Colgate defeated Dartmouth this afternoon, 7-6 in overtime.  This
follows up a 5-2 win over Vermont last night,  giving Colgate its
first weekend sweep of the season.
 
  Colgate 5, Vermont 2
 
  This game was very close until Colgate broke it open with 3 goals early
in the third period.
 
 
  Colgate 7, Dartmouth 6 (OT)
 
  Wasn't much in the way of defense here, but when the dust settled
Colgate came away with a come-from-behind then come-from-ahead OT win.
 
 
 
  Colgate  -  1  1  3  =  5
  Vermont  -  1  1  0  =  2
 
  Colgate stormed out and controlled play early in the first period, but
in a familiar story simply couldn't put the puck in the net.  Christian
Soucy played well, making several nice saves to keep Colgate off the board.
Then the referees decided to start calling some penalties, furthermore
deciding to offset it with a penalty to the other team partway through
the powerplay.  This happened 3 out of 3 times to Colgate in the 1st and one
of two times to Vermont...and on Vermont's other one, they scored too fast
for an equilizing penalty to be called.  A couple of the calls were very weak
and clearly frustrated both teams, but they went mostly equally against
both sides.  Thankfully, the refs for the most part swallowed their whistles
from the second period on, and ended up calling a decent game.  In fact,
both games this weekend didn't see that many refereeing atrocities, which
was quite pleasing.
  At any rate, Vermont got on the board first on one of the aforementioned
powerplays, as a shot from the point was either deflected or screened
or both, as Colgate goalie Jason Gates was frozen while the puck went in the
bottom left side of the net.  Colgate came right back about half a minute
later, as a Colgate player found himself all alone in front of Soucy and
put a backhand past him to tie the score.  1-1 at the end of the first.
  The second was also mostly scoreless until Vermont scored on a rebound
with about a minute and a half left.  Once again, Colgate managed to
break out of their scoring doldrums right away and scored on a netfront
scramble to tie the game at two with less than a minute left.  Soucy
made at least two saves on the play before giving up that goal.
  Colgate got a powerplay early in the third, and while they did not score
they got several good chances and more importantly, momentum.  Shortly
thereafter, Rob Haddock closed in from the point and semi-shanked a one-
timer into the top shelf.  It looked as though Soucy was handcuffed by the
shot.  Soon after, Marcel Richard had the puck almost on the goal line
and shot a hard wrister from short range between Soucy's pads.  Soucy
was hugging the post well, and I didn't see any space between his pads,
but the puck obviously did and it squeaked through to give Colgate a two-
goal lead at 4-2.  Several minutes later Colgate scored on another wild
scramble, Soucy again making multiple saves before Brent Wilde shot into
an open net.
  The game turned sloppy after that, but neither team was able to
capitalize on any mistakes, and that's the way it ended.
  Colgate played very well, usually controlling the play.  I think
the shots were 35-19 Colgate or something around there.  It was a
very good turnaround after being pasted by RPI the previous Saturday.
 
 
Colgate    -  1  3  2  1  =  7
Dartmouth  -  2  2  2  0  =  6
 
 
  This game started out with the same familiar script, as the Red Raiders
came out flying but couldn't score.  Dartmouth was not playing very well at
all, with the exception of in front of their own net where they did
an excellent job of clearing rebounds and Colgate players.  This was
enough to keep Colgate off the board, as they could only get one shot
at a time.  Near the halfway point, Colgate got a powerplay and looked
as if they might finally score.  The puck was cleared down the ice,
band on a routine start of a rush the puck hit a stick or something and
ended up right by Red Raider goalie Jason Gates' skate.  He just didn't
see it -- he may actually have been looking for his contact lens instead --
and a Dartmouth player reached out and poked it into the open net for a
shorthanded goal and a 1-0 lead for the Big Green.  The arena went deathly
silent at that point, which was impressive in itself because I didn't think
it could have gotten any quieter than it already was.  Despite a pretty
good sized crowd, they just didn't make much noise at all.  I don't know,
maybe most were not really awake yet (game time was 3:00 PM ) :-)
  Colgate did score on a later powerplay when they finally got a rebound
and stuffed it past Dartmouth goalie Mike Bracco.  But with less than
a minute left, Colgate got caught on a line change as a Dartmouth player
blew a shot past Gates from thee top of the right circle on a semi-breakaway.
Once again, Colgate was winning in shots, 11-5, and losing in goals 2-1.
  Colgate got an early PP goal in the second to tie the game, but
Dartmouth all night seemed to come out fired up after a Colgate goal, and
in the space of about three minutes had put two more pucks behind Gates
for a 4-2 lead (the first one a PP goal).  Colgate came back to 4-3, then
with less than a minute left Marcel Richard gloved a clearing pass, turned
around, and slapped a shot which was deflected before it went in, tying the
game 4-4 after two.
  The game really got sloppy in the third.  Dartmouth's speed began to
show, as more and more they were able to get around Colgate defensemen,
but never quite enough.  There should have been a lot of opportunities
for both sides, but passes which should have been on the sticks went
to the skates, etc., and stopped a lot of plays in their tracks.  Colgate
scored on a two-on-one about eight minutes in for their first lead at 5-4,
but the Big Green came right back and scored on a delayed penalty call to
knot the score again.  In the short span in between Colgate had a great
opportunity to take a two-goal lead on a breakaway, but Bracco stoned it,
setting up Dartmouth's goal on the ensuing rush. Then..........
  With 5:01 to go, Dartmouth freshman Bill Kelleher went in on a breakaway,
chased only by a Colgate defenseman who had lost his stick.  He tried to
do little clutches and holds to try to at least make it a less effective
shot.  Kelleher did get the shot off, but it was saved by Gates.  Kelleher
and the Colgate player both went down right afterward.  At any rate,
the referees decided that Kelleher had been impeded enough to call a
........penalty shot. (Well, i guess the Colgate player certainly wasn't
going for the puck.... :-)  ).  THIS finally brought the crowd to life,
with the usual protests to the refs...the crowd stayed in it the rest
of the way.
  You got the feeling that this was going to be the turning point, tied
5 all with 5 minutes left... Kelleher picked up the puck, and Gates
skated out a ways and eased back in...Kelleher went in, deked to his
backhand,.....and missed.  Actually, I'm not sure if Gates got a piece
of it or not; it was hard to tell.  The end result was the puck went wide,
the score remained tied, and the crowd erupted.  Gotta love the penalty
shot, but I'd much rather be shooting than defending, especially with
five minutes left in a tie game.
  This gave the Red Raiders a *huge* lift and with about 3 1/2 minutes
left they scored on a 3-on-2 to take the lead.  All they had to do was
hang on for another three minutes...
  ...which they made much harder on themselves by taking a penalty with
less than two minutes left.  On the ensuing powerplay, a Big Green player
drilled a shot from the point which just went wide.  Gates was caught
moving the wrong way, though, and fell down trying to change his direction.
The puck caromed right back off the boards and went to a waiting Dartmouth
player, who lofted the puck over the fallen Gates to tie it up yet again
with about one minute left.  The crowd couldn't believe it.  Into overtime...
  Both teams had a decent shot apiece before Colgate got some pressure in
Dartmouth's zone.  The puck banged around for a bit and ended up in the
high slot, where Marcel Richard, in his last home hockey game,  took a big
swing at it and cranked a shot just inside the right post, winning the game
for Colgate.  In fact, all seven Colgate players who were playing their
last home game got at least a goal or an assist, at least according to
the announcer.
 
  The game was actually meaningless as final standings are concerned, as
Dartmouth by defeating Cornell last night clinched eighth place, winning
the tiebreaker with the Red Raiders.  The two teams will meet again on
Tuesday night at Dartmouth in the preliminary round.  Colgate lost 5-4
there earlier this year.
 
 
  The Red Raiders finish at 9-13 in the ECAC, which isn't all that bad
considering their woeful 0-7 start.  Can't touch Clarkson's turnaround,
though :-)
 
  Colgate has been improving all year, and is playing respectable hockey
now.  If they want to go anywhere in the tournament, though, they are
going to have to get solid goaltending and not play sloppily, which
have been two inconsistent areas all year.  They are capable of an upset,
though, should they be able to find the net when they get their chances.
They have matched up well with most opponents recently, and could
suprise.....at least that's this fan's hope :-)
 
 
Carl Lindberg  Colgate University '94
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