{"id":29952,"date":"2008-10-04T09:46:10","date_gmt":"2008-10-04T14:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/10\/04\/200809-colgate-season-preview\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:15","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:15","slug":"200809-colgate-season-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/10\/04\/200809-colgate-season-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"2008-09 Colgate Season Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"
Offense<\/b><\/p>\n
Colgate hasn’t bullied anyone in a while, and doesn’t look especially belligerent this year either. Burton (23-18-41) and Winchester (8-29-37) finished one-two on the team scoring chart last season, and accounted for a quarter of the team’s total points. That’s the mark of an unbalanced offense right there.<\/p>\n
“It is what it is. We had some great players in Jesse, Tyler and [goalie] Mark [Dekanich],” said Vaughan, “but we have other players, who were hiding in the shadows a bit … and now it’s their time to shine.”<\/p>\n
To take their place, Vaughan looks to McIntyre (15-17-32), junior Jason Williams (9-8-17) and a slew of new and unproven players to pick up the slack.<\/p>\n
“I’m looking forward to McIntyre picking up where he left off,” said Vaughan. (McIntyre had four goals an an assist in the three-game quarterfinal upset at Clarkson.)<\/p>\n
The seasoned general also made note of recruit Austin Smith — a slim five-foot-11 19-year-old out of the British Columbia Hockey League — who was the 128th pick in the 2007 draft. <\/p>\n
“He’s very talented, and may play both power-play and penalty-killing roles,” said the coach. <\/p>\n
Defense<\/b><\/p>\n
Graduated senior Matt Torti (1-3-4) played all 42 games for the Raiders, but was the only player to leave the D-corps this offseason. That leaves the blue line in the experienced hands of such players as McNamara, junior Wade Poplawski (2-8-10), and seniors Mark Anderson (5-9-14), Jason Fredericks (2-5-7), Nick St. Pierre (1-6-7) and David Sloane (2-3-5). Every one of them played at least 32 games last year. (That said, McNamara may well miss the entire season while recovering from recent hip surgery.)<\/p>\n
Thrown into the mix will be big six-four, 210-pound Corbin McPherson. The 87th pick in the 2007 Draft, the New Jersey Devils prospect ought to fit right in with Vaughan’s disciplined defense-first perspective.<\/p>\n
The Raiders’ top seven scorers last year were forwards, which seemed a minor novelty: defense playing defense, and little else. Make of it what you will.<\/p>\n
Goaltending<\/b><\/p>\n