The Colgate men’s hockey team had a mediocre weekend, coming out of the Governor’s Cup Tournament at the Pepsi Arena in Albany, N.Y with a tie and a loss. In the team’s first game, they faced ECAC foe Quinnipiac. Colgate struck first, capitalizing on a five-on-three power play opportunity when sophomore Nick St. Pierre scored his second goal of the year with a shot from the point through traffic.

The Raiders then fell behind 2-1 partway through the second period and it was not until midway through the third that Colgate was able to tie the score. Sophomore Peter Bogdanich tallied the evener on a wrap-around, his second goal of the season. At the end of regulation the score remained 2-2 and it went down in the record books as a tie, but to determine which team would advance in the tournament, a shootout ensued. Junior assistant captain Tyler Burton and Bogdanich assured Colgate’s advancement to the finals.

When asked about instituting shootouts to determine winners in ties during the regular season, head coach Don Vaughan later said that he is not a fan despite the Raiders’ success. “It’s a team game,” Vaughan explained. “Shootouts are a fan initiative. A team game shouldn’t be decided by a 1-on-1 shootout. I think we have a good product just the way it is.”

In the championship game, the Raiders again took an early lead, this time off of Sophomore Tom Riley’s second goal of the season. However, Rennselaer evened the score just 31 seconds into the second period. Both offenses then went quiet until, with merely 49 seconds left in the game, junior goaltender Mark Dekanich mishandled a high shot from the point which Rennselaer forward Dan Peace poked in to the back of the goal to sink Colgate and win the championship.

“We played some good minutes,” Coach Vaughan assessed of his team’s play during the weekend. “The puck just didn’t bounce our way. We need to touch on our power play if we’re going to see this many minutes.” Indeed, the Raiders went a measly 2 for 26 on the power play for the weekend, a frustrating 7.6 percent efficiency.

“But we got better as the weekend unfolded and that’s what’s really important,” Vaughan added.

The Raiders begin ECAC league play on Friday, November 3 at 7 p.m. when they visit Yale.