BOX SCORE

HANOVER, N.H. (11/11/11) – Eric Mihalik recorded 30 saves to earn his first career shutout to lead the 18th-ranked Colgate men's hockey team to a 4-0 win over No. 14/17 Dartmouth in a battle of ranked teams at Thompson Arena on Friday night.

Colgate (6-3-1, 2-1-0 ECAC) got goals from four different players in the game. Matt Firman led the way with a goal and an assist for two points, while Austin Mayer had a pair of helpers in the win. Chris Wagner, Mike McCann and Nick Prockow also scored for the Raiders in the win.

Dartmouth (3-2-0, 2-1-0 ECAC) failed on two power play and remains scoreless on the man advantage this season. The Big Green had a couple of great scoring changes, but the puck rang off the post. James Mello made 26 saves in the loss, but gave up three goals in the third period.

The first period featured a lot of neutral zone play with the Raiders outshooting Dartmouth 12-7. They also received the only power play of the period but failed on the only chance.

The Raiders took the lead early in the second period as McCann scored his second of the season with the assists going to Daniel Gentzler and Mark Nasca. Gentzler broke up a neutral zone pass and found McCann at the offensive blueline. He took two strides into the zone and fired a laser over the glove of Mello and under the crossbar. Gentzler's assist was his first collegiate point.

Colgate came out on fire in the third period, dominating play and it paid off with a pair of goals in the first six minutes. Wagner got things started with his third of the season with a feed from Smith on a 2-on-1 rush up ice. Smith took the puck in the neutral zone and skated up ice with Wagner to his right. He slipped a pass over to Wagner as Mello committed to the shot and Wagner hit the open net.

The advantage was increased to 3-0, 39 seconds later as Prockow beat Mello infront of the net. Firman passed the puck from the corner boards to Prockow, who was just above the crease and he put it in for his second goal of the year. Austin Mayer also assisted on the play. The third period scoring barrage continued with Firman getting in on the act on the power play. He blasted a shot that went top shelf on Mello to make it 4-0 with 4:23 left in the game. Mayer and Kevin McNamara both assisted on the play.

Colgate was 1-for-4 on the power play after that late goal from Firman, while Dartmouth went scoreless on just two chances. The two teams tied in the shot category with each posted 30 shots.

The Raiders will be back in action tomorrow night with a visit to Harvard and Bright Hockey Center for a 7 p.m. face off. A note to alumni and fans, the Colgate Club of Boston will be holding its annual tailgate prior to the game tomorrow night. For more information got to www.colgateconnect.com/harvardhockey.

NOTES: The all-time series between Dartmouth and Colgate is tied at 42-42-5 … the four goal margin was the largest winning margin for Colgate this year ... Mayer posted two assists for the first time in his Colgate career … he had a pair of helpers at Providence College against UMass … Colgate is perfect this season when leading after two periods (5-0-0) … the Raiders scored first for the fourth time this year and are 4-0-0 in those games … they are 3-2-0 against ranked teams … Mihalik earns his first shutout in his 32nd start of his career … Don Vaughan is now 23-22-4 against Dartmouth in his career … Austin Smith has seven career points against the Big Green with six helpers.