HAMILTON, N.Y. (1/28/06) - Sophomore center Tyler Burton (Langley, B.C.) scored two goals to lead the No. 18 Colgate hockey team to a 5-2 win against Brown (3-13-5, 2-9-3 ECACHL) on Saturday, Jan. 28. With the victory, and Cornell’s overtime tie with Yale, the Raiders (15-6-5, 11-2-1 ECACHL) own a three-point lead in the ECACHL standings.

Colgate jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period by scoring an even-strength, power-play and short-handed goal. Sophomore Ben Camper (Rocky River, Ohio) gave the Raiders their third straight 1-0 lead at the 6:20 mark. Senior Zac Tataryn (Ottawa, Ont.) won the battle for the puck behind the net, and sent it over to senior captain Jon Smyth (Markham, Ont.) in the corner. Smyth put the puck on net, where Camper deflected it past Brown starting goalie Adam D’Alba, low stick-side.

The Raiders’ second goal came on the power play. Sophomore Jesse Winchester (Long Sault, Ont.) cycled the puck to Smyth, who was cutting across the slot. Smyth gave a one-time pass to Burton, who was waiting on the back door, and he beat D’Alba before he could slide across the goalmouth.

Senior Kyle Wilson (London, Ont.) netted his second short-handed goal of the year 43 seconds later. Wilson forechecked the lone defender who was covering him, and tied him up with his stick. When the defender fell, Wilson skated around him and had an open look at the net, where he beat D’Alba top shelf on his glove side.

Brown got on the board 1:02 later on the same power-play opportunity. The Bears worked the puck around the zone and managed to free up Paul Baier for a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle. Colgate sophomore goaltender Justin Kowalkoski (Young America, Minn.) saw the puck through traffic and made a pad save, but the rebound came out to Sean Dersch, who was waiting by the post. Dersch scored by flipping the puck over Kowalkoski’s right leg.

Burton got his second goal of the game 6:55 into the second period. He won the faceoff to the right of the goaltender to Winchester, who shot on net. D’Alba made the initial save with his pad, but Burton got to the rebound through traffic and took a quick shot from the side of the net. His shot deflected off a defender’s skate and went between D’Alba’s legs as the Brown keeper was still off-balance after stopping Winchester’s shot.

The Raiders made it a 5-1 lead with 8:12 left in the middle frame. On the power play, freshman David Sloane (Ambler, Pa.) cycled the puck to junior Marc Fulton (Vancouver, B.C.) to the left of the goalie. He skated out to the top of the faceoff circle, then fired a shot which D’Alba couldn’t handle. The puck deflected off D’Alba’s blocker and popped up high over his head. When it came back down behind his back, Raider freshman Peter Bogdanich (Burnaby, B.C.) was ready to sweep it into the net for his third goal of the season, and his fifth point in the last six games. The goal proved to be D’Alba’s limit, as he was replaced by freshman Mark Sibbald.

Colgate looked ready to walk away with a 5-1 win, but Brown wasn’t done yet. With just 12 seconds left in the game, the Bears capitalized on their final power-play opportunity of the game. Chris Poli took a shot from the left-hand dot, which found its way to the net through traffic. Kowalkoski made the save, but the rebound went straight to Eric Slais, who forced the puck to the ice and scored five-hole.

Kowalkoski made 18 saves in his third start of the season as he improved to 2-2-0 overall in his career. D’Alba finished with 14 saves, while Sibbald made five in relief. Colgate outshot Brown 24-20, as the Raiders improved to 10-0-1 this season when they post more shots than their opponent. Both teams finished 2-for-5 on the power play, and Colgate had the edge in the faceoff circle, winning 39 draws to Brown’s 24.

The Raiders will now gear up for the much-anticipated home-and-home series with travel partner Cornell next weekend. The teams square off in Ithaca on Friday, Feb. 3, at 7:00 p.m., before returning to Starr Rink for the second game on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. Saturday’s game will be televised live nationally on ESPNU and regionally on Time Warner Sports Ch. 26. The Raiders have asked that all fans in attendance at Saturday’s game wear white as part of a “white out” of the Big Red.