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HAMILTON, N.Y. (2/5/11) – Sophomore Kurtis Bartliff recorded his first multi-goal game to lead the Colgate men's hockey team to its first ECAC Hockey win of the season with a 4-2 victory over Clarkson on Saturday night.

Colgate (4-22-2, 1-13-2 ECAC) got the two goals from Bartliff and two points from Francois Brisebois and Austin Smith. Brisebois had a goal and an assist, while Smith tallied a pair of helpers. Rookie Eric Mihalik pushed aside 25 shots to earn his first collegiate victory. Matt Firman scored his second of the year with an empty netter in the third.

Clarkson (12-13-2, 6-8-1 ECAC) saw Brandon DeFazio and Allan McPherson score goals, while Paul Karpowich made 35 stops between the pipes.

Bartliff gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead on their third power play chance of the evening. After failing on a 5-on-3 earlier in the period, Bartliff followed a shot from Francois Brisebois and tucked the puck inside the near post for his fourth of the year and second on the power play.

The sophomore from Clinton, Ont., struck again 1:36 seconds later with his second of the night on a nice redirected shot. Kevin McNamara took a shot from the point that he partially fanned on, but the puck continued to the front of the net. Bartliff was able change the direction on the slow puck and beat a surprised Karpowich to put the Raiders up 2-0 with 8:13 left in the period.

Brisebois then gave Colgate a commanding 3-0 lead just 37 seconds into the second period with a coast-to-coast score. He started from the goal line in his own end and flew though the neutral zone. He made it to the faceoff dot and went top shelf, beating Karpovich.

Clarkson got one back on DeFazio's goal with 7:35 left in the second period. Mihalik stopped the puck behind the net, thinking his defenseman would be there to pick it up. DeFazio swooped in, took the puck and beat Mihalik around the net to cut the lead to 3-1.

The Golden Knights made it interesting down the stretch in the third as McPherson's score came with the extra attacker with 2:04 remaining. Will Frederick fought for the puck behind the net and somehow it found its way to McPherson at the top of the crease and he beat Mihalik's glove with a floating shot that hit the net to make Brisebois' goal more important. The score was now 3-2.

The Raiders finally sealed the deal thanks to a great hustle play from Firman. He stole the puck from a Clarkson forward at the redline, then beat a defender and hit a backhander just inside the blueline for the goal. The score made it 4-2 with 18 seconds left and gave Colgate its first conference win of the year.

The Raiders played a tough and high-energy game all night and outshot the Golden Knights 39-27. They went 1-for-8 on the power play and held Clarkson off the board on four opportunities on the power play.

Colgate will look to build on the momentum as the Raiders head to the Capital District next weekend to take on nationally-ranked Union and Rensselear.

NOTES: Bartliff had his first multi-goal game in the first 12 minutes of action … he had posted just three goals prior to tonight this season … Smith recorded his 24th career multi-point game with two assists ... he is just six points away from 100 in his career … Brisebois had two points for the 16th time in his career … it took Mihalik 10 career starts to earn his first win … Nick Prockow played in his 100th career game … the Raiders had two 5-on-3 power plays tonight … Colgate is now 4-1-1 when taking a lead into the third period … the win snaps a 15-game conference winless streak and a 14-game winless streak overall … the first win since shutting out Army on Dec. 4.