Photo Gallery

HAMILTON – For the second straight game, the Colgate men's ice hockey team made a late third period push but the Raiders could not come back from a late deficit and fell 4-3 to the Yale Bulldogs Friday night at Class of 1965 Arena.
 
After Yale scored a pair of goals within 52 seconds of each other in the final 2:31 of the game, senior co-captain Mike Panowyk (Whitby, Ontario) brought Colgate back within a goal at 4-3 with 53 seconds to go.
 
Freshman Nick Austin (St. Louis Park, Minnesota) made a fantastic play to keep the puck in the offensive zone and flung it on net. Jared Cockrell (Readfield, Maine) corralled the puck and tapped it to Panowyk streaking through the slot. Panowyk controlled the puck and tucked his shot around Yale goaltender Sam Tucker's outstretched leg to cut the deficit on the extra-attacker goal.
 
The Raiders then couldn't get anything going in the final 53 seconds despite pulling goaltender Bruce Racine (Bethesda, Maryland) for the extra skater once again. Austin fired a shot on goal and Tucker turned it away with his paddle just before the buzzer sounded.
 
Panowyk extended his career-long point streak to five games with his late goal while John Snodgrass (Eagan, Minnesota) and Josh McKechney (Calgary, Alberta) each scored for the Raiders. Jared Cockrell (Readfield, Maine) led the team with two points on a pair of assists after missing the last four games.
 
Racine was solid between the pipes once again as he made his third straight start. He totaled 34 saves Friday night, giving him 106 in this three-game stretch. 
 
McKechney got the Raiders on the board nearly midway through the first period with his fourth of the season. After taking a pass from Trevor Cosgrove (Exeter, New Hampshire), McKechney skated from the Raiders blue line and past three Yale players. He deked around Phil Kemp, the last Yale defender, before making a quick backhand-forehand move with the puck to beat Tucker glove side to take a 1-0 lead.

Yale's Joe Snively answered less than five minutes later to tie the game. It was Snively's first goal on his way to a two-goal, three-point night as he snuck into the slot and beat Racine blocker side.

Racine made a couple of big saves before Snodgrass gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead early in the second period. McMann settled the puck along the right boards and worked a good pass to Adam Dauda (Kitchener, Ontario) on the end line. Snodgrass waited patiently on the weak side for Dauda to fire a centering feed that Snodgrass stopped and rocketed past a sprawling Tucker.
 
After several more big saves from Racine, Yale tied the score with 2:20 to go in the second period. Ryan Hitchcock skated the puck around the goal before passing it to Luke Stevens on the doorstep where he batted the puck out of mid-air. Stevens' goal kicked off a stretch of three unanswered goals for Yale as they took their 4-2 lead before Panowyk's late extra-attacker goal.
 
BOTTOM LINE
Yale 4, Colgate 3
 
WIN/LOSS RECORDS
The Bulldogs extended their winning streak to five games and improved to 14-11-1 (9-9-1 ECAC Hockey) while the Raiders fell to 12-14-5 (8-9-2 ECAC Hockey)
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Panowyk recorded a point for a fifth-straight game with his seventh goal of the season, the longest point streak of his career
-Panowyk's goal was Colgate's third extra-attacker goal this season after scoring two against Quinnipiac on Jan. 5.
-McKechney tallied a goal for a second straight game and now has three goals in his last four games
-Snodgrass picked up his second goal of the season as he set a career-high for points in a season with 16
-Cockrell tallied two assists for just the second time in his career and recorded his fifth career two-point game
-Cosgrove now has an assist in three straight games with his helper Friday night
-He is the second Raider freshman to record 10 assists this season and is third among ECAC Hockey freshman defensemen with 13 points
-McMann tallied an assist for his 25th point of the season, the third-most points by a Raider in the past three seasons
-Dauda continued his solid season with his eighth assist to give him 16 points on the year
-Austin earned his ninth assist of the season to remain one point ahead of McKechney for the team-rookie lead with 15
 
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Despite a 15-12 advantage in the first period, Colgate was outshot by Yale 38-33
-Neither team had much success on the power play as each went 0 for 2
-The Raiders held on for a 35-31 edge in faceoffs with Dauda tied for the game lead with 10 faceoff wins
 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Don Vaughan
"I'm just really disappointed that it had to get to that late goal. It was a very evenly matched game but we've got to find a way to finish those games. We turned the puck over too much and that's the difference in the game."
 
"Both goalies played well tonight. Bruce gave us a chance and did a lot of good things. I just feel bad that we weren't able to step up and get a win for him."
 
"We can't be giving away these opportunities. We want to play at home in the playoffs but we're going to have to find a way to be a lot more aggressive in our own zone tomorrow night."

UP NEXT
Colgate hosts Brown Saturday night at Class of 1965 Arena in the final home game of the regular season. The Raiders are honoring their five-member Class of 2018 in a short ceremony prior to puck drop at 7 p.m.