HANOVER, N.H. – Tim O’Brien scored at the 4:37 mark of the second overtime to lift seventh-seeded Dartmouth to a 4-3 victory over tenth-seeded Colgate in the third and final game of their ECAC Hockey Championship first round series Sunday at Thompson Arena.
O’Brien’s series-clinching goal capped a back-and-forth affair that saw the Raiders take the lead three times in regulation, only to see the Big Green battle back on all three occasions.
The balanced play continued into overtime, with both teams having multiple chances to end the game during the first overtime session, only to see Colgate netminder Charlie Finn and Dartmouth keeper Charles Grant both make key saves to keep the game deadlocked.
Early in the second overtime, Dartmouth took advantage of a turnover to gain entry into the Colgate zone. John Ernsting then found O’Brien alone in the slot, where he fired a wrist shot that beat Finn to the blocker side to give the Big Green the game and the series.
Earlier in the contest, the two teams traded goals during the opening 10 minutes of the first period. Tylor Spink opened the scoring just 3:35 into the contest with a wrist shot from the middle of the slot for his second goal of the series, only to see Carl Hessler tie the game at 1-1 just a little more than five minutes later when he completed a 2-on-1 rush for his 11th of the season.
The score remained 1-all until the third, when the two teams combined for four goals during a frantic3:59 stretch.
Tim Harrison began the sequence at the 4:06 mark, converting a 2-on-1 break to give the Raiders a 2-1 lead.
The Colgate advantage lasted just 16 seconds, as Josh Hartley fired a shot from the point that found the crossbar, but bounced down and across the goal line, to tie the contest at 2-2.
Derek Freeman restored the raiders lead with 7:06 gone in the third, slipping a backhanded effort past Grant to make it a 3-2 game.
Nick Bligh brought the Big Green level once again only 59 seconds later, stuffing home a backdoor feed from Tim Shoup to tie the contest and send the game to overtime.
Finn made 35 saves in goal for Colgate. Grant turned aside 38 shots for Dartmouth.
Bottom Line
No. 7 Dartmouth 4, No. 10 Colgate 3 (2ot)
Won-Lost Records
– Dartmouth improved 16-15-1 on the season as it advanced to the quarterfinals, where it faces second-seeded Yale in a quarterfinal round series at Ingalls Rink.
– Colgate finished its season with an 11-24-2 overall record.
Key Raider Info
– Tylor Spink netted his 13th goal of the season with his first-period marker. Spink also added an assist on Tim Harrison’s third-period goal. He finished the season with 10 points in the Raiders last seven games (7g,3a).
– Tim Harrison recorded his eighth goal of the season with his third-period goal. Harrison finished the season with six points in the last six games (1g,5a).
– Derek Freeman notched his fourth goal of the season during the third period. It was his first goal sinceOct. 4 at Mercyhurst.
– Emilio Audi picked up an assist on Derek Freeman’s third-period goal. Audi tallied a point in all three games of the series.
– Brett Corkey picked up his third assist of the series with the secondary helper on Derek Freeman’s goal. Corkey (4g,11a) and Jake Kulevich (4g,11a) ended the season tied for the team lead in points among Colgate defensemen.
– Mike Borkowski earned the primary assist on Tim Harrison’s goal. Borkowski finished the season third on the Raiders in scoring with 22 points (13g,9a).
Inside the Box Score
– Colgate out-shot Dartmouth, 41-39, for the contest. The Raiders held the edge in the first period (9-7) and the second overtime (4-1) while the Big Green had the advantage in the third (11-10) and first overtime (11-9). The two teams tallied nine shots each in the second.
– Neither team scored on the power play as Colgate was 0-for-2 with the man advantage while Dartmouth was 0-for-1 with the extra skater.
– Colgate posted a 48-34 advantage at the faceoff dot. Tylor Spink was 23-of-36 and Mike Borkowski was 19-of-30 to lead the Raiders.
– Tyson Spink led the Raiders with seven shot attempts while Brad Schierhorn tallied seven shot attempts to pace the Big Green.
From the Source
Colgate Head Coach Don Vaughan
For complete interview, click here
“I thought tonight we played our best game of the series and we come up short. We had some great opportunities – a couple of breakaways and 2-on-1’s – and their guy came up big on those. At the end of the night, that’s probably the difference. We could have certainly scored two or three more goals tonight, but they could say the same thing last night. It was two teams that were extremely evenly matched.”
