SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College men's hockey team held on to an early lead to defeat Colgate, 5-4, in ECAC Hockey action at Frank L. Messa Rink Friday evening. With the win, the Dutchmen (7-8-3, 1-4-2 ECAC Hockey) snap a nine-game losing streak to the Raiders (7-9-3, 1-4-2 ECAC Hockey), who fought back to within one goal three times during the game.

 

Jason Walters (Renfrew, Ontario) registered his third-straight multiple-point game with a goal and an assist, while junior assistant captain Lane Caffaro (Slave Lake, Alberta) netted his first goal of the season and added an assist. Adam Presizniuk (Calgary, Alberta) also registered a goal and an assist. Tyler Burton paced Colgate with a hat trick.

 

Union surged to a 3-0 lead just over seven minutes into the contest on goals by Walters, Adam Presizniuk (Calgary, Alberta) and John Simpson (Boxborough, Mass.).

 

Josh Coyle (Brooklyn, Ohio) chipped the puck out of Union's zone and carried it up the right boards to mid-ice before pushing it up to Matt Cook (Belle Mead, N.J.). Cook carried the puck into the zone with Walters and held up before passing across the slot to the sophomore, who flipped the puck under the crossbar at 1:43 on the first shot of the game.

 

Stéphane Boileau (Blainville, Quebec) then won a draw in Colgate's zone to Valery-Trabucco who snapped it back to Mike Harr (Norwood, Mass.) who slid the puck across the point to Brendan Milnamow (Wilton, Conn.). Milnamow wound up before firing at the net where Presizniuk deflected the shot between Colgate goaltender Mark Dekanic's legs at 2:39.

 

On the power play, Walters threw the puck from the right circle out to Caffaro at the blueline. Caffaro fired from the high slot and the puck careened off the torso of Simpson, who was screening Dekanic. The goal, at 7:27, marked the second in as many games for the freshman.

 

Burton put the Raiders on the board with his first goal of the night, a power-play score, at 15:53. Peter Bogdanich fed Wade Poplawski down low. Union netminder Corey Milan (Great Barrington, Mass.) stopped Poplawski's shot, but Burton was there to net the rebound.

 

On Colgate's next power-play opportunity early in the second period, Jason Williams fired a shot at Milan that the freshman stopped and cleared from the netfront, but five seconds after Union's penalty expired, Williams brought the Raiders within a goal with his sixth tally of the season. Nick St. Pierre had the puck below the left circle and slid it toward the net where Williams poked it in at the post while crashing to the ice.

 

Caffaro extended Union's lead to two goals with his first score of the season less than four minutes later. Caffaro stripped the puck off a Colgate player just inside the Union zone and pushed it out to Boileau who started up the right side of the ice with it. Caffaro dodged a player to join Boileau on the rush before the freshman slid it across to Caffaro who placed it in the high corner at 9:30.

 

Burton brought the Raiders within one with his second goal late in the middle frame, tipping in a backdoor pass from Bogdanich with 2:40 remaining in the second.

 

The third period featured fast-paced end-to-end action with plenty of scoring chances for both teams. Williams looked to take advantage of a Union penalty midway though the period after a flurry of wide and blocked shots, but Milan kept the Dutchmen's narrow lead intact.

 

On the penalty kill later in the frame, Presizniuk forced a turnover in the Raiders' zone and dropped it back to Valery-Trabucco, but his shot was blocked.

 

Mike Schreiber (Sherwood Park, Alberta) scored his third goal of the season at 16:09 to give Union its two-goal lead back after picking up a stranded puck that he had tried to play deep along the right boards to Boileau. Schreiber picked up the puck and lifted it into the top opposite corner past Dekanic's right shoulder.

 

Colgate continued to chip away at the Dutchmen and capitalized on a late Union penalty to come within one again courtesy of Burton just 21 seconds into the man advantage.

 

With Dekanic pulled in favor of the extra attacker, the Raiders held the puck in the offensive zone, but Union's defense held Colgate to one shot on net in the final 48 seconds.

 

Milan made 22 saves in his third win of the season, while Dekanic stopped 26 Union shots.

 

Union finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while Colgate went 2-for-7.

 

The Dutchmen continue ECAC Hockey action Saturday night against Cornell at Messa Rink. The game can be seen throughout New York State on Time Warner Sports, which may be found on Time Warner Cable Channel 3 in the Capital Region.