MEN'S HOCKEY DEFEATED BY COLGATE, 3-2
Raiders take over sole possession of first place with win

Colgate University got a goal and an assist from junior Adam Mitchell
and
took over sole possession of first place in the Eastern College Athletic
Conference (ECAC) with a 3-2 win over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
(RPI) at the Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y. With the win, the Raiders
improve to 18-9-5 overall and 13-5-2 in the ECAC. It is their third win
of
the season over RPI and it clinches a bye through the first round of the
ECAC playoffs.

The Engineers, who were playing their final regular season home game,
fall
to 17-13-2 and 11-8-1 in the league. They fall to fifth place in the
standings, two points out of third.

The two teams came out quickly, combining for three goals in the first
5:11
of the first period. The Raiders jumped out in front just 49 seconds
into
the opening stanza when Mitchell slammed home a Rob Brown pass from just
outside the crease to the right of netminder Nathan Marsters. For
Mitchell, the goal was his 13th of the season. RPI junior Vic Pereira
knotted the game less than three minutes later when he rang a shot off
the
crossbar at the 3:43 mark. Keith MCWilliams and Conrad Barnes assisted
Pereira, who scored from the right faceoff circle. Colgate struck back
quickly, this time with a power play goal at 5:11. Junior Darryl
McKinnon
picked up rebound at the bottom of the right faceoff circle and snuck
the
puck past Marsters. Jon Smyth and Mitchell set up McKinnon's goal, his
tenth of the season.

Colgate scored its second power play goal of the night at 17:14 of the
second period for a two-goal advantage. Sophomore Jon Smyth slammed a
Paul
Kelley cross-ice pass into the back of the net from the right side of
the
crease. Smyth, the ECAC's leading point producer (19 goals, 17 assists),
was also assisted by Rob Brown.

The Engineers pulled back to within one goal on Blake Pickett's second
tally of the season at 7:47 of the third period. Pickett, a defenseman,
pinched in from the left point, took a pass from Kevin Croxton and beat
Colgate goalie Steve Silverthorn for the goal. Ben Barr also picked up a
helper on the goal.

Silverthorn finished with 24 saves in the win for the Raiders, who are
now
8-1-2 in their last 11 games. Marsters stopped 26 shots for the
Engineers,
including 14 in the second period.

The Engineers will close out the regular season with games at Princeton
and
Yale next Friday and Saturday. The Raiders will host Clarkson and St.
Lawrence next weekend. All four games will begin at 7pm.