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HAMILTON – Hunter Racine (Ottawa, Ontario) scored the game-winning goal midway through the second period to give the Colgate men's ice hockey team its first playoff victory in the Class of 1965 Arena with a 3-1 win over Rensselaer Friday night.
 
With the victory, Colgate took a 1-0 lead over Rensselaer in the best-of-three first round series.
 
Racine's goal was his fifth of the season, and third against the Engineers, to help guide the Raiders to the win.
 
Trevor Cosgrove (Exeter, New Hampshire) blasted home his fifth tally of the season and Mike Panowyk (Whitby, Ontario) scored an empty-net goal for his ninth of the season.
 
Goaltender Colton Point (North Bay, Ontario) stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced as he helped extend Colgate's unbeaten streak to four games.
 
In the first home playoff game at Class of 1965 Arena, Cosgrove got the scoring started early. Jared Cockrell (Readfield, Maine) chased down a rebound and worked the puck to Cosgrove at the left point. Cosgrove passed it point-to-point for Nick Austin (St. Louis Park, Minnesota) who hit Cosgrove back in the high slot. Cosgrove rifled home the goal past Rensselaer goaltender Linden Marshall's glove with 13:46 left in the first period.
 
The Engineers responded right out of the intermission as they tied the game just 19 seconds into the second period. After Billy Jerry won a faceoff in the offensive zone, Mike Prapavessis skated the puck behind the goal before he fed Donovan Ott for a one-timer on top of the crease.
 
Racine netted the game-winning goal for the Raiders with 9:12 to go in the second period to take a 2-1 lead. Willie Brooks (Locust, New Jersey) forced a turnover in the defensive zone and found Racine sitting alone at the opposite blue-line after a line change from the Engineers. Racine skated in one-on-one against Marshall before beating him with a shot over his blocker.
 
After a hard-fought third period, Panowyk added an empty-netter with 3.6 seconds left to seal the win for the Raiders.
 
BOTTOM LINE
Colgate 3, Rensselaer 1
 
WIN/LOSS RECORDS
The Raiders extended their unbeaten streak to four games with the win and improved to 15-14-6 on the season, while the Engineers lost their sixth straight game to fall to 5-26-4.
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Racine has a knack for scoring against Rensselaer as he tallied his third goal against them this year and fifth in his career
-Racine has scored four goals this season
-Cosgrove netted his fifth goal of the season and 15th point
-Cosgrove has points in his last three games and six of his last seven
-Point recorded 26 saves in his 14th win of the season and has allowed two goals or fewer in nine consecutive starts
-Panowyk tallied his ninth goal of the season to give him points in eight of his last nine games
-Austin extended his point streak to four games with his 12th assist and 17th point of the season
-Austin has four assists in his last four games
-Cockrell picked up a point in a second straight game and now has 15 points on the season
-Brooks also recorded an assist in a second straight game to give him six assists this season
-Meyer tallied an assist on Panowyk's empty-net goal for his fifth helper of the season
 
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Rensselaer outshot Colgate 27-25 despite Colgate's advantage in the first and third periods
-The Raiders went 1 for 3 on the power play while the Engineers were 0 for 3
-Colgate has killed off 12 straight penalties over its last five games
-The Raiders dominated the faceoff dot with a 40-24 advantage led by Adam Dauda's (Kitchener, Ontario) 13 faceoff wins

FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Don Vaughan
On the game Friday night
"We had a great start to the game. In the first period alone we had three or four opportunities that could have gone which would have made life a little easier on ourselves. RPI came back in the second period, they really came hard. We knew the third period was going to be back-and-forth and a really battle. That's exactly how it played out."
 
On Hunter Racine
"I was really glad that Hunter was really able to step up and play the way he did tonight. He was one of our better players tonight. I'm really happy for him. He's a goal scorer and if he can keep putting the puck in the net right now that's going to be a huge help for us."
 
On the chance to close out the series tomorrow
"A good start will be really important. We often say that, but in a game like that tomorrow night where we're trying to close a team out will be tough. It's not a cliché; you're going to see their best game of the year. It's hard to put a team away."
 
Hunter Racine
On his recent goal production
"I'm just trying to help out as much as I can. My linemates have been feeding me the puck well and it's all just converting on chances so we've got to keep that going and get another win tomorrow night."
 
On the chance to close out the series tomorrow
"We've just got to pick it up a little. We were a little rusty at times and we didn't play great in our own end. We've just got to figure that out and everything will go well."
 
UP NEXT
The Raiders look to complete the series sweep Saturday night in Game 2 of their best-of-three game first round series with Rensselaer. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at the Class of 1965 Arena.