It shouldn’t have gone like this. <\/p>\n
For much of the game, 12th-seeded Colgate kept it close against second-seeded Yale in the opening game of the ECAC Hockey Championship Friday evening at Boardwalk Hall.<\/p>\n
But then again, as the first No. 12 seed to reach the league’s championship weekend in the 50-year history of the ECAC, little has gone according to plan for the Raiders in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
After sweeping through the first two weekends, knocking off fifth-seeded Rensselaer and top seeded Union, Colgate’s luck finally ran out in a 4-0 loss to Yale.<\/p>\n
“Colgate’s a tough opponent,” Yale coach Keith Allain said. “Clearly, they were the league’s hottest team entering this weekend and I thought they gave us everything they could handle.”<\/p>\n
With the game still in the balance, the Bulldogs seemed to be daring Colgate to jump ahead, giving them a combined four power plays in the opening two periods. But the Raiders were denied each time and finished 0-for-6 overall while on the man advantage.<\/p>\n
“I think we moved the puck well but I thought we could have shot it a little more,” Raiders forward Brian Day said. “It was tough getting used to those boards; it was kind of a small area back there, so there wasn’t a lot of room to work with. But it would have been nice to pop one of those for a power-play goal and turn it around.” \t<\/p>\n
What few shots Colgate was able to get through were turned away by Yale’s Ryan Rondeau, who made 22 saves on the night.<\/p>\n
“He’s been great all year,” Yale blueliner Jimmy Martin said. “Tonight, specifically, [it was close] and he made a few huge saves. It just keeps you going and keeps you in there.”\t<\/p>\n
Yale broke the deadlock at 5:07 in the second period off an offensive draw win by Andrew Miller. The sophomore pushed the puck back to Chris Cahill, who lofted a wrister through a maze of bodies and into the back of the net past Colgate freshman Eric Mihalik. <\/p>\n
Cahill’s score came after Thomas Larkin’s goal was waved off 18 seconds into the period after the officials determined the Colgate defender had kicked the puck in after collecting a bad bounce off Yale’s Colin Dueck near the crease. <\/p>\n
The Bulldogs added to their lead at 6:42 in the third when Kenny Agostino squeezed a rebound of Miller’s initial shot past Mihalik from down low near the right post. <\/p>\n
“I think that gave us some separation,” Allain said. “It was tough for them to come back after that.” <\/p>\n
Yale capped the game at 14:49 of the final period when Brian O’Neill flicked a pass from the left wing past a diving Colgate defender and straight to Miller in the slot, who beat Mihalik one-on-one to make it 3-0. <\/p>\n
The Bulldogs started strong in the early going of the first period, churning out a bevy of scoring chances, including a shot by Laganiere that clipped the pipe and fell into the crease before a frantic Mihalik was able to cover the puck from a crashing Yale player.<\/p>\n
Cahill turned in another golden scoring chance toward the end of Yale’s first power play early on, but his redirect of the initial shot went wide of the open post.<\/p>\n
Yale used its speed through the game to limit Colgate’s time on the offensive attack, transitioning from its zone down the ice quickly.<\/p>\n
“I think we could have been better,” Raiders coach Don Vaughan said of Colgate’s puck possession. “But you have to give credit to Yale; they’re on it quickly. We tried to chip it in and get it into the corners but we had some tough passes being rushed because of the pressure they were putting on us.” <\/p>\n
Laganiere added an empty-netter at 19:45, while Mihalik stopped 36 of 39 shots for the Raiders.<\/p>\n
Yale (26-6-1) will face the winner of the Dartmouth-Cornell game at 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, while Colgate (11-27-3) will take on the loser at 4:30.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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