HAMILTON – Behind a two-goal first period, the Colgate men's hockey program downed St. Lawrence on Friday evening by a 3-2 score in ECAC play.
Colgate got the faster start from the drop of the puck, but it wasn't until midway though the period when it began to pay off. A pair of goals in a 38 second span fueled the start as
John Snodgrass got the Raiders on the board just 8:43 in. After the scoring play drew the Raiders' first power play of the game, Colgate capitalized with the man advantage 38 seconds in for a quick 2-0 lead midway through the opening period.
Colgate was caught killing quick back-to-back penalties late in the stanza, which narrowed the score to 2-1 after St. Lawrence scored on the second chance to make it a one-goal game at the end of 20:00 of play.
After an action-packed first period, it wasn't until the teams passed the midway point in regulation before either found the twine again.
Tyler Penner created chaos at the crease for
Hunter Racine to find a rebound and again increased Colgate's lead to 3-1.
With minutes left on the clock St. Lawrence pulled its goaltender and was able to use the extra skater to narrow it to a one-goal game, but the Raiders defense held off the North Country foe for a 3-2 win.
COLGATE SCORING PLAYS
• Period 1 | 08:43 – A nontraditional play,
Bobby McMann created a two-for-one play for the Raiders as he swept the puck around the crease tempting the St. Lawrence goaltender out of position and drawing a penalty. After passing the puck across the paint, Snodgrass looped around the back of the goal ready to tuck the puck across the goal line on the unattended net.
• Period 1 | 09:21 – After St. Lawrence dumped the puck to the Colgate zone,
Paul Meyer fed the puck up from behind the net to center ice. A quick pass across the center line found an open
Jacob Panetta before he beat the five-hole for Colgate's 2-1 lead.
• Period 2 | 13:50 – Persistence was key in Colgate's third goal after
Tyler Penner's initial shot on goal.
Hunter Racine battled for the rebound and capitalized on a loose puck at the edge of the crease and scored his first of the season for the Raiders' 3-1 lead.
STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
• With the opening goal, junior
John Snodgrass notched his fourth of the season. A all of his goals have come in the new year since his first at Princeton (Jan. 5) and his two-goal performance at Cornell (Jan. 26) two weeks back.
• In stretching Colgate's lead to 2-0, fellow junior
Jacob Panetta tallied his second of the season and first since at Niagara (Dec. 7).
• In marking a pair of assists, junior
Paul Meyer marked his second multi-point night of the season (last at Quinnipiac, Jan. 4). The dual apple effort is his third in his career.
• A game-winning goal, senior
Hunter Racine earned his first goal of the season midway through the third period. It marks his first tally since the 2018 ECAC Tournament First Round against Rensselaer (March 2, 2018).
• Freshman netminder
Mitch Benson marked 23 saves on 25 shots faced on the night. The total includes a game-high of 10 in the second period.
• Solid special teams action, the Raiders went 1-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
THE BOTTOM LINE
• Colgate 3, St. Lawrence 2
RECORD UPDATES
• Colgate holds a 8-17-2 record, and a 5-8-2 mark in ECAC Hockey action.
• St. Lawrence is 4-22-1 overall on the season, and is 2-12-1 in ECAC play.
COACH VAUGHAN'S TAKE
"I am happy for the guys that we were able to pull out the win. St. Lawrence played very hard tonight and it seemed Coach Morris had his guys really dialed in for this game. We had some great minutes tonight and we just need to keep stringing more and more together. Now we hit the reset button and get ready for a very good Clarkson team tomorrow."
UP NEXT
Colgate continues ECAC action at home tomorrow, Feb. 9 when it drops the puck at 7 p.m. against No. 9/10 Clarkson.
FOLLOW THE RAIDERS
For more information on the Colgate men's hockey program, follow the Raiders on Twitter @ColgateMIH and Instagram at colgate_mih.
