Last weekend, the Colgate men’s hockey team hosted what was arguably its toughest homestand of the year when Princeton and Quinnipiac came to town. The Raiders dropped the first game to the Tigers, but bounced back with a win over the Bobcats. Both games finished with 3-2 scores in overtime.

On Friday, Colgate hosted one of the elite teams in the nation in No.10 Princeton. The last several games between the two teams have all been close battles, including Colgate’s 2-1 overtime loss in the opening weekend of ECAC Hockey play in November.

In the first period of the game, both teams flew out of the gates and played entertaining back-and-forth hockey. Although the Raiders took the initiative and dominated the early going, Princeton also had a few chances of its own. Both goaltenders, junior Charles Long for Colgate and Zane Kalemba for Princeton, kept the game scoreless until the Tigers drew first blood late in the period after a controversial icing call against the Raiders. The boys from Hamilton went into the first intermission down 1-0.

Princeton took advantage of the momentum gained at the end of the first period to increase its lead early in the second period, scoring its second goal at the 3:31 mark to take a 2-0 lead. Trailing by two goals, the Raiders increased their offensive pressure and proceeded to pepper the Tiger goalie with shots. The Raiders were finally able to enjoy the fruits of their labor at the 13:38 mark of the stanza, when sophomore Fran?cois Brisebois scored his seventh goal of the season off assists from first-year Austin Smith and senior David Sloane. The period ended with the Tigers clinging to a 2-1 lead.

Colgate came out determined in the third period. The Raiders left everything out on the ice and their hard work paid off at the 12:20 mark of the last frame when junior David McIntyre, later selected as the ECAC Hockey Player of the Week, scored his 14th goal of the season to tie the game at two. That would be the last goal of regulation, and the Raiders would go into overtime for the eleventh time this year, setting a new school record. In the overtime period, both teams had their chances, yet it was the Tigers who prevailed on a power play with 42 seconds left on the clock.

“At the end of the day, we know that we will need to work as hard as we can every game,” McIntyre said. “Friday night, even though we lost to Princeton, I thought we played very well and we showed a lot of energy. Knowing that we outplayed one of the top teams in the nation helped us realize that we can beat anyone out there, which will carry us into our last six games.”

The following night the boys from Hamilton came out aggressively, thirsty for victory and a season series sweep over the Quinnipiac Bobcats. It was the visitors from Connecticut, however, who got on the board first at the 3:46 mark of the opening frame, scoring on first- year goaltender Bryan Bessette.

“I was excited when I found out I was starting,” Bessette said. “I didn’t give the first goal a second thought since there wasn’t much I could have done about it. I just focused on stopping the next shot.”

Throughout the rest of the period, both teams poured shot after shot on the goaltenders. The Raiders finally got on the board at the 11:52 mark, when senior Peter Bogdanich took a pass from McIntyre and fired it in to knot the game 1-1.

The second period brought more of the same with two offensive-minded teams looking to take the lead. The Bobcats recaptured the lead at the 12:08 mark on a power play goal, but five minutes later, McIntyre intercepted a pass from Quinnipiac goaltender Dan Clarke and sent it into the open net to even the score at two.

Bessette’s third period exploits earned him his first ECAC Hockey Rookie of the Week Award. The first-year stopped 14 shots and crushed the hopes of Quinnipiac. With under a minute left, the Raiders got on the power play and gained momentum that they carried into overtime. Fifty-five seconds into the overtime period, Bogdanich netted the game-winner off assists from McIntyre and senior Mark Anderson. It was Bogdanich’s second game-winning goal in overtime against Quinnipiac, as he did so last February as well.

“I really don’t do anything different when we play Quinnipiac,” Bogdanich said. “The fact that I seem to have good games against them is just pure coincidence. That said, it wouldn’t bother me to see a Colgate-Quinnipiac match-up in the playoffs.”

The Raiders will next travel to Cambridge, MA to face the Harvard Crimson on Friday, February 13 and then to Hanover, NH to battle the No. 19 Dartmouth Big Green the following night. Both games will start at 7 p.m.

“We’re hopefully going to win both games,” McIntyre said. “We plan come out with a refuse-to-lose mentality. We need to win our remaining games, and will put forth all of our effort to do so.”