HAMILTON, N.Y. - Freshman Ryan Rashid netted his first career game-winning goal just 40 seconds into overtime to push the Niagara men's hockey team (10-6-2, 7-4-0 AHA) to a 4-3 victory over the host Colgate Raiders (3-10-1, 0-5-1 ECAC) on Saturday night at Starr Rink.

After junior netminder Chris Noonan made a flurry of saves in his own end to begin the extra session, Niagara went on the offensive and soon clinched the game off of the stick of Rashid, his seventh on the season. With the victory, Niagara swept the season series against Colgate, while finishing with a 3-2-2 non-conference record, the team's first winning record against non-conference foes since the 2007-08 season.

"Tonight was a great road win," Niagara head men's hockey coach Dave Burkholder said. "Noonan made some great saves for us while on the penalty kill in the third that kept us in the game down the stretch."

Colgate took a 1-0 lead in the first period when Francois Brisebois one-timed a shot on the doorstep past Noonan. The Purple Eagles would respond nearly three minutes later, when freshman Scott Arnold shot the puck over the shoulder of Raiders netminder Alex Evin on a two-on-one rush. Arnold now has 12 goals this season, placing him in eighth place on Niagara's Rookie Scoring list.      

Niagara took its first lead of the game on the man-advantage, when senior Paul Zanette slid a centering feed across the goalmouth to fellow senior Bryan Haczyk, who slammed it home to extend his consecutive games point streak to 14 games. The lead would be shortlived as the Raiders would tie the game nearly two minutes later, when Tom Larkin beat Noonan with a shot from the faceoff circle.  

The Raiders would take a 3-2 lead just 17 seconds into the third period, when Brisebois beat Noonan while on a 5-on-3 advantage. Niagara would tie the game when Zanette, the nation's leading goal scorer, notched his 16th marker of the season with 8:28 left in regulation. Niagara outshot the Raiders 19-4 in the third period, but couldn't break the tie.

Niagara's 10 victories before the start of the new year is the seventh time in 15 seasons that the Purple Eagles have accomplished the feat. Noonan made 24 saves in the victory, while Arnold, Haczyk and Zanette had a goal and an assist each.

"One goal that we had is to have a winning record against non-conference foes," Burkholder said. "We played well and earned 10 wins so far, making for a good first semester of hockey."

The Purple Eagles resume play on Jan. 7, 2011 when Niagara takes on AHA foe Holy Cross at 7:05 p.m.