The Colgate Raiders executed an aggressive, in-your-face game plan to
perfection this evening as they parlayed a standout performance from goalie
Steve Silverthorn and stifling defensive zone coverage to a 3-1 victory over
Brown at Meehan Auditorium.  It was Brown's second defeat by the Raiders
this season and proved conclusively that their 6-1 thrashing of the Bears at
Starr Rink in December was no fluke.

    Playing in their 1,600th ice hockey game all-time, the Bears skated with
Colgate for most of the contest but were able to beat Silverthorn just once
out of nine power play opportunities when senior defenseman Vince Macri
scored from the top of the left face-off circle off tape-to-tape passes from
junior forward Les Haggett and freshman forward Brian Ihnacak at 9:47 of the
second period.

    The Raiders opened the scoring at 13:54 of the first period when junior
forward Adam Mitchell converted a second rebound from the right of Bear
senior goaltender Yann Danis after sophomore forward Ryan Smyth and senior
defenseman Rob Brown had failed on two previous shots during the same
sequence.  Colgate's winning goal broke the 1-1 tie at 17:46 of the middle
stanza as senior forward Paul Kelley fired a shot on Danis from the bottom
of the right circle that deflected off Brown junior defenseman Gerry Burke's
stick and knuckled over Danis left shoulder and into the net.  Raider
sophomore forward Kyle Wilson scored on an open net at 19:24 of the final
period after Danis had been removed in favor of a sixth attacker at 19:05.

    Overall, the Raiders' close-checking kept the Bears off-balance all
night as, time and again, Colgate denied Brown an uncontested shot on
Silverthorn.  Most impressively, Silverthorn and his Raider teammates
survived four minutes of Bear power play (currently ranked #1 nationally)
during the last 5 1/2 minutes of regulation to ice the victory.   On the
flip side, the few quality opportunities the Bears could muster were spoiled
by their own inability to find the openings in Silverthorn's defensive
positioning.  Sometimes, in any given season, one of your opponents has your
number.....this season, Brown is clearly on Colgate's speed dial.

    The Bears will attempt to recover their momentum against the ECAC
defending champions tomorrow night as they host the Big Red of Cornell in a
long-anticipated 7:00 p.m. contest at Meehan Auditorium.  The two teams
played to a 3-3 draw at Lynah in early December and both squads are battling
for the conference lead.


Bill Corrigan

LET'S GO BRUNO!