Wilkie’s Hat Trick Leads Colorado College Past St. Lawrence, 7-3
HANOVER, N.H. -- Chris Wilkie posted the first hat trick of his career and Nick Halloran added a goal and two assists to lead Colorado College to a 7-3 victory over St. Lawrence in the consolation game of the Ledyard Classic.
Wilkie scored all three of his goals within the first 7:11 of the third period as the Tigers equaled their high scoring output of the season and improved to 7-8-1 this season.
SLU’s Bo Hanson opened the scoring late in the first period on the power play. Hanson took a pass from Philip Alftberg and fired a shot from the right point past CC goalie Ryan Ruck with 2:30 remaining.
A slashing call to Alex Berardinelli with 1:18 left in the first put the Saints back on the power play, but Halloran evened the game at the 19:35 mark. He stole the puck behind the SLU net and his shot from the left circle deflected off a defender’s skate into the net for his first career shorthanded goal.
After killing off the rest of Berardinelli’s penalty to start the second, the Tigers scored twice to take a 3-1 advantage. Jack Gates collected a blocked shot by Connor Mayer and deposited the puck from the right circle for his first goal of the season and a 2-1 lead at the 5:18 mark. Midway through the frame, Josiah Slavin took a drop pass from Grant Cruikshank and beat SLU goalie Francis Boisvert stick side for his second career goal.
The Saints (3-13-3) cut the lead to one when Jacob Nielsen won a faceoff back to Ryan Garvey, who fired a rocket past Ruck from the top of the left circle. Ruck was stellar the rest of the period, stoning Zach Risteau on a breakaway with 2:45 left in the second and making a great save on Keenan Suthers just seconds later.
The third period turned into the Wilkie show very quickly as he scored three goals to post CC’s first hat trick since Ben Copeland notched four against Western Michigan on Feb. 22, 2019.
Wilkie scored his first of the game just 42 seconds into the final frame when he took a pass from Halloran and his shot from the slot, which actually broke his stick, slid past Boisvert’s glove to make it 4-2. He increased the lead just 1:19 later with a snipe from the right circle on the power play after an SLU defender’s clearing attempt went right to Wilkie’s stick.
Zach Risteau closed the lead to 5-3 with a goal at the 6:13 mark of the third, but Wilkie completed his first career hat trick with another power-play tally, this time a rocket from the left circle after taking a pass from Halloran at the 7:11 mark.
Troy Conzo closed out the scoring 10 seconds later with his first goal of the season.
What Head Coach Mike Haviland Said
“Early on it was kind of a scrambling game, but we responded. We played a harder game tonight and it paid off.”
“We talked about special teams and made some adjustments. We are going to need special teams to be good down the stretch.”
“We have to get that depth scoring. It was good to see Slavin and Conzo get those goals. We have the ability to do that. I like that we didn’t stop and get comfortable. I liked the third period a lot.”
“Wilkie’s second and third ones were special tonight, those were NHL shots. He’s been producing and it was great to see him get a hat trick.”
“We want to move up in the conference, we have Miami coming in and we want to get points at home.”
Colorado College Notes
CC’s seven goals equals the total against Princeton on Dec. 6
Nick Halloran’s shorthanded goal was the second of the season for the Tigers
Troy Conzo tied his career high with six shots
CC had multiple power-play goals for the first time since Nov. 15 at St. Cloud State
Ryan Ruck finished with 33 saves
The Tigers outshot St. Lawrence, 45-36, a season high for CC
CC was 2-4 on the power play; St. Lawrence was 1-2
Up Next
The Tigers open the new decade and return to NCHC action with a two-game series against Miami University, Jan. 10-11, at The Broadmoor World Arena.
