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HAMILTON, N.Y. (3/9/12) – Chris Wagner scored two goals, while Austin Smith added a pair of points as the Colgate men's hockey team beat Quinnipiac, 4-2, to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three quarterfinal series at Starr Rink on Friday night.

The Raiders (18-14-3) saw Wagner tally his second multi-goal game of the season and Smith add his 41st career multi-point game with a goal and an assist. Joe Wilson and Nathan Sinz also had two-point nights with a pair of helpers. Matt Firman gave Colgate an important insurance goal in the third period on his fifth of the season. Eric Mihalik was strong in net for the winners with 29 saves, including a huge toe-save in the final minutes to keep Quinnipiac off the board.

The Bobcats (19-13-6) got two power play goals from Connor Jones. Kellen Jones and Loren Barron assisted on each goal as each player earned two points. Eric Hartzell also played well between the pipes with 32 stops, including 14 in the third period.

Colgate took an early lead with Smith scoring his 35th goal of the season, which came 3:15 into the game as he beat Hartzell with a great wrist shot. Spiro Goulakos took a shot from the right point that was blocked down by a Quinnipiac defender and no one could possess the puck until Smith swooped in and got it and put a shot on net to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.

The Bobcats answered on its first power play opportunity with 4:25 remaining in the first frame. Colgate was called for interference and it took Quinnipiac 32 seconds to even the score at 1-1. Loren Barron got the puck in the slot after a blocked shot and found Kellen Jones at the faceoff circle. The Colgate defender went to play the pass and Connor Jones was alone in front to tip home the puck. The first period was played evenly according to shots as each team put 10 shots on net.

Wagner gave the Raiders the lead again with his 13th of the year, coming 14 seconds into the second period to give Colgate a 2-1 advantage. Sinz and Wilson connected on a pass and then Wilson found Wagner streaking in the neutral zone. He came into the offensive zone on a 1-on-1 play. He toe-dragged around the defender and beat Hartzell high stick-side.

Connor Jones evened the score again with his second power play goal of the night to tie it at 2-2, five minutes into the second frame. Kellen Jones found his twin brother in front of the net and he was all alone and beat Mihalik for the second time.  The goal came nine seconds into the man advantage for the Bobcats.

Wagner scored his second of the night on the power play with 8:28 left in the game. Smith circled the defense on the advantage and hit Wilson in front with a pass that he tipped into Hartzell's pads. Wilson jabbed at the puck again and it came free to Wagner at the far post and he jammed it home while falling to the ice to regain the lead for the home team at 3-2.

The Raiders struck again, just 17 seconds later as Firman put home a rebound to give Colgate some needed insurance. Sinz found Austin Mayer for a shot and Hartzell made the save, but Firman collected the rebound and beat Hartzell for the 4-2 lead, which held up after Quinnipiac pulled the goalie multiple times down the stretch. Mihalik and his defense was up for the task and held the visitors off the board and earned a 4-2 win to take the first game of the series.

Colgate had a 36-31 shot advantage in game one. The teams were dead even after two periods with 20 shots apiece and then the Raiders put 16 shots on net in the third and found the net twice. Each team scored on the power play as Quinnipiac went 2-for-6 with the extra man, while Colgate scored once on seven chances.

The teams will be back at it tomorrow night in game two from Starr Rink at 7 p.m. as the Raiders will look to close out the series.

NOTES: Smith leads the nation with 35 goals and has scored nine career goals against the Bobcats, including four this year … Wagner scored his third and fourth goal against Quinnipiac in his career and third this season … Sinz came into the season without a multi-assist game and has two in the last month … Wagner extends his point-scoring streak to a career-high eight games and has a point in 15 of his last 16 games … Smith made it eight-straight as well and has 54 points on the season … Mihalik earned his fifth career playoff win … Colgate is now 14-1-0 when scoring four or more goals this season … the win ends a four-game losing streak … Wagner and Smith now have 100 points combined this year and the “Producers” (Wilson-Wagner-Smith) have 121 points together in 2011-12.