Mihalik Stands Tall with 38 Stops in Net
By Matt Faulkner
(Bowling Green, Ohio – Oct. 18, 2013) It was the first road test for the Colgate men’s hockey team and the Raiders didn’t come away with a win, but skated to a 1-1 tie with Bowling Green on Friday night.
The story for Colgate was senior Eric Mihalik, who played in front of his family and friend as it’s a shot drive from Avon Lake, Ohio, to Bowling Green. The netminder made 38 stops, which was two off his career-high. He especially kept Colgate in it in the second period with 15 stops.
Head Coach Don Vaughan was very proud of his goalie after the game tonight.
“It was probably Eric’s best game for us in a bit and he seemed very comfortable tonight,” Vaughan said. “He was seeing the puck right from the opening faceoff and make a lot key saves and made them look easy. Really happy for him and he played in front of a lot of friends and family and I am very proud of him.”
Colgate (2-1-1) got its lone score from Mike McCann, who is now tied with Mike Borkowski and Andrew Black for the team lead with two goals each. John Lidgett was given the primary assist on the goal and Jake Kulevich added the secondary for his first collegiate point.
Bowling Green (1-1-2) saw Bryce Williamson give it an early lead with his third of the year with assists to Mark Cooper and Rusty Hafner. Tommy Burke got the start in net and made 19 saves, including six in the third period to force the extra frame.
The Falcons came out and grabbed the momentum off the opening faceoff and earned a 1-0 lead with Williamson scoring his third goal of the season with 13:35 left in the period. Cooper slid a nice pass out front to Williamson from the corner and he beat the Colgate defender and lifted the puck over the shoulder of Mihalik for the opening goal. That was the only puck Bowling Green got past Mihalik all night.
Prior to the goal, the Raiders were saved by the post on the first power play for the Falcons with Ben Murphy firing a wrister from the left circle that clanged off the iron. Bowling Green had another chance with bodies scrambling in front of the night and a Falcon player had an open net, but Daniel Gentzler sprawled out along the goal line and denied the chance.
The Raiders tied the game 2:46 into the second period on a great hustle play by McCann. Kulevich cleared the zone and Lidgett scooped up the puck and went into the offensive zone on a 2-on-2 chance with McCann. The junior fired the puck off the pads of Burke and sometimes the best pass on a rush is off the goalie’s pads and McCann capitalized. He was being trailed by a Falcon defender, but reached out and dove forward to tip the puck inside the post to tie the game.
The rest of the second period belonged to Mihalik. The senior netminder kept the Falcons off the board, making 15 stops, including a couple of scrums that had three golden chances for Bowling Green. One of the those opportunities came late in the period and Rusty Hafner had a wide open net, but Mihalik used every ounce of his ability to get across the crease and make the stop to keep the game at a 1-1 tie after 40 minutes.
In the third period, the Raiders looked to have taken the lead on a slap shot from Goulakos from the point on the power play, but the puck hit off the cross bar and the play was reviewed and the call was upheld. McCann had another chance on a 2-on-2 rush as he received the puck in the slot and his shot was gloved down by Burke to keep it a 1-1 game.
In the extra frame, Colgate needed to kill of another power play and allowed only two shots on goal and Mihalik made both the stops. Colgate had the best chance of the extra session with Black charging the net, but Burke denied him and then McCann and Lidgett followed up with chances. Burke was up to the task and the teams played to a 1-1 tie.
“I thought the first two periods we were back on our heels a little bit,” Vaughan added. “They did a good job at winning some 1-on-1 battles we would have had success with on other nights. But it’s a really good test for our young team. I thought our guys responded and I thought we played a better third period and had our opportunities on the road. “
Colgate was outshot by a 39-20 margin, but killed off five power plays from BGSU, including one in overtime to earn the tie.
“The shots can be deceiving because we had some grade-A chances and we both had bounces around the cage,” Vaughan said. “There are a lot good things to take away from tonight.”
These two teams are back at it tomorrow night at 7:07 p.m. in the second game of the two-game set.
NOTES: First overtime game of the season for Colgate and first tie in overtime since the 1-1 tie at Merrimack on Nov. 23, 2012 … Raiders held off the scoresheet on the power play for the first time this year … second tie all-time against BGSU, series now at 8-1-2 in favor of the Falcons … McCann has scored in three of the first four games … Kulevich was the 12th player to score this year so far … attendance was 2,273 at the BGSU Ice Arena.