PRINCETON, N.J. – Jake Kulevich (Marblehead, Massachusetts) scored the game-winning goal 6:55 into the first overtime to give the Colgate men’s ice hockey team a 3-2 win at Hobey Baker Rink and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three first round series over the Princeton Tigers.
The Raiders made history Friday night in their win as it is the 1,000th win in program history. Colgate’s first win came in 1916 against Rensselaer and the Raiders amassed 999 more to reach 1,000 in the 87 seasons of Colgate men’s ice hockey.
Mike Panowyk (Whitby, Ontario) carried the puck into the offensive zone and dropped off the puck for Jared Cockrell (Byfield, Massachusetts). Cockrell left the puck for Kulevich, who had a wide open lane to the net created by Cockrell and Panowyk to allow Kulevich to backhand home the puck past Princeton goaltender Colton Phinney.
Kulevich’s overtime game-winning goal is the first such goal for Colgate since Mike Borkowski’s overtime game-winner over St. Lawrence in the 2015 ECAC Hockey Semifinals on March 20, 2015.27496
Panowyk led all scorers with two points on a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to three games.
Goaltender Charlie Finn (North Vancouver, British Columbia) came up huge for the Raiders in goal as he made 29 saves, including 22 through the first two periods several big saves throughout the game.
The Raiders and the Tigers nearly played two scoreless periods before Panowyk netted Colgate’s first goal of the game with 29 seconds left in the second period. Anthony Sanniti (LaSalle, Quebec) tapped the puck to Ken Citron (Cos Cob, Connecticut) who rushed the puck out of the defensive zone. Citron tapped the puck over to Panowyk, who skidded to a halt and wristed the shot past Princeton goaltender Colton Phinney.
Princeton came right back out in the third period and tied the game 59 seconds into the period as David Hallisey netted his seventh of the season. The Raiders couldn’t clear the puck out of the zone and Hallisey managed to corral the puck and fire the puck past Colgate netminder Charlie Finn.
Finn made a huge save with 18 minutes left in the period, sliding across the crease to make the sprawling glove save on a backdoor opportunity by the Tigers.
Just under two-and-a-half minutes later, the Tigers took a 2-1 lead on Jeremy Germain’s second goal of the season. Germain positioned himself perfect in the slot to redirect Derek Topatigh’s shot from the point for the power-play tally.
Evan Peterson (Lakeville, Minnesota) tied the game up for the Raiders with 7:15 to go in the third period on his seventh of the season. Peterson carried the puck from the defensive zone and touched it over to Tim Harrison (Duxbury, Massachusetts). Harrison drew the defense to him after circling the net and found a patient Peterson on the wide-open back door for the game-tying goal.
Finn made another huge save for Colgate with just 1:20 left in the third period, stopping a point-blank shot from the slot to preserve the tie game before Kulevich’s game-winner in overtime.
BOTTOM LINE
Colgate 3, Princeton 2
WON-LOST RECORDS
Colgate took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three games first round series to improve to 9-20-6 this season while Princeton falls to 13-14-3.
The win goes down as the 1,000th in Colgate’s program history spanning 87 seasons.
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Kulevich scored Colgate’s first overtime game-winning goal since Mike Borkowski in the ECAC Hockey semifinals on March 20, 2015, a 4-3 win.
-Kulevich tied his career-high with five goals this season on his sixth career game-winning goal as well as a team-high 21 points this season
-Panowyk extended his point streak to three games with two points on a goal and an assist
-Panowyk has five points in his last three games on two goals and three assists with eight career multiple-point games
-Peterson netted his seventh goal of the season
-Sanniti extended his point streak to three games, the longest point streak in his career
-Citron picked up an assist to give him helpers in back-to-back games
-Harrison tallied his seventh assist and 18th point of the season, tied for second on the team with Bobby McMann (Wainwright, Alberta)
-Harrison has the longest active point streak on the team at four games
-Finn improved to 8-0-1 against Princeton in nine career games with his 29-save performance and is one win away from tying the program record for wins in a career
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Princeton outshot Colgate, 31-18, with a 22-11 edge in the first two periods
-The Tigers went 1 for 4 on the power play while the Raiders went 0 for 5
-Princeton led in faceoffs, 27-24, despite Panowyk’s game-high eight faceoff wins
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Don Vaughan
“I thought we played better as the game went on, we certainly had some nerves early, especially our young guys. Charlie kept us on it early on and gave us a chance to win that game which you want out of your veteran goalie with a lot of young guys in front of you. I’m just really happy for the guys, the message was the same tonight afterwards whether we win that game or not. We still have to win two games to win that series, we have to regroup and do it all again tomorrow.
“It’s a lot of wins for a very storied program, it’s no small feat. Hockey started here a long time ago, we always speak to the rich tradition and history of the program. I’m constantly preaching to these guys that there was a lot of hockey played here before they got here, for some guys it seems a bit of surprise. Each team is sort of in its own element and its own world but there’s been a lot of great people that have come through this program and I’m just very fortunate to be one part of all of this great history.”
Senior Captain Jake Kulevich
“The play developed pretty quickly, Jared Cockrell did a great job coming up the wall and just dropped it to me. [Panowyk]’s going hard to the net cleared the way, I saw the screen, put it to my backhand and finished. It feels pretty big.”
“It’s huge for us heading into tomorrow to win that game on the road. I think we came out a little nervous and hesitant but we found our stride, had a really good third period and OT. Hopefully we come out strong tomorrow and get this thing done.”
Jake Kulevich on the 1,000th Win
“Obviously with the history of Colgate hockey it means a lot. It’s funny; Vaughaner gave me the puck after the game on the ice and then came in the locker room looking for it once he realized it was the 1,000th win. It means a lot, it’s cool but we need 1,001 now.”
UP NEXT
Colgate and Princeton will meet against Saturday night at Hobey Baker Rink with a chance for the Raiders to advance to the ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
