ALBANY, N.Y. (10/24/08) –  Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.) scored a natural hat trick in the first period in an unusual way to lead Colgate to a convincing 5-2 victory over Robert Morris in a first round match-up at the Hilton Garden Inn Governor's Cup, Friday afternoon at the Times-Union Center.

 

Day, who tied his career point total with the performance, became the first player to secure a natural hat trick with a short handed goal, an even strength goal, and a power play goal since former Raider Kyle Wilson accomplished the feat on Oct. 24, 2005 in Colgate's 6-1 win over Army.  Day's hat trick, his first of his career, also became the first hat trick in Governor's Cup history.

 

“He is one heck of a player,” said Colgate head coach Don Vaughan, following watching his team improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2004.  “It's not often you see a natural hat trick like that.

 

“Brian does a lot of the little things very well,” continued Vaughan.  “He is deceptively quick; can battle on the boards, and can find holes that might not look like they are there.  Brian is a pretty complete player.”

 

On the power play, Tom Riley (Ottawa, Ont.) opened the scoring at 4:18 as the senior one-timed a pass from Nick St. Pierre (St. Etienne, Que.) from inside the left circle to give Colgate the 1-0 advantage, a lead it wouldn't surrender the rest of the night. Francois Brisebois (Montreal, Que.) was also credited with an assist on Riley's first of the year.

 

From that point on, it was the Day Show.  The sophomore started his rare progression for a natural hat trick at 7:31 with his even-strength goal off a give and go from the right side with David McIntyre (Pefferlaw, Ont.).

 

The lead increased to 3-0 as Day tallied his power play tally at 8:58 and chased starting net minder Wes Russell in the process from the game. Austin Smith (Dallas, Texas) and Wade Poplawski (Winnipeg, Man.) set up Day on the right side and the he slid the puck past Russell from a low angle.

 

With less than three minutes left in the opening frame and Robert Morris on the power play, Day took the puck from defenseman Danny Urban on the right side of the ice at the blue line; skated down the center and beat Jim Patterson for his fifth marker of the year at 17:15 to complete the natural hat trick.  Colgate went into intermission with a 4-0 lead.

 

Trailing by four in the second, Trevor Lewis and Kyle Burton brought the Colonials back within shouting distance with goals at 5:10 and 6:03 respectively to chop the deficit to 4-2.  However, the Raiders regained their three-goal advantage not too long after Robert Morris' second score. Brisebois poked in his second of the campaign off a rebound at 7:06 from Jason Williams (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) and Nicholas Prockow (Montreal, Que.).  For Prockow, it was his first collegiate point.

 

Charles Long (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) turned aside 20 shots, including 10 in the first period, to improve to 2-0 between the pipes for Colgate.  Patterson finished the evening with 23 saves for the Colonials.

 

“We got off to a fast start by executing our offense,” said Vaughan.  “We did a much better job in a few areas, like puck support and setting up the offense.”

 

Colgate's penalty kill once again came up big, as it held the Colonials scoreless in six attempts.  The Raiders, who outshot RMU 31-22, converted on two of five attempts with the extra man.  Colgate also outshot Robert Morris 31-22 in the victory.

 

Colgate returns to action, Saturday evening as it plays Union in the title game.  The Dutchmen won a shootout over RPI to advance to the final.  Gametime is set for 8 p.m.