BOX SCORE

TROY, N.Y. (2/11/11) – Defenseman Kevin McNamara scored with 2:13 left in overtime to give the Colgate men's hockey team a shocking 2-1 win over eighth-ranked Rensselaer on Friday night at Houston Field House.

Colgate (5-22-2, 2-13-3 ECAC) made it two in a row for the first time this season thanks to goals from Austin Smith and McNamara. The Raiders were down 1-0 into the third and came back from a third period deficit for the first time this year. Eric Mihalik earned his second win with 18 saves.

Rensselaer (18-7-4, 10-6-1 ECAC) got its lone goal from Joel Malchuk on a nice tip in, with the assists to Nick Ballen and C.J. Lee. Bryce Merriam took the loss after pushing aside 27 shots.

The game started off with a frantic pace as both teams were feeling each other out and it was noticeable because the first shot on goal from either team came over seven minutes into the game. Right after Colgate killed off the power play, they struggled to get the puck out of the zone, which led to the first goal of the night. One player dove to try to clear it, but missed and Ballen collected the puck and put a shot on net. Malchuk was there to tip in the shot with 8:57 left to give the Engineers a 1-0 lead on just its third shot of the night. Lee was credited with an assist.

Colgate dominated the second period and had the Engineers on their heels, but couldn't find a way past Merriam. The period included two power play chances for the Raiders. Colgate outshot the eighth-ranked team 13-2 in the period and gave up just one shot on RPI's lone extra man opportunity.

Smith finally solved Merriam to knot the score at 1-1 with his eighth of the season at the 16:55 mark of the third. He hooked up with Kurtis Bartliff on a rush up ice and Francois Brisebois added the second helper. Bartliff found Smith in stride and the Dallas native fired a laser that Merriam had no shot in stopping.

McNamara completed the comeback for the Raiders, who dominated the Engineers in overtime with a 4-0 shot advantage. The junior exercised some revenge on Rensselaer after the Engineers beat Colgate 2-1 in overtime earlier in the year. Robbie Bourdon was given an assist after he skated into the RPI zone 1-on-1 and dropped the puck to McNamara on the opposite win. He hit the one-timer to give the Raiders a huge boost with a 2-1 overtime win. Nick Prockow was also awarded an assist on the play as he banked the puck off the boards and out of the defensive end and to Bourdon.

Colgate dominated the last two periods after falling behind early. The Raiders outshot Rensselaer 25-11 in the final two frames and overtime. Overall the shot total was 29-19 in favor of Colgate. The Engineers came into the weekend averaging 25 shots and Colgate held them to 19 with eight coming in the first. Both teams failed on the power play with the Raiders going 0-for-2, while RPI went scoreless in six opportunities.

Colgate will travel a few minutes down the road to Union to face the ninth-ranked Dutchmen tomorrow night at 7 p.m. from Messa Rink.

NOTES: First overtime win on the road since March 7, 2009 … first win when trailing after two periods this year … first one-goal victory of the year … only the second lost for RPI at Houston Field House this season … McNamara scored his third career gamewinner, first since his freshman year and first overtime winner of his career … Colgate gave up just two shots in the second period, which was the least allowed since the season opener against Army … the Raiders gave up two shots in the second period on Oct. 9 on Cape Cod … Smith scored his first goal since the pair against Cornell on Jan. 22 … Brisebois now has a team-high 24 points and has scored at least one point in eight of his last 10 games … Colgate played in its seventh overtime game and second-straight against RPI … Corbin McPherson played in his 100th career games, becoming the fifth player this year to reach the milestone and eighth overall on the team.