Baun Named Player of the Week; Black Tabbed as Top Rookie
By Matt Faulkner
(Albany, NY – Jan. 29, 2014) Sophomore Kyle Baun and rookie Andrew Black garnered weekly honors from ECAC Hockey after a weekend sweep of Clarkson and St. Lawrence.
Baun earned player of the week honors for the first time this season after tallying his first collegiate hat trick against St. Lawrence last Saturday. Two of the three goals came on the power play and his first gave Colgate an early 1-0 lead. Baun had been snake-bitten as of late with only one point in his last eight games, but came up big for the Raiders to keep the unbeaten streak going.
The Toronto native is second on the team in goals with 10 and leads the Raiders with six power play goals, which is tied for fifth in the league. He has 20 points on the season as he has posted 10 helpers, including one against No. 13 Clarkson on Friday night.
Black became Colgate’s second rookie this season to earn weekly honors as Charlie Finn was voted goalie and rookie of the week on Jan. 7. He tallied three points in the two wins with a goal and a pair of assists. His goal was an amazing snipe shot from the right side in the third period to beat the Golden Knights. It was his first gamewinner of the season and his sixth goal and second in the last two weekends. Black leads all Raider rookies in goals and points with 6 and 10, respectively.
Colgate had been receiving votes for the past three weeks, but made the top-20 after its third-straight ECAC Hockey weekend and is ranked 18th in the USCHO National Poll. The Raiders have moved up into a tie for second with No. 3 Quinnipiac in the ECAC Hockey standings and with Union’s loss to Rensselaer on Saturday night, Colgate is one point out of first place.
The schedule doesn’t get easier for the Raiders as a consistent Brown team is on the horizon on Friday night and a matchup at No. 13 Yale is on Saturday. The game against the Bulldogs will be the 13th of the season against a ranked opponent and Colgate is 5-5-2 against teams in the top-20. Both games are set for 7 p.m. starts