Freshman defenseman J.R. Bria scored from point-blank range with just 2.3 seconds to play in regulation time to lift Colgate to a 3-3 tie with St. Lawrence Sunday night.
Bria found himself unguarded at the side of the Saint net with Colgate goalie David Cann pulled for an extra attacker and redirected a pass from senior Brad D?Arco past SLU goalie Kevin Ackley to cap a comeback from a 3-1 deficit.
Colgate improves to 7-11-2 overall and 2-5-1 in the ECAC, while the Saints are now 4-12-3 overall and 1-5-1 in league play.
Each team scored on a breakaway in the first period as St. Lawrence junior Rich Peverley scored his third goal of the weekend and fourth of the season with the game only 46 seconds old and Colgate senior Scooter Smith answered with his 12th of the year at 12:40 with the teams skating four-on-four.
The Saints took a 2-1 lead at 8:43 of the second period when senior Blair Clarance won a faceoff in the Colgate end and sent the puck back to sophomore defenseman Jim Hakewill who scored his first goal of the season on a shot which beat a screened Cann.
SLU made it a 3-1 game when junior Ziga Petac tapped his third of the year at 8:59 of the third period, but Smith scored his second of the night at 10:50 before Bria tied it.
“It was one we sure would have liked to have had, but you have to give Colgate credit for coming back,” said Saint coach Joe Marsh. “Donny?s (Vaughan) teams always give us a tough time and we knew going into the game that it was going to be a dog fight.
“Colgate came out with a lot of zip and Kevin Ackley held us in there until we could get our feet under ourselves. We had some chances to add to our lead, but missed a couple and Cann made a couple of big saves. We need the points, but if we keep competing the way we did this weekend, they will come.”
St. Lawrence outshot Colgate 4-1 in the overtime, but couldn?t get the winner past Cann, who finished with 38 saves. Ackley had 40 stops for the Saints.
