ALBANY, N.Y. (10/29/06) – Rensselaer junior Dan Peace scored with 49 seconds left in the third period to lift the Engineers to a 2-1 win against the Colgate men’s hockey team in the championship game of the Governor’s Cup presented by Citizens Bank on Sunday, Oct. 29, at Albany’s Pepsi Arena. With the loss, the Raiders are 3-3-1 overall this year, while RPI improves to 2-1-2.

Senior Kevin Broad passed the puck ahead to junior Tyler Eaves, who rifled a shot on net from the blue line. Colgate junior goaltender Mark Dekanich (North Vancouver, B.C.) stood up and caught the puck high on his chest, bobbled it, and fell off balance, landing on his left side. As Dekanich scrambled to cover, Peace skated in on the left side of the crease and poked the puck over the goal line to give Rensselaer the win.

Sophomore Tom Riley (Ottawa, Ont.) gave Colgate a 1-0 lead when he scored his second goal of the season on the power play with 1:39 left in the first period. The Raiders were able to sustain pressure in their own zone for an extended time, allowing sophomore Nick St. Pierre (St. Etienne, Que.) to put a shot on RPI goalie Mathias Lange. The rebound came to junior Tyler Burton (Langley, B.C.) on the right side of the crease, and a scramble in front pushed the puck to the left side, where Riley scored back-door.

Rensselaer evened the score just 31 seconds into the second period. Colgate was shorthanded thanks to a late first-period penalty, and without one of its top penalty killers, Burton, who was in the box for diving along with RPI senior captain Kirk MacDonald, who had been called for interference at the 26 second mark. On the ensuing faceoff, Seth Klerer won the puck to Kevin Broad at the wing, who tipped it back to Oren Eizenmann. Eizenmann carried the puck back to the left point where his let off a shot that clanged off the far pipe and bounced into the net behind Dekanich.

Both Dekanich and Lange finished the game with 20 saves as Rensselaer edged Colgate 22-21 on shots. The Raiders finished 1-for-13 on power plays, and the Engineers were 1-for-11 as the teams combined for 52 penalty minutes. The only stat category which ended lopsided was faceoffs: Colgate dominated on draws, 42-27.

St. Pierre, who scored a power-play goal in the first game of the tournament, as well as sophomore Peter Bogdanich (Burnaby, B.C.), who netted the game-tying goal against Quinnipiac and scored the clinching goal in the shootout, both earned a spot on the Governor's Cup all-tournament team. They were joined by Lange and Klerer, as well as Union forward Josh Coyle and Quinnipiac defenseman Reid Cashman.

The Raiders begin ECAC Hockey League play on Friday, Nov. 3, when they visit Yale. The game begins at 7:00 p.m.