Colgate rallies in third for 4-2 win

Box Score

by Ryan Fay

Through two periods, Union seemed to be in good position to grab a win and two points in the ECAC Hockey standings. The Dutchmen held a 2-1 lead over Colgate and generally carried the pace of play.

Union's Brett Supinski scored his fifth goal of the 
season in Friday's 4-2 
loss to Colgate.
(photo via Union College athletics)

But things unraveled in the third. The Raiders scored three times, including twice in a 16-second span midway through the period, to rally for a 4-2 league win over the Dutchmen at Messa Rink.

“Just lost stick battles,” Union head coach Rick Bennett said. “Not picking up our guys in front. But it starts with the execution when they entered our zone, too. It’s a combination, and it’s usually going to go in the back of your net. That’s exactly what happened.”

Tim Harrison was left alone at the right side of the net when he tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play goal at 11:04 of the third. Just 16 seconds later, Tyson Spink was left untouched to bang in a loose puck to give the Raiders a 3-2 lead.

"Our bench was pretty poised all along. The power-play goal was a huge goal," Colgate head coach Don Vaughan said. "Once we drew even, you could feel the energy on our bench improving and it paid off."

Union (2-7-2 ECACH, 9-8-5 overall) grabbed a 1-0 lead 49 seconds into the game on a goal from Brett Supinski during a delayed penalty against Colgate's Evan Peterson. But 21 seconds later, Harrison scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway to tie the score.

The goal was the fourth shorthanded tally given up by Union in its last four games. Two came against Robert Morris on Jan. 3 in the Ledyard Classic at Dartmouth, and one happened at Quinnipiac last Thursday.

"It's a big concern," Bennett said. "It's deflating. We're asking our goalie on the first shot to make this big breakaway save and it's not happening. It's not one time, this has happened a lot. We've got to fix that too."

The Dutchmen took a 2-1 lead at 2:30 of the second on Nick DeSimone's blast from the left-point following a cross-ice pass from Jeff Taylor. That would be Union's last goal despite shaky play from Raiders goalie Charlie Finn, who had troubles with rebounds and loose pucks.

"We had the chance to bury some pucks and we didn't get it tonight," Supinski said. "We were just trying to throw pucks at the net and it just didn't go our way."

The Raiders (3-6-1, 7-14-1) iced the win with 11 seconds left in the game on an empty-net, power-play goal from Tylor Spink. The goal gave Spink his 100th career point.

The victory gave the Raiders their third consecutive win at Messa Rink. The Dutchmen blew a third period lead in all three contests.

“Good for them, and not so good for us,” Bennett said.

“Once you do it once, the guys in the room know it can be done,” Vaughan said. “There’s some comfort in knowing that you’ve done it before and you can do it again.”

The Dutchmen will look for a better result tonight against eighth-ranked Cornell, which dropped a 1-0 decision at 20th-ranked RPI on Friday.

Postgame reaction

Colgate head coach Don Vaughan and forward Tim Harrison

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Union head coach Rick Bennett

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Union defenseman Nick DeSimone and forward Brett Supinski

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