MEN'S HOCKEY HOSTS YALE FRIDAY NIGHT

The Series
Friday’s game marks the 72nd meeting between the two schools with Colgate leading the series by a 38-31-2 margin. The last time these two teams met in New Haven, Conn., Dan Lombard recorded 34 saves and Chris Higgins tallied two goals as the Bulldogs shut out the Raiders, 5-0 on Saturday, Dec. 1.

Scouting the Bulldogs
Yale is on a two-game losing streak after falling to Clarkson (7-5) and St. Lawrence (4-3) last weekend at Ingalls Rink. The Bulldogs are tied for seventh place in the ECAC with Princeton and St. Lawrence.

Freshman Chris Higgins (Smithtown, NY) paves the way for Yale and all ECAC rookies with 10 goals and 21 points despite missing four games. He has recorded points in his last three outings and leads the team with three power-play goals and two game-tying goals.

Sophomore forward Vin Hellemeyer (Franklin Square, NY) has recorded six goals over his last four games (11 points). He tallied two in the loss to Clarkson on February 1 and then added one more versus St. Lawrence February 2.

Senior goaltender Dan Lombard is 5-12-2 with a 2.82 goals against average and a .908 save percentage.

The Bulldogs are 13/ 81 on the power play for a 16% conversion and are 62/ 74 on the penalty kill for a 83.8% conversion. Yale’s last eight losses have been by a total of 10 goals.

Did You Know?
Yale captain Luke Earl’s father played hockey at Colgate from 1968-70.

The Last Time Out
Rob Brown and Bob Vandersluis tallied two goals apiece as the Colgate men’s hockey team rolled Canisius 7-2 Tuesday night in a non-conference game at Starr Rink.

The Raiders improve to 10-13-1 overall, while Canisius falls 11-13-2 on the year.

Vandersluis finished the scoring at 15:33 of the third period when he took a pass from Darryl McKinnon in front of the crease and beat the Golden Griffins’ goalie Sean Weaver on his stick-side, give Colgate a five goal advantage.

Brown scored his second goal of contest at 11:27 when he ripped a slap shot from the top of the circle past Weaver to push the Colgate lead to 6-2.

McKinnon scored the Raiders’ first goal in the third period at 6:22 when he knocked the puck past Weaver’s glove side to put Colgate ahead 5-2.

Marc Bouffard pulled Canisius within two goals when he took a pass from Brad Kenny and scored on a wrap around goal at 14:29 in the second period, making the score 4-2.

Brown and Vandersluis each scored their first goal of the night within less than a minute of one another. Vandersluis put Colgate up 3-1 in the seconde when he scored with the Raiders on a two-man advantage at 9:16. Brown extended the lead to 4-1 when he took a pass from Paul Kelley and beat Weaver glove-side at 10:09 in the second.

The Golden Griffins pulled within a goal at 15:55 in the first period when Corey Lucas took a pass from Joe D’Urzo and beat Cann on his glove side making it a 2-1 contest.

P.J. Yedon redirected a Brown pass and knotted the Raiders’ second goal of the first period at 11:48, giving Colgate a 2-0 advantage.

The Raiders got on the board in the first period at 8:02 when Brad D’Arco took a pass from Yedon at the top of the crease and beat Weaver over his stick-side shoulder.

Weaver was under heavy fire all night and stopped 45 shots, while Cann had 11 stops on the night.

There’s Something About Roommates
Freshmen roommates Adam Mitchell and Darryl McKinnon, and junior roommates P.J. Yedon and Brad D’Arco are coming off career highs in the 7-2 win over Canisius Tuesday night. Mitchell had a career-high three points on three assists, McKinnon recorded the first multiple point game of his career, Yedon had a career-high three points and D’Arco recorded his first multiple point game.

One For the Record Books
Andy McDonald tied the club record for assists by a rookie in Anaheim’s 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday night. As of February 7, McDonald had five goals and 17 assists for 22 points.

ECAC Honors For Doyle
Sophomore forward Kyle Doyle became the second Raider to be honored in as many weeks by the ECAC when he received Avaya Player of the Week honors Sunday after he recorded his first collegiate hat trick in the 5-3 win over Harvard. Doyle also added an assist in the 2-1 win over Brown February 1. He is currently riding a four-game point scoring streak.

A Fresh Start
Colgate is 7-3-1 since returning from Christmas break, including a 4-0-1 record in the last five games.

He Shows He Can(n)
Sophomore goaltender David Cann continued his strong play since Christmas as he recorded his third straight win Tueday night in the 7-2 win over Canisius. Cann is now 7-2-1 in the last 10 games and sports a 2.17 goals against average and a .906 save percentage during that span.

The Firing Squad
Colgate’s seven goals against Canisius Tuesday night marked the first time all season the Raiders have scored more than five goals in a game.

Odds and Ends
Rob Brown has recorded 12 points on five goals and seven assists and junior P.J. Yedon has three goals and seven assists for 10 points in the last 10 games. Both players had a +/- rating of +4 in the 7-2 win over Canisius Tuesday night.

Home Sweet Home
The Raiders are in the midst of their longest homestand of the season with five games in nine days. Colgate sports a 7-5 record at Starr Rink this season, including two series sweeps with wins over Dartmouth (3-2), Vermont (4-1), Brown (2-1) and Harvard (5-3).

Up Next
Colgate will host Princeton on Saturday, Feb. 9. The last time Colgate faced Princeton, the Tigers edged the Raiders by a 2-1 score on Friday, Nov. 30 at Hobey Baker Rink. Junior Scooter Smith scored the lone goal for the Raiders.