HAMILTON — UConn scored twice in the first and third periods to take a 4-2 win over Colgate in both team's season openers Saturday evening.
Ryan McGuire led the way for the Raiders, tallying the second multi-point game of his career with a goal and an assist.
Ben Raymond notched a shorthanded goal to cut the lead back to one at 3-2 with just over four minutes left in the third. The junior got out in transition and fired a shot that got saved.
Tommy Bergsland collected the rebound behind the goal before hitting it to McGuire who played a backdoor pass to Raymond and he finished off the shot.
Despite out shooting the Huskies 14-10 in the final period, Colgate could not find an equalizer after pulling its goalie and the Huskies added an empty net goal from Jake Percival to secure the 4-2 victory. The Raiders finished with a 37-31 advantage in shots total.
The first period saw a combined three goals between the teams in under a minute time frame.
McGuire scored Colgate's first goal of the season with 11:58 left.
Nic Belpedio tapped the puck ahead to
Sebastian Tamburro, who skated and played the puck across to McGuire for a shot he tapped in right in front of the goal.
McGuire's goal came just 15 seconds after the Huskies put in their second goal of the contest, courtesy of Samu Salminen, giving them a 2-0 lead. Just 32 seconds prior, Matthew Wood found the back of the net for the first goal of the game.
The Raiders had a pair of power plays in the opening period that they could not convert on and they also had one in both the second and third periods.
Carter Gylander made 14 saves in the middle frame to shut down several UConn scoring chances. The senior totaled 27 stops in the game.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Mike Harder
"Certainly not the result we were striving for but we are trending in the right direction. We will make a few adjustments and keep getting better."
UP NEXT
Colgate and UConn will close their series Sunday at 3 p.m. inside the Class of 1965 Arena.
