KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Three different players scored goals Friday night and goaltender Colton Point (North Bay, Ontario) made 37 saves but No. 18 Colgate men's ice hockey fell to the No. 11/9 Western Michigan Broncos, 5-3, at Lawson Arena.
 
Sophomore forward Ben Sharf (Williamsville, New York) scored his first career goal to give the Raiders an initial lead early in the first period. Paul McAvoy (Richmond, Kentucky) picked up his second goal of the season and Adam Dauda (Kitchener, Ontario) added his fifth goal to round out the Raiders scoring.
 
Point's 37 saves are good for his third most in a game this season and his 15 third-period saves are his second most in a period.
 
Also of note from Saturday, head coach Don Vaughan was behind the bench for his 900th game as a head coach, all of them coming in his 25 seasons at the Colgate helm.
 
Sharf tallied his first career goal on the Raiders first shot of the game to make it 1-0 with 15:29 left in the first period. Tyler Jeanson (Carman, Manitoba) won a loose puck in the neutral zone at the red line and fed it to Sharf to his right. Sharf skated with speed to the top of the right faceoff circle where he wristed the puck past Broncos goaltender Ben Blacker's blocker to take the lead.
 
Western Michigan got on the board just over three minutes later as Wade Allison put home his ninth of the season on a redirect off a pass from Dawson DiPietro.
 
The Raiders answered right back 1:27 later to take a 2-1 lead with 10:55 left in the first period. Tyler Penner (Winnipeg, Manitoba) corralled a Western Michigan turnover at the center faceoff dot where he skated into the right side offensive zone. Penner flung the puck toward the goal where McAvoy crashed through the slot to backhand home the puck.
 
Both teams combined for four goals in the second period, starting with Allison's second goal of the game just 53 seconds into the second period. The Broncos claimed their first lead of the game just under seven minutes later when Josh Passolt netted his first of the game to make it 3-2.
 
Dauda tied it up on a power-play goal with 2:01 left in the second period for his fifth of the season. A Western Michigan defender attempted to clear the puck from behind his own end line but the puck deflected right off Dauda's skated and snuck between Blacker's skate and the post for the goal.
 
The Broncos regained the lead with 20.2 seconds left in the period as Lawton Courtnall one-timed home a rebound off Ethen Frank's breakaway shot down the right wing to make the lead 4-3 heading into the final frame.
 
Point made big saves throughout the third period to keep the Raiders in the game, but the Broncos managed to score an insurance goal with four minutes left. DiPietro buried a rebound goal off Colt Conrad's blast from the point for the Broncos' lone power-play goal.
 
BOTTOM LINE
No. 11/9 Western Michigan 5, No. 18 Colgate 3
 
WIN/LOSS RECORDS
The Broncos win their fourth straight game, and seventh in their last eight, to improve to 9-4-1; the Raiders fall to 7-4-4 with the loss.
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-Sharf's goal was the first of his career as he becomes the sixth different player to score their first career goal this season
-McAvoy potted his second career goal for the Raiders in the game
-Dauda tied his career-high for goals in a season with his fifth in just Colgate's 15th game this year
-Dauda has goals in three consecutive games, the longest streak on the team this season
-Jeanson and Penner each picked up their second assists of the season with helpers on Colgate's first two goals.
 
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Western Michigan outshot Colgate 42-25 and had a 16-6 advantage in the third period
-Both teams netted a power-play goal, as the Raiders were 1 for 5 on the man advantage and the Broncos were 1 for 7
-Colgate had a strong third period to even up the faceoff totals, 31-31.
 
GATE GRAB BAG
-Don Vaughan coached his 900th career game, all of them coming at Colgate.
-Attendance at Lawson Arena was 2,131
 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Don Vaughan
"We had our looks, clearly, even late in the game we had some really good looks but we still need to tighten things up defensively. They came really hard and they controlled the puck in the offensive zone more than we would have liked. We weren't closing on plays as quickly as we need to.
 
"Ben's had some really good opportunities and he's been a little snake-bitten the last couple of weeks. It was a great shot, a really good release. I'm happy for Ben. He's worked hard and he's earned everything he's gotten. 
 
"We'll probably got some fresh legs in the lineup, take a look at the video and see if we can tighten up things in our own zone. That'll be the big thing — making sure we don't give them that much possession time in our end."
 
UP NEXT
The Raiders and Broncos wrap up their two-game series Saturday night at Lawson Arena with puck drop set for 7 p.m.