Photo credit: Scott Kinville/315 Hockey.
By Scott Kinville.
The Colgate Raiders Men’s Hockey Team (5-7-1 overall, 3-2-0 ECAC) went into their game on Friday night against the Brown Bears (1-5-1 overall, 1-5-1 ECAC) looking to build on their 4-1 victory over St Lawrence last Saturday. It wasn’t easy, but the Raiders were able to do just that with a 3-2 overtime victory at home over the Bears.
“I was pleased with our overall effort” Colgate head coach Don Vaughn said after the game. “It’s hard to score in this league. We could have easily been frustrated but the guys stuck with it and found a way to win it in overtime”.
Click here Colgate Raiders vs Brown Bears Game Preview 11-18-2022 for the 315 Hockey preview of this game.
The Raiders had a strong first period, outshooting the Bears 12-8 and scoring the period’s only goal. That came at the 6:38 mark when Matt Verboon pounced on a loose puck in the slot and snapped a shot past Bears golatender Mathieu Caron for his team leading fifth goal of the season. Brown had a wonderful opportunity to tie the game after the Verboon goal on a two on one, but Colgate goaltender Carter Gylander thwarted the chance to keep the visitors scoreless.
The Bears had a golden opportunity to tie the game in the second period whenat the 6:48 mark, the Raiders took two minor penalties to give Brown a two minute five on three power play. Twenty-one seconds later, they lit the lamp for the first time of the evening when Ryan Bottrill set up in the left circle and one-timed a Luke Krys pass past Gylander and into the net to knot the game at one.
Despite a twenty shot barrage in the second period from the Raiders, it was the Bears who would take a 2-1 lead into the second intermission. With just over three minutes remaining, Cocca Bradley skated the puck from the Colgate goal line to the right circle, turned and fired a laser of shot past a partially screened Gylander and into the top of the net.
A wild third period would see the Raiders tie the game, but then have to overcome some adversity to get it to overtime. Ben Raymond scored a highlight reel goal at the 9:22 mark when he stickhandled around the right side of the Bears zone before snapping a shot past Caron for his team’s second goal of the game. With just over six minutes remaining, Raiders captain Arnaud Vachon took a five minute major and game misconduct for a check to the head. Colgate was able to not only kill the major, but nearly took the lead with twenty seconds left when Ethan Manderville hit the left post. The puck never crossed the line and the game went to overtime.
In the three on three overtime period, the Bears had more shots, but the Raiders had the one that made the difference. With one and a half minutes remaining, Alex DiPaolo flipped a backhand past to Colton Young in the neutral zone and Young did the rest. He burst into the Bears zone at full speed and slid the puck past Caron to give the Raiders the 3-2 overtime victory.
“Brown played a good road game” said coach Vaughn. “They took advantage of a couple of opportunities and forced us to really grind to get even. (Assistant coach) Chris Azzano has done a remarkable job with that group. We had a number of grade A scoring chances but their goalie was very good tonight”.
Notes: Colgate outshot Brown 45-22…Colgate was 0/5 on the power play, and Brown was 1/3…Alex DiPaolo (2 assists) and Nic Belpedio (2 assists) led Colgate in scoring, Jackson Munro (2 assists) led Brown…Colgate plays again on Saturday night at home against Yale.
Three Observations
The Raiders Played a Fast Game
The Raiders maintained a lot of offensive zone pressure on the Bears and used their team speed to do it. Even without converting on the power play, the home team had goaltender Mathieu Caron under siege for large stretches of the game, which leads to observation number two.
The Goaltenders Were Excellent
Mathieu Caron saw a total of thirty-two shots through the first two periods and stopped thirty-one Raiders shots, and were it not for Raymond’s goal he could have stole the game for Brown. Gylander did not face as many shots as Caron, but still had to make several key saves (especially in overtime) to deliver a victory for his team.
The First Winning Streak of the Season
With the win, the Raiders are now on a two game winning streak – their first of the season. They get a chance to make it three in a row on Saturday night at home against ECAC rival the Yale Bulldogs.
