Does Scott Hansen read this column? I’d like to think so. In a follow up of last weeks Vandersluis story, the saga continued in a Saturday night game against Harvard. In the previous days Maroon News, I pointed out our opponents tendency to hit Colgate right winger, Bob Vandersluis, in the head for no apparent reason. Those of you with a fine tuned eye, would have picked up on yet another example of this strange phenomenon. In the second period of a tied game against the nationally ranked Crimson, Vandersluis was exiting the zone. Harvard skater, Noah Welch, became overwhelmed with the desire to hit Vandersluis, and actually went out of the way to elbow him in the head, well behind the play. Maybe they really are jealous of his hair. Scott Hansen, the games head official, noticed the attack, and awarded Colgate a power play. Previously, these attacks were unpenalized, but the day after an article comes out telling people to look for this, it suddenly gets called? Never underestimate the power of the Maroon News. Kyle Doyle would score on the ensuing power play, giving Colgate the go ahead goal. Colgate would hold the lead, and gain a huge upset win.
With the Harvard win, and a win over Brown the previous night, Colgate moved into 5th place in the ECAC. The top 5 teams in the league get home ice in the first weekend of the playoffs. Colgate plays two teams ranked below us in Princeton and Yale this weekend. Colgate is now unbeaten in 5 games, and it’s been a huge turnaround from the days where Bob Gray, from the USCHO.com message board, would routinely rank Colgate as one of the worst ten division one teams in the nation. What has led to this recent turn of events? Here’s what I think.
1) Conditioning- It’s a trend now. Later in the game, the opposition starts to get tired, while Colgate is going strong. Whatever Colgate is doing, it is working. As the season moves on, this advantage could grow even larger, and the big ice at Lake Placid will also work in our favor if we can make it that far.
2) Faceoffs- I don’t have any stats on this, but it seems like whenever the pressure is on, Colgate is winning the draws. When you cleanly win a face off, it takes the heat off your team, and places it on the other guys. This has saved our bacon many times, and has also set up some quality scoring chances on offense.
3) Penalty killing- Colgate has really cut down on penalties, especially the stupid ones. Our penalty kill has also been getting better and better. The benefits here are obvious.
4) David Cann- After starting slow, he has really improved since becoming the teams steady starter. He was the teams hero on a tough north country trip, and has worked his was up to 5th in the league in goals against average. Colgate’s goals against average has dropped considerably in the past month.
5) The freshman- Many people considered Colgate’s recruiting class one of the best in the league, and they are starting to prove it. After a predictably slow start, they are really starting to buy into the system, and producing points. They have filled their lines well, and are now really starting to get a feel for how to play with their teammates.
6) Heart- There is no substitute. After getting kicked around for a large part of the season, you could actually see the transformation in early January. U Mass Lowell was pounding away on us, and was up 5-0, when Colgate mounted a counter attack, scoring 3 goals in a 10 minute span. We would lose the game, but show our desire to fight till the end. Against Iona later that weekend, Colgate found themselves down by a goal with time running out. Iona had never beat a school from any of the big four conferences, and they were hungry for a win. And that was when I saw Colgate make a transformation. It was almost as if a light went off, and Colgate decided we would not lose this game. Steve Silversides redirected a pass into the goal from just outside the crease with just minutes remaining. The game would go into overtime, where Colgate would dominate. But just as the game was beginning to look like a tie, Silversides again would prove to be the hero. He made a great block on an attempted clearing attempt, and stopped the puck right on the blue line. He fed a pass to PJ Yedon, who quickly ended the game. The final part of the transformation would be the next weekend against Dartmouth. Dartmouth was favored by many to win the league this year, and they were near the top of the league when they skated into Hamilton. The Big Green got off to an early two goal lead, and it was a situation many teams would fold in. Colgate would respond with the next three goals, and buckled down on defense. Since then, Colgate would play well just about every night, stunning the league with 3 points against Clarkson and SLU, and a sweep of Harvard and Brown. The leadership and desire has come from many locations. The captains provide an instrumental role, but they are not alone. We are getting scoring and big plays from all are lines, and big goals have come from unlikely sources. With 8 league games left, we still have a lot of excellent hockey to see.
But the mens hockey team is not the only division 1 hockey program to call Starr Rink a home. Starting this season, the women’s hockey team has been competing at the division 1 level under the direction of Ted Wisner, Scott Wiley, and Lindsay Barton. The team has come a long way in their years under Wisner, and they look to turn another corner in the final games of the season. Well, it’s time to mark your calendars. Next Friday, February 15th, the team is holding a “pack the rink” night. It is time for Colgate fans to get their introduction to Division 1 women’s hockey. If you are reading this, it means you are invited. But don’t come alone, bring your friends, your roommates, members of the same club as you, the wife, kids, neighbors, and anyone you happen to meet on the street. This team has been working hard non stop since arriving at Colgate, and it’s time they got some fan support. If you go to just one women’s hockey game this year, this is the one to do. We are playing the University of Vermont. A team that made the jump from D-3 the same time we did. Last season, these two teams went to triple overtime in the league playoffs, until Heather Murphy scored the game winning goal on a pass from Kelly Roos. Colgate beat UVM earlier this season 2-0, and it should be another good game.
There are several good reasons to head out to the rink. Colgate is celebrating Girls and Women in sports day, so there will be some activities and goodies for the kids. There will be more raffles and prizes throughout the night, and one lucky fan will have a chance to win a new car! There’s something for everyone, and it all starts when the team takes the ice at 6:50. With your help, we can make this a memorable event for all the players, as well as the fans. So grab a couple of friends, and see you at the rink!
Before we get to the trivia question, I’ve got two more quick observations. Wednesday night, our men’s basketball team walloped the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. As Colgate had a 25 point lead late in the game, the Raider’s emptied the bench. There is nothing quite like seeing guys who work their butts off every night in practice, finally getting a chance for a little on the court action. They had fun, they built on our lead, and the crowd was eating it up. Players like Jeremy Ballard, Marques Green, and LaMarr Datcher contribute so much to the team, but rarely get into the spotlight. These are the moments they live for, and I know everyone in the arena enjoyed it.
Across the hall the night before, the mens hockey team was busy taking out Canisius. The Griffens netminder, was having a rough night, he was getting pelted with shots, rebounds were going straight to Colgate, and he was getting a sunburn on the back of his neck. Like most goalies, he would use a break in the action to skate to one of the corners of the rink, and try to get their thoughts in order. However, it seems as if our friend had something else on him mind. As he skated past the Colgate pep band midway through the third period, he clearly turned his neck to take a look at the drum major, Jill’s, tushy. After this was loudly pointed out to the 500 fans in attendance by one screaming band member who wishes to remain nameless, the goalie seemed not to look to the left for the rest of the night, and he certainly didn’t head for that corner ever again. Must have had a girlfriend sitting in the stands.
Now, onto some trivia. Last week, I asked what sports movie had scenes filmed at Colgate. The movie was “Slapshot” staring Paul Newman. In 1976, one of the movies road games was filmed inside Starr Rink. Students and residents of Hamilton served as the crowd, and enjoyed watching Paul Newman’s attempts at playing hockey. The movie became a cult classic for hockey fans, and after over 30 years, a sequel has been made. No Starr Rink this time unfortunately. Or maybe not, it’s a straight to video movie. The winner this week is Colgate’s own sports information guru, Bob Cornell. This weeks trivia question is in honor of last weekends Super Bowl. E-mail me at gbraham@mail.colgate.edu by next Wednesday for your chance to win. The question is, how many Super Bowl rings have Colgate alumni won? Good luck, and see you at the game!
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