HAMDEN, Conn. – Plenty of teams in ECAC Hockey entered this season with questions at goalie.
It’s time to cross Colgate off that list.
Sophomore Colton Point made 33 saves to help lead Colgate to a 4-1 win over No. 11 Quinnipiac Saturday night at High Point Solutions Arena. The win pushed the Raiders’ unbeaten streak to five games. The Raiders are 4-0-3 this season when Point starts in goal.
“He’s a big man who can fight through traffic,” Colgate coach Don Vaughan said of Point. “He made a couple of key saves tonight. I always say you don’t have to make all the saves, you just have to make the right ones and he made the right ones tonight.”
The Colgate defense was strong in front of Point as well, with 19 blocked shots. “It’s been a crazy good team effort and it’s given us a lot of confidence,” Point said.
Raiders captain Mike Panowyk scored twice, including a breakaway goal with one second left in the second period. His second of the night capped the scoring late in the third.
“It was great block by Kenny Citron,” Panowyk said. “It was kind of funny how it happened, I just saw the puck spring up and I knew we didn’t have a lot of time so I just tried to skate as a fast as I could and get to a decent scoring area.”
Colgate opened the scoring with a pair of goals in a span of less than two minutes midway through the first period, as the Bobcats struggled to contain the Raiders in front of the QU net.
“I’m disappointed with our effort, not just tonight but this weekend,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said of the Bobcats, who lost to Cornell 2-1 Friday. “But it’s a good group of guys and we’ll figure it out.”
With Colgate on the power play, a Quinnipiac turnover deep in its own zone set up the first Raiders’ goal. Bobby McMann drove to the net and a snapped a shot that rebounded off Bobcats’ goalie Andrew Shortridge (24 saves) to a waiting Adam Dauda on the right post, who made it 1-0 at 12:02.
John Snodgrass’ first goal of the season pushed Colgate’s lead to 2-0 at 13:28. Quinnipiac cut it to 2-1 on Karlis Cukste’s goal 1:37 into the second, but Panowyk’s breakaway goal restored the Raiders’ two-goal lead heading into the final period.
“That was a backbreaker,” Pecknold said of the goal that came off a broken Quinnpiac setup. “We run that play all the time; we’re supposed to have a “D” back.”
Point’s strong effort came after the sophomore made 43 saves in a scoreless tie at Princeton Friday night, helping Colgate end its first league road trip of the year with three points.
“We’re building something special here,” Panowyk said. ”A lot of people underestimated us at the start of the year. We were picked to finish last, so we kind of have a chip on our shoulder. We’re going to come at you every single game.”
Around the ECAC
No. 18 Cornell 5, Princeton 4
Brenden Locke’s first collegiate goal late in the third capped a wild comeback by the Big Red, who lead 1-0 early but then watched Princeton score three unanswered goals to go up by two.
Big Red goalie Matthew Galajda was pulled after allowing three goals on eight shots in one period of work. Senior Hayden Stewart (13 saves) got the win in relief. Max Veronneau had a goal and two assists for the Tigers.
Rensselaer 4, St. Lawrence 4
Joe Sullivan’s second goal of the game tied it for the Saints in the final minute of regulation. Will Reilly had two goals for RPI, while Linden Marshall made 41 saves.
No. 3 Harvard 3, Brown 0
Senior captain Merrick Madsen made 26 saves to help the Crimson rebound from a loss to Yale on Friday. Freshman Reilly Walsh scored his first two collegiate goals for Harvard.
Dartmouth 3, Yale 1
Charley Michalowski scored the game-winning goal midway through the second period and Devin Buffalo made 26 saves to help the Big Green sweep its first two conference games of the year. Michalowski added an assist on Daniel Warpecha’s shorthanded goal in the third.
No. 13 Clarkson 3, Union 2
Jere Astrén, Josh Dickinson, and Nico Sturm each scored on the power play for Clarkson, while Tyko Karjalainen and Jack Jacome each had two assists. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Dutchmen.
