It was the first road test for the Colgate men’s hockey team and the Raiders didn’t come away with a win, but skated to a 1-1 tie with Bowling Green on Friday night.
The story for Colgate was senior Eric Mihalik, who played in front of his family and friend as it’s a shot drive from Avon Lake, Ohio, to Bowling Green. The netminder made 38 stops, which was two off his career-high. He especially kept Colgate in it in the second period with 15 stops.
Head Coach Don Vaughan was very proud of his goalie after the game tonight.
“It was probably Eric’s best game for us in a bit and he seemed very comfortable tonight,” Vaughan said. “He was seeing the puck right from the opening faceoff and make a lot key saves and made them look easy. Really happy for him and he played in front of a lot of friends and family and I am very proud of him.”
Colgate (2-1-1) got its lone score from Mike McCann, who is now tied with Mike Borkowski and Andrew Black for the team lead with two goals each. John Lidgett was given the primary assist on the goal and Jake Kulevich added the secondary for his first collegiate point.
Bowling Green (1-1-2) saw Bryce Williamson give it an early lead with his third of the year with assists to Mark Cooper and Rusty Hafner. Tommy Burke got the start in net and made 19 saves, including six in the third period to force the extra frame.
The Falcons came out and grabbed the momentum off the opening faceoff and earned a 1-0 lead with Williamson scoring his third goal of the season with 13:35 left in the period. Cooper slid a nice pass out front to Williamson from the corner and he beat the Colgate defender and lifted the puck over the shoulder of Mihalik for the opening goal. That was the only puck Bowling Green got past Mihalik all night.
Prior to the goal, the Raiders were saved by the post on the first power play for the Falcons with Ben Murphy firing a wrister from the left circle that clanged off the iron. Bowling Green had another chance with bodies scrambling in front of the night and a Falcon player had an open net, but Daniel Gentzler sprawled out along the goal line and denied the chance.
The Raiders tied the game 2:46 into the second period on a great hustle play by McCann. Kulevich cleared the zone and Lidgett scooped up the puck and went into the offensive zone on a 2-on-2 chance with McCann. The junior fired the puck off the pads of Burke and sometimes the best pass on a rush is off the goalie’s pads and McCann capitalized. He was being trailed by a Falcon defender, but reached out and dove forward to tip the puck inside the post to tie the game.
The rest of the second period belonged to Mihalik. The senior netminder kept the Falcons off the board, making 15 stops, including a couple of scrums that had three golden chances for Bowling Green. One of the those opportunities came late in the period and Rusty Hafner had a wide open net, but Mihalik used every ounce of his ability to get across the crease and make the stop to keep the game at a 1-1 tie after 40 minutes.
In the third period, the Raiders looked to have taken the lead on a slap shot from Goulakos from the point on the power play, but the puck hit off the cross bar and the play was reviewed and the call was upheld. McCann had another chance on a 2-on-2 rush as he received the puck in the slot and his shot was gloved down by Burke to keep it a 1-1 game.
In the extra frame, Colgate needed to kill of another power play and allowed only two shots on goal and Mihalik made both the stops. Colgate had the best chance of the extra session with Black charging the net, but Burke denied him and then McCann and Lidgett followed up with chances. Burke was up to the task and the teams played to a 1-1 tie.
“I thought the first two periods we were back on our heels a little bit,” Vaughan added. “They did a good job at winning some 1-on-1 battles we would have had success with on other nights. But it’s a really good test for our young team. I thought our guys responded and I thought we played a better third period and had our opportunities on the road. “
Colgate was outshot by a 39-20 margin, but killed off five power plays from BGSU, including one in overtime to earn the tie.
“The shots can be deceiving because we had some grade-A chances and we both had bounces around the cage,” Vaughan said. “There are a lot good things to take away from tonight.”
These two teams are back at it tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. in the second game of the two-game set.
NOTES: First overtime game of the season for Colgate and first tie in overtime since the 1-1 tie at Merrimack on Nov. 23, 2012 … Raiders held off the scoresheet on the power play for the first time this year … second tie all-time against BGSU, series now at 8-1-2 in favor of the Falcons … McCann has scored in three of the first four games … Kulevich was the 12th player to score this year so far … attendance was 2,273 at the BGSU Ice Arena.
The Colgate men’s hockey team finished its two-game set with Bowling Green on Saturday and the Raiders dropped a 7-0 decision.
Colgate (2-2-1) got a season-high 42 stops from rookie Charlie Finn, including 24 in the first period.
Bowling Green (2-1-2) had two players score a pair of goals each as Brent Tate and Ben Murphy tallied a pair. Bryce Williamson tallied three points with a goal and two assists and Dan DeSalvo added four helpers. Tomas Sholl earned the shutout with 20 stops in net.
“I thought the game got away from us in the second period,” head coach Don Vaughan said. “We took a couple of untimely penalties and its tough enough on the road and you can’t be playing that undisciplined at times.”
The first period was controlled by the Falcons, but the home squad only managed one goal as Finn stood tall in net for the Raiders. He made a total of 24 saves, including a huge stop on the penalty kill, robbing Camden Wojtala with the glove.
The lone goal of the stanza was scored by Bowling Green and it was a breakaway score with 55 seconds left in the period. Willamson was able to absorb a hit at the blueline by one of the Raiders and got the puck to Mark Cooper, who got behind the defense. He made a couple of moves and tucked a backhander inside the post and by the outstretched pad of Finn for the 1-0 advantage.
Colgate had its best chance of the period with the puck squirting through traffic and onto the stick of Mike McCann. The senior tried to jam it past Sholl, but the BGSU netminder fell on his backside to cover up the shot and keep it a scoreless game at that point.
The second period was a tough one for the Raiders as the Falcons built a 4-0 advantage with three goals in the middle frame.
Murphy increased the Bowling Green lead to 2-0, seven minutes into the second period with a wrister from the right circle after a cross-ice feed from Williamson, who recorded his second assist of the night. The Falcons made it a three-goal deficit for the Raiders with Tate scoring 1:24 after Murphy’s. Tate was out in front of Finn and deflected a Rusty Hafner shot from the point.
The fourth goal of the game for the Falcons came from Williamson to give him three points in the first two periods. With already matching minors in the box, Colgate was called for a five-minute major for boarding and Williamson made the Raiders pay. Dan DeSalvo took a shot from the top of the slot that Finn stopped, but the rebound came right out to Williamson out front and he put it home off the post for the 4-0 advantage.
Bowling Green added three more in the third period and earned the 3-0 win. Tate and Murphy each posted their second goals of the night. Murphy’s came on the power play and Pierre-Luc Mercier tallied the final goal of the night to close out the scoring at 7-0.
“I thought the shot totals were a little deceiving,” Vaughan said. “ We had some scoring chances tonight, but the game just got away from us in the second period.”
The Raiders are back on the ice at Starr Rink next weekend for a two-game set against 11th-ranked St. Cloud State. Fans can purchase tickets by calling the Colgate Ticket Office at 315-228-7600 or logging on tobleedcolgatemaroon.com.
