BOX SCORE

BURLINGTON, Vt. (11/25/11) – The No. 15/16 Colgate men's hockey team scored four unanswered goals in the final two periods, including two from Matt Firman, to down Vermont, 4-1, on Friday night at Gutterson Field House.

Colgate (9-4-1) saw Firman tie a career-high with his third multi-goal game in a Raider uniform. Chris Wagner and Joe Wilson also tallied goals with Wagner's coming shorthanded. Wagner also added an assist for the multi-point day. Alex Evin continues to play well between the pipes and earned his third win, making 32 stops.

Vermont (2-8-1) got its lone goal from Connor Brinkley with the assists to Nick Luuko and Brett Bruneteau. Rob Madore pushed aside 22 shots in net as he took the loss.

Vermont got on the board first with Brinkley scoring with 8:34 left in the first period. The puck was behind Evin and somehow it trickled to Brinkley just above the crease and he beat the Colgate netminder for the 1-0 advantage. Nick Luuko and Brett Bruneteau were credited with assists. The Raiders had their chances as the Catamounts turned the puck over a couple of times in their own zone. Madore stopped Austin Smith twice and Wilson whistled a shot wide after turnovers.

The second period didn't start off well as Colgate was called for hooking, but the Raiders tied the game 22 seconds into the penalty kill with Wagner scoring his fourth goal of the season and first shorthanded to tie the game at 1-1. Smith was able to break up a Vermont pass and the puck went to Wagner. The sophomore skated in all alone on Madore and beat the netminder with a backhanded. The goal came 1:10 into the second frame.

After the Raiders killed off a 5-on-3 power play for Vermont, Wilson gave them their first lead of the contest with his third of the year coming with 34 seconds left in the second frame. Wagner collected the puck behind his own net and floated the puck high above the ice. Wilson was able to skate under it at the offensive blueline and then deked a Vermont defender with a nice move. He was at a tough angle, but fired a snap shot into the top corner on the blocker side for the 2-1 lead.

Firman then got into the act with a pair of goals in the third period. The first came six minutes into the frame to make it 3-1. Nathan Sinz was able to slide the puck over to Firman and he was charging all alone at the right circle. He was not challenged by any Vermont defender and beat Madore top corner glove side to give the Raiders a comfortable two-goal lead. He then struck with less the two minutes left. Nick Prockow did most of the work and slipped the puck into the crease and Firman redirected it past Madore for the 4-1 advantage and that lead held up for the Raiders.

Vermont earned the shot advantage by a 33-26 margin, but Colgate had nine shots in the final period to the Catamounts' five. The Raiders went scoreless on just two power play chances, while Vermont failed on four opportunities.

Colgate has the rest of the weekend off and will host Clarkson and St. Lawrence next weekend. The matchup against the Golden Knights on Friday night at 7 p.m. will be on Time Warner Cable Sports.

NOTES: The Raiders are now 8-0-0 when leading after two periods … Colgate has outscored its opponents 11-3 in the last three games … the Raiders erased 1-0 deficit for the fourth time … Evin has given up two goals in his last two starts and has 63 saves on 65 shots in two games … Firman became the third player this year to have two goals in a game … Wagner has six points in the last four games and has three multi-point games in those four … Smith has scored a point in 13-of-14 games this season … Wilson scored for the first time since the win over Nebraska-Omaha in the second game of the year … Colgate has five shorties this year, which is tied with Boston University for the most in the nation and Wagner became the first player other than Smith to score a man-down … Colgate stopped a two-game winning streak by the Catamounts and beat UVM for first time since it was a conference member back in 2005 … the Raiders have not given up a power play goal in three games and have score two shorties … Vermont is one of two Hockey East schools on Colgate's schedule as #1 Merrimack comes to Hamilton on Dec. 10.