They are averaging 1.1 goals per game on the power play and are earning 5.4 chances each contest. Nine different skaters have power play goals and six have three or more. On the kill, Rensselaer is fourth in ECAC Hockey, allowing 23 goals on 153 chances for its opponents. They have three shorties and an 85 percent success rate. 

SERIES HISTORY
Rensselaer and Colgate will be playing for the 111th time since 1915-16 and this series is the oldest in Raiders hockey history as it stretches 96 years. Colgate has played more games against Clarkson and Cornell, but those two series began in 1927. Colgate's first ever game was against the Engineers in 1915-16 with the Raiders winning 6-1. It was the only game of the season. The Engineers have a slight advantage at 55-52-3. Only the series with Dartmouth is closer (41-40-5). The Raiders are 6-4-0 in the last 10 games, which has featured four overtime games. RPI took the first meeting on an overtime penalty shot score (2-1).

SCOUTING THE DUTCHMEN
Union enters the weekend as the ninth-ranked team in the nation with a 20-7-3 mark overall and 12-3-1 record in conference. The Dutchmen are the only team in Division I with 20 wins this season. They have won five in a row and nine of their last 10 games with the lone loss coming against Dartmouth on Jan. 21 in a 4-1 defeat. Last weekend, they beat Princeton 7-4 and Quinnipiac in overtime by a 3-2 score. Union is second in the league at 3.63 goals per game and are only allowing 2.1 scores to its opponents. 

The Dutchmen are a scoring machine with seven skaters with 20 or more points. They are led by Jeremy Welsh, who has 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points. He has six power play goals, but is still four behind team leader Daniel Carr. The rookie has 10 power play goals and 16 overall as both are team highs. Kelly Zajac is tied with Carr for second on the team in points with 30. He has nine goals and a team best 21 assists. Wayne Simpson has chipped in with seven power play goals and has 10 overall. The Dutchmen have 18 skaters with at least one goal this season. 

In net, Keith Kinkaid continues to be one of the best netminders in the nation with a 19-7-2 overall record in 27 starts. He has two shutouts and has given up 55 goals on 691 shots for a .920 save percentage. He is in the top-6 in each goaltending category in ECAC Hockey. His .714 winning percentage is second behind Ryan Rondeau of Yale. His is fourth in GAA at 2.00

The Union power play is by far the best in the nation at 30.5 percent. The Dutchmen have kept that number above 30 percent for most of the season. They have 40 goals in 131 opportunities. Their kill is nothing to get excited about at 83.3 percent and Saturday's matchup will be between two teams without a shorthanded goal. Out of the 109 goals scored by the Dutchmen, none have been down a man. 

SERIES HISTORY
The Raiders and Union have matched up 53 times prior to this weekend and Colgate has dominated the series with a 35-16-2 advantage since the first meeting back in 1928-29. The two schools have played just about even the last 10 games with Union holding a slim 4-5-1 lead after winning the first meeting of this season. The Dutchmen snapped a 12-game winless streak in Hamilton with its first win at Starr Rink since 1998. Union had only won once at Starr Rink prior to the 2-1 win on Jan. 14.