BOX SCORE            PHOTO GALLERY (1)         PHOTO GALLERY (2)

NEWARK, N.J. (11/27/10) – The Colgate men's hockey team took a lead into the third period, but couldn't hold off Cornell as the Raiders dropped a tough 4-3 decision to the Big Red at the Prudential Center on Saturday night.

Colgate (2-9-1) got goals from senior captain Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.) senior Austin Mayer (Providence, R.I.) and rookie Chris Wagner (Walpole, Mass.). Sophomore Robbie Bourdon (Montreal, Que.) extended his point streak to six games with an assist on Wagner's tally in the second period. Junior Alex Evin (Castlegar, B.C.) made 21 stops between the pipes in the loss.

Cornell (3-6-0) came back from a two-goal deficit in the third period to pull off the victory. Sean Collins netted the gamewinner, while Nick D'Agostino recorded two points on a goal and an assist. Tyler Roeszler and John Esposito also scored for the Big Red. Andy Ilnes earned his second win of the season, making 14 stops in the win.

Colgate struck first on Day's team leading seventh of the year coming at 7:57 of the opening period. The captain had his first shot saved, then senior Francois Brisebois (Montreal, Que.) got the puck to sophomore Jeremy Price (Milton, Ont.) just inside the blueline and his wrister was tipped by Day, who was still in front of the net, and the puck went past Ilnes to put the Raiders on top 1-0 after one period.

The Raiders increased their lead to 2-0 on a goal from Mayer for his first in a Colgate uniform. Junior Nick Prockow (Montreal, Que.) got the puck out of the defensive zone and Mayer picked it up at center ice. He skated in with a teammate and looked to pass. The puck deflected off a diving Big Red skater and into the net.

Cornell cut the lead to one at 2-1 on D'Agostino's goal, but the Raiders fired back to push the lead back up to two at 3-1 on Wagner's third of the season. Sophomore Thomas Larkin (Cocquio Trevisago, Italy) and Bourdon were given the assists.

The Raiders took that 3-1 lead into the final frame. The Cornell come back started with Roeszler's tally 3:47 into the period. Greg Miller was given the assist. John Esposito tied the game 2:26 later with assists to Joe Devin and D'Agostino. The final Cornell goal that gave them the lead was on the power play and came from Collins. Kirill Gotovets had his shot blocked, but Collins cleaned up the rebound at the side of the net for the score. The goal was reviewed, but was ruled a good goal by the officials.

The teams combined for just 44 shots in a tight game with a lot of hitting in the final two periods. The Big Red had a 25-19 advantage in shots and had the only power play goal of the game as Cornell went 1-for-5 with the extra skater. Colgate went scoreless on the man advantage for the first time in two games with no goals in three chances. The game turned out 5,412 fans on Thanksgiving weekend.

The Raiders will be back in action next weekend on Dec. 4 as Colgate heads to Army.