DURHAM, N.H. – Colgate senior goaltender Zac Hamilton (Ottawa, Ontario) made 30 saves Saturday night to keep the Raiders in the fight but the Raiders could not complete the comeback in a 5-3 loss at the nationally ranked No. 20 New Hampshire Wildcats at the Whittemore Center.
Three different Raiders found the back of the net as Mike Panowyk (Whitby, Ontario), Adam Dauda (Kitchener, Ontario) and Nick Austin (St. Louis Park, Minnesota) all scored for the Raiders. Austin also added an assist for Colgate’s lone two-point game.
After trailing 2-0 to end the first period, Colgate and New Hampshire traded goals for the final 40 minutes of the game with the Raiders unable to complete their attempted comeback.
Hamilton made 15 of his 30 saves in the first period of the game, keeping the Raiders within one goal before a late goal made it 2-0. Brendan van Riemsdyk tallied the Wildcats’ first goal before Michael McNicholas scored with 1:52 left in the first period.
The Raiders came out firing in the second period, along with a power play carried over from the first period. Panowyk buried the rebound for his first power-play tally of the season off Austin’s shot from the point. Hunter Racine (Ottawa, Ontario) also picked up an assist on the play.
New Hampshire answered right back as Jason Salvaggio buried his first of two goals in the game 58 seconds later to reclaim the Wildcats’ two goal lead.
After neither team could score over the next 10 minutes, Dauda finally broke through to bring Colgate back within a goal as Ben Sharf (Williamsville, New York) and Paul McAvoy (Richmond, Kentucky) each tallied their second points of the season with assists.
Once again, the Wildcats responded with a goal as this one came just over four minutes later with Shane Eiserman netting his third goal of the season.
The third period continued to ramp up the excitement as both Hamilton and Danny Tirone made big saves. Austin brought the Raiders back within a goal for the third time in the game as he scored his third goal of the season. After a Josh McKechney (Calgary, Alberta) pass to Bobby McMann (Wainwright, Alberta), McMann fired a pass through the slot to Austin on the back door for the one-timer past Tirone to make it 4-3.
Colgate continued to try to overcome that challenging two-goal deficit but New Hampshire added an empty net goal with three seconds left to secure the win.
BOTTOM LINE
New Hampshire 5, Colgate 3
WIN/LOSS RECORDS
The Wildcats improve to 4-0-0 to open the season while the Raiders drop to 2-2-1 with the loss.
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Hamilton made 30 saves in his first start for the Raiders since Jan. 23, 2016, when he was a sophomore.
-Austin recorded his second multi-point game of the season with his third goal and first career assist
-Austin is tied for second among rookies in the country with three goals while his four points are tied for fourth
-Panowyk buried his first power-play goal of the season and the only power-play goal of the game Saturday night
-Dauda picked up his first goal of the 2017-18 season with Colgate’s second goal of the game
-McKechney recorded his third assist of the season, tied for second on the team
-Sharf picked up his second career assist and point with a helper on Dauda’s goal
-Hunter Racine recorded his first point of the 2017-18 season in just his second game
-McAvoy rounded out the point-getters for the Raiders with his first career assist
FACTS AND FIGURES
-New Hampshire had the edge once again in shots, 35-26, despite the Raiders outshooting the Wildcats over the final two periods, 19-18.
-The Raiders buried the lone power-play goal, going 1 for 6, while the Wildcats were 0 for 3
-Colgate was the stronger team on faceoffs once again, 34-31.
UP NEXT
The Raiders hit the road next week for just a single game as they take on Atlantic Hockey’s Canisius Golden Griffins (1-1-0) at the HarborCenter with puck drop set for 7:35 p.m.
