In the words of Union head coach Rick Bennett, the Dutchmen were "taken to the woodshed" in Friday's 5-3 setback to Colgate at Messa Rink.
Such a quote seemed improbable when Union (3-3-2 overall, 2-1-0 ECAC) stormed out to a 2-0 lead in the first 6:48 of the game behind a pair of goals from senior forward Daniel Carr.
It seemed like the Dutchmen were on the verge of blowing the game wide open against a leaky Colgate defense and a freshman goaltender, Charles Finn, who entered the night with a 4.43 goals against average.
The tide turned when Union junior defenseman and alternate captain Shayne Gostisbehere took a roughing penalty against Raiders forward Darcy Murphy at 8:08 of the first period. The puck wasn't near them, and Gostisbehere shoved Murphy to the ice, apparently in frustration after Murphy knocked the stick out of his hands.
Colgate didn't cash in on the man advantage, but it gave the Raiders much-needed life, and momentum began to swing the other way.
“One of our assistant captains decided to take a dumb penalty,” Bennett said. “It changes the whole momentum. I don’t know why [he did it]. Our leadership went from excellent to very average in a span of one week.”
The Raiders (4-5-1, 2-1-0) broke through when Murphy netted an unassisted shorthanded goal at 19:51 of the first period to make it a 2-1 game.
“It was good to get a goal at the end of the period to get us going,” Murphy said. “I was just skating down, and [defenseman] Spiro Goulakos did a good job jumping in on the rush. I just tried to get it on net, and good things happened.”
Tylor Spink tied it for the Raiders at 5:12 of the second period. Union took a 3-2 lead at 16:09 when sophomore defenseman Sebastien Gingras collected his first goal since Oct. 2012, but it was a short-lived boost.
Colgate scored three times in the third period, outshooting Union 13-5. Murphy's second of the game tied the game 3-3 at 2:04, and Mike Borkowski potted the eventual game-winner on the power play at 7:17.
Murphy sealed the win with an empty-netter at 19:41. The tally gave Murphy a hat trick, and made him the first opposing player to score a hat trick at Messa Rink since Quinnipiac’s Bryan Leitch in Nov. 2008.
It was a disappointing end to a game that started so promisingly.
“We got away from Union hockey,” Carr said. “We stopped getting pucks deep, stopped finishing checks, stopped doing all the things that make us successful. The best way to put it is throughout the whole team, myself included, it was just a lack of accountability. We’ve got to make sure we’re accountable to each other. That was our focus last week, and that’s what made us successful. The reality is we got away from that tonight.”
Colgate ended the contest with a 30-21 shots advantage, marking the first time all season that Union was outshot by an opponent. The Dutchmen entered the game leading the country in shot differential at +16.6 shots per game.
"We spent a lot of time in practice this week preaching hard play in our own zone, getting sticks and knowing [Union] will never quit or give up on a shot," said Colgate head coach Don Vaughan. "We did a lot of stuff in tight around the net -- second and third pucks, looking for sticks."
The Dutchmen will look to rebound at 7 p.m Saturday when they host #14 Cornell, which rallied late to force an eventual 3-3 tie at #10 RPI on Friday.
Bennett is ready to pull out all the stops for a Union win.
SULLIVAN INJURED
Union senior forward Kevin Sullivan was a surprising omission from Friday's line chart.
It turned out that Sullivan, who leads the country with 11 assists, was dinged up in last Saturday's 4-2 win at Harvard.
Sullivan's injury was not disclosed.
POSTGAME VIDEOS
Union head coach Rick Bennett
Union head coach Rick Bennett
Colgate forward Darcy Murphy and head coach Don Vaughan
Union forward Daniel Carr
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