Murphy & Wilson Tally Three Points; Raiders Unbeaten in Last 6 at Home
HAMILTON – The 19th-ranked Raiders recorded their second tie of the weekend and this time it was against third-ranked Union in a 4-4 battle on Saturday night.
Colgate (14-11-5, 10-5-3 ECAC) was led by Darcy Murphy and Joe Wilson as each had three points with a goal and two assists. Spiro Goulakos scored his fourth goal in the last three games and Andrew Black tallied his seventh of the season. Ryan Johnston had two points from the blueline with a pair of helpers.
In a battle of the top two netminders in the league this season, Charlie Finn stood tall in net with 32 saves, including 14 saves in the third period and overtime. Colins Stevens had 24 stops between the pipes and had 10 in the second period.
Union (20-6-4, 14-3-1 ECAC) saw four different skaters score goals with Vecchione recording a team-high two points.
The Raiders got off to a great start with two goals in a span of 1:13 early in the first frame. Goulakos gave Colgate the first lead with his eighth of the season on a nice stick handle in front of Stevens after he was left all alone on the right side of the ice. Black made it a quick 2-0 lead with his seventh of the year with a great feed from Tim Harrison. Wilson and Harrison battled along the boards and Harrison hit Black at the near post. The rookie put it inside the near post for the two-goal lead.
Union didn’t go away however and tied the game with two quick goals of its own. Vecchione got the visitors on the board with a great redirection at the far post off of a Jeff Taylor shot from the point. Daniel Ciampini followed that with his 14th of the year with assists to Mat Bodie and Vecchione and tied the game with 2:38 left in the period.
Colgate snuck in a power play got with 46 seconds left with Murphy cleaning up the puck in front of Stevens. Brett Corkey took a shot from the point that was blocked in front and the puck dropped to Murphy and he caught Stevens out of position and made it 3-2 at the end of the first.
The power play worked again for the Raiders with 10:36 left in the second period to give Colgate another two-goal advantage at 4-2. Wilson and Murphy were camped out in front and Johnston took a shot from the point. The puck got a double deflection off Murphy and Wilson and beat Stevens.
Union got back to within one on an unexpected goal from Theo DiPauli. He intercepted a pass at the offensive blueline and just shot the puck towards Finn. It took a bad hop off the ice and trickled past Finn with 6:40 left in the period.
The Dutchmen erased their second two-goal deficit of the game with Kevin Sullivan scoring unassisted with 4:49 left in regulation. The puck got dumped into the zone and Finn had to make a save, however, he couldn’t hold onto it. Sullivan snuck in and as he lost an edge, he was able to flip the puck over Finn’s pad to tie the game 4-4.
The Raiders had two power plays in the third period, but couldn’t continue their hot start on the power play and the teams went to overtime.
The five minutes were up-and-down the ice with a few chances. Colgate had a couple of them, but Stevens stopped both. Overall, Union had a 4-3 shot advantage in the extra frame and the teams settled for a 4-4 tie.
The Raiders were very discipline, allowing only two power plays for the Dutchmen, while Colgate was 2-for-4 on the man advantage. Union won the shot battle by a 36-28 margin.
The Raiders hit the road for the final time in the regular season with a visit to Princeton and Quinnipiac next weekend. Colgate is three points clear of Cornell and Clarkson after the two ties and remains in third place in ECAC Hockey.
