(23Oct98)  Friday evening at Matthews Arena, with the fall foliage in festive
form, the Northeastern Huskies waxed the Red Raiders of Colgate 2-0.  The game
was not a spectacle.  Both squads looked tired from practice, and in need of
time to jell.
 
The match began slowly.  I suppose it was reassuring to watch the drills and
see that the basic Division I power play set hasn't changed.  There were few
changes created and no scoring.
 
In the second, the pace quickened.  The passing continued dreadful and the
movement off the puck was less than stellar.  There was some good end-to-end
action and if both teams had moved their feet as much going forward as they
did digging back, we might have had something.  Northeastern opened the
scoring with a power play goal from first-year defender Jim Fahey (Mike
Jozefowicz, Roger Holeczy).  Fresher Fahey, besides being a smart defender,
moved the puck extremely well all night and was a major force for the Huskies.
His blast from the point, went through a group of players and found net.
 
The final period was again pedestrian.  Colgate turned up the volume as
sophomore sensation Cory Murphy did everything his mobile ability could to
ignite his team.  There was some up and down action, however with NU being
cautious and the Red Raiders looking like their first match out, it never
appeared like Colgate would comeback.  Late in the game, Bobby Davis (Graig
Mischler, Rich Spiller) gave the Huskies a two goal lead when he finished off
a nice 1-2 on a counterattack.
 
Colgate has an interesting core of players.  They clearly can skate and I am
sure can pick up their puck movement skills.  The question remains: where is
the point of attack?  Goaltender Shep Harder looked solid and came up with
several good saves to keep his mates in the contest.  Murphy and Jeff Potter
were easily the Red Raiders strongest defensive pairing.  Potter is a strong
blue liner who used his vision well.  The Colgate man of the match was Murphy.
The elegant defender is their mover and shaker.  Murphy's quickness and
ability to flow over the ice allows him to open up all kinds of room, and
therefore chances for the Raiders.  Up front the line of Dan Wildfong, Mike
O'Malley and Etienne Morin showed some fine line play.  They need more speed
and attacking cuts, but they should do a lot of damage this season.  Wildfong
had a good outing and produced some fine plays.  Jed Whitchurch was the other
forward with good movement.  Some of his misdirection passes were lovely.
Overall, if Colgate realizes that scoring goals is the name of the game, they
could do quite well.
 
"They were stupid enough to [play loud pop music], and unfortunate enough to
[think that was a plus]."
 
 _____________
/
 good shooting
 hungerf
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