Union jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but the Raiders stormed back with three goals in the final frame to earn a huge 5-3 win on the road over the Dutchmen.
Colgate (4-5-1, 2-1-0 ECAC) got a career-high three points from Darcy Murphy and Tylor Spink in the win, while Mike Borkowski tied his career best. Murphy now has four goals in his last three games, while Borkowski climbs the league points scoring list and is tied for fifth with 12 points after a goal and three assists.
Rookie Charlie Finn earned his second win in a row and is 2-0 in conference play after making 18 saves as the Raiders were stingy on defense as Colgate held the Dutchmen to a season-low 21 shots. Head coach Don Vaughan praised his team’s effort tonight and how hard they worked for the win.
“Being young, we told our guys that tonight is a perfect example of how hard you have to work to win in this league,” Vaughan said. “We have a lot of exhausted guys in the dressing room, but that is a great feeling.”
Union (3-3-2, 2-1-0 ECAC) jumped out to the early lead with Daniel Carr netting both goals in just under seven minutes into the game. The first came on the power play with an assist to Mat Bodie. The second came 2:44 after the first and just like that it was 2-0.
Colgate was able to settle it down and with nine seconds left in the first period, the Raiders chose a great time to score their first shorthanded goal of the season. Murphy scored his third goal in three games with the tally with an assist to Borkowski for the first of three on the night for Murphy’s linemate.
Murphy wanted to give his team a lift and he did.
“It was good to a goal at the end of the period to get us going,” Murphy said. “Spiro Goulakos did a good job jumping into the rush and he got the puck on net and good things happen when you do that.”
The teams traded goals in the second period with Colgate tying the game at 2-2 with Tylor Spink netting his third of the season 5:12 into the frame. Kyle Baun and Tyson Spink added assists on the play. Sebastien Gingras put the Dutchman back on top at 3-2 with four minutes left in the middle period to give Union the lead going into the third.
Murphy got back on the scoresheet with his second of the night and fifth of the season with assists to Borkowski and Joe Wilson. Murphy was out in front of the net and looking for a pass from Wilson and he got it and buried past Colin Stevens to tie the game for the second time.
Colgate got the lead for good with Borkowski scoring his third of the season with 12:43 left in the game. The goal came on the power play, which snapped a two-game drought for the Raiders. Borkowski hooked up with Tyson Spink and Goulakos on the goal, which was the eventual gamewinner.
The penalty kill gave up the first goal of the game, but held Union scoreless the rest of the game and it came up big in the third period, allowing on two shots to retain the lead.
Tylor Spink iced the victory for Colgate with an empty-net goal with 19 seconds remaining and the Raiders improve to 2-1 in ECAC Hockey play.
“We have a lot of respect for Union,” said Vaughan. “We talked a lot at practice this week about being tough in our own zone and knowing that they are never going to quit on a play, so we were tight around the net and played good team defense and got the win.”
