Colgate Announces Team Awards

HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Colgate men's hockey team announced its 2010-11 team awards at the team's annual banquet Saturday, April 2, at the Colgate Inn, highlighted by senior Wade Poplawski receiving the Terry Slater Trophy. 

All the awards that were given out at the end of the year were voted on by the players. 

Poplawski, who played in 37 games as a senior and registered a goal and nine assists for 10 points, was named the recipient of the Terry Slater Trophy. The trophy is awarded by the Silver Puck Club and goes to the senior whose performance, leadership, and dedication on and off the ice during his career had the greatest impact on Colgate hockey. Slater, who presided over the Raider hockey program for 15 years, passed away due to a stroke at the midway point of the 1991-92 season.

The senior defenseman had six of his 10 points in the postseason, including a three-point outing in the series winning third game against Union. He scored his only goal of the season, but the biggest in overtime in the deciding third game to send the Raiders to Atlantic City. The Winnipeg native was a model student-athlete for Colgate as well. He has been named to the ECAC Hockey All-Academic Team three times and has been named to the Raider Honor Roll numerous times. 

The Steve Riggs Award was the first of the night and went to sophomore Kurtis Bartliff. The award is given to the player that shows gentlemanly play and a high standard of play. Bartliff enjoyed a breakout season for the Raiders with 28 points on seven goals and 21 assists, after posting nine points last year. His assists were tied with Austin Smith for tops on the team and 12th in ECAC Hockey. He was second on the team in power play points with 12 and had eight multi-point games. One of the reasons he was given the award was his discipline on the ice as he didn't commit a penalty all regular season and had a streak of 59 games without a visit to the box. 

The Rob Ries Award, which is awarded to the player who provides leadership and inspiration to his teammates, was given to senior captain Brian Day. The forward became the 48th player in Colgate history to reach 100 points and the 33rd to record 50 goals and 50 assists in a career. This year, he had 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points, which was fifth on the team. He was a finalist for the ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year award and ranks 39th all-time on the scoring list in Colgate history. He served as the Raiders' captain after he was an assistant captain as a junior. 

The next honor was the Dan Coley “Barrell” Award, which is given to the team's top defenseman. Junior Corbin McPherson earned the honor after playing in all but one game this season on the blueline. He recorded four goals and six assists for 10 points, which was tied for second on the team among defensemen. Five of the six assists came in conference play and two of his four goals were gamewinners. He had a career day against Sacred Heart on Oct. 30, as he had three points on a goal and an assist. 

Senior assistant captain Francois Brisebois took home the first of three awards on the night as he was named the recipient of the Whit Williams Award. The honor is given to the player who over the course of a single season or a career, showed the greatest improvement. Brisebois definitely fit the profile as he enjoyed his best season as a Raider with 34 points on 17 goals and 17 assists. All three numbers were career highs. He led the team with three mutli-goal games and had eight games with two or more points. Brisebois really came through for the Colgate in the postseason with five points on four goals and an assist. 

He was then named the Best Offensive Player for his second award of the night. The honor is given to the team's highest scorer and for the first time in his career the Montreal native earned the award. He had six power play goals out of his 17, which was a career high after posting four the past two years. Finished his career with 40 goals and 46 assists for 86 points. 

Following the offense, came the defense and the Best Defensive Player was rookie goaltender Eric Mihalik. He led the team with 23 starts in net and started 21 of the last 22 games in net. He was named ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the week three times and earned Rookie of the Week honors as well. Mihalik also won the biggest weekly award of the season after the RPI series when he was named the Inside College Hockey National Player of the Week. He was the first rookie goaltender to win two playoff series in one season and knocked off two NCAA Tournament teams in the process. He posted a 2.92 goals against average and a .903 save percentage during the season, but in the second season had a 2.78 GAA and a .914 save percentage. He went 4-4 in the postseason and made 30-plus saves 11 times and had nine efforts of 30 or more saves in the final 11 games. 

The final awards of the night were given to the three seniors as they were the recipients of the Coaches Award. The trio played over 415 games combined and Day is in the top-10 for games played all-time at 149. All three played in two ECAC Hockey Final Fours. 

The Raiders finished the year 11-28-3 and a 4-15-3 mark in ECAC Hockey play. Colgate improved its record in the final 15 games of the year with an 8-6-1 record, including a stretch of six games where the Raiders went 4-1-1. Colgate also made ECAC Hockey history, becoming the first 12th-seeded team to reach the ECAC Hockey Championship Weekend. They beat the fifth-seeded RPI Engineers and the top-seeded Union Dutchmen on their road to Atlantic City. Both times coming back from a 1-0 series deficit.