McKenzie foils Raiders

HAMILTON — Mike McKenzie knows how to beat Colgate.

The St. Lawrence University senior scored his third game-winner of the postseason Friday night to give the Saints a 2-1 victory and move them a step closer to the ECAC Hockey semifinals next weekend in Albany.

"I've always prided myself on playing hard in the playoffs," McKenzie said. "I'm kind of a playoff player."

McKenzie had 10 goals in the regular season. He has three in just four games this postseason.

"McKenzie's been an unbelievable player against us," Colgate coach Don Vaughan said. "I thought it was a good game, (and) it played out in a way I thought it would."

McKenzie's goal came on St. Lawrence's sixth-and-final power play. The previous four had all come with SLU already up 1-0.

"When you get into a close game like that it becomes the little things," Vaughan said. "Our penalty killing unit was on the ice too much."

But St. Lawrence's power play couldn't score. It couldn't even get shots during three opportunities in the second period.

"We were struggling to break the puck out and sustain some zone time," McKenzie said. "We settled down a bit, and in the third period we had (two) power plays. We were moving it well and getting shots. Finally, we were rewarded with the goal."

Both teams started the game slowly. St. Lawrence (18-14-7 overall) struggled to get back on defense, giving Colgate (15-14-6) three odd-man rushes against SLU goalie Kain Tisi. He stopped all of them, keeping the game scoreless and, more importantly, giving St. Lawrence added confidence.

"I made that first big save, which was kind of a big momentum boost," Tisi said. "And then to have (Aaron) Bogosian go down and score right after was a huge swing."

George Hughes set-up Bogosian's score, finding him breaking down ice one-on-one with Thomas Larkin along the left boards. Larkin bit on Bogosian's fake and Bogosian caught Colgate goalie Alex Evin cheating to the right side of the net. He fired a shot over Evin's left blocker to break the scoreless deadlock at 17 minutes, 7 seconds of the first period.

Tisi continued his solid play into the second period as the Saints gave the Raiders two power-play opportunities. They didn't score on either.

"We had some good chances early in the game," Vaughan said. "If we finish on those, it could be different."

Colgate did manage to sneak one by Tisi at 15:35 of the second. Austin Smith controlled a rebound off a shot by Brian Day. He tucked it behind Tisi's left pad to even the score at 1-1. Tisi wasn't rattled, finishing the second period with 20 saves on the game.

"He made some big saves for us," Bogosian said. "He stayed poised all night."

Tisi finished with 31 saves for St. Lawrence. He made 12 in the first, eight in the second and 11 in the third, including two during Colgate's last power play in the final minute of the game. He hasn't given up less than two goals since beating Colgate on Jan. 30 in Hamilton. He struggled through a winless February, losing the starting job to Alex Petizian.

"There's going to be ups and downs throughout the year," Tisi said. "That's long behind us. I'm just trying to stay within myself."

Now, St. Lawrence has a new challenge: finish the Raiders in Starr Rink. It's a sizable task considering the Saints have lost their three previous playoff series at Colgate after winning Game 1.

"It's a long way from being over," St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh said. "We've been in this position before. It's awfully hard to win on the road and end a team's season. It's been a tough place for us in the past."

Tisi said the Saints will rely on their series win over Clarkson last weekend to help overcome the challenges of ending Colgate's season.

"I think last weekend should give us an advantage," he said. "They're like a wounded bear. They're wounded but they can still take a bit out of you."

Colgate doesn't plan to change its game plan to win the next two at home. Vaughan is just hoping the bye week didn't end up hurting the Raiders more than helping them.

"We had two weeks off and sometimes you lose that edge a little bit," he said. "We have to do a lot of the same things, (but) we have to be a little more disciplined down the stretch."