Team Notes: Colgate Opens Championship Weekend with No. 3 Yale

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Colgate men's hockey team will look to continue its run through the ECAC Hockey playoffs as the Raiders travel to Atlantic City for championship weekend. 

Colgate will take on second-seeded Yale on Friday evening at 4:30 p.m., followed by a battle of the Bigs as the third-seeded Dartmouth takes on fourth-seeded Cornell at 7:30 p.m. at Boardwalk Hall. Both semifinal matchups will be broadcast live on CBS College Sports. Due the contract between the league and the network, there will be no live video streaming. For live stats and live audio, fan can get those links by logging onto the Men's Hockey Game Central link at gocoglateraiders.com.

The championship game is set for Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. and will be on CBS College Sports as well. 

RAIDERS ADVANCE TO ATLANTIC CITY
Colgate did it again. The Raiders came back to win their second-straight series to earn a ticket to Atlantic City. Chris Wagner led the way in the series with four points, while Wade Poplawski came through in game three with three points with the gamewinner in overtime and two assists. Eric Mihalik made 99 saves in the three games, including two 30-plus efforts in two of the three games. Colgate became the first 12 seed to ever make the final four. 

BACK TO THE SEMIFINALS
For the second time in the last four season, Colgate is heading to the ECAC Hockey Championship. The Raiders were previously in Albany in 2008 when they lost to Princeton after upsetting top-seeded Clarkson in the quarterfinals. This is the eighth time under coach Vaughn that the Raiders will be making a trip to championship weekend. 

POSTSEASON LEADERS
Colgate has scored 18 goals and tallied 28 assists for 46 points this postseason. Chris Wagner is the team leader with six points after posting four in the series win against Union. Austin Smith has five points on two goals and three assists. Both Smith and Wagner have power play goals, along with Francois Brisebois, Kurtis Bartliff and Jeremy Price. Wade Poplawski has come up big for the Raiders on both ends of the ice and has a goal and four helpers for five points this postseason.

PLAYOFF RUN KEEPS GOING AND GOING
The Raiders scored another series win in dramatic fashion with Poplawski's goal. Colgate is the first-ever 12 seed to make it all the way to championship weekend. Colgate entered the playoffs with four conference wins and all came in the month of February. They have beaten the fifth seed and No. 1 seed this playoff season and are the only team that didn't receive a bye to reach the final four. 

NOT BURNT OUT 
Colgate has been a busy team this season, playing at least one game every weekend except the weekend before Christmas. Those numbers say that 22 of a possible 23 weekends during the season, the Raiders were either ion the road or at Starr Rink. That number also includes a exhibition game against Brock University in Ontario. 

RIGHT AT HOME ON THE ROAD
Colgate has been a traveling team this year with 27-of-40 games on the road or at a neutral site. The longest homestand came in mid-November with back-to-back ECAC Hockey weekends. They have not played at Starr Rink since Feb. 19 against Harvard in a 2-1 win. Overall, Colgate is 7-18-2 away from Starr. The Raiders are 4-3-1 since playing the Crimson at home. 

VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
Colgate enters the weekend with 16 games against ranked opponents this season. All three teams at the championship are ranked. Yale is No. 3 in the national poll, followed by Dartmouth at No. 15 and Cornell broke in this week at No. 20. Colgate is 6-9-1 this season against ranked opponents, but is 6-3-1 in the last 10 games against teams in the national polls. 

THIRD PERIOD IMPROVEMENTS 
The final 20 minutes for the Raiders has been very interesting this season. Colgate struggled in the regular season when it came to the third period. The Raiders were able to put shots on net, but couldn't get on the board. They were outscored 46-29 in the final period during the year, but in the playoffs they are on top by a 9-4 margin and including OT its 11-4. However, they are being outshot 70-64 in that same time frame. 

SEASONED IN THE EXTRA SESSION
Colgate's senior class has seen their fair share of overtime games in their careers. Each player has played in 48 overtime games. For Poplawski, he has played in overtime 38% of his career in college hockey. Day and Brisebois have played more games, but a third of their games have been overtime games. The trio was there in 2008-09 when Colgate played in a record 19 overtime games, including seven-straight to end the season. This year they have played in 10 overtime games with a 3-4-3 record. 

ELIMINATION GAME SUCCESS
With its backs against the wall this season, the Raiders have come through with a 4-0 record in elimination games. The seniors have played a lot of games with the season on the line and have a 9-4 in win or go home games. This season has been quite memorable as only one of the four wins this year in the playoffs came with a lead after the second period. Game two at Rensselaer, the Raiders had a 3-2 lead at the end of 20 minutes. Colgate was tied in game three at RPI (1-1) and Union (2-2) and the Raiders were down 2-0 in game two at the Dutchmen. 

ROOKIES WIN WEEKLY AWARDS
Chris Wagner and Mihalik were both honored by ECAC Hockey this week as Wagner was named Rookie of the Week and Mihalik was given the Goalie of the Week honor for the second-straight week and third time this season. Wagner is the first player other than Mihalik to win a weekly award. Mihalik was named Rookie of the Week earlier in the season. Wagner had four points last week, including three in the second game win at Union. 

SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL
The Raiders have finally found its consistency in the lineup. Colgate has not messed with its lineup since the playoffs started as the top three lines have not changed. Overall this year, the team has used 50-plus line combinations in the four lines allowed. The three that have seen the most ice time together has been Bartliff, Smith and Brisebois with 15 games together. The trio has been together during the entire playoff run and has a 8-5-2 mark when put on the same line. 

MIHALIK GAINS NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Eric Mihalik was brilliant in net for the Raiders last weekend and because of his efforts he earned Inside College Hockey's Player of the Week award. He also earned his third conference weekly award as the ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Week for the second time this season. Three weeks ago, he was voted as the Rookie of the Week after sweeping Dartmouth and Harvard.

ROOKIE WINS TWO SERIES
Mihalik became the first rookie goaltender in the history of Colgate to win two series in the same postseason. Last week he beat RPI to become the first rookie since Dan Brenzavich. He was the last and it came against Vermont, who featured Tim Thomas, Martin St. Louis and Eric Perrin. Don Vaughan was in his third year and current assistant coach Brad Dexter was a defenseman on the squad.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
The Raiders advance to the semifinals with a 11-26-3 record and are 8-4-1 in its last 13 games. Colgate is averaging three goals a game in the playoffs, which is above its season average of 2.6. The Raiders have climbed to eighth in the conference in scoring offense after the weekend. The team is allowing 2.7 goals in the playoffs and that is well below the season average of 3.33. 

Colgate is one of four 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 Briseboisis the team leader in goals and points with 16 scores and 33 points. He has set a new career-high for points in a season. Six of his goals came on the power play and he has four points in the six playoff games. Austin Smith is second on the team with 30 points on 10 goals and 20 helpers. Kurtis Bartliff is tied with Smith for the team lead in assists with 20 and has 11 points in his last 12 games. Robbie Bourdon added to his goal total this past weekend with the gamewinner in game two. His 11 goals is second on the team. Jeremy Price is the leader in points on the blueline with five goals and 14 assists. 

In net, Rookie Eric Mihalik has taken over as the primary netminder with 19 starts in the last 20 games. He has an 8-13-2 overall record with a 2.82 goals against average. He won back-to-back Goaltender of the Week awards from the league after becoming the first rookie netminder to win two series in the same postseason. 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 has shown up in the postseason with five goals in 24 chances for a 20.8 success rate, which is well above its season average of 14 percent. Overall, they are 10th in the league at 14 percent (28/200). On the kill, Colgate had their hands full with Union and held them off the board in game two, but gave up three goals in the series. The Raiders are 16-for-22 on the kill in the playoffs, which is 72.7 percent.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Third-ranked Yale made it to Atlantic City with a 2-1 series win over 11th-seeded St. Lawrence and had to come back from a one-game deficit after game one. They have gone unbeaten in seven of their last eight games and have an overall record of 25-6-1. The lone tie for the Elis came against the Raiders in the second to last game of the regular season. It was the only overtime game for Yale all regular season. They have played two in the last five games. Yale is among the top two teams in the national in scoring offense and defense. The Bulldogs lead the country with an average of 4.25 goals per game and are allowing just over two. Their 2.12 scoring margin is tops in the nation. 

Yale had two representatives on the first team all-league with Brian O'Neill and Andrew Miller. O'Neill has 18 goals and 22 assists and is a finalist for ECAC Hockey Player of the Year. Half (9) of his goals have come on the power play and he posted 12 goals and 13 assists during the ECAC season. Overall he has 111 points in his three years with Yale. Miller also has 40 points with 11 goals and 29 helper. He has 74 points in his career and is a sophomore. The Elis boast three other skaters with 30 or more points. Broc Little has 39, while Denny Kearney and Chris Cahill are at 36 and 31, respectively. Jimmy Martin is the leader on the blueline with 20 points on seven goals and 13 assists. Freshman Kenny Agostino and Gus Young are the only two NHL draft picks on the squad. Agostino's rights are with Pittsburgh, while Young was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche. 

In net, Ryan Rondeau has started 30 of a possible 32 games this season and has a 24-5-1 record with four shutouts. He has played over 1700 minutes, which is 91% of Yale's ice time. He is second in the nation in goals against average at 1.96 with 58 goals against this year. He is tied with Dartmouth's James Mello for second in save percentage at .928 and his .817 winning percentage is second as well. He started both games against the Raiders, giving up five goals, including four at Starr Rink on Nov. 20 in a 6-4 win. 

Once again, the Raiders will be going up against a strong power play unit on Friday night. The Elis are at 24.4 percent with the extra skater and have 43 goals in 176 chances. They have had 11 different players score on the power play and six have four or more tallies. O'Neill leads the way with nine. If there is one area that Yale has struggled this season, it is on the penalty kill. The Bulldogs rank 24th nationally at 82.7 percent. They have given up 26 goals in 150 chances to their opponents and they average 14.7 minutes of penalties per game which is 17th in the nation and fourth in ECAC Hockey.

SERIES HISTORY
These two schools will be playing for the 92nd time in the series history, which dates back to 1916-17. The series against Rensselaer is the only other rivalry that has lasted longer than Yale as Colgate has played the Engineers since 1915-16. The Raiders hold a 47-39-5 advantage over Yale and the Bulldogs have a 3-1-2 advantage over the last six with four of the games going to overtime. Yale earned three points in league this year against Colgate with a 6-4 win at Starr Rink and a 1-1 tie at Ingalls. 

SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN
Third-seeded Dartmouth heads to Atlantic City after defeating Harvard in game three last Sunday by a 4-3 score. Just like Yale and Colgate, the Big Green had to come back from a one-game deficit in the series. All three games against the Crimson were one-goal games. First night it was Harvard taking a 3-2 win and the series lead. The set changed in Dartmouth's favor in overtime with a 2-1 win. The third game was a two-goal game until the final seconds when Harvard got to within one at 4-3. Dartmouth's numbers don't jump out as much as Yale, but the 15th-ranked Big Green have been consistent for most of the season. Dartmouth is averaging 3.31 goals per game and giving up just over 2.5 and have a 18-11-3 overall mark. The Big Green hasn't enjoyed a long win streak this season, with the longest at four games in January. 

Scott Fleming has been the catalyst for this team with 30 points on 13 goals and 17 helpers. Five have come on the power play and he reached the 100-point club this season. Adam Escolet did as well and did it with a pair of goals against St. Lawrence late in the year. The senior had two goals in the Harvard series. Doug Jones is second on the team with 29 points and leads the squad with 21 assists. Estoclet has been the goal scorer for the Big Green with 15 on the year and has also added 12 helpers for 27 points. Matt Lindblad has been a welcomed addition and came through this year with 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points. Evan Stephens is the leader at the blueline with three goals and 16 assists for 19 points, but Joe Stejskal was the lone skater to earn All-ECAC Hockey honors. 

In net, James Mello has really stepped up for Dartmouth and is one of three finalist for the league's Player of the Year award. He has started 28 of the Big Green's 32 contests and has a 16-8-3 mark with two shutouts. He leads the league in save percentage at .928 and is fourth in GAA with a mark of 2.19. He was 1-1 against the Raiders this season with a 7-3 win at home in January, but slipped up at Starr Rink in a 5-3 loss. Jody O'Neill was in net in the first meeting of the season, which came in the Ledyard Classic at Dartmouth. The Big Green won that matchup by a 4-3 score in overtime. 

The Dartmouth power play dipped below 20 percent after last weekend against Harvard. The Big Green sit at 19.5 percent with 24 goals in 123 chances. Lindblad has six of the 24 goals, while Fleming has five. On the kill, Dartmouth is in the middle of the road in the conference at 83.6 percent. The Big Green have given up 20 goals in 122 chances to its opponents. 

SERIES HISTORY
The Dartmouth-Colgate series is one of the most competitive in the country as the team's are even at 41-41-5 in 87 games. Dartmouth went from being a game down at the start of the season and has won two of three this year. The series has gone to overtime 13 times with Colgate holding a 5-3-5 advantage, which includes Dartmouth's triumph in the consolation game of the Ledyard Classic on New Year's Eve. These two teams played the longest game in Colgate history as it was just over 121 minutes long with Kyle Wilson scoring the gamewinner in 2003 in a 4-3 win. The series began in 1928-29 with Dartmouth winning 9-1 in Hamilton. 

SCOUTING THE BIG RED
Fourth-seeded Cornell jumps into the semifinals after winning in overtime against Quinnipiac in Game 3 at Lynah Rink. The Big Red was the only team in the playoffs to win a series after taking the first game. All three games were decided by one goal. Cornell made it into the rankings this week and is 20th in the USCHO National Poll. The Big Red is 15-14-3 this season and is averaging just 2.59 goals per game. The scoring margin for Cornell is the closest in the league at 0.03 as the Big Red is giving up 2.56 goals.

Greg Miller leads the team in points with 28 on four goals and 24 assists, including two power play goals and a shorthanded goal. Joe Devin has been the dynamic player for this team. He had two goals, including the overtime gamewinner in game three against the Bobcats and had both goals in the 2-1 win in game one. He scored four of the five goals during the weekend. Tyler Roeszler is third on the team with 24 pints on 12 goals and 12 assists. He burnt the Raiders last time these two teams met with a hat trick in the 5-2 win for the Big Red at home. Nick D'Agostino is the leader on defense with 17 points on seven goals and 10 assists. 

In net, both Mike Garman and Andy Ilnes have shared time with each earning 16 starts. Ilnes has an 8-6-2 record overall. He did what he could on Saturday night against Qpac in a 1-0 loss. Ilnes has a .921 save percentage and a 2.25 goals against average. Garman earned the two wins against the Bobcats, including a 37-save effort in the third game. He is 7-8-1 with a .922 save percentage and a 2.35 goals against. Ilnes has beaten Colgate twice this season, while Garman was in net for the 1-1 tie at Starr Rink. 

Cornell's power play is ranked eighth in the conference with 22 goals in 130 chances for a 16.9 success rate. Joe Devin leads the team with five power play goals, while his brother Mike Devin has four. The kill is where the team helps itself to win games as the Big Red is tops in the league at 85.5 percent. Cornell has allowed 21 goals in 145 chances to its opponents. 

SERIES HISTORY
Colgate and Cornell will be meeting for the 140th time in the series with the Big Red holding a 73-54-12 advantage. Cornell has gone unbeaten in the last seven meetings with a 5-0-2 mark. The series is the second-longest for Colgate as Clarkson and the Raiders have played more games, but should the Big Red and Raiders match up this weekend they will tie Clarkson. The Golden Knights and Colgate have matched up 140 times. The first meeting for Cornell and Colgate came in 1920-21 on an outdoor rink in Ithaca.