Johston’s First Collegiate Goal Lifts Raiders; Tylor Spink Nets Two
CANTON, N.Y. – In an up-and-down the ice track meet at Appleton Arena, the Colgate men’s hockey team came out on top with a 5-3 win over 17th-ranked St. Lawrence with four goals coming in the final 40 minutes.
Colgate (5-6-1, 3-2-0 ECAC) defeated its first ranked opponent of the season with the win. Tylor Spink provided the offense in the second period with two goals, but it was Ryan Johnston’s first collegiate goal that was the gamewinner. Kevin Lough added his first of the season in the opening period, while Andrew Black iced the game with an empty-netter in the final minute.
The five goals scored tonight for the Raiders were the most at Appleton Arena since 1994, when Colgate defeated St. Lawrence 7-2 in head coach Don Vaughan’s second season.
Eric Mihalik didn’t have to make too many saves, but he was up for the task when called upon. The senior netminder made a total of 18 saves, including a few huge stops down the stretch to secure the win.
The Saints (6-3-2, 2-1-2 ECAC) suffer their first conference loss of the season. Greg Carey got St. Lawrence off to a good start with his seventh of the year. Alex Hagen and Justin Baker were the other two goal scorers for the Saints. Matt Weninger got the start in net and made 25 stops.
St. Lawrence went on top with Greg Carey’s sixth goal of the season. The shot came from the outside and went through traffic in front of Mihalik. Matt Carey and Chris Martin were given assists on the play.
Colgate responded with Lough netting his first goal of the season with a nice individual effort. He was able scoop up a loose puck in the right circle and fired a shot that Weninger stopped. However, the sophomore defensemen stayed with the play and got the puck past a diving Weninger to tie the game at 1-1 with 12:27left in the period. Kyle Baun and Tyson Spink were awarded assists on the goal.
The second period was an open ice period with multiple chances for both teams and there were a total of four goals in the frame. St. Lawrence regained the one-goal advantage at 2-1 three minutes in the period with Hagen scoring with assists to Jeremy Wick and Alex Dahl.
Colgate evened the score again with Tylor Spink scoring the first of two in the period. He did a lot of hard work in front of the net and was rewarded with a loose puck that he got past Weninger. Tyson Spink put the initial shot on net that got blocked down and Tylor Spink swooped in for the 2-2 tie. Jake Kulevich was given the secondary helper on the play. The goal came under two minutes after the Saints took the lead.
The scoring continued with Tylor Spink scoring again, this time on the power play. The Raiders caught some puck luck as a clearing attempt by the St. Lawrence hit the linesman and stayed in the zone. Tylor Spink took advantage and blasted heavy slapper from the point that got by Weninger for Colgate’s first lead of the game at 3-2 with 11:27 left in the middle frame.
The Saints were able to tie the game up with 31 seconds left in the second with Baker scoring from the left side with assists to Patrick Doherty and Eric Sweetman.
The Raiders regained the lead five minutes into the final frame with Johnston scoring his first collegiate goal. He got a pass from Brendan Corcoran and fired a wicked wrister from the face off circle that beat Weninger to the glove-side high to give Colgate a 4-3 lead.
The advantage held up for the Raiders and Black sealed the win with an empty-netter after a nice pass break-up from Emilio Audi in the defensive end in the final minute. The goal ended any chance of St. Lawrence coming back and Colgate had its first win in Canton since 2008 when Mark Dekanich backstopped the Raiders to a 2-1 win.
