by Ryan Fay
Third-ranked Union overcame a depleted lineup and two separate two-goal deficits to force a 4-4 tie against 19th-ranked Colgate Saturday at Starr Rink.
Coupled with losses by Clarkson and Cornell, Union clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming ECAC Hockey playoffs. First-place Union also upped its lead to four points over second-place Quinnipiac, which was upset by Brown, 4-2. All ECACH teams have four regular season games remaining.
Union, which can finish no lower than third place, skated without the services of four forwards. Already missing Cole Ikkala, who has missed five consecutive games, the Dutchmen also were without leading scorer Daniel Carr, Max Novak and David Roy. Carr and Novak were banged up in Friday's 4-1 win over Cornell, while Roy came down with an illness.That left Union head coach Rick Bennett one forward short, so he dressed an extra defenseman, Matt Krug. He ended up getting some ice time at left wing.
"As a coaching staff, we are really pleased with the team's effort tonight," Bennett said. "The guys played through a lot of adversity and our leaders really stepped it up. It's a credit to the team to come away with three points this weekend."
Colgate squandered leads of 2-0 and 4-2.
The Raiders opened up an early two goal lead behind a Spiro Goulakos marker at 7:43 of the first period and an Andrew Black tally at 8:56.
Union (14-3-1 ECACH, 20-6-4 overall) responded with two quick goals of its own to even the score. Mike Vecchione scored at 14:51 before Daniel Ciampini potted his team-high 14th goal of the season just less than three minutes later.
The Raiders (10-5-3, 14-11-5) went up 4-2 behind power play goals from Joe Murphy in the closing minute of the first and Darcy Murphy midway through the second.
Theo DiPauli got the Dutchmen within a goal at 14:20 when his shot from the right boards took a favorable bounce and eluded Raiders goaltender Spencer Finn. Kevin Sullivan knocked in a rebound at 15:11 of the third to square things at four-all.
Union outshot Colgate 36-28, including a 4-3 edge in the five minute overtime. But neither team found the difference maker.
"You had two teams tonight that battled very hard," Colgate head coach Don Vaughan told Raider Nation. "The intensity was great, and there were a lot of momentum swings. There were times when [Union] had us bottled up in our end, and there were times when we had them bottled up in their end.
"It was an entertaining game. [I'm] a little disappointed with the tie, but I was really proud of our guys. I thought we worked our tails off."
Union will look to run its unbeaten streak to six games on Friday with a matchup against Clarkson at Messa Rink.
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