Colgate got goals from three different players and finished 2-for-4 on the power play to earn a 3-1 win against Rensselaer in the first game of the ECAC Hockey League playoffs Friday.
Colgate took a 1-0 lead on a lucky bounce 2:06 into the first period. On the power play, sophomore Nick St. Pierre took the puck from junior goalie Mark Dekanich deep in the defensive end, and passed it up to senior Marc Fulton along the left boards. Fulton passed it ahead to sophomore Tom Riley , who chipped it into the zone off the side boards.
Rensselaer sophomore netminder Mathias Lange moved to play the puck behind his net, but it caromed off the boards and into the far side of the net.
The Raiders finished the first period 2-for-2 on the man advantage when they scored to go up 2-0 at the 16:03 mark. Sophomore Peter Bogdanich shot in on net from close range, and junior Tyler Burton skated in to take a whack at the rebound.
A pile-up in the crease ensued, and when the dust had settled, junior Jesse Winchester had been able to push the puck over the goal line.
Rensselaer responded with a power-play goal of its own 25 seconds into the second period. From the left point, senior Jake Luthi cycled the puck down to sophomore Andrei Uryadov in the left circle. Uryadov sent a pass across the slot to senior Oren Eizenman, who scored backdoor on Dekanich.
The Raiders got an insurance goal 7:18 into the final frame. Burton claimed the puck off a turnover in the defensive zone, and skated into the other end on a 2-on-1 with freshman David McIntyre. Burton crossed the puck to McIntyre, who beat Lange glove-side.
Neither team got many pucks to the cage during the game, especially in the third period as RPI edged Colgate 3-2 on shots. Both goaltenders finished with 16 saves.
In the game, Dekanich became the fifth goaltender in Raider history to make 2,000 saves in his career, and he enters Saturday’s contest with a total of 2,003 stops. He needs just 21 more saves to break his own single-season record of 988, set last season, and just 32 to become the first goalie in school history to make 1,000 saves in a season.
The Raiders will go for the series sweep on Saturday, starting at 7:00 p.m., at Starr Rink.
