Mihalik Shines in Senior Night Win
Senior netminder Stops 34; Raiders Clinch Second in ECAC Hockey
HAMILTON – Colgate turned to its senior goalie on Senior Night and Eric Mihalik came up with his best start of the season against Dartmouth.
The Raiders (17-12-5, 13-6-3 ECAC) scored two goals in the third period and held off a late charge from the Big Green and earned a 2-1 win. With the victory, Colgate clinched second place in ECAC Hockey with 29 points. The Raiders will await its opponent in the league quarterfinals, starting on March 14.
“This group has really matured during the season,” head coach Don Vaughan said when asked about his team’s second place finish after being picked ninth. “We knew it would be a process, but the guys bought in early in what we wanted to do and how we were going to do it and we stayed at it.”
Mihalik stoned Dartmouth 34 times on the night, but his best period was in the third when he made 15 saves. None were bigger than the final four after the Big Green pulled the goalie and had a pair of offensive zone faceoffs.
The first chance was a shot off the post and Mihalik was able to recover on the rebound with a right pad save and then he stretched out to stop the potential gamewinner from Eric Neiley.
Vaughan was very proud his two seniors tonight and Mihalik specifically on the role his has played this year.
“Eric hasn’t played a lot, but has taken on a great leadership role,” Vaughan added. “He has really helped our rookie goalie Charlie Finn, so for him to go out and perform the way he did as the best player on ice, we are very happy for him and also Mike McCann.”
Tylor Spink and Joe Wilson were the goal scorers for Colgate. Tylor’s tally was the results of great passing between the topline of Tyson Spink and Kyle Baun. Wilson’s was the eventually winner and gave Colgate a 2-0 lead.
Dartmouth (8-17-4, 7-13-2 ECAC) was one of the hottest teams in the league coming into tonight with a five-game winning streak, which included a 1-0 win at Cornell on Friday. Goalie Charles Grant was a major reason for the recent success and he made some big stops for the visitors. He had a total of 26 saves with 10 coming in the second period.
The first period featured a lot of defense with Colgate holding a 9-7 shot advantage, but there was no score. Colgate best chance came on a 3-on-2 and Wilson tried to hit a streaking Andrew Black in the slot. However, the puck hopped over his stick. The Raiders had two chances on the power play and ended up with a couple of chances, but shot them wide.
The two teams combined for 22 shots in the second period, but neither netminder gave ground and the game went into the third scoreless.
Colgate took the first lead of the game, 1:50 into the final stanza with Tylor Spink recording his 14th of the season. Baun did the grunt work behind the net on a great shift and spotted Tyson Spink at the faceoff dot. The pair connected and then before Grant could react the puck was on Tylor Spink’s stick. He buried it to give the Raiders the important first goal.
Wilson gave the Raiders a much-needed insurance goal with 6:35 left in the game. Spiro Goulakos cleared the puck out of the defensive zone and Mike Borkowski tipped it up to Wilson. The junior forward charged in all alone on Grant and beat the Dartmouth goaltender five-hole for the 2-0 lead. It was Wilson’s third goal in the last five games and he has six points in those games.
The Raiders couldn’t rest, however, as Dartmouth answered 20 seconds later with Neiley scoring on a rebound off a blocked shot. Josh Hartley intercepted a Colgate pass in the offensive zone and fired a shot that deflected off a defender in front. Neiley picked up the rebound and scooped a backhand over the out-stretched blocker of Mihalik. The goal put the Big Green back in the game with 6:15 left in the third.
Dartmouth kept coming at the Raiders and Mihalik stepped up with eight saves after the Big Green got back to within one. Two of the biggest saves of the year came late in the game. Hartley hit the post off a faceoff and Mihalik scrambled to find the puck and he stoned Tyler Sikura and Neiley on a pair of rebounds. He then made two stops on Brandon McNally to secure the win and second place in the league.
“Anytime you have a one or two goal lead on a team, they are going to continue to come at you,” Mihalik said. “We just had to weather the storm and we did.
“I just try and go out there and give the boys the best chance to win and I was able to do that. It was a good night for the boys to secure second place.”
Colgate has next week off and will open the ECAC Hockey playoffs on March 14 in a best-of-three series. The opponent has yet to be determined.
Tickets for the upcoming quarterfinals are on sale now and can be purchased three ways. Fans can log on tobleedcolgatemaroon.com, call the Colgate Ticket Office at 315-228-7600 or stop by the ticket office in Reid Athletic Center from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
