Raiders 11th in USA Today Poll

RFH 2010, Featured Articles, Colgate Hockey

Tue, Dec 06, 2011

With the current five-game win streak, the Colgate men's hockey team continues to move up in the national polls and the Raiders are at their highest position this season.

Colgate is ranked 11th with 158 points in the newest USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll and 12th with 454 points in the USCHO.com National Poll. The Raiders jumped three spots in each poll after sweeping Clarkson and St. Lawrence last weekend. They are joined by three other ECAC Hockey schools in the USCHO poll as Union is still tops in the poll among league schools at 10th, while Cornell sits at No. 16 and Yale at No. 17. Colgate has spent the last four weeks in the USA Today poll and is one of two ECAC Hockey schools in the rankings with Union at No. 9.

The Raiders have really made their mark nationally so far this season with an 11-4-1 record and their 11 wins are tied for the third most in the nation. They are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games and 10-4-1 in the last 15 contests.

Austin Smith continues to be on fire with 27 points, which leads the nation and his 18 goals also are tops in the country. Chris Wagner has also emerged as one of the best players in ECAC Hockey with 20 points. He has already set a career-high in points and ranks second in points behind Smith among league skaters. The defense has been excellent as well, as the Raiders have allowed seven goals in the last five games, outscoring opponents 21-7 over the win streak.

Fifth-ranked Merrimack comes to Hamilton this weekend for a 7 p.m. start on Saturday. The Warriors were the top-ranked team last week, before being swept by Providence.

A reminder to fans, the game will also feature the annual toy drive for the Interfaith Council of Hamilton. Fans are encouraged to bring unwrapped toys to a triple-header on Friday with men's and women's basketball and men's hockey. For each unwrapped toy given, fans will receive one free general admission ticket to their choice of event.

Source: Colgate

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