HAMILTON, N.Y. – The power play that carried the Quinnipiac men’s hockey team throughout the ECAC playoffs was blanked in a must-win situation Sunday.

The Bobcats couldn’t convert on any of their seven power play opportunities and dropped a 4-0 decision to Colgate at Starr Rink in game three of the best-of-three ECAC quarterfinals series. The loss marks the end of Quinnipiac’s inaugural season in the ECAC.

Quinnipiac had gone 6-for-21 (28.6 percent) on the power play in its first four playoff games. All three of the Bobcats’ goals in Saturday’s 5-3 loss – which forced a decisive game three – came on the man advantage.

But the Bobcats squandered three first-period man advantages Sunday while the game was still scoreless.

“Playing three (games) in three nights, our guys were gassed,” Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold said. “We struggled on the power play with just getting pucks to the net.”

Quinnipiac’s best scoring opportunity came on its second power play, when Ben Nelson’s shot from the slot ricocheted off Colgate goalie Mark Dekanich’s mask.

Then, on the ensuing power play, Matt Sorteberg’s shot with 1:15 left in the period rang off the crossbar.

Less than a minute later, Colgate captain Jon Smyth knocked a centering feed from along the right boards past Quinnipiac goalie Bud Fisher (22 saves) to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead with 27 seconds left in the period.

“I think if we had scored early, it might have been a different game,” Pecknold said. “We had a lot of chances and sometimes they just don’t go in the net.”

The Bobcats squandered another opportunity on the power play to start the second period and then quickly gave up another goal to fall behind 2-0.

Fisher made the initial save on a 2-on-1 breakaway, but was out of position for the rebound, leaving an empty net which Tyler Burton took advantage of. He scooped the puck up behind the net and wrapped it around the left post at 3:07.

Dekanick (30 saves) made 14 saves in the third period for Colgate, which scored two goals on seven shots to put the game out of reach.

Peter Bogdanich scored on a breakaway at 8:28 and Kyle Wilson added another goal with just over three minutes remaining.

A win would’ve sent the Bobcats to the ECAC semifinals next weekend in Albany, N.Y., where Quinnipiac would’ve played top-seeded Dartmouth for the right to advance to Saturday’s championship game.

“I think in the end we’re all disappointed,” senior captain Ty Deinema said. “We wish we had moved on to bigger and better things, but it had to end sometime. Looking back at it, though, we made some great things happen and this is just the start of the future.”

NOTES: This is the third straight year Colgate has advanced to the semifinals in Albany. In all three seasons, the Raiders lost game one of the quarterfinals before coming back to win the next two games. The Bobcats won game one of this series, 3-0.Quinnipiac and Yale upset higher-seeded teams in the first round of the playoffs, but there were no upsets in the quarterfinals. The top four teams, who all received a bye last weekend – Dartmouth, Colgate, Cornell and Harvard – will play for the ECAC championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

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COLGATE 4, QUINNIPIAC 0

Quinnipiac 0 0 0 – 0
Colgate 1 1 2 – 4

First period – Scoring: 1, Colgate, Jon Smyth 11 (Winchester, Burton), 19:33. Penalties: Smyth, Clg (holding-the-stick), 5:19; Alden, Qui (interference), 7:34; Camper, Cgu (hooking), 14:50; St. Pierre, Cgu (hooking), 17:10; Tataryn, Cgu (interference), 20:00.

Second period – Scoring: 2, Colgate, Tyler Burton 22 (Jon Smyth, Winchester), 3:07. Penalties: Bordieri, Qui (charging), 5:52; Ben Nelson, Qui (holding), 11:49; Main, Cgu (boarding), 15:14; Meyer, Qui (holding), 18:17.

Third period – Scoring: 3, Colgate, Peter Bogdanich 5 (Camper, Tataryn), 8:28. 4, Colgate, Kyle Wilson 23 (Anderson, Campaner), 16:37. Penalties: Meyer, Qui (holding), 3:36; Fulton, Cgu (hooking), 9:40; Leitch, Qui (contact-to-the-head roughing), 10:24; Main, Cgu (slashing), 10:24; Marshall, Qui (hitting after the whistle), 12:35; Myers, Qui (hitting after the whistle), 12:35; Anderson, Cgu (hitting after the whistle), 12:35; Winchester, Cgu (hitting after the whistle), 12:35; Leitch, Qui (roughing), 16:05; Winchester, Qui (roughing), 16:05; Sloan, Cgu (tripping), 17:10.

Shots on goal – Quinnipiac 7-9-14 – 30. Colgate 8-11-7 – 26.

Power play opportunities – Quinnipiac 0-for-7, Colgate 0-for-5.

Goaltenders – Quinnipiac, Fisher 18-14-1 (30 shots-26 saves). Colgate, Dekanich 18-9-6 (22 shots-22 saves).

Attendance – 1,459. Referee – Peter Feola. Linesmen – Scott Whittemore, Andy O’Brien.