KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Bobby McMann (Wainwright, Alberta) recorded his first career hat trick and added an assist for four points Saturday night as the No. 18 Colgate men's ice hockey team took down the No. 11/9 Western Michigan Broncos, 5-1, at Lawson Arena.
 
McMann's natural hat trick was the first hat trick for the Raiders since Mike Borkowski '16 had one on Oct. 4, 2015, at Mercyhurst. He also tallied the first four-point game since Jake Kulevich '17 had four points at Princeton on Feb. 5, 2016.
 
Goaltender Colton Point (North Bay, Ontario) came up big for the Raiders with 36 saves between the pipes to finish the weekend with 73 saves. Point made a game-high 14 stops in the second period Saturday night and had double-digit saves in each period.
 
First-year Nick Quillan (Halifax, Nova Scotia) recorded his first career points Saturday night with a pair of assists while sophomore John Snodgrass (Eagan, Minnesota) and junior Adam Dauda (Kitchener, Ontario) also picked up a pair of assists for the Raiders.
 
Jared Cockrell (Readfield, Maine) posted his career-high seventh goal of the season while fellow sophomore Jacob Panetta (Belleville, Ontario) added a power-play goal in the win.
 
Cockrell set the tone early on in the game as he put the Raiders on top 1-0 just 1:41 into the contest. Josh McKechney (Calgary, Alberta) stole the puck on the right boards on a clear attempt from Western Michigan. He fired the puck on goal where starting goaltender Ben Blacker saved it, but Cockrell was there to backhand home the rebound goal.
 
McMann doubled the Raider lead with 14:52 left in the first period on McMann's first goal of the game. Quillan controlled the puck in the neutral zone and worked it up to Snodgrass checking back to the puck near the offensive blue line. Snodgrass skated into the offensive zone and dropped a pass for McMann, who skated through the defense and wristed the puck past Blacker.
 
The Raiders took a 3-0 lead with 6:02 to go in the first on McMann's second of the period. Quillan flung the puck on goal from the blue line where it was tipped by Dauda trying to redirect on goal. Blacker made the initial save but the rebound kicked out to McMann who made a move, forcing blocker to dive, and slid the puck home for the goal.
 
McMann completed the natural hat trick six minutes into the second period to stake the Raider to a 4-0 lead. Snodgrass made a great play to jar the puck loose along the right boards and McMann skated to keep it in the offensive zone. He shifted the puck down to Dauda at the top of the right circle before Dauda turned and fired a pass from the right circle to McMann in the slot. McMann beat one defender before wristing the puck past backup goaltender Trevor Gorsuch.
 
Western Michigan answered with a goal in the later stages of the second period but Colgate re-gained a four-goal lead with six minutes to go in the third on Panetta's first of the year. McMann passed the puck to Nick Austin (St. Louis Park, Minnesota) across the blue line and Austin continued the passing to Panetta on the right win. Panetta flung the puck on goal where it was tipped by a Western Michigan defender past Gorsuch to make it 5-1.
 
BOTTOM LINE
No. 18 Colgate 5, No. 11/9 Western Michigan 1
 
WIN/LOSS RECORDS
The Raiders picked up a win over a ranked opponent for the third time in the past four weekends to improve to 8-4-4, while the Broncos lost for just the second time at home to fall to 9-5-1 this season.
 
KEY RAIDER INFO
-McMann's hat trick was the first for the Raiders since Mike Borkowski on Oct. 4, 2015, at Mercyhurst. He had the first four-point game since Jake Kulevich on Feb. 5, 2016, at Princeton.
-McMann also recorded the first natural hat trick for the Raiders since Austin Smith on Nov. 18, 2011, in a win against Quinnipiac.
-McMann now has two career multi-goal games and nine career multi-point games. 
-Quillan recorded the first two points of his career with a pair of assists. 
-Dauda picked up his fifth career two-assist game and eighth career two-point games. 
-Dauda also has recorded points in four straight games, totaling three goals and two assists in that span. 
-Snodgrass tallied his fourth career two-assist and two-point games. 
-Cockrell set a career-high with seven goals this season. 
-Panetta netted his first goal of the season and third of his career. 
-McKechney leads all freshmen on the team with eight assists and eight points. 
-Austin picked up his first points since Oct. 14 with an assist Saturday. 
-Point made 36 saves Saturday and remains in the top five in the nation with a 1.68 GAA and .947 save percentage. 
 
FACTS AND FIGURES
-Western Michigan outshot Colgate 37-27 despite Colgate's 15-12 advantage in the first period. 
-Both the Raiders and the Broncos scored a power-play goal as Colgate went 1 for 7 and Western Michigan was 1 for 6. 
-The Raiders had the 37-36 edge in faceoff wins thanks to Dauda's game-high 15 faceoff wins. 
 
GATE GRAB BAG
-Attendance at Lawson Arena was 2,124. 
 
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Don Vaughan
"I'm really proud of our guys. That's a big win for us in a tough building against a very good team. I've got to give Juliano a great shout-out here; he did a great job preparing the group today with our video session. Our guys responded well and we have a smart group.
 
"It was just a fun game to be a part of and we'll enjoy it here for the next few hours on the bus and then we'll get back to work and start looking forward to Army next week.
 
"It was just a matter of time for Bob, he could have easily had five more goals this year because he's hit a few posts. He's getting a lot of opportunities. He's a big strong guy who can possess the puck and really can create. He's getting rewarded for all the hard work he puts in. He's a rink rat; he's on the ice all the time.
 
"Colton made two or three point-blank saves tonight that when we go back to look at the them we're going to say, 'Wow.' That's part of a team. You need to have that and he's certainly answering the bell for us when we need him to. Tonight we were able put some pucks in the back of the net for him."
 
"We've only got two games left so that's sort of like the light at the end of the tunnel before we move into break. We want to finish on a strong note. It's our job as a coaching staff to get the boys refocused, hit the reset button and get back to work on Monday."
 
UP NEXT
No. 18 Colgate men's ice hockey returns to the ice next Saturday at 4 p.m. when the Raiders take on the Army West Point Black Knights at Tate Rink in West Point, New York.