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HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/10/12) – The Colgate men's hockey team climbed out of a 2-0 hole in the second period, but a pair of unanswered goals by Quinnipiac gave the Bobcats a 4-2 win over the Raiders to force a third game in the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals at Starr Rink.
Colgate (18-15-3) was paced by
Chris Wagner and
Kurtis Bartliff as each scored a goal with Wagner's coming on a penalty shot.
Jeremy Price was the only assist of the night for the Raiders.
Eric Mihalik kept the Raiders in the game with 29 stops, including a few in the third period when Colgate was only down a goal.
Quinnipiac (20-13-6) got a goal and an assist from Connor Jones, who has four points in the series. Matthew Peca handed out three assists and Jeremy Langlois, Kellen Jones and Scott Zurevinski each netted goals in the win. Eric Hartzell was tested throughout the game and came up with 19 stops. He was also credited with an assist on his team's last goal of the night.
The twin Jones brothers gave the Bobcats a quick 2-0 lead in the first six-plus minutes. The first came 4:15 into the first frame as Loren Barron and Peca made a couple of great passes. Peca found Kellen Jones in front of the goal and he hit the open net as Mihalik was caught committing to a Peca shot. Connor Jones made it 2-0 with a shot from the right circle that beat Mihalik on the glove side.
Colgate was able to get one back with Wagner scoring on a penalty shot. He got a breakaway shorthanded and as he was making a move on Hartzell he was hooked from behind. Wagner took a quick wrister just in front of net and it rang off the cross bar and into the net. The goal came at the 8:29 mark of the opening frame to slice the lead to 2-1.
The Raiders knotted the score at 2-2 with 6:56 remaining in the second period as Bartliff scored his fourth of the season from the high slot. Price did a great job squeezing the boards at the blueline to keep Quinnipiac from clearing the puck. He then gained possession and slipped a pass to Bartliff in the high slot. The junior ripped a wrist shot that beat Hartzell just inside the post.
Quinnipiac earned its fifth power play of the night with less than a minute left and capitalized to take a 3-2 lead going into the final frame. Peca collected a deflected puck in the corner and found Connor Jones across the ice. Jones then slipped a pass to Langlois, who fanned on the shot but the puck hit his skate and into the net. There was a lengthy review by the officials and the goal was upheld.
The Bobcats continued to hold the momentum as they outshot Colgate, 8-0, in the first 10 minutes of the third period. The Raiders did have an opportunity on its second shot of the period with Wagner, getting by a Quinnipiac defender and as he was being hooked down, he fired a shot just wide. Colgate did get a power play out of the play, but couldn't capitalize.
Zurevinski then put the game out of reach for the Raiders with a power play goal coming with 1:28 left in the game. Hartzell flicked the puck up ice to Zurevinski at the offensive blueline. He broke into the Colgate zone, fired a shot that
Spiro Goulakos blocked, but Zurevinski got the rebound and beat Mihalik for the 4-2 lead that held up for the final minute.
The Bobcats outshot Colgate, 33-21, and scored two power play goals on seven chances. The Raiders earned two power play opportunities, but each one was an abbreviated chance because the two calls came while Colgate was shorthanded.
The two teams will be back on the ice tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Starr Rink for the third and deciding game of the series. It will be the third time in the series history between these two schools that they will go to a third game.
NOTES: Wagner extended his career-long point streak to nine games with the penalty shot score … first playoff penalty shot goal since 2007 when Jesse Winchester '08 scored against Rensselaer … Mihalik made 29 saves for the second-straight night … Wagner has six playoff goals in two seasons … Price increased his career-high in assists to 21 and has 23 points on the year … each team has won a game 3 against the other on home-ice in the playoffs … Colgate won in 2006 in the quarterfinals by a 4-0 score … Quinnipiac won its series against the Raiders in 2009 with a 4-3 OT win.