Heartbreaker
By Gary Braham 3-25-2000
Colgate's amazing hockey season was extended by a trip to the NCAA tournament in Albany. Colgate drew the 4th seed in the East, and would have to face Michigan first, the winner playing last years champs, Maine.
Colgate had an amazing fan turnout. I would say more students then show up at Starr rink for an average game. Michigan also sent a respectable group of fans to see the game. The overall theme of the evening was respect. Colgate had the slightly higher seed, but Michigan did better in the regular season. Most people predicted a blowout for Michigan, on sheer name alone.
Colgate fans struck first, some obviously drunk students started screaming, as the Swinging Gates were invited onto the ice to sing the national anthem. That did not sit well with a lot of the hockey fans in the building. Thier actions would prompt a letter in the Maroon-News
from Coach Vaughan and Mark Murphy.
The game started out in Michigans favor. The teams were going back and forth, but Michigan was holding on to the puck just a little longer each drive and getting some better shots. Colgate was laying on some mean hits though, these would wear Michigan out all game.
Michigan struck once, then twice, then a third time. Things did not look that good for Colgate. The Colgate sections got a lot quieter as things began to look bleak. It would be senior leader, Shep Harder, that got the team and crowd going again.
Shep made three amazing saves in a row, each one better than the last. It was his desire to not give up and fight that spurred the team on. Minutes later, Colgate scored goal number 1.
Goal number two would follow, and the game was on! Colgate was wearing down the opposition, but remained fresh and focused. The action continued to build as time ran down in the third period. Finally, with just a minute left, it did not look like Colgate would finish the comeback, thats when Colgate just refused to lose, and tapped in thier third goal in a row.
The reaction inside the Pepsi arena was amazing. The entire Colgate crowd was on thier feet to cheer thier team on. The atmospehere and momentum continued to overtime. Colgate continued to put on the pressure, until Mike O'Mally tallied the game winner. Or so it would appear. The ref lost site of the puck as it crossed the goaline and blew the play dead. Video review shows that Mike put the puck inside the post and then circled around the net, faking out everyone. It was ruled no goal, and since the ref argued that he had whisteled the play dead, not that it never crossed the line, the play was not reviewed.
Colgate continued the pressure, but minutes later Michigan got in a good deflection that beat Shep Harder up high. Silence on the Colgate side...then a cheer began..."Here we go Colgate here we go" The game was over, but Colgate earned perhaps more respect than if they had won, then lost to Maine. The fans and the team gave it everything they had, but came out the losers in overtime. A slow start, and a quick whislte were the most obvious culprits. Colgate wore down Michigan all game, and proved they have better endurance.
The loss ended Colgate's season. It probally was Colgate's best shot at the NCAA's for a while. That, plus the controvertial loss, made it a very tough pill to swallow. The momentum should raise Colgate's level though. Hopefully fan support will increase, as well as in good recruits who want to come to Colgate. We also gained a lot of respect from the general college hockey community.