HAMILTON — Colgate fell 2-1 to RPI Saturday after the Engineers scored with less than two minutes left to take the lead.
Lauri Sertti netted the game-winner with 1:37 remaining in the contest. It came off of passes from John Beaton and Ryan Mahshie.
Alex Young tied the game up 12 seconds into the third.
Colton Young played a pass in front of the goal to
Reid Irwin, who got denied on a shot from in front, but
Alex Young was able to finish a shot off the rebound to make it 1-1.
It was his league-best 17th goal of the season and extended the junior's point streak to 12 games.
The goal came after both teams got called for offsetting holding penalties with 23 seconds remaining in the second as both went down to four men.
Colgate had another power play at the 7:39 mark of the third after RPI got called for interference, but it could not capitalize. The Raiders also killed off an Engineers' penalty after
Nick Anderson got sent to the box.
RPI struck first with a goal from Austin Heidemann two minutes into the second period. Sutter Muzzatti skated up the ice and dished a short pass to Altti Nykanen, who played the puck across the ice to Heidemann for a shot he finished off from in front of the goal.
The Raiders had several chances to score in the second. A scrum in front of the goal saw Colgate fire three-straight shots that it couldn't get to go.
Levi Glasman also had an open shot on goal that got stopped by the goalie. The Raiders fired a total of 13 shots in the middle frame.
Earlier in the second,
Carter Gylander denied the Engineers a breakaway chance as he prevented RPI from doubling its lead. The junior finished with 22 saves in the net.
Neither side could get on the scoreboard in the first. The Raiders outshot the Engineers 11-4 in the period but could not put one in the back of the net. Colgate finished with the total advantage in shots at 35-24.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Don Vaughan
"It's hard to win in this league and tonight I thought we played well enough to win. I thought there were some missed calls that went against us and everyone reading this knows I don't say that lightly. These are huge games and as a league, we need to be better. I am not taking anything away from Dave Smith and RPI. They played great, but man it was a loosely called game. We need to be better at understanding how games play out and adjust. We didn't do enough of that tonight. I kind of feel for both teams that from one night to the next you just never know. Forrest Gump would say "ECAC Hockey is like a box of chocolates…. You just never know what you are going to get."
UP NEXT
The Raiders take on Route 13 rival Cornell next weekend in a home-and-home series. The Raiders and Big Red will square off Friday at 7 p.m. in Ithaca and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Class of 1965 Arena.
