St. Lawrence 3, Colgate 2 (OT)

HAMILTON — St. Lawrence University, with a fortuitous deflection by Mike McKenzie, defeated Colgate University, 3-2, in overtime of an ECAC Hockey game on Saturday.

McKenzie was credited with the game-winning goal with 42 seconds remaining in overtime as St. Lawrence managed a weekend split against No. 8 Cornell and Colgate.

The two points earned moved St. Lawrence into a three-way tie for second in the conference with Yale and Union, and two behind outright leader Cornell.

McKenzie’s score capped a strong final 24 minutes for the Saints, which had trouble getting shots on net through the opening two periods. Travis Vermeulen started the winning play, sending the puck to Matt Raley at the point. Raley waited for a lane to clear and took a shot toward net. It McKenzie’s leg and deflected in at 4:18 of overtime.

It was the first lead for the Saints, which needed to come from behind twice to tie Colgate.

The Raiders failed to take advantage of four first-period power plays, while St. Lawrence managed only six shots on net in the opening 20 minutes. Both teams exited the first scoreless.

Colgate scored first midway through the second period as sophomore Matt Firman finished off a two-on-two by deflecting a goal-mouth pass by Brian Day into the corner of the net at 10:31.

The Raiders, who had two more power play chances in the second period, surrendered only four shots on net to the Saints.

The third was a strong 20 minutes from St. Lawrence. The Saints first tied the game at 1:18 when McKenzie took a shot from the top of the faceoff circle. It deflected off a Colgate stick to Aaron Bogosian in front. He put it away to make it a 1-1 game.

Colgate took only 39 seconds to respond, sneaking one past SLU goalie Kain Tisi during a scramble in front of the net. Day was credited with his 16th goal of the season.

St. Lawrence didn’t falter again. Brandon Bollig cleaned up a rebound off Matt Raley’s shot at 8:03 of the third to get the Saints back to 2-2.

Both Tisi and Colgate goalie Alex Evin made big saves late to force overtime. Evin finished regulation with 22 saves, while Tisi stopped 29.

Tisi needed only two more saves in overtime to earn the win and keep an opponent to two goals or less for the ninth time in 10 games.

Mike McKenzie’s final goal was his sixth of the season and 99th career point at St. Lawrence.