HAMILTON — Five different players scored for Colgate as the Raiders defeated Dartmouth 5-3 in the first round of the ECAC Hockey playoffs Friday evening at the Class of 1965 Arena.
With the win, Colgate advanced to the quarterfinals and will head to Canton, N.Y. to take on St. Lawrence in a best-of-three series next weekend.
Colgate scored two goals in the first and third periods and one in the second to take down the Big Green. The Raiders had 12 players tally a point, led by Simon Labelle, who notched two with a goal and an assist.
Dartmouth got on the board first two and a half minutes into the opening period. A faceoff win by Joey Musa landed at the stick of Cooper Flinton, who hit the puck off Musa’s skate to Brady McDonald for a shot he fired into the back of the net.
Ben Raymond scored Colgate’s first goal at the 11:31 mark of the first to knot the score up at 1-1. Nic Belpedio passed the puck to Raymond, who hit it to Ryan McGuire before the sophomore tapped it back to Raymond. The forward then ripped a shot in from the left faceoff circle.
Less than two minutes later, Simon Labelle tallied a goal to put Colgate ahead. Tommy Bergsland played a centering pass that hit off Daniel Panetta’s skate and slid to Labelle, who finished off a shot to give his team a 2-1 advantage.
The Raiders scored one goal in the second, which was a beautiful shorthanded one by Colton Young. The senior intercepted a Dartmouth pass, put a move on a Big Green defender, then slotted a shot past the goalie.
In the third, Colgate tallied two more goals. Matt Verboon added to the lead when he ripped a one-timer into the goal off of passes from Nick Anderson and Ethan Manderville. At the 9:55 mark, Alex DiPaolo cannoned a shot into the back of the net to make it 5-1. Reid Irwin and Labelle picked up assists on the play.
Dartmouth did not go down without a fight. The Big Green tallied two late goals in the third period to cut the lead to two. Sean Chisolm netted an extra attacker goal at the 11:30 mark to make it 5-2. Luke Haymes then scored a power-play goal a minute and 15 seconds later to make it 5-3.
Carter Gylander came up with some big stops at the end of the game to prevent the Big Green from mounting a comeback. The junior finished with 15 saves in net.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Don Vaughan
“It’s just never easy in this league. Dartmouth played so hard tonight. I’m proud of the way we stuck with it. We defended hard, and Carter made some big stops. At this time of the year, it’s really about surviving and moving on. I’m happy for the guys that we get a chance to play next weekend.”
UP NEXT
Colgate and St. Lawrence will face off in a best-of-three quarterfinal series, with Game 1 slated for next Friday. Game 2 will be next Saturday, and Game 3, if necessary, will be Sunday.
