Still looking for their first win of the season, the BG hockey team will travel to Hamilton, N.Y. this weekend for a two-game series with Colgate University.
Like the Falcons, the Raiders are coming off a weekend sweep. Colgate’s losses came at the hands of a Central Collegiate Hockey Association foe in Miami. The Raiders were outscored 8-1 in the two games.
They enter the weekend with a 1-2 record thanks to an opening weekend 10-2 victory against Niagara.
“We can expect a real hard opponent again,” said Coach Chris Bergeron. “They’re probably a little less established [than Union College]; they’re retooling with some freshmen there. But going to their rink, they’re coming off a couple of losses so we’re probably going to get a pretty hungry team.”
As Bergeron alluded to, Colgate came into the season dealing with significant roster losses from this past season.
Austin Smith led college hockey with 36 goals this past season and finished with 57 points. Chris Wagner added 51 points. Both players signed professional contracts following the season.
Colgate’s top returning scorer from this past season is sophomore forward Joe Wilson, who had 23 points — 10 goals and 13 assists — in 38 games this past season. He has no goals and one assist in three games so far this season.
As strong as Colgate was on offense, they were almost equally as porous on defense. The Raiders scored 121 goals as a team, but allowed 113. Much of this has to do with the system Colgate runs, which relies heavily on speed and breakout passes to generate odd-man rushes.
“They’re really fast: a team that plays get up and go,” Bergeron said. “They play a real offensive pace.”
While the offensive rewards can be great, mistakes can cause severe consequences in terms of odd-man rushes or breakaways going the other way.
Goalie Eric Mihalik started 28 games in net last year. Despite a 14-12-2 record, he posted a 2.88 goals-against average and a .898 save percent. He was in goal for both losses this past weekend against Miami, giving up eight goals on 47 shots.
While Colgate comes into this weekend very much a work-in-progress, the Falcons proved, against Union, that they are in a similar boat.
While BG has improved its power play — converting on 17.6 percent of chances this year, up from 7.3 percent last season — it has been atrocious on the penalty kill thus far.
The Falcons are allowing opponents to convert on a staggering 41.7 percent of power play opportunities. While that sample size is small (12 opportunities), the stat is no less significant.
The team believes that the problems they have had in the defensive zone have been mental, not physical, which perhaps makes it an easier fix.
“On Friday [against Union] we allowed five special team goals and that can’t happen,” said defenseman Bobby Shea. “We had the puck on our stick on every play and just couldn’t get it out [of the defensive zone]. That’s just execution with the puck. If we make our plays I think we can beat Colgate.”
The Raiders have had similar special teams issues thus far this season, allowing opponents to convert on 28.6 percent of power plays. However, Colgate has only scored one power play goal in 16 attempts (6 .2 percent).
The Falcons are scheduled to face off at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at Starr Ice Rink.
