BOX SCORE

POTSDAM, N.Y. (11/5/10) – The Colgate men's hockey team opened the ECAC Hockey season with a 4-4 deadlock at Clarkson on Friday night at Cheel Arena.

Colgate (2-2-1, 0-0-1 ECAC) settled for its first tie of the season with four different goal scorers. Sophomore Christian Long (Point Lookout, N.Y.) and rookie Mike McCann (Barrington, Ill.) led the way with a pair of assists each, while freshman Chris Wagner (Walpole, Mass.) added his first collegiate goal. Junior goaltender Alex Evin (Castlegar, B.C.) pushed aside 32 shots on net, which were three off of his season-high.

Clarkson (4-2-2, 0-0-1 ECAC) also had four different skaters with goals. Nick Tremblay was the leader in points with a pair of assists, along with David Pratt. Paul Karpowich finished with 36 saves to earn the tie. Clarkson came into the night with no power play goals on the year and put three on the board, including two in the final period.

Clarkson got started early with a goal 18 seconds into the contest as Ben Sexton netted his third of the season with the assists going to Tremblay and Pratt. Sophomore Billy Rivellini (Great Falls, Va.) struck back with his second goal in as many games to make it 1-1 with the assists going to McCann and Long. For Long it was his first point of the season. The tally came with just over six minutes left in the first period.

With 2:55 left in the opening frame, junior Austin Smith (Dallas, Texas) scored his first goal since the season opener. McCann's shot was saved by Karpowich, but Smith collected the rebound and made nice stick-handling move around the netminder for the score to give Colgate its first lead at 2-1. Long was credited with his second assist of the night on the play.

The Raiders capitalized on their fifth power play opportunity of the game just 1:15 into the second period with sophomore Thomas Larkin (Cocquio Trevisago, Italy) adding his second of the year and first with the extra skater to make it 3-1. The goal came on a 4-on-3 chance and Larkin fired a shot from the slot past a screened Karpowich. An assist was given to senior captain Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.).

Clarkson cut the lead down to one at 3-2 on its first power play goal of the night coming from Mark Borowiecki with the assists to Pratt and Louke Oakley. The goal came with 3:53 left in the period.

Colgate answered again to increase its advantage to 4-2 after period two. Wagner netted his first collegiate goal less than a minute after the Golden Knights sliced the lead in half. The goal came unassisted as he skated in on a breakaway and beat Karpowich on a couple dekes, which made the goaltender fall backwards into the net. The goal was reviewed, but it was determined that the puck crossed the line.

The penalty kill, which had been a key to success for the Raiders came a little unglued in the first 10 minutes of the final period. Colgate had a player go off for tripping and Clarkson made the Raiders pay as Freeman scored his second of the year with assists to Brandon DeFazio and Bryan Rufenach. With the score now at 4-3, two opposing players had matching minors, but Colgate committed a slashing penalty prior to the roughing minors, which credited a Golden Knight power play.

Matt Zarbo erased a pair of two-goal leads by the Raiders with his third of the year coming at the 9:50 mark. He netted the third power play goal of the night for Clarkson to tie the game at 4-4. Nik Pokulok and Tremblay were given the assists.

The overtime featured a rush from each team and both goaltenders were able to keep the puck out of the net as the teams played to a 4-4 tie.

Colgate outshot the Golden Knights by a slim 40-36 margin. The advantage to Clarkson came on the power play as the Golden Knights scored three with the extra man in six opportunities, while the Raiders went 1-for-7 on the power play.

NOTES: Wagner scored his first collegiate goal in his fifth game … McCann and Long posted career-highs in points with two … the fourth line of Rivellini, McCann and Long came up with five points tonight … Day got back on track and has scored in four of the five contests this season … Colgate has scored four or more goals three times this season and is 1-1-1 in those games … the Raiders remain unbeaten after taking a lead into the third period, they are 2-0-1 … Colgate has scored a power play goal in three straight games after going scoreless in the first three contests.