ESTERO, FLA. (12/27/08)  – David McIntyre (Pefferlaw, Ont.) tapped in the game-winning goal with one second left in overtime to lead Colgate to a 3-2 victory over Maine in the opening round match-up at the 2008 Florida College Classic, Saturday at Germain Arena.

After Austin Smith (Dallas, Texas) missed on a breakaway with 11 seconds left, it appeared like a shootout was in the making for the right to advance to the finale.  However, the Raiders won the face-off and Ethan Cox (Richmond, B.C.) got the puck out top to Nick St. Pierre (St. Etienne, Que.).  The senior's shot bounced off a Maine skate right to McIntyre.  The junior then posted his sixth goal of the year right before the light turned on.

Colgate, 5-7-3 overall, will take on the winner of this evening's game between #10 Cornell and St. Cloud State.  Opening face-off is set for 7:35 p.m.

“You don't see this type of ending too often,” said Colgate head coach Don Vaughan.  “We missed a breakaway with 11 seconds left and then score with one tick on the clock.  We have been in so many close games this year and its nice to finally get one.

“I was very pleased with the effort,” continued Vaughan.  “Maine came out firing and after the first period, we made some adjustments and mixed up the lines a bit.  Charles Long (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) made some big saves in the opening period to keep us in the game and our penalty kill played well.”

The Raiders fell behind 2-0 in the first period.  The Black Bears, now 10-6-1, got on the board at 8:48 as Keif Orsini slid a puck behind Long, one that barely crossed the goal line.  Less than three minutes later, Lem Randall punched in his sixth of the year at 11:08 in front of the net to give UMaine the two-goal advantage.  The first period ended with Maine leading 2-0.

Colgate solved freshman netminder Scott Darling for the first time on the power play at 7:51 of the second as St. Pierre and Peter Bogdanich (Burnaby, B.C.) teamed up with Smith for his first of two goals.  

Less than three minutes later at 10:36, Smith knotted the game at 2-2 as McIntyre got the puck on net off the face-off and the freshman lifted it behind Darling for his first multi-goal game in his collegiate history.
Both goalies made 10 saves in the third period.  Darling was forced to make a stop on a breakaway on Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.) with 1:35 remaining in regulation.

Long posted a season-high 34 saves in the victory, including 14 in the first period.  Darling finished with 24. 

Maine outshot the Raiders 36-27.  Colgate's penalty kill stuffed Maine on all five power play attempts, while the Raiders tallied one power play goal on three power play opportunities.

Game results