The Colgate men’s hockey team starts its 2013-14 ECAC Hockey slate this weekend against No. 7/9 Quinnipiac and Princeton on its annual Silver Puck Weekend.
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.
THIS WEEK: SILVER PUCK WEEKEND
The Raiders are going to be hosting Silver Puck Weekend on Nov. 1 and 2. Colgate is welcoming 2013 national finalist Quinnipiac on Friday night, followed by Princeton for a Saturday matinee at 4 p.m. with the Silver Puck banquet at night. The Bobcats have started where they left off with a 6-1 start to the year after winning six straight, including UMass-Lowell over the weekend. The Tigers open their season this weekend at the Liberty Invitational in Newark, N.J. against Dartmouth and Yale.
NEXT WEEK: CAPITAL DISTRICT TRIPS
The Raiders are making their first road trip in league play next weekend with a ride to Rensselaer and Union. The Engineers have gone unbeaten in their last four games and their lone loss of the season came in a 7-2 defeat to Boston College. The Dutchmen are out of the national polls for the first time in three seasons with a 1-2-2 start to the year with two losses to Lake Superior State at home and a 2-2 tie at UConn last week.
SOPHOMORE SURGING
Mike Borkowski has caught on quickly this season with eight points, which is tied for second in the league in total points. His six assists are tied for second in the conference as well. Last season, as rookie, Borkowski had three assists through the first seven games of the season.
PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF
Sophomore Kyle Baun seven points on four goals and three assists, which is a career-high through the first seven games. Last season, the rookie led the Raiders in goals with 14 and had six points on three goals and three assists. He has four goals this year with three coming on the power play.
DOMINATING CLASS
After leading the team in total points last season, the sophomore class has been putting the goals and assists on the board. The Class of 2016 has recorded 30 points out of the 43 scored this season, which is 69 percent of the scoring output. They have scored 10 of the 15 goals this year and the four of the top five scorers are sophomores.
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Quinnipiac visits Colgate off to a blistering 6-1-0 start to the season. The Bobcats have won six in a row, scoring three or more goals in each of those contests. In their most recent matchup, a home-and-home series with Holy Cross, Quinnipiac came back from 2-0 and 1-0 second period-deficits, respectively, scoring a combined five goals during the third period.
Freshman forward Sam Anas has paced the Bobcats with six goals, including three game-winners, and was the ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week. Anas’ eight total points are tied for the team lead with Kellen Jones, who has assisted on six of the team’s goals on the year. Connor Jones is right behind them with seven points and five assists during the campaign.
The Bobcats’ penalty kill has halted 29 of 32 opponent power plays, a .906 percentage. They’ve scored on nine of 42 power plays, three goals coming from Anas.
Michael Garteig has played nearly every minute in net for Quinnipiac this year. He has twice made 23 saves in a game, coming in a 4-1 win over Alaska-Anchorage and a 3-1 defeat of UMass Lowell. On the season, Garteig has posted a 1.72 goals against average to go along with his .910 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY
This is the 101st meeting between these two schools, dating back to the first contest back in 1935-36. Colgate is holding onto a slim lead at 48-46-6 after Princeton swept the season series last year with a 4-0 win at home and a 4-2 win at Starr Rink. The Tigers are the fifth team that the Raiders played 100 games against, joining Clarkson, Cornell, St. Lawrence and RPI. The Raiders are 26-14-3 against the Tigers at home.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Princeton comes to Hamilton having played only two games this season, knocking off Dartmouth 3-2 in overtime before dropping a 3-2 game to No. 7 Yale. The Tigers allowed a goal with 47 seconds left to send the game to overtime against the Big Green before Tucker Brockett scored 45 seconds into the extra period to give Princeton a win in its season opener. But against the Bulldogs, Princeton fell behind 2-0 early in the first period and was never able to recover.
Five separate Tigers have scored the team’s five goals on the season, with goal-scorers Ben Foster, Andrew Calof and Aaron Ave each chipping in an assist to create a three-way tie on Princeton’s points leaderboard with two.
Princeton has killed off all five penalties on the season while scoring on three of their nine power plays. However, the Tigers have been outshot by 26 over the first two games. Netminder Sean Bonar has made 65 saves on 70 shots, including 38 in the win over Dartmouth, for a .929 save percentage and a 2.51 goals against average.
The series continues to go back-and-forth with the two teams with Quinnipiac leading it by one at 13-12-2 after the Bobcats won two of the three games last year. The series started back in 2005-06 and Quinnipiac and Colgate have met 27 times, which is the most for the Raiders against any team since 2005-06. This will be the ninth meeting in the last three years between Quinnipiac and Colgate.
