ECAC Hockey Postseason Preview

This year's edition of the men's hockey team is the best this school has seen in four years. Colgate finished in fourth place in the 12-team ECAC, which bodes well for the Raiders' place in the ECAC Tournament. ‘Gate has obtained a first round bye plus home ice in the two-out-of-three game quarterfinal round in two weekends. If the Raiders win there, they will then head to Albany's Times Union Center for a semifinal matchup on Friday, March 19. A Friday victory means a Saturday, March 20 finals matchup for the ECAC Championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Win there, and Colgate will have captured the ECAC for the first time since 1990, when the "Red" Raiders went to the NCAA Tournament Finals.

So what's it going to take for the Raiders to repeat that feat? They'll first have to first beat the highest seed remaining after the first round of play ends this weekend. There will be four best two-of-three game match-ups: No. 5 St. Lawrence hosts No. 12 Clarkson, No. 6 R.P.I. entertains No. 11 Brown, No. 7 Quinnipiac plays No. 10 Dartmouth, and No. 8 Princeton welcomes No. 9 Harvard to New Jersey. For those of you good at putting two and two together, Colgate will play St. Lawrence should they defeat North Country rival Clarkson, but that is definitely not a certainty. What is set in stone is that Colgate will play one of the teams ranked fifth through eighth. Before going into a breakdown of those teams, here's a look at Colgate, alma mater.

No. 4 Colgate

Forwards: The number one reason for Colgate's improvement from last year is the well-rounded scoring effort from the forwards. The Raiders average just under 3.5 goals per game, with six players scoring eight goals or more. Sophomore Austin Smith (15 goals, 25 assists), senior co-captain and All-ECAC Second Team David McIntyre (11 g, 26 a), junior assistant captain Brian Day (20 g, 14 a) and junior forward Francois Brisebois (15 g, 10 a) lead the way on the scoring sheet. Seniors Ethan Cox (5 g, 6 a) and Jason Williams (7 g, 8 a) form two-thirds of an aggressive and nasty checking line that runs opponents ragged. Sophomore Nick Prockow (8 g, 9 a) and first-year Robbie Bourdon (8 g, 15 a) have done well while staying out of the penalty box (only a combined eight penalties this year).

Defensemen: The raw talent of the blue liners cannot be denied, for three of the six NHL Draft picks are defensemen. Admittedly though, they have committed numerous turnovers in their own zone or neutral zone this season and sometimes have trouble clearing the puck in crucial situations, some of the reasons for giving up 113 goals this year.

However, as expected from a young and talented crew, the defensemen are saving their best hockey for the end of the season. The blueliners are playing excellent hockey now, clogging up shooting lanes, clearing pucks, killing penalties and committing fewer turnovers than before. Sophomore bruiser Corbin McPherson leads the blue liners with 44 blocks and a plus-5 rating, while first-year Thomas Larkin is first among defensemen and third on the team with 15 assists. First-year Jeremy Price has netted four goals this season and sports a deadly slap shot from the blue line.

Goaltending: Sophomore Alex Evin (9-7-3, .901 save percentage) will be Colgate's backstopper this postseason. He came up with numerous big stops down the stretch in a 3-2 win over R.P.I. last Friday that helped give the Raiders the first-round bye. If called upon, senior Charles Long (6-5-2, .893) can get the job done, as he did with a 38-save performance against No. 15 Union last Saturday in a 5-2 win.

No. 5 St. Lawrence:

Strengths: The Saints have a well-balanced offense, lead by senior Travis Vermeulen, who has 17 goals and 20 assists. St. Lawrence proved that they can match the best offense in the league almost goal by goal a few weeks ago when they fell to Yale 7-5 on the road, a couple of weeks after defeating them 4-2 at home. If St. Lawrence finds a way to keep scoring they will be a threat to any team in the league.

Weakness: St. Lawrence only won one game in February, which means that they will be entering the playoffs with no momentum. Even though they did win their last regular season game, the previous seven games in the month could prove to be too heavy on their heads and cause them to fall.

Player to watch: Senior Travis Vermeulen. The Third Team All-ECAC member has had a breakout year for the Saints and leads an offense that can be potent when needed. In order to advance in the playoffs, St. Lawrence will need to score a lot and Vermeulen seems to be their go-to guy.

Colgate against St. Lawrence:

H: 3-2 L, A: 4-0 L

No. 6 Rensselaer

Strengths: Rensselaer's offense is one of the most potent in the league; just ask top-seeded Yale, whom they swept in the season series. Lead by second leading scorer in the country junior Chase Polacek and first-years Brandon Pirri and Jerry D'Amigo, the Engineers' offense can do some damage through their talented forwards. If given too much time with the puck, their opponents will not like the results.

Weakness: RPI's defense itself is not very strong. The only reason they have not received many goals in ECAC play is due to excellent play from second team All-ECAC goaltender Allen York. If it were not for York, the Engineers would be allowing a lot more goals.

Player to watch: Junior Chase Polacek. The ECAC First-Teamer is second in the nation in scoring with 25 goals, 25 assists and a total of 50 points. If Polacek keeps scoring, the rest of his teammates will be given even more space, since most teams will concentrate on neutralizing Polacek, which could lead Rensselaer to success.

Colgate against Rensselaer:

H: 3-2 W, A: 5-3 W

No. 7 Quinnipiac:

Strengths: The Bobcats looked like the league's juggernaut early on in the season when their offense was clicking. All of a sudden, Quinnipiac's forwards stopped finding the back of the net and a 12-1 start transformed into a 5-14-2 slide to end the regular season. What does this say? When the Bobcats are scoring, they are incredibly hard to stop. When they are not, the Bobcats will not get anywhere.