Final Box
POTSDAM, N.Y. (1/16/2010) – David McIntyre (Pefferlaw, Ont.) and Matt Firman (Fayetteville, N.Y.) each scored twice to pace Colgate to a convincing 6-2 victory over Clarkson in a men's ECAC Hockey contest Saturday evening at Cheel Arena.
With the victory over the Golden Knights, the Raiders, now 8-9-4 overall and 6-4-1 in league play, snapped a four-game winless skid. Colgate also improved to 4-0-3 at Cheel in its last seven regular-season games. The Raiders' last loss in Potsdam during the regular season was a 6-0 defeat back in 2003. Clarkson slipped to 5-14-3 overall and 1-7-2 in league action.
Holding a 2-1 advantage heading into the third, Colgate regained a two-goal lead for the first time since the opening period. After failing to convert on a two-man advantage that spilled over into the third period, the Raiders connected on their lone power play of the evening. At 5:28, McIntyre and Kevin McNamara (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) set up Austin Smith (Dallas, Texas) and the sophomore deposited it into the net for his ninth of the season.
After Clarkson pulled within one at 13:16 on an even strength goal by Matt Beca – his 12th of the year, Colgate broke the game open with three goals in the span of 104 seconds. Thomas Larkin (Cocquio Trevisago, Italy) gave the Raiders a two-goal cushion with his second goal of the campaign at 16:11. Seconds later, the lead increased to three goals as McIntyre netted his second of the game at 16:32 from Corbin McPherson (Folsom, Calif.) and Francois Brisebois (Montreal, Que.). At 17:55, Colgate capped off the game's scoring, as Firman netted his fourth of the campaign from Smith and Day.
The Raiders never trailed in the contest. Colgate grabbed the lead for good at 7:52 of the opening period as Day set up Firman for his third goal of the campaign. It marked the second consecutive season the sophomore had scored at Cheel Arena. Last year, Firman collected his first collegiate goal against the Golden Knights beating former Northwood School teammate Richie LaVeau in the Raiders' 3-1 victory on January 30.
Less than five minutes later, McIntyre gave Colgate a 2-0 lead with his seventh of the year at 12:43. It was the senior's third goal in his last five outings.
Clarkson cut the deficit to 2-1 early in the second period. Eighteen seconds into a two-man advantage, Julien Cayer solved Colgate goalie Alex Evin (Castlegar, B.C.) 1:52 into the period. The period ended with the Raiders holding a 2-1 advantage.
Evin turned aside 27 of 29 shots thrown on net to pick up his third victory of the year. LaVeau posted 21 saves in the defeat. Colgate went one of seven on the power play, while Clarkson scored once in six opportunities.
McIntyre's three-point performance allowed him to bypass former Colgate standout and current Ottawa Senator Jesse Winchester on the all-time school point list. He heads into play next weekend ranked 31st all-time with Jamie Cooke with 115 points.
Colgate returns to action, Friday evening as it hosts non conference foe, Robert Morris for a pair of games. Opening face-off is set for 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday evenings. The series with the Colonials will kick off a stretch in which Colgate will play seven of its next nine games at Starr Rink. It will be the first home appearance for the Raiders since November 21 when Colgate rallied to defeat Princeton 5-4 in overtime.
