The Colgate men’s ice hockey team played two home games at Starr Rink this past weekend, which was dedicated to Hodgkin’s Lymphoma awareness, with both a win and a loss. The Raiders defeated the Union College Dutchmen 4-1, but fell to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Engineers, 3-2.

On Friday February 22 at 7, Colgate faced off versus Union. Junior Eric Mihalik served in goal throughout the game. Within the first few minutes, Colgate scored their first goal of the evening, shot at 2:58 by senior Kurtis Bartliff and assisted by senior captain Thomas Larkin and sophomore John Lidgett. At 5:34 sophomore Joe Wilson got a penalty for tripping. During this penalty kill, the Dutchmen scored their first and final goal of the evening. The rest of the first period was punctuated with a penalty on Union, but no further goals.

Within seconds of the start of the second period, at 0:37, Union got another penalty. Exactly two minutes later at 2:37, just as the Colgate power play was ending, the second Raider goal was scored by sophomore Spiro Goulakos, assisted by first-year Ryan Johnston and senior Robbie Bourdon. Colgate got a penalty a few minutes later at 4:18 on first-year Darcy Murphy for tripping. Union received two more penalties during the remaining minutes of the second period.

Union opened the third period with another penalty at 3:24, and Colgate was again able to capitalize on the power play with a goal at 4:30. It was scored by first-year Tylor Spink and assisted by first-year Mike Borkowski and senior captain Jeremy Price. Colgate received a series of penalties: at 7:10 on Johnston for holding, at 9:36 on first-year Tyson Spink for hooking and at 17:11 on Bourdon for hooking. Within seconds of leaving the penalty box, Bourdon was able to score assisted by Larkin, making the final score four to one.

On February 23 at 7 p.m., on “Senior Night” – marking the last regular season home game for senior – Colgate played the Engineers with a devastating overtime loss. The starting line-up was forwards first-year Kyle Baun, Bourdon and Wilson, defensemen Larkin and first-year Kevin Lough and Mihalik in goal.

It was evident already in the first few minutes that the Raiders and Engineers were well-matched teams, with play evenly on each side of the rink. However, icing was called on Colgate twice in the first five minutes. At 4:32,

Mihalik had a good save. At 5:12 the

Raiders had a strong surge toward the RPI goal, but to no avail. A few minutes later at 7:20 Larkin made a good play toward the RPI goal, unfortunately resulting in no goal. Mihalik made another good save at 14:29, followed by a penalty on RPI at 15:04. The Raiders had a strong, albeit saved, shot on the RPI goal at 18:31, and also in the final second of play. The first period ended with eight Colgate saves to nine by RPI.

The second period began with penalty on RPI at 0:32, followed by a Colgate power play goal at 1:10, scored by Baun and assisted by Tyson Spink and Borkowski. Mihalik made another good save at 4:16. At 7:43 Colgate was handed their first penalty of the evening, on first-year Tylor Spink for hooking. RPI got another penalty at 9:48 and seconds later at 10:26 the Raiders scored their second power play goal. It was shot by Borkowski and assisted by Tylor and Tyson Spink. RPI retaliated a few minutes later with their first goal. Mihalik made a pair of good saves at 13:19 and 14:59. At 17:18 Baun got a penalty for slashing. During the penalty kill at 18:23, RPI managed to score their

second goal.

The third period was largely uneventful. At 6:08 senior Billy Rivellini got a penalty for indirect contact to the head. Larkin made a good play at about 10:15. Mihalik had strong save at 11:17 and 14:33, and at 15:45 the Raiders made a great play getting the puck past their

blue line.

The game went into a five-minute overtime, during which play continued to be visibly evenly matched with strong saves by both goals. With ten seconds left in overtime, RPI scored, ending the game with a heartbreaking

Raider loss.

The Raiders have two games on the road this coming weekend. On March 1 at 7 p.m. they will play the Yale University Bulldogs and on March 2 at 4 p.m., the Brown

University Bears.