For the second night in a row, Colgate ambushed a team in the last
couple of minutes to come away with a win. Ron Fogarty scored at 18:03
to tie the game, then Mike Harder scored again just 18 seconds later
for his second goal of the game and the game-winner.
Colgate 2 2 3 - 7
Harvard 2 3 1 - 6
Harvard came out fast and controlled play in the early going,
forechecking very well and generally pressuring all the time.
Colgate, however, got on the board first with a quick flurry in
the Harvard zone as Mike Harder poked the second or third rebound
past Crimson goalie Tripp Tracy. Harvard had a defensive break-
down in their own end a few minutes later, and Harder grabbed the
puck and sent it in front to Scott Steeves who stashed it in the
empty net for a quick 2-0 lead.
Harvard was still controlling play, however, and started to get
some good chances. Colgate goalie Jason Gates looked very shaky
in the first period, making a couple of easy saves look rather
difficult, and had a couple of stickhandling blunders he was lucky
to get away with. He did manage to keep the pucks out of the net,
though. Eventually, the Harvard pressure forced the Red Raiders
to take a penalty, letting the potent Crimson power play on the ice.
They scored four PPGs against Cornell last night, and kept right
up where they left off. They set up very well, passed the puck,
and Steve Martins was nicely set up for his first goal of the night
at 12:56. Colgate took another penalty near the end of the period,
and Harvard got another power play goal from Chris Baird with
thiry seconds left in the period. Tied 2-2 after one. Shots 13-9
Harvard.
Harvard clearly carried the play in the second period, to an even
greater extent than the first. Keith McLean scored at 7:18 to give Harvard
the lead, and Colgate quickly followed that up by taking a penalty.
Yep. Harvard power play goal. Martins scored his second on the
night at 9:11 (11 seconds into the penalty) and Harvard led 4-2.
Colgate, however, has a power play of its own that tends to get
one great chance then fall apart a bit. Harvard was called for a
penalty, and the Red Raiders scored on that chance
at 10:40, as Dan Gardner one-timed a slapshot home. Harvard
got called for another penalty at 14:43, and Colgate looked for
the tie. However, excellent forechecking by the Crimson ended
up in Colgate making a brutal giveaway, which was quickly
capitalized on. Martins got the hat trick and a short-handed
goal at 15:08 to give Harvard their two-goal lead back.
Colgate had yet to get their chance on the power play, though,
and eventually did score on that same powerplay (Earl Cronan) to make
it 5-4 at 16:01. Sometime in the period, Harvard had a goal
disallowed, mainly because the ref was a bit quick in blowing
the whistle.
That's the way the second ended, with Harvard outshooting
the Red Raiders badly, 16-5. Jason Gates played much better,
making a few nice saves. Colgate managed to get a penalty late
which carried into the third.
And Harvard wasted little time on that. Cory Gustafson scored
Harvard's fourth PPG on the night at :46 of the third, and the
two-goal cushion was back again. After this, though, Colgate
played on a much more even keel, and even carried the play a bit.
Harvard took a penalty at 8:21, and Colgate got their third PPG
of the game from Chris DeProfio about half a minute later.
Definitely not a night for the penalty-killers. 6-5.
Play continued pretty much evenly, with both teams getting some
good chances but not being able to stash anything home. Colgate
failed on a power play chance with about eight minutes left.
Anyone remembering last night, though, certainly had not given
up hope. And indeed Colgate again upped their level of play in
the last few minutes, getting good forechecking pressure and
making Tracy come up with a couple of tougher saves. Excitement
building....
...then Harvard, who all night had reacted very well to Colgate's
pressure, broke down. Earl Cronan won a battle for the puck in
the corner, and threw the puck into the middle where Harvard had
inexplicably left Ron Fogarty all by himself. Fogarty rammed the
puck past Tracy, who had no chance whatsoever. Wow. Tie game,
6-6. Goal came at 18:03. The crowd went wild...
...and Harvard broke down again. After a faceoff in the Colgate
zone, the Red Raiders managed to break out three-on-two. Mike
Harder, Chris DeProfio, and Scott Steeves combined on a very
pretty passing play that left Harder alone on the left side, and
he one-timed a cannon of a slapshot short side high. Tracy had
even less of a chance on this one. The goal came at 18:21, just
18 seconds after the tying tally. 7-6 Colgate, and bedlam in the
stands...
Colgate still had to kill off the final 1:39 though, and anyone
who was at the games the last two nights will tell you that's
plenty of time for a few goals. :-)
Tracy was pulled with under a minute left and Harvard kept up
pressure in Colgate's zone after that, but just couldn't put it
in. Colgate wins a second consecutive thriller, 7-6.
At the buzzer, there was a quick shoving match which I didn't
see (too many bodies jumping up and down) but Martins of Harvard
got a two-minute minor and Brent Wilde of Colgate got 5 for
fighting and a game disqualification. Does this mean he will be
unavailable for the next game? Bleah...
I believe Colgate had 12 shots in the third, and I think they
outshot Harvard on the period. Definitely not for the game though.
Colgate in general was not as crisp as they were last night
against Brown. They didn't look horrible, but it seemed as if
Harvard was one step quicker and managed to get their stick in
the way of an awful lot of passes. Colgate got some pressure
early, in getting the two opening goals, but after that didn't
see many good chances in Harvard's end (aside from power plays)
until the third. When the game was on the line, however, they
stepped up their play and generated the needed chances to win the
game. The defense continues to look a bit shaky, with some
stupid giveaways, but Gates encouragingly looked quite a bit
better in the last two periods then he did in the first and his
one period of play last night against Brown. Overall, though,
Colgate looks a whole lot better than they did in the first two
games I saw against Boston University and Merrimack. And
definitely better than last year.
Tracy, I thought, had a good game for Harvard despite the seven
goals. He had little chance on most of them. Still, I'd have to
say most of Colgate's really good chances went in, and there were
only a couple of spectacular saves by either goalie on the game.
The special teams were definitely clicking for both teams - 8
of the 13 goals came during a penalty. Colgate had a terrible
time with Harvard's forechecking in coming out of their own zone,
but once set up were able to move the puck around and generate
a good chance. Harvard's power play is just damn good, period.
So Colgate comes out of the weekend with two huge wins, moving
to 4-0 in the ECAC (4-3 overall). St Lawrence is also 4-0 in the
ECAC, and Harvard too has eight points with a 4-1 record. I think
those three teams are now tied for first place.
The refereeing this weekend wasn't terribly great, but considering
Pierre Belanger was with us both nights it wasn't too bad at all.
Certainly nothing heavily favoring one of the teams.
Here's an unoffical box:
First Period
Colgate 5:16 Harder (McIntosh,Gardner)
Colgate 8:28 Steeves (Harder)
Harvard 12:56 Martins (McCann) PPG
Harvard 19:29 Baird (Body, Martins) PPG
Penalties:
Harvard :45 Halfnight (Tripping)
Colgate 9:17 Lewis (Interference)
Harvard 9:59 McCann (Holding)
Colgate 12:05 Cronan (Hooking)
Harvard 16:24 Halfnight (Hooking)
Colgate 19:00 Wilde (Interference)
Second Period
Harvard 7:18 McLean (Farrell, Baird)
Harvard 9:11 Martins (Farrell, Body) PPG
Colgate 10:40 Gardner (Fogarty, Gardiner) PPG
Harvard 15:08 Martins (Coughlin) SHG
Colgate 16:01 Cronan (DeProfio, Garzone) PPG
Penalties:
Harvard :18 Baird (Holding)
Colgate 3:32 Craig (Late Hit)
Colgate 7:37 DeProfio (Tripping)
Harvard 9:29 Lonsinger (Roughing)
Harvard 14:43 Swenson (Cross check)
Colgate 18:50 Cronan (Slashing)
Third Period
Harvard :46 Gustafson (Coughlin) PPG
Colgate 8:49 DeProfio (Wilde, Harder) PPG
Colgate 18:03 Fogarty (Cronan)
Colgate 18:21 Harder (DeProfio, Steeves)
Penalties:
Harvard 1:39 Holmes (Interference)
Harvard 8:21 Martins (Holding)
Harvard 12:09 McCann (Roughing)
Colgate 20:00 Wilde (Fighting major, Game DQ)
Harvard 20:00 Martins (Roughing)
Referees: Pierre Belanger
Tim MacConaghy
Linesman: Tim Kotyra
Carl Lindberg
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