Team Notes: Colgate Opens Versus Syracuse

HAMILTON, N.Y. -– Colgate opens the 2008-09 season against Syracuse on Wednesday, Oct. 1. The Raiders will host the Orange at Starr Rink at 7 p.m. This will be the first division I hockey game for Syracuse.

Live stats will be available for the game, and it will be web streamed for a cost of $6.95 to viewers. Links can be found on the Colgate Athletics Web site.

Colgate returns 18 letterwinners from a team that went 12-17-5 last season. The Raiders posted a 9-9-4 ECAC Hockey mark and lost in the quarterfinals to Dartmouth. Colgate returns its top three scorers from last season in seniors Sam Hunt (Calgary, Alta.), Elin Brown (Calgary, Alta.) and Kiira Dosdall (Fairfield, Conn.) along with the healthy return of junior Katie Stewart (Exeter, Ont.). Hunt collected 22 goals and 14 assists for 36 points last season. Brown tallied 27 while Dosdall collected 17. Stewart posted 27 points as a freshman in 2006-07 she missed good a portion of the 2007-08 season to injury, but has returning in full health. The Raiders will look to one of three goaltenders to backstop them this tonight. Most likely to get the starting spot is either senior Elayna Hamashuk (Nepean, Ont.) of sophomore Lisa Plenderleith (Ajax, Ont.). Hamashuk had a 1-3-1 record last season with a 2.78 goals against average while Plenderleith went 11-14-4 with 2.50 goals against average and a .902 save percentage.

Syracuse is entering its first season of Division I hockey under the reigns of head coach Paul Flanagan. Flanagan, was the head coach for St. Lawrence women’s hockey team from 1999-2007 accumulating a 230-83-24 record, reaching the women’s NCAA Frozen Four Championship five times in his nine year tenure. Sophomores Stefanie Marty and Julie Rising plan to follow their coach’s lead, as both were named the inaugural captains of the Orange in 2008-09. Marty, a transfer from the University of New Hampshire is one of eight players to transfer from another Division I program to play for the Orange. As a Wildcat, Marty played in 37 games and scored four goals with one assist. Rising, a forward who transferred from Bemidji State (Minnesota), appeared in 36 games for the Beavers, tallying five goals and two assists as a freshman. Rising was a recipient of the WCHA Rookie of the Week on October 5th.