for 1/14/01
The turnaround team this weekend did not even record a win. The Womens Basketball team took on Army on Saturday, and the Red Raider's took the game to the Black Knights, who have only lost 2 games all year. That's the reason I was very impressed, because I have seen how teams play when they are slumping, and Colgate showed no signs of that. The Red Raiders built an early lead by winning the majority of the rebounds, and very good defense. Colgate was reacting to everything first, and it showed. Sarah Parks had her best game of the season from what I saw, but it still was not enough to carry the day. We had very good plays on offense, but we are still not making our shots. Fortunatly the season is not over until it is over, and every team makes the playoffs, so Colgate still have time to improve.
The Mens Basketball team broke a 4 game skid. Two players, Pat Campolieta and Howard Blue set scoring records, combined they had 48 points and 16 rebounds. When you shoot 49% from the field, who is going to stop you? Not Army. The inside is where we got business taken care of. It seemed like we just weren't missing anything when we were close to the net. We also had a rebounding advantage, and very good defense. The Red Raider's have shown that they have some bite to thier bark, and are still capable of a great game.
And the Mens Hockey team, first road win of the season! And against the nationally ranked UVM squad. Colgate played well, but could not get past a talented Dartmouth team. Kyle Doyle scored a goal and two assists on the weekend, to lead the freshman class. But it was at the "Gut" that Colgate came through. The Red Raider's dominated most of the first two periods, with goals by Sean Nolan and Mike O'Malley, off an great feed by Chad MacDonald, who deserves just as much credit for that goal. Colgate could not hold the best offense in the league forever though, and UVM scored two goals to tie it up. So it was overtime, and Colgate started that period on a penalty kill. After that was killed off, Colgate continued with agressive forechecking, that led to a face off in the UVM zone. PJ Yedon cleanly won the draw, Cory Murphy fed the puck to Sean Nolan, who ripped it home! It's a great feeling, but there's more work to be done. This Thursday, we travel to Lynah rink, on the campus of Cornell University. This home and home series is very improtant, as Cornell is at the top of the league right now. This will be a total Colgate effort, who is brining a lot of fans, as well as the band to both games, despite the fact that classes have not begun yet. It's a big rivalry, and we hope to see you there!
Unfortunatly, there's always a downside to a great weekend. The Womens hockey team was unable to find an answer to one of the best goalies in the league, and lost to UVM on home ice. A 2-1 shot advantage did not help Colgate, who lost thier second ECAC game of the season. Then, on Sunday, they fought to a 4-4 tie against RPI, which probally will hurt us more in the rankings then the loss to UVM. This can be turned around into a positive though, as there is pleanty of season left to play.
Let's move to recruiting news though. Keith Williams will join the mens basketball team next year. He has verbally committed. This Poly Prep senior is 6'5" 190 pounds, and he's a member of a team that won the New York state championship, as well as the NYS Federation championship for the "C" class. That means it was a pretty small school. And we don't know how much he contributed to that team, but it seems like thats one heck of a start! Especially with just 1 player graduating this year for Colgate.
And the Mens Hockey team wrangled in 4 recruits since the last report! David Thomas, a right wing from Deerfield Prep. He's 5'9". Patrick Farrell joins the team after his graduation from the Culver Military Academy. He's wearing the "C" this year, and is a 6'1" Right wing. Anthony Massota also joins us at right wing. He's 5'8" and is currently playing for the Cornwall Colts, the defending Canadain Junior Hockey league, and Eastern Canadian Champions. The league is divided into two divisions, they currently lead one of them, while the Kanata Valley Lasers lead the other division. And that is the team that is giving us Dimitry Yashin, a top 20 scorer in the league, second on his team. He's a 6'1" winger, who is serving as an assistant captain this year. He's not the first player to serve as an assistant captain of this team and then come to Colgate. Cory Murphy did it 4 years ago! And if thats any indication of what sort of player we are getting, then I am very excited. But wait! In the "Don't forget about me" catergory. One of our earlier recruits, Adam Mitchell, continues to impress. He was named Midwestern Jt "B" player of the week, is now top 10 in the league in scoring, and...and this is a big one. The NHL has a scouting organization rank the draft eligable players for next years NHL entry draft. It contains undrafted college players, as well as Prep school and juniors players of a certain age. In the rankings for North American players, Mitchell ranks 135th! That means, if nothing changes, he will be drafted in the 5th round. This is very good news for our recruiting prospects, who need to make up for the loss of 9 seniors this year.
This concludes this report. There might be a mid week report this week. I am returning to Colgate on Wednesday to prepare for the trip to Cornell. Classes start for all students a week from tomorrow.
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