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HAMILTON, N.Y. - Nebraska-Omaha's Aaron Smith (Madison, Wis.) scored the game-winning goal at 17:56 in the third period as the Mavericks (2-1) downed Colgate 5-4 Friday night at Starr Rink.  UNO rallied from a 3-2 third period deficit with three goals to claim the victory.

The Mavericks tied the contest at 4-4 at 4:30 in the third period when Andrew Wong took a Jeff Hoggan (Hope, B.C.) pass and beat Colgate goaltender Jason Lefevre (Rome, N.Y.) stick-side for the power-play goal.  Nebraska-Omaha took its second lead of the game two minutes and 13 seconds later when Hoggan scored his second goal of the game to give the Mavericks a 4-3 lead.

Colgate (0-1) brought the game to its third tie of the contest at 12:56 in the third as Scooter Smith's (Calgary, Alb.) slap shot beat UNO goalie Dan Ellis (Orangeville, Ont.).

Sophomore Tucker Veenis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) recorded his first collegiate goal when he took a pass from Kyle Doyle (Sarnia, Ont.) and Jaymon Hill (Unity, Sask.), giving Colgate a 3-2 lead early in the second period.  The Raiders made it a 2-2 contest at 15:05 in the second when assistant captain Ben Bryce (Bluepoint, Ont.) slipped a shot past Ellis to record his first goal of the season.

UNO led 2-1 at the first intermission after Hoggan and Gus Groslie (Moorhead, Minn.) scored two straight goals.  Colgate assistant captain Steve Silversides (Thunder Bay, Ont.) scored the first goal of his career nine seconds into the game when he ripped a slap-shot from just inside the blue line past Ellis, who stopped 19 shots in the affair.  The goal missed the Raiders' all-time record for the fastest opening goal by just one second.  

Colgate senior netminder Lefevre made 32 stops on the night in his first start of the season.

The Raiders return to the ice Saturday night for a rematch with the Mavericks at 7 p.m. in Starr Rink.