BOX SCORE

PRINCETON, N.J. (1/13/12) – Austin Smith extended his point streak to 12 games with a pair of goals, but it wasn't enough as the nationally-ranked Colgate men's hockey team fell at Princeton, 6-2, on Friday night at Hobey Baker Rink.

Colgate (12-7-2, 6-3-0 ECAC) got two goals by Smith and Wagner added a pair of helpers in the loss. Jeremy Price was awarded an assist on Smith's second goal of the night for his 11th assist of the season. Eric Mihalik stopped 23 shots in the loss.

Princeton (6-10-4, 5-8-1 ECAC) saw Aaron Kesselman and Jack Berger tally two goals apiece and Kesselman had three points as he assisted on a goal by Brodie Zuk. Matt Farris also added a goal for the Tigers, while Andrew Calof had two helpers. Mike Condon finished the night with 26 stops between the pipes to earn the win. 

The Tigers took the 1-0 with 10:34 left in the first period as Princeton kept the pressure on the Raiders, who needed a change. A screen shot was taken by Kevin Ross from the high slot, that was saved by Mihalik. The rebound, however, came to Kesselman and he put the puck in the net for the lead.

The Raiders took advantage of their second power play opportunity to tie the game at 1-1 with just 20 seconds remaining in the second frame. Chris Wagner collected the puck at the offensive blueline and charged into the zone and connected with Smith at the opposite post. The Hobey Baker Award candidate then jammed it home on the blocker side of Condon to tie the game. It was the 21st goal of the season for the senior, which leads the nation.

Princeton came out in the second and scored four unanswered goals to open up a 5-1 advantage. The Tigers retook the lead 6:37 into the second period at 2-1. Colgate fired wrister from the slot that was blocked and the Tigers got the puck and the Raiders were caught up ice, resulting in an odd-man situation. Farris made the chance count as he scored his first of the season. Kesselman then tallied his second of the night just 16 seconds later to increase the lead to 3-1 in favor of Princeton.

Zuk made it 4-1 during a scrum on the power play. Mihalik did all he could during the scrum with a pair of saves, but Zuk hit the net on the third chance for Princeton. Kesselman and Wil MacDonald were the skaters who got the two shots on net and were given assists. Berger was able to score the fourth Tiger goal of the period and second on the power play. Marc Hagel and Andrew Calof connected with Berger on a nice tic-tac-toe play.

Smith got the Raiders on the board again coming 6:13 into the third period with his second of the night to make it 5-2. Colgate got Princeton to turn the puck over and Wagner took a shot from the top of the slot that was stopped by Condon. Smith was there for the cleanup to stop a four-goal run by the Tigers. Princeton then went up 6-2 with 5:32 remaining in the game as the Tigers got a lucky bounce of the side boards by the offensive blueline and it started a 2-on-1 the other way. Berger scored the shortie with the assist to Calof.

Princeton earned a slim 29-28 shot advantage, but Colgate outshot the home team by a 24-20 margin in the final two periods. The Raiders scored one power play goal on five chances, while the Tigers netted two on the power play and had a shorthanded goal.

Colgate has a short turn around as the Raiders head to Quinnipiac for a Saturday afternoon game at 4 p.m. at the TD Bank Sports Center. The Bobcats will also be coming off a loss as Cornell scored two goals in the third period to earn the 3-2 win. A reminder to fans, Skate with the Raiders is set for Jan. 18 from 6-7. Come join the Raiders for skating, autographs and FREE pizza at Starr Rink

NOTES: Colgate gave up the first goal for the 12th time and the Raiders are 5-5-2 in those games … Smith extended his point streak to 12 games with the goal and it was the 21st for the Raiders in the first or last two minutes of a period … Smith has 13 goals during the 12 game point streak … he has seven multi-goal games this season and 14 in his career … Wagner added to his career-high in assists with his 17th and 18th of the year … he now has six multi-assists games this season … six goals allowed was the most all season and Colgate gave up its second shorthanded goal of the season and both were in the last two games.