Box Score
TROY, N.Y. (11/25/06) – Juliano Pagliero made 30 saves to backstop Niagara to a 3-1 win against Colgate in the championship game of the Rensselaer/Bank of America Holiday Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 25 at Houston Field House. With the win, the Purple Eagles extend their unbeaten streak to seven games and improve to 8-5-3 on the season, while the Raiders drop to 5-8-2 on the year.
With 5:36 left in the first period, freshman
Jason Williams (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) tried to settle the puck in the slot and nearly turned it over, but senior
Marc Fulton (Vancouver, B.C.) recovered and played give-and-go with junior
Tyler Burton (Langley, B.C.), before beating Juliano Pagliero from point-blank range to give Colgate a 1-0 lead.
Niagara tied the game with a shorthanded goal 6:43 into the second period. As the Raider power play got underway, Colgate turned the puck over in the neutral zone to Matt Caruana. Caruana sent a heads-up pass to Sean Bentivoglio to break him out of the zone. Bentivoglio split the Raider defense to create a breakaway for himself, and he beat Colgate junior goalie
Mark Dekanich (North Vancouver, B.C.) glove-side.
The Purple Eagles took a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal 6:28 into the third period. Niagara put sustained pressure on the Raider goal, with Vince Rocco and Kyle Rogers getting shots on Dekanich before Ryan Annesley put in a rebound.
Niagara capitalized on a Colgate turnover at the 11:50 mark to go up 3-1. The Raiders turned the puck over at their blue line, and Chris Moran skated it through the neutral zone and in alone on Dekanich to earn the goal.
Dekanich finished the game with 27 saves as his Raiders edged Niagara 31-30 on shots. Colgate also earned the advantage on faceoffs, 34-18. Burton represented the Raiders on the all-tournament team, and Niagara’s Sean Bentivoglio was named the tournament MVP.
Rensselaer skated to a 5-5 tie with Ohio State in the consolation game before earning third place with a 5-4 shootout win in 10 rounds.
Colgate returns to Hamilton for its final ECACHL weekend series of 2006 next weekend. The Raiders will host Union on Friday, Dec. 1, and Rensselaer on Saturday, Dec. 2. Both games begin at 7:00 p.m., at Starr Rink. At both games, the Colgate hockey team will be collecting new and gently-used toys to donate to the Community Action Program, a local organization. For every toy donated, fans will receive a raffle ticket and be entered into a drawing to win team-signed, game-used memorabilia.
