BOX SCORE      Photo Gallery

HAMILTON, N.Y. (1/27/12) – The Colgate men's hockey team was down 3-1 going into the third and caught fire with four goals in the final frame to come away with a 5-3 win over nationally-ranked Cornell at Starr Rink and earn a sweep of the Big Red this weekend, infront of a sellout crowd of 2,414.

Colgate (14-9-3, 8-5-1 ECAC) got two goals from Austin Smith and three helpers from Chris Wagner to lead the way. Joe Wilson had a season-high three points with a goal and two assists, while Robbie Bourdon put home the gamewinner and Thomas Larkin scored an empty netter and also added an assist. Eric Mihalik made 22 stops in net to earn his 10th win of the year. The Raiders earned their first sweep of their rivals since 2003-04.

Cornell (11-6-4, 8-3-3 ECAC) saw Braden Birch, Greg Miller and Sean Collins score goals, while Dustin Mowrey tallied two helpers. Andy Iles tied a season-high five goals allowed and had 25 stops in the loss.

The Raiders entered the final frame with a 3-1 deficit and exploded for four goals, including a shortie, power play and an empty net goal. Wilson got it started with a nifty stick check of a Cornell player in its own zone and broke in all alone on Iles. He made a couple of moves and tucked it past the pads of the Cornell netminder to cut the lead to 3-2, just 4:39 into the period.

Colgate kept the momentum and despite the Big Red on the power play, Smith tied the game with his sixth shorthanded goal of the year. Larkin was able to hold the puck in the offensive zone on a Cornell breakout try. He then slipped a pass down to Wagner, who was still in the zone after an offensive rush. Wagner then connected with Smith in the slot and he beat Iles with a snap shot to tie the game.

Bourdon then put the Raiders up for good with a power play goal with 5:06 left in the game. This time it was Spiro Goulakos holding the zone and passing the puck to Wagner at the endline. Wagner found Bourdon at the opposite post and he buried it for the 4-3 lead, which was Colgate's first of the night. Larkin than added an empty netter with 43 seconds left on a dump from his endline to close the scoring at 5-3.

Cornell was able to grab an early 1-0 lead 7:32 into the first period as Birch put the Big Red ahead with a shot from the point. Brian Ferlin and Mowrey connected on passes and then the puck went out to Birch at the blueline. He fired the puck through traffic and it beat Mihalik to the blocker side.

The Raiders tied the game three minutes later on Smith's 25th goal of the season. Wilson grabbed the puck out of the air in the neutral zone and flipped a pass to Wagner. The sophomore gained the line into the offensive zone and passed to Smith on at the faceoff circle and he ripped wrister past Ilnes for the score. Cornell then was able to retake the lead with 3:43 remaining in the period as Miller created a turnover, then got a pass from Mowrey and got the puck pass Mihalik from the slot.

The Big Red increased its lead to 3-1 with Collins scoring on the power play with 4:05 left in the second frame. Sean Whitney and Joel Lowry played pass at the blueline and then the puck came to Collins and he took a shot from the right circle that went through traffic and into the net for the two-goal advantage.

The Raiders outshot the Big Red, 30-25, and each team went 1-for-3 on the man advantage.

Colgate will be back on the road for a trip to the Capital District to take on Union and Rensselaer in a key weekend series.

NOTES: First third period comeback of the season for the Raiders … Colgate leads the nation with 10 shorties and Smith leads the country with six … Wagner extended his point streak to seven games with his assist in the first period and he earned his 50th career point with the shortie last night at Cornell … Smith has now scored in 17 of the 26 games this season and has tallied a point in four-straight games … the Raiders trailed after the first period for only the fifth time … Smith is one goal away from entering the all-time single-season top-10 in goals scored … the four goals in the third period is a season-high for a period.