THIS WEEK: SEASON STARTS THIS WEEKEND
The Raiders begin their 83rd season this Saturday and Sunday with a visit from Ferris State for a two-game set. The series is even between the two teams in the last five games with a 2-2-1 record. The Bulldogs earned a sweep at home the last time these teams met in 2012. This weekend will be the first time Ferris State is at Colgate since 2003-04 and the series is tied at 2-2-0 at Starr Rink.
NEXT WEEK: THURSDAY NIGHT HOCKEY AT RIT
Colgate is on the road for the first time this season next Thursday night, but it isn’t a long road trip as the Raiders head to Rochester. This is the first time since 1985-86 that these two upstate schools will play in back-to-back years. Colgate defeated the Tigers last season by a 6-3 score. This will also be the first time since 1983-84 that Colgate is playing on RITs campus after playing in downtown Rochester the last three meetings away from Starr Rink. The game is the lone one for the Raiders against Atlantic Hockey this year.
COLGATE HOCKEY ON TWITTER
Colgate men’s hockey is on Twitter. Fans can follow along for behind the scenes photos and facts, while also getting game day updates and alumni stories. Search for the Twitter handle @Colgate_Hockey and follow the Raiders today.
RAIDERS PICK 9TH IN BOTH POLLS
ECAC Hockey released it preseason polls on Sept. 24 and the Colgate men’s hockey team was slated to finish ninth in the media and coaches’ polls. This year looks wide open for the league with six different teams earning first-place votes in the coaches poll with Yale leading the way with four votes, followed by Rensselaer, Quinnipiac and Union with two votes. The media poll also featured a lot of parity with Rensselaer earning the top spot with 18 first-place votes.
GOULAKOS MAKES RETURN AS CAPTAIN
After a roller coaster of the season last year, junior Spiro Goulakos is back in a Colgate uniform and will be the team’s captain for the upcoming season. The defenseman was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma during the second half of the season and left the team for treatment and missed a total of 10 games. He did come back for the postseason, playing at St. Lawrence in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Tournament. He went through treatment in the spring and summer in his hometown of Montreal and was told he was in remission prior to coming back to campus this fall. Despite missing 10 games, he tallied a career-high 18 points on seven goals and 11 helpers, with four of the goals coming on the power play as the point man on the top unit.
GETTING YOUNGER
With a new season, comes new faces and this year, the Raiders welcome 10 new skaters to the squad. There are nine rookies and one transfer, Brooks Herrington, who comes to Colgate after two seasons at Vermont. With the addition of the nine rookies, Colgate has 17 sophomores and freshmen on this year’s team with only two seniors. The Raiders will rely on these new players a lot, especially on defense with the graduation of Jeremy Price, Thomas Larkin, Nathan Sinz and Mike Leidl. The sophomore class got significant playing time in 2012-13 and showed a lot of promise and that will help bring along the newcomers.
WILSON NAMED ASSISTANT CAPTAIN
Joining Goulakos with a letter on his sweater is Joe Wilson, who will be the assistant captain for the Raiders in 2013-14. The junior has had a great career so far for the Raiders. His freshman year he was with the two of the top scorers in the NCAA on the same line and managed 23 points on 10 goals and 13 assists. He equaled his output last season with 23 points on eight goals and 13 assists.
RAIDERS ON TV
Colgate is set to be on television twice this season with next week’s matchup against RIT on Time Warner Cable Sports. The next time the Raiders will be on the tube will be at Minnesota on Jan. 4 on the first day of the Mariucci Classic as Colgate takes on the Golden Gophers. The home dates for televised games has yet to be announced.
SECOND YEAR SCORERS
Colgate is welcoming back its top scoring line from a season ago with Tylor Spink, Tyson Spink and Kyle Baun back on the ice. The trio was the top three rookie scorers in ECAC Hockey a year ago with Tylor Spink and Baun earning ECAC Hockey All-Rookie Team honors. The two were the top goal-scoring pair on the team with 14 goals for Baun to lead the Raiders, while Tylor Spink was second with 13.
IN THE BLUE PAINT
In net, the situation is a good one for the Raiders. Colgate has two experienced netminders in Eric Mihalik and Spencer Finney. Mihalik is a senior that has started 68 games in his three seasons, while Finney played in 23 games in 2012-13 and saw over 1200 minutes of ice time. Each goalie had a shutout with Finney’s coming against Harvard in a 1-0 win at home and Mihalik’s against Sacred Heart in a 9-0 beat down. Colgate is also welcoming a new netminder in Charlie Finn, who comes to Colgate as a two-time Ontario Junior Hockey League Goaltender of the Year. He led the league in goals against average twice and was an all-star in 2012-13.
POWER PLAY IN TACK
The Colgate power play, which was second in ECAC Hockey at 22.7 percent returns most of the top two units. With Goulakos back in uniform the top unit remains in tack. That unit last season, which was made up of four rookies and a sophomore accounted for 24 of Colgate’s 35 goals scored on the power play. Baun and Tylor Spink were the leaders with seven apiece. Tyson Spink and Goulakos netted four, while Mike Borkowski had two. The second unit will take a hit with the graduations of Jeremy Price, Thomas Larkin and Robbie Bourdon.
TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
This year’s schedule includes 12 non-conference games, including two-game sets at home against Ferris State, UMass and St. Cloud State of the newly formed National Collegiate Hockey Conference. The Huskies join Yale and Quinnipiac for teams in the NCAA Frozen Four that are on the Raiders’ schedule. Colgate will face six teams during the year that are in this week’s USCHO.com National Poll.
VAUGHAN ENTERS 21ST SEASON
Don Vaughan is starting his 21st year as head coach at Colgate and has the most wins in program history. He enters this season with a career record of 328-331-75. Under Vaughan’s tutelage, Colgate has enjoyed four 20-win seasons, two NCAA tournament berths, and 19 appearances in the ECAC Hockey tournament. Additionally, he has guided the Raiders to seven ECAC semifinal clashes, including his last in the 2011-12 campaign. The 2000 ECAC Coach of the Year has mentored four Hobey Baker Award finalists, five All-Americans, two ECAC Players of the Year, an ECAC Goaltender of the Year, two ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I honorees, three ECAC Merit Medal recipients, a Hockey Humanitarian Award winner and 42 All-ECAC Hockey selections.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Ferris State enters the season after a 16-16-5 overall record and a 13-12-3 mark in their last season as part of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. This summer, the Bulldogs joined the Western Collegiate Hockey Association as the CCHA was disbanded. They will travel all over the country, including games in Alaska. Ferris State made it onto the national stage a couple of seasons ago with a trip to the Frozen Four in Tampa.
Ferris State was picked second in both of the WCHA Preseason Polls. Defenseman Jason Binkley was the lone selection to the WCHA Preseason All-League Team for the Bulldogs. Ferris State will be without its top two scorers from a season ago as Kyle Bonis and Travis Ouellette both graduated. Garrett Thompson is the top returning scorer with 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points. Binkley was the top defenseman with 20 points on two goals and a team-high18 assists. The power play will also be a question mark with Bonis and Ouellette no longer around. The two combined for 13 power play goals, which was almost half of the output with the man advantage.
In goal, CJ Motte is back for his junior season after starting 35 games last season with a 2.19 goals against average. Motte led the Bulldogs to an NCAA Frozen Four appearance two seasons ago. He has made 47 starts in his career and has a 20-20-7 mark and a .933 save percentage.
