Photo credit: Scott Kinville.
There are times in sports when the scoreboard does not reflect how close a game is. This was the case on Saturday afternoon at the Class of 1965 Arena in Hamilton, NY as the Colgate Raiders Men’s Hockey Team fell to the Northern Michigan Wildcats in a game that was much closer than the score said it was.
“We had enough chances to win that game tonight” Colgate Raiders Head Coach Don Vaughan said after the game. “Multiple grade A opportunities that just didn’t go. If people simply look at the score they might think the game was one-sided, but it was not”.
The score the coach referred to as the 4-1 victory the Northern Michigan Wildcats earned over the Raiders on Saturday afternoon. It was the second victory over the home team in two days, as the visitors from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan also scored a narrow 3-2 victory on Friday night as well.
Colgate Men’s Hockey Loses a Heartbreaker
Northern Michigan controlled play for the most part for the first five minutes, but they took the first of four minor penalties they would take in the first period at the 5:26 mark giving the home team a chance to go on the offense. Colgate did not score on that power play, but it helped them to build momentum they would carry for most of the period. At the 17:03 mark, the Wildcats took their third minor penalty of the period when Jakob Peterson was given a two-minute Interference penalty. The Raiders would capitalize this time, as Nick Anderson slid a pass from the point to the left circle where Alex Young hammered a one-timer past Northern Michigan goaltender Beni Halasz to give the home team a 1-0 lead they held for the rest of the opening frame.
The Raiders began the second period with nineteen seconds of power play time remaining from a Mikey Colella holding penalty but did not take advantage of it. Colgate continued to dominate puck possession as almost immediately after killing the Colella penalty, the Wildcats took another minor penalty when Colby Enns took a Boarding penalty. They would survive this Colgate power play and then the pendulum began to shift to the visitor’s side when at the 7:32 mark on just their second shot on goal of the period, Northern Michigan’s Brett Willits took a centering pass in front of the net from Reilly Funk and put the puck past Raiders goaltender Carter Gylander tying the game at one with his first career collegiate goal.
Four minutes after the Willits goal, Northern Michigan added another when Gylander made a right pad save off of an AJ Vanderbeck shot, but the rebound went right to David Keefer who deposited the puck in the Colgate net to give his team its first lead of the day. After the Keefer goal, the Wildcats continued to apply pressure in the Colgate zone thanks in part to a power play they were awarded as a result of an Alex DiPaolo Boarding penalty, but Gylander held them at bay to keep the score 2-1 heading into the second intermission.
Like they did in the second period, the Raiders began the third period on the power play as with thirteen seconds left in the second period, Northern Michigan took a Too Many Players On Ice penalty. They could not convert but continued to press throughout the period, ultimately outshooting Northern Michigan 11-4 in the final period. Despite being limited in shots, the Wildcats added to their lead with 1:38 remaining when Andre Ghantous broke in on a two-on-one with Vanderbeck. Ghantous attempted to pass the puck over to Vanderbeck but Colgate defenseman Brandon Pierson blocked the pass, unfortunately for the home team, the puck went right back to Ghantous who scored to give his team a two-goal lead. With twenty-six seconds remaining, Keefer notched his second goal of the game when he fired the puck from his own zone into the open Colgate net to seal the Wildcat’s 4-1 victory.
Despite the back-to-back losses to start the season, coach Vaughan remains confident in his team.
“I loved our effort and compete level. These two games against a very good team will help us in the long run. We believe in our process and will keep grinding. This is a good Colgate hockey team”.
Notes: Colgate outshot Northern Michigan 28-22…Colgate was 1/7 on the power play, while Northern Michigan was 0/2…David Keefer (two goals) and Andre Ghantous (one goal and one assist) led all skaters in points with two each…This was Beni Halasz’s first collegiate start and first collegiate victory…Northern Michigan plays again on Friday, October 14th at Notre Dame…Colgate plays again on Friday, October 14th as well at Arizona State.
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