Box Score

HAMDEN, Conn. (2/24/08) – Junior Peter Bogdanich (Burnaby, B.C.), who was celebrating his 23^rd birthday, scored with exactly one minute left in overtime to lift Colgate to a 4-3 win over Quinnipiac on Sunday, Feb. 24, at the TD Banknorth Sports Center. The win puts the Raiders back over .500 at 14-13-5 overall, and gives them an 8-8-4 record in ECAC Hockey play, while the Bobcats fall to 17-11-4 overall and 9-7-4 in the league.

With time winding down in the extra session, Colgate forced the Bobcats to turn the puck over, and senior Tyler Burton (Langley, B.C.) carried in on the right side. He waited for help, drawing the attention of the Quinnipiac defenders and junior goalie Bud Fisher, then found Bogdanich streaking in on the left side. Bogdanich scored into an open cage for his sixth goal of the season.

Quinnipiac took a 1-0 lead 7:50 into the game on its first power play of the afternoon. The Bobcats were fighting to maintain possession in the zone when senior Ben Nelson gave it to classmate Jamie Bates along the right boards. He centered it to sophomore Greg Holt above the right hash marks. Holt danced in untouched and shot through traffic to beat Colgate senior goaltender Mark Dekanich (North Vancouver, B.C.), five-hole.

The Raiders responded just over a minute later. Freshman Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.) was fighting for control of the puck along the left boards, just outside the blue line, but got tangled up with a Bobcat and the puck came loose. Several Quinnipiac players were in the vicinity, but it was Colgate sophomore David McIntyre (Pefferlaw, Ont.) who grabbed the rubber and streaked in alone on net. He faked to his backhand before returning to his forehand to flip the puck into the cage past Fisher’s blocker.

The Bobcats scored another power-play goal 8:04 into the second period to take a 2-1 lead. Senior Dan Travis shot from the left point through traffic, and Dekanich made the save. However, the rebound came to Holt at the right of the crease, and his shot forced Dekanich out of position to make the stop. With the Raider goalie down, sophomore Brandon Wong picked up the loose puck and shot it into the open net.

Colgate evened things up with 5:10 to play in the second period. McIntyre dug the puck out of the right corner to junior Tom Riley (Ottawa, Ont.) in the right circle. Riley shot, and Fisher made the save, but ended up a few feet out of his crease and couldn’t control the rebound. Day picked up the loose puck and scored into the open right side of the net. The goal broke a 16-game scoring drought for Day.

The Raiders nearly took their first lead of the day less than 90 seconds into the third period, but the goal was waived off due to a crease violation. Sophomore Ethan Cox (Richmond, B.C.) raced into the zone with classmate Jason Williams (Plattsburgh, N.Y.) on a 2-on-1, and dropped the puck off for his linemate just over the blue line. Williams shot from the right circle, and Cox tipped the puck into the net, but the referee ruled that it wasn’t a goal.

But it didn’t take long for the Raiders to take the lead for real. Both teams were on a line change, and the Bobcats held the puck deep in their own zone ready to break it out. However, Burton stole the puck away and used a wrap-around shot to beat Fisher top-shelf at the three-minute mark.

Quinnipiac netted its third power-play goal of the night to tie the game at 3-3, 6:26 into the third period. Colgate was trying to clear the zone, but the puck came out to junior Bryan Leitch at the top of the right circle. His shot sailed over Dekanich’s glove for his 12^th goal of the season.

Dekanich earned the win for Colgate after making 26 saves, while Fisher finished with 14 stops. The Raiders were 0-for-7 on the power play, while the Bobcats scored on three of their five extra-man chances. Quinnipiac earned the edge on faceoffs, 36-35.

Colgate is at home for the final weekend of the regular season. On Friday, Feb. 29, the Raiders will host Harvard at 7:00 p.m., in a game that will be televised live on Time Warner Sports in Upstate New York, as well as on SportsNet New York, which is available through DirecTV and select cable providers. On Saturday, Mar. 1, Colgate hosts Dartmouth in its regular-season finale, starting at 4:00 p.m. Tickets to both games are available through the Colgate ticket office, and may be purchased by calling (315) 228-7600.