HAMILTON, N.Y. (11/7/09) – Brian Day (Danvers, Mass.) posted the game winning goal in the third and Charles Long (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) came within one save of posting a career-high as Colgate posted its first ECAC Hockey weekend sweep in two years with a 3-2 victory over Dartmouth, Saturday afternoon at Starr Rink.
The Raiders, who improved to 4-2-3 overall and 2-0 in league play, opened the weekend with a come-from-behind 5-4 victory over Harvard Friday evening. It marks the first time that Colgate has posted back-to-back wins against league competition on the same weekend since defeating Rensselaer (4-0) and Union (8-0) on February 15-16, 2008.
“I was a little worried early in the game when we had some chances to score, but couldn't find the net,” said Colgate head coach Don Vaughan. “I thought the penalty kill was the difference tonight. Brad Dexter does a tremendous job with that unit.
“Charles {Long} was real solid this entire weekend,” continued Vaughan. “Coming into a game cold like he did yesterday against Harvard isn't an easy thing to do. I thought he was positioned well all weekend and made some outstanding saves for us at crucial times.”
With the game all square at 2-2, Colgate cashed in on its lone power play goal of the afternoon in seven attempts at 4:44 of the third. Austin Smith (Dallas, Texas) got to the puck behind the net and passed it out in front to Day, who fired a one-timer from the right side of the cage for his fifth goal of the year.
Like against Harvard, Colgate needed to kill off a penalty in the closing minutes to prevail. Dartmouth pulled its goalie and had a two-man advantage in the final minute, but Long came up big down the stretch with two important saves. The junior turned aside 38 of 40 shots in the victory, one shot of his career-high 39 saves versus Quinnipiac last year. Long saved 16 shots in the first period and 14 more in the second.
After a scoreless first, Colgate got on the board at 6:45 of the second as David McIntyre (Pefferlaw, Ont.) scored his second goal of the year from Day.
Less than two minutes later, Colgate struck again, this time from redshirt sophomore Kevin McNamara (Chestnut Hill, Mass.). After Francois Brisebois (Montreal, Que.) took an initial shot on net, the rebound came to McNamara on the right side and he fired it into the empty side of the cage for his first of the campaign. It was McNamara's first collegiate goal since scoring against St. Lawrence on January 19, 2008. Nick Prockow (Montreal, Que.) was credited with a secondary assist on McNamara's goal.
Before the period had ended, Big Green came back to send the game into the third period knotted at 2-2 on goals by Dustin Walsh and Mark Goggin at 8:41 and 15:49 respectively.
Colgate held Dartmouth scoreless in seven power play attempts. With the victory, the Raiders gained their first home victory over Big Green since a 3-1 win on January 23, 2004. It's Colgate's second consecutive victory over Dartmouth dating back to last season.
Sophomore goalie Jody O'Neill saved 30 shots in net for Dartmouth, which fell to 0-3 on the young season.
Colgate returns to the road next weekend as it travels to take on Brown and Yale, Friday and Saturday. Opening face-off at Meehan is set for 7 p.m.
Final Stats
