The Colgate men’s hockey team erased a two-goal deficit in the third period, but 10th-ranked St. Cloud State regained the lead shortly after the Raiders tied the game and took a 4-2 win on Friday night.
Colgate (2-3-1) stuck with the Huskies all game long and got two points from Tyson Spink and Kyle Baun with a goal and an assist from each. Eric Mihalik did his part in net, making 34 saves, including 12 in the first and third periods.
St. Cloud (2-0-1) took the first game of the two-game series with Nick Oliver scoring the gamewinner 45 seconds after Colgate tied the score at 2-2. The Huskies had four goals from four different goal scorers. Ryan Faragher was solid in net with 32 saves with 12 coming in the opening frame.
“I thought it was a really good game and I thought both teams played well,” head coach Don Vaughan said. “They had a couple more bounces go their way. We had a couple of chances around the net that didn’t go our way. I thought we did a lot of really good things tonight, but we got a find a way.”
In a fast paced first period, St. Cloud took the early 1-0 lead with Cory Thorson scoring his first of the season with 7:45 left in the frame. Oliver broke into the offensive zone and passed the puck up to Brooks Bertsch. The puck was then shoveled across the slot to Thorson and he roofed it over Mihalik to give the Huskies the advantage.
The Huskies increased their lead to 2-0 in the first few minutes of the second frame with Ryan Papa scoring his first goal of the season after a tough break for the Raiders. David Morley swung the puck behind the net and Jimmy Murray put a pass off a Colgate skate in front and Papa hit it past Mihalik. St. Cloud had a couple of chances to expand the lead with a pair of power plays, but couldn’t get a shot on net.
Colgate cut the lead down to one with 40 seconds remaining in the middle frame with a power play goal from Baun. The sophomore one-timed a beautiful shot from the slot on a set up play from the top power play unit. It started with Tylor Spink’s cross-ice pass to Mike Borkowski, who went tape-to-tape with Tyson Spink. With Baun camped out in the slot, Tyson Spink found him for the shot. Baun went stick-side low and past Faragher.
“When our power play moves it around that quickly it’s hard to defend,” Vaughan said. “We have so many options on that power play and Kyle doesn’t miss when he has those opportunities.”
The Raiders were able tie the score at 2-2 with 4:59 left in the game with Tyson Spink netting his second of the season on a nice feed from twin brother Tylor. Baun was given the second assist on the play as he hit Tylor Spink and then he slid a pass over to Tyson Spink for the score.
The celebration was cut short by Oliver, who had a great tip in front on the first shift after the Raiders tied the score. Ethan Prow fired a shot from the point, that Oliver tipped over the shoulder of Mihalik and just under the bar for the 3-2 lead with under five minutes to go. The Huskies added to the lead with Jonny Brodzinski recording an empty net goal with 25 seconds left to close out the scoring at 4-2.
St. Cloud had a 38-34 shot advantage and the Raiders were the only team to score on the power play. The Huskies went 0-for-2, while Colgate scored once in three chances.
“We had a few mental lapses at times, but that comes with being a young team,” Vaughan added. “Other than that I was very pleased with our effort tonight.”
The two teams are back on the ice tomorrow night for a 7 p.m. start at Starr Rink. Tickets are still available and can be purchased an hour before game time.
