BOX SCORE
HAMILTON, N.Y. (2/24/12) – In a wild night in ECAC Hockey, the Colgate men's hockey team earned a first-round bye despite falling to Union, 5-3. The Raiders got the fourth spot after Yale and Quinnipiac tied.
Colgate earned the bye as they won the tie-breaker with the Bobcats because the Raiders had more league wins. Harvard's 3-2 win over Clarkson needed to happen as well for Colgate to get the fourth spot.
Colgate (17-14-3, 11-10-1 ECAC) got two points from
Austin Smith on a goal and an assist to give him 52 regular-season points.
Robbie Bourdon and
Austin Mayer both scored as well as all three Raider goals came on the power play.
Jeremy Price finished the night with two assists, while
Chris Wagner and
Spiro Goulakos added helpers.
Alex Evin got the start in net and made 28 saves in the loss.
Union (20-7-7, 14-4-4 ECAC) won the Cleary Cup as the regular-season champion after Rensselaer scored in overtime to beat Cornell. Daniel Carr tallied a hat trick for the Dutchmen, while Jeremy Welsh had a pair of helpers. Shayne Gostisbehere and Josh Jooris also scored for Union. Troy Grosenick stopped 25 Raider shots to earn his 16th win of the year.
Union took an early 1-0 with a shorthanded goal coming 5:05 into the period as Carr and Welsh hooked up on a breakout in the neutral zone. Welsh slid a pass to Carr in stride and he beat Evin with a backhand to get the early advantage. Colgate answered under two minutes later with a power play goal from Bourdon. Price fired a shot that went wide and Smith tried a shot, but was denied. Bourdon however, was able to jam home the second rebound at the side of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
The Dutchmen regained the lead at 2-1 with 8:57 left in the first period as Gostisbehere scored from the blueline. Kylie Bodie got an assist on the play with the pass to Gostisbehere and he blasted a shot from the point that went through traffic and into the net as Evin was screened on the shot.
Colgate was able to tie the game at 2-2 with Mayer scoring 7:36 into the second frame on a power play goal. The play started in the defensive end as the Colgate net was knocked off its pegs by a Union player, but Colgate gained control of the puck. Price found Mayer in stride and the senior fired a great shot that hit the net under the crossbar for his eighth of the season.
It didn't take long for Union to retake the lead as Carr answered 18 seconds after Colgate tied it. He intercepted a Raider pass at the offensive blueline and blasted one past Evin for the 3-2 lead.
Carr scored his third of the night during a five-minute major power play to make it 4-2, 1:06 in to the third frame. Smith got Colgate back to within one with his nation's leading 34th goal of the season, which was his seventh on the power play. Goulakos took a shot from the circle that got through traffic and fell to Smith at the far post and he jammed it in to cut the lead to 4-3 with 4:42 left in the game. Union sealed the Cleary Cup with an empty netter from Jooris coming with 28 seconds left.
Union won the shot battle by a 33-28 advantage, but Colgate played great on the power play with three goals on five chances. The Raiders also did well on the kill, allowing one power play goal to the Dutchmen on eight opportunities.
With the bye, the Raiders will have a two-week break and will wait to see who they will face in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Hockey playoffs with a trip to Atlantic City on the line.
NOTES: Colgate has now made the quarterfinals of the tournament three-straight years and second time in the last three the Raiders have earned a bye … Smith ties Andy McDonald '00 and Tyler Burton '08 on the all-time scoring list with 155 points … Wagner has 32 assists on the season and 44 points … he is on a seven-game point streak going into the playoffs … Smith ends the regular season without points in just three games … first time since Dec. 30 against Canisius that Colgate scored three power plays and third time this year … Colgate honored nine players and a student manager prior to the game on Senior Night.
