BOX SCORE

POTSDAM, N.Y. (2/18/12) – The Colgate men's hockey team fell behind 2-0 after two periods against Clarkson and got a goal from Chris Wagner in the third, but it was too late as the Raiders fell, 2-1, on Saturday night at Cheel Arena.

Colgate (17-12-3, 11-8-1 ECAC) got its lone goal from Wagner with 1.8 seconds left in the game on a wicked wrister that beat Paul Karpowich and denied the senior a shutout in his final regular season game at Cheel. Alex Evin made 22 saves in the loss. The Raiders played the game with multiple players under the weather with a virus, but the team was able to play through it.

The Raiders remain in the third spot in the league standings despite the loss and have clinched a home-ice series in the upcoming ECAC Hockey Tournament. Colgate, however, still has yet to clinch a first-round bye in the tournament.

Clarkson (15-13-6, 9-7-4 ECAC) ended Colgate's nine-game unbeaten streak thanks to goals by James Howden and Allan McPherson. Joe Zarbo, Corey Tamblyn and Will Frederick were awarded assists in the game. Karpowich was the story, however, and just missed his sixth shutout of the season as he made 28 saves to earn the win.

Clarkson took a 1-0 lead with Howden scoring with 4:06 remaining in the first period. Howden took a shot that Evin slowed down, but the puck stayed behind him. When he went to get back in position, the puck slid into the net. Assists went to Tamblyn and Frederick. The goal was a bad break for the Raiders as the puck seemed to have eyes for the net. Colgate outshot the Golden Knights by a 10-4 margin and earned two power play chances.

The Golden Knights were on their heels most of the second period, but were able to increase the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal from Zarbo. He took a shot from the right side of Evin and the goalie made the stop, but as he went to cover the puck and McPherson stuffed home the puck at the right post. Colgate continued to dominate play and held a 22-14 shot advantage after the two periods. Karpowich made a couple of big saves to keep the shutout, including a couple of diving stops.

Colgate was able to outshot the Golden Knights, 10-6, in the final frame and the Raiders finally got one past Karpowich with their 29th shot of the night. Wagner broke up the trap at the offensive blueline during an extra attacker chance and fired a laser on Karpowich, that he couldn't handle and the Raiders got within one at 2-1 with 1.8 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, it was too late and Colgate dropped its second-straight with a 2-1 loss.

Overall, the Raiders earned a 29-24 shot advantage and had its opportunities on the power play with five chances, but couldn't score. Clarkson scored one power play goal on three opportunities.

Colgate will be back home at Starr Rink, where they are 7-1-1 against conference opponents as Rensselaer and No. 8 Union come to Hamilton for Senior Weekend. Friday night's game can be seen live on Time Warner Cable Sports in Central New York.

NOTES: First time Colgate gave up the opening goal in back-to-back since Ferris State (Jan. 7) and Princeton (Jan. 13) … the Raiders were held to one or less goals for the seventh time this season … Wagner has 41 points on 12 goals and 29 assists … Smith saw his four-game goal-scoring streak come to an end.