WATERVILLE, ME (December 6, 2024) - Colby College sophomore Jayden Grier scored a hat trick including two goals in the third period leading the host Mules to a 6-4 victory over Tufts University in a NESCAC men's hockey game Friday night.
The teams were tied 3-3 heading into the third before Grier scored back-to-back goals giving Colby a 5-3 lead.
Max Resnick scored on a power play for the Jumbos to make it 5-4, but the Mules would add an empty-net goal to finish off the victory.
Colby won its fourth game in a row to improve to 6-1-1 overall and 3-1 in the league. The Jumbos fall to 4-3-1 overall and 2-3 in NESCAC.
The Mules started the scoring one minute into the action when Tufts couldn't clear from its own end and Wyatt Schmidek scored from the top of the left circle. However, the Jumbos would tie it quickly on
Tyler Sedlak's goal at 3:12 of the first. Capping a three-on-two rush, Resnick from behind the goal line on the right side sent a pass to
Harrison Bazianos at the left post. His shot deflected off the iron out to a wide-open Sedlak in front for the goal.
Tufts then took a lead with 6:18 on the first-period clock when
Liam O'Hare in the neutral zone picked off the puck and got it to
John Mulvihill at the blue line. He led
Cole Dubicki into the zone and his shot while closely covered from above the left circle found the net for a 2-1 Tufts advantage.
However, Colby would tie it before a busy first period ended. Nick Stapleton picked up a fumbled puck on the right side of the Jumbo end and passed to Grier charging down the slot for the goal with six minutes left in the first.
The Mules took advantage of another free puck in the Tufts end to score their third goal. Schmidek sent it down to Massimo Gentile who took it behind the net then passed out to Tyler Crist who scored from the top of the right circle for a 3-2 Colby lead.
Tufts would tie it at 7:25 of the second period as
Trace Norwell intercepted a Colby pass behind the net and brought it out front. He set up
Brennan Horn for the goal and a 3-3 tie through two periods.
Colby would get the first two goals of the third period to gain an advantage. Grier scored both, at 6:07 when he sent a shot through two Tufts defenders and in, and at 11:41 on a power play when he deflected in a shot by Reese Farrell.
The Jumbos continued to show resilience, again pulling within one on Resnick's power play goal from the high slot at 12:36. Tufts wasn't able to generate enough third-period offense though, then Colby clinched it with the empty-net goal by Jake McDonald.
Shots finished at 34-26 for Colby, with Mule freshman goalie Cooper Rautenstrauch making 22 saves for the victory. Gus Bylin had 28 saves in the Tufts net. Dubicki, Resnick and Sedlak all had a goal and an assist for Tufts.
The Jumbos will finish their first semester of games tomorrow at Bowdoin College with a 3:00 PM start.
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