AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass hockey team held a 2-1 advantage through two, but four third period goals helped Colgate skate past the Minutemen, 5-2 on Saturday night at the Mullins Center. Following the loss, UMass is now 5-8-2 on the year, while the Raiders improve to 9-7-2.
Junior Adam Phillips scored for a third straight game for the Minutemen, logging his fifth point of the weekend. His classmate Branden Gracel contributed UMass' second goal for his seventh of the season to tie a career best.
The Minutemen turned the first power play chance of the night into the first goal of the game at the 6:06 mark of the opening period. Junior Michael Pereira touched the puck over to junior Conor Allen who found Phillips in the slot for a shot into the top right corner of the net.
However, Colgate would answer with a power-play goal of its own less than two minutes later. Off a feed from Tyson Spink and Thomas Larkin, Kyle Braun spun and flung the puck past UMass netminder Kevin Boyle 7:55 into the frame.
Before the first intermission, the Minutemen regained the one-goal lead. Gracel buried a long rebound off a Kevin Czepiel shot at the 12:41 mark.
Following a scoreless second, the Raiders pulled level 4:39 into the third. Kurtis Bartliff scored on the rush with Robbie Bourdon and Joe Wilson earning assists on the play.
Then with its second power-play goal of the night, Colgate pulled in front, 3-2 with 10 minutes to go in the final period. Amidst traffic in front, Tyson Spink tapped in the puck at the doorstep.
The Raiders then went on to add insurance tallies at 13:31 and 15:52 by Billy Rivellini and Bartliff, respectively. The Minutemen out-shot Colgate, 33-23 and won 31 of 57 faceoffs. Spencer Finney stopped 31 in net for the Raiders, while Boyle finished with 18 saves. On the power play, UMass was 1-for-4, while Colgate converted two of its four opportunities.
The Minutemen will be back in action once more before breaking for the holidays, playing at Yale on Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m.