COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Colgate men's hockey program opened the second half of the season at No. 6/7 Ohio State on Friday evening. Despite swift scores by the Raiders, the Buckeyes claimed the opening matchup of the two-game series behind a pair of third period goals for a 3-2 final.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Just minutes after the drop of the puck,
Griffin Lunn found an open net by capitalizing on an out-of-position goalie to score his first of the year for a 1-0 lead. The edge wouldn't last through Colgate's first penalty though, as Ohio State scored with the man advantage to even the game at 1-1 midway through the period.
After the opening 20:00 finished out square, Colgate would again score early as
Tyler Jeanson tallied his first of the season to put the Raiders back on top. Just 1:50 into the period, the Raiders held a 2-1 advantage, one would that would remain through the second. Although Ohio State had a pipe ringer during 4-on-4 action midway through regulation, the Colgate defense would withstand the attack until the final minutes of regulation.
As the game went on, play became more physical, and led to chance at either end of the sheet in the opening minutes of the third.
Andrew Farrier continued to make save after save, but with a redirect at the crease on a shot from the point, Ohio State found the twine to even the game at 2-2 with just over 11:00 remaining in regulation.
While pushing back trying to regain its lead, the Colgate squad saw a swift 2-on-1 chance by
John Snodgrass and
Paul McAvoy, but it would remain at a stalemate for the time being.
With wasn't until the clock ticked down to 3:12 that Ohio State tipped the puck through traffic to gain a 3-2 edge. Although the Raiders looked to pull their tender, the fast play held the squad unable to gain the extra skater, a move that would hold the score at 3-2 through the horn as Ohio State claimed the first game of the series.
COLGATE SCORING PLAYS
• Period 1 | 03:15 – The Raiders chipped the puck off the boards and dumped it deep into the Buckeye zone. As the Ohio State netminder went back to recover it,
Henry Marshall swooped in for the turnover and sent it to
Griffin Lunn in the circle. Lunn was then able to score on the open net for a 1-0 advantage.
• Period 2 | 01:50 –
Tyler Jeanson swung around the back of the net and fed it up to
Paul Meyer at the point. The defenseman then dropped the puck low to
Josh McKechney in the circle, before Meyer redirected it to Jeanson in the slot. The puck was sent past the pads of the netminder for a 2-1 advantage.
STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
• Both sophomore
Griffin Lunn and junior
Tyler Jeanson scored their first goals of the season.
• With an assist on Jeanson's tally, senior
Paul Meyer assist on Jeanson's tally improved to four points through the last five games.
• By going 6-for-7 in the circle, junior
Josh McKechney led the team in faceoff wins, while Colgate held a 28-23 edge overall.
• Jeanson and Meyer each led the Raiders with a season-high of five shots on goal apiece.
THE BOTTOM LINE
• No. 6/7 Ohio State 3, Colgate 2
RECORD UPDATES
• Colgate holds a 7-8-4 record, and a 5-2-1 mark in ECAC Hockey action.
• No. 6/7 Ohio State is 11-4-2 overall on the season and is 6-3-1 in Big Ten play.
COACH VAUGHAN'S TAKE
"I feel good about how we played, and that we played a top-10 team toe-to-toe. I was happy with our effort and thought we did a lot of good things tonight. They scored all of their goals on redirects, so our structure was good, and our energy was good.
"We had an opportunity in the second period to maybe separate a little bit, with some scoring chances that just didn't go for us, but at the end of the night I'm really pleased with how our game played out. Of course you're never satisfied with a loss, but I liked our effort.
"We're getting different contributions, and we need that up and down our lineup. I thought Jeanson had a good game, and Lunn has played hard all year long. So if we can get more contributions like that and then have our guys who have been scoring continuing to contribute, we'll be in good shape.
"For tomorrow we're going to do a better job of getting sticks in the way and getting in lanes, since all of Ohio State's goals were scored on the redirect. We might put some fresh legs in the lineup with a quick turnaround, giving other guys an opportunity."
UP NEXT
Colgate concludes the nonconference series at No. 6/7 Ohio State tomorrow, Dec. 28, with a 4 p.m. puck drop.
FOLLOW THE RAIDERS
For more information on the Colgate men's hockey program, follow the Raiders on Twitter @ColgateMIH and Instagram at colgate_mih.
