HAMILTON – Although it settled in a 4-4 tie, there were several things to celebrate in the Colgate men's hockey matchup against RIT. In the final game of 2020, senior captain
Paul McAvoy scored a shorthanded hat trick, while head coach
Don Vaughan coached his 1,000th Colgate hockey game behind the bench.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Raiders opened the game with early pressure to the RIT zone at the start of the nonconference matchup, but it wasn't until halfway through the opening period that the effort would cash in.
Paul McAvoy scored his first of three on the night, before quickly following up with his second just 1:34 later to make it a two-goal game.
Even after the momentous start by the Raiders, RIT would tie the game with a backdoor play and a power play tally in the final minutes of the period. Colgate saw its time with the man advantage in the final seconds, and went on to carry over 1:56 of power play action to the second.
Even after returning with the man advantage, the special teams challenges had the Raiders opting to use their timeout midway through regulation. Although Colgate flew down the ice and had a chance at the top shelf on the first play out of the timeout, RIT would flip the switch and score to see their only lead of the game at 3-2 midway through.
As the clock ticked down on the second period,
Josh McKechney battled through defenseman and set up an opportunity with
Griffin Lunn, but it was snuffed out by a pad save. Shortly thereafter, RIT was called for tripping to mark Colgate's second man advantage of the night.
It was then that
Trevor Cosgrove scored his first of the year with an effective power play squad to tie the game at 3-3 with just 3:06 remaining in the period, a tie that would stand through the horn.
In a tied hockey game, Colgate faced its fifth penalty kill of the night with 13:22 remaining in regulation. It was then that the Raiders created space to fly into the RIT zone, where McAvoy broke ahead. With just one second remaining on the penalty, McAvoy scored the shorthanded goal to seal his hat trick and a 4-3 lead for the Raiders.
Although the Raiders remained hungry for more through the remaining 8:37 of regulation, it would continue to be a battle against the in-state foe. The Tigers pressured back and with 2:14 on the clock, they would score on a wraparound to tie the game yet again, this time at 4-4.
As things tend to be in 2020, it was a dramatic finish. As the teams went to overtime, there was an early chance by
Alex Young in the first 30 seconds. Midway through, Colgate faced a tough call as
Josh McKechney zoomed into the zone with a look at the five-hole and ran into the netminder in the opportunity. He would be called for goalie interference with 3:30 to play in the overtime.
Although shorthanded,
Pierson Brandon made a major play for the Raiders as he capitalized on a turnover and took it all the way down the sheet with
Colton Young. The duo had their shots at the net, but the teams played on in the sudden death overtime. After returning to full strength,
Alex Young landed a final-second shot on goal, but the horn sounded on the 4-4 tie.
STATISTICAL STANDOUTS
• With a trio of goals, senior captain
Paul McAvoy recorded his sixth multi-goal game of his career and the first Colgate hat trick since
Bobby McMann's on Nov. 25, 2017.
• His third goal being shorthanded, McAvoy also marked the first shorthanded goal for the Raiders since
Tim Harrison on Jan. 21, 2017.
• With his team-leading seventh PPG of his career, senior
Trevor Cosgrove scored his first of the season. By adding an assist, Cosgrove earned his fourth multi-point game in his career.
• On the night, four different Raiders had multi-point performances.
• Junior
Griffin Lunn recorded a career-high of three assists for his second multi-point night of his career. Lunn is the second player register three assists in a game this season, after
Alex Young at Clarkson (Dec. 23).
• The game marked number 1,000 on the Colgate bench for head coach
Don Vaughan.
• Continuing to split time in goal, junior
Andrew Farrier started with eight saves and two goals against, while through the second two periods first-year
Carter Gylander made 17 saves with two goals against.
• Effective on offense,
Alex Young produced a team-high of seven shots on goal on the night.
• In terms of special teams, the Raiders went 5-for-6 on the penalty kill and 1-for-3 on the power play, including a shorthanded and power play goal.
• It marked Colgate's second straight overtime game, while the Raiders remain undefeated in their last 21 overtime matchups with a record of 7-0-14.
• The newest member to the century club, senior
Tyler Jeanson laced up for his 100th career game.
THE BOTTOM LINE
• Colgate 4, RIT 4 – OT
RECORD UPDATES
• Colgate has earned a 1-1-1 record in nonconference play.
• RIT is 4-2-2 overall on the season and is 2-0-1-0-1 in Atlantic Hockey play.
HEAD COACH DON VAUGHAN'S TAKE
"I thought RIT was very good tonight. They pressured us hard all night. We responded well in the third and overtime and had our chances to put it away, but their goalie made some huge stops. Our penalty kill had to come up big tonight, holding RIT to 1-for-6 and with a power play in overtime.
"Our young guys are getting some good minutes and learning a lot. Tonight we had three first-years on the ice in overtime. It's a learning curve and tonight we learned a lot. Now we are into league play and things ramp up quickly. All said, we are so grateful to be in this position to be able to play."
On his 1,000th Colgate hockey game: "That's a lot of games for sure. I am fortunate to have been at Colgate University for every one of them, and even more lucky that I have been behind the bench for all of them. The hockey gods have been good to me."
UP NEXT
Colgate will kick off the new year by hosting No. 10/12 Clarkson in the first ECAC Hockey matchup of the season on Jan. 1. Puck drop is set for 5 p.m. at Class of 1965 Arena.
FOLLOW THE RAIDERS
For more information on the Colgate men's hockey program, follow the Raiders on Twitter @ColgateMIH and Instagram at colgate_mih.
