COLGATE TAKES OVER 10TH PLAYOFF SPOT WITH 4-1 WIN OVER UNION
'Gate holds one-point lead over Vermont in fight for final ECAC playoff spot

Hamilton, N.Y. -- P.J. Yedon (Toronto, Ont.) scored two goals including the eventual game-winning goal at 6:28 of the third period to keep the Colgate University men's ice hockey team's playoff hopes alive with a 4-1 victory against Union in Eastern College Athletic Conference action Friday night. 

The Red Raiders took control of the play early in the game playing nearly all of the first three minutes of the game in the Union end.  Colgate outshot the Skating Dutchmen 10-6 in the first period.  Colgate went 0-for-2 on power-play chances with three shots on goal, while Union was 0-for-1 on their lone chance with one shot on goal. 

"I am really proud of our effort tonight.  We did a good job with the physical battles and especially one-on-one of the walls," Colgate head coach Don Vaughan said. "We were able to control the neutral zone and that was one of the big keys for us tonight.  There was a lot of pressure on our guys tonight and I am just proud of how they handled it and now we control our own destiny for the playoff spot tomorrow night."

Colgate outshot Union 6-1 in the first eight minutes of the second period and then withstood a Skating Dutchmen power-play chance over the next two minutes.  Colgate got a short power-play chance on a Bryant Westerman (Ft. Qu'Appelle, Sask.) penalty, but the Red Raiders' Mike O'Malley cancelled that out getting whistled for hooking 32 seconds into the Colgate opportunity.  

Colgate took a 1-0 lead when Etienne Morin (Levis, Que.) snuck the puck in from behind the net at 17:53.  Morin netted his ninth of the year after settling the puck off the right boards after Kyle Doyle's shot (Sarnia, Ont.) deflected off the facemask of a Union defenseman and Morin found a little opening on the right pipe stuffing it past Union's Brandon Snee (Philadelphia, Pa.).  Snee finished the night with 27 saves.

Colgate began the third period with its fourth power-play chance of the game after Charles Simard (Aylmer, Que.) was whistled for obstruction interference at the second period horn.  However, Union killed off the penalty and their penalty kill remained a perfect 4-for-4 on the night.

“This game comes down to the fact that they wanted it more.  You gotta give credit to Don Vaughan and his team," Union head coach Kevin Sneddon said. "They played with a much greater sense of urgency.  Their backs were against the wall.  They played a real physical game.  They out hit us, they out worked us, and the right team won tonight."

“I said going into the weekend, we control our own destiny, and that doesn’t change going into tomorrow night’s game.  That’s why we play the game, as coaches and players: it comes down to the last game," Sneddon added.

Just a minute after killing off Union's fourth power-play chance of the night, Colgate built a 2-0 cushion at 6:28 of the third when Yedon recorded his fifth of the season from Sean Nolan (Dorchester, Ont.) and Steve Silversides (Thunder Bay, Ont.).  Yedon backhanded the puck in from the slot after Silversides shot from the right point deflected off Nolan in front of the net.

Colgate put the game out of reach when Paul Kelley (Grand Forks, B.C.) scored his third of the year on a breakaway to Snee's glove side at 14:53 with feeds from Bob Vandersluis (Chatham, Ont.) and Sam Sturgis (Minnetonka, Minn.).

“They outworked us tonight.  They wanted it more than us, they had a sense of urgency," Union goaltender Brandon Snee said. " What are you gonna do?  They got two goals that put them ahead, so they wanted it more than us.”

Colgate's David Cann recorded his fifth win of the season improving to 5-8-0 on the year recording 19 saves on the evening.

Jeff Hutchins (Toronto, Ont.) scored Union's lone goal of the game on a rebound shot off the pipe by Kris Goodjohn (Calgary, Alb.) and Alex Todd (Rice Lake, Wisc.).

Yedon added the empty-netter with 12 seconds remaining to close out the scoring for Colgate.

The two squads split the regular-season series 1-1-0 with Union taking the first meeting 4-2 in Schenectady and Colgate's 4-1 win this evening.

Union entered the night in ninth and remain in ninth with 18 points after the loss, while Colgate which came into the contest in 11th is now 10th with 17 points.   

Other scores around the league:  Dartmouth defeated St. Lawrence 5-3, Princeton downed Brown 4-1, Clarkson defeated Vermont 4-1, Rensselaer posted a 2-1 win against Cornell and Harvard defeated Yale 6-4.
  
The Red Raiders close out their regular-season and home finale against Rensselaer on Saturday in Starr Rink with face-off at 7 p.m., while Union travels to Cornell tomorrow at 7 p.m.

The closest league foe to Colgate is Vermont which trails the Red Raiders by just one point and the Catamounts close out the regular-season against second-place St. Lawrence on Saturday.


Union (12-15-4, 8-11-2 ECAC) vs. Colgate (10-19-4, 8-12-1)
Date: Mar 02, 2001 Location: Hamilton, N.Y. Arena: Starr Rink 
Attendance:2146 Start time:7:00 pm End time:9:20 pm Total time:2:20 

Goals by Period 1 2 3 Tot
----------------------------------
Union............... 0 0 1 - 1
Colgate............. 0 1 3 - 4

1st period - Penalties - Sean Nolan, CU (HOLDING) 07:23; Kurt
Goodjohn, UC (ROUGHING) 07:23; Kris Goodjohn, UC
(OBSTRUCTION-INTERFERENCE) 10:22; Etienne Morin, CU (CB) 13:35; Jeff Wilson, UC (BOARDING) 16:50.

2nd period - 1, CU, Etienne Morin 9 (Kyle Doyle, Ben Bryce) 17:53. 
Penalties - Steve Silversides, CU (OBSTRUCTION-INTERFERENCE) 08:08;  Bryant Westerman, UC (OBSTRUCTION-INTERFERENCE) 11:09; Mike O'Malley,
CU (HOOKING) 11:41; Charles Simard, UC (OBSTRUCTION-INTERFERENCE)
20:00.

3rd period - 2, CU, P.J. Yedon 5 (Sean Nolan, Steve Silversides)
06:28. 3, CU, Paul Kelley 3 (Sam Sturgis, Bob Vandersluis) 14:53. 4,
UC, Jeff Hutchins 9 (Kris Goodjohn, Alex Todd) 18:14. 5, CU, P.J.
Yedon 6 19:48 (empty net). Penalties - Paul Kelley, CU (SLASHING)
03:05.

Shots on goal - UC 20; CU 31.

Power plays - UC 0 of 4; CU 0 of 4.

Penalties - UC 5 (10 min); CU 5 (10 min).

Goalies - UC, Brandon Snee 12-14-4 (57:49 minutes, 30 shots-27
saves) , EMPTY NET (02:11, 0-0); CU, David Cann 5-8-0 (60:00, 20-19).

A-2146 T-2:20 
Three stars: 1. P.J. Yedon 2. Etienne Morin 3. David Cann 
Referee:Alex Dell Asst Ref:Mike St. Louis; Thomas Lynch
Win-David Cann (5-8-0). Loss-Brandon Snee (12-14-4).