LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Junior Mike Borkowski’s season was supposedly over in mid-November after a major knee injury. Now, he’s the reason the Colgate Raiders’ season continues.
The center scored the overtime goal and added three assists in the Raiders’ 4-3 win over St. Lawrence on Friday. He aided — and was aided by — linemates Darcy Murphy (two goals, two assist) and Joe Wilson (one goal, two assists). Sophomore goaltender Charlie Finn made 29 saves for his 21st win of the season.
[scg_html_ecac2015]”I felt like it was coming, in the last few games,” Murphy said of his line’s cohesion. “Against Dartmouth we were starting to get our legs under us and find each other. Tonight, we just found each other in the right spots, and hopefully it will continue into tomorrow.”
“You really can’t talk about this game without talking about the St. Lawrence team. I think our teams look very similar,” said Colgate coach Don Vaughan. “They know how they want to play, and they’re playing a very solid brand of hockey, and it’s fun. If you didn’t enjoy that game tonight, you should probably get into another sport.”
Freshman Mike Marnell and sophomores Gavin Bayreuther and Eric Sweetman scored for the Saints, who came back from three one-goal deficits to send the game to overtime. Rookie of the year Kyle Hayton saved 27 of 31 shots in St. Lawrence’s final game of the season.
“I thought coming into the game it was going to be a coin toss,” said Saints coach Greg Carvel. “Two very similar teams. Two teams that like to play fast, possess the puck, play in transition. I think the difference, now that the game’s over, is that they’re a more experienced team than we are. They made us pay when we made mistakes.”
With each team’s season on the line in a true elimination game, St. Lawrence and Colgate left it all on the ice in a feisty, frantic display of desperation hockey. The Empire State squads flew out of the gate with ample energy and it didn’t take long before the goal judges were put to work.
Murphy opened the scoring less than four minutes into play, popping a doorstep one-time pass from Borkowski past Hayton. Despite enticing up-and-down action from both sides, the period ended 1-0 and penalty-free.
The Saints found an equalizer early in the second stanza as Marnell potted his own close-range goal 64 seconds into the period. Colgate answered right back with Murphy’s second of the game, rifling the shot past the league’s rookie of the year to reassert the one-goal lead.
Sweetman brought the predominantly Saints-supporting crowd back to life with two and a half minutes remaining in the period, wristing a slippery power-play bid from the blue line. The puck eluded a grove of legs and lumber in front of Finn, triggering the red light and a partisan roar. The teams entered the second intermission dead even, with Colgate holding a 16-14 edge in shots on goal.
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000bvslmiMXs7E” g_name=”20150320-Colgate-StLawrence-Eisenberg” f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_bbar=”t” fsvis=”f” width=”500″ height=”375″ bgcolor=”#AAAAAA” bgtrans=”t” btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”f” trans=”xfade” tbs=”4000″ f_ap=”t” linkdest=”c” f_fullscreen=”f” f_constrain=”f” twoup=”f” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_htmllinks=”f” f_enable_embed_btn=”f” f_show_watermark=”f” f_send_to_friend_btn=”f” f_smooth=”f” f_mtrx=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” wmds=”llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.f22Fbo5BPRuXHL4BJ1cFa9mnDjE7EK7xL1OTGOF5vh3SLZ_mPtg–” ]With seasons on the line, Colgate’s line of fire torched Hayton once more in the third period. Wilson found just enough time and space to burn the Saints, giving him — and his linemates — three points apiece on the night.
Carvel pulled Hayton following a timeout with a minute and a half remaining, setting the stage for Bayreuther’s career-defining moment. The Saints laid three heavy hits on Colgate puck-carriers in quick succession, allowing Saints defenseman Nolan Gluchowski to regain possession and feed Brian Ward high in the zone. The junior center then found Bayreuther at the right-wing point, who paused before winding up for a massive blast. The season-saving salvo billowed the netting to Finn’s right, sending the arena into hysterics.
Disappointed as they were, the Raiders were not rattled.
“We’ve been here before,” Borkowski said. “Last year it took us five periods to win the game. We do a great job to hit the reset button every game. That’s kind of a staple of our team.”
Following a series of quality scoring chances for each team over the first eight minutes of extra time, Kevin Lough picked up the puck behind Hayton’s net and dished it to Borkowski, who rifled the game-winner into the high corner.
Colgate will appear in its second consecutive ECAC Hockey championship game but seeks its first Whitelaw Cup since 1990 when it won its only title. The third-seeded Raiders tangle with ECAC sixth-seed Harvard at 7:35 p.m. EDT Saturday, needing the win and its associated automatic berth to advance to the NCAA tournament next weekend. Harvard swept the Raiders by 6-1 and 4-1 scores during the regular season.
