MENS ICE HOCKEY

The 1999-2000 Red Raider Men's Hockey Team

1999-2000 game by game report

October 16th- U-Mass Amherst
�� The Raiders kicked off the season looking a little weak against a much lower ranked school.� U-Mass beat Senior goalkeeper, Shep Harder twice but could not stop the Red Raider offense from scoring three goals to get the win.

October 22nd and 23rd - At Colorado College
� I had the opportunity to be at these games against the CC Tigers.� Colorado had a huge home field advantage.� The combonation of a higher altitude and a larger rink leaves many teams struggling for air.� They also have a large and loud fan following, ranks right up there with Cornell as far as the hostility of the environment. Colgate scored first but then slowly faded away.� In the end, sophmore goaltender Jason Lefeve let in 6 compared to the 3 scored by Colgate.
��� The second game started simmilarly.� Colgate with an early lead...but the Tigers could not get a puck in the net.� Harder was in this game and played one of the best games in goal I have ever seen anyone play.� He simply could not be beat.� This frustrated the Tigers who began to play a much poorer game and even tried hitting Shep a number of times.� It should be noted that this was also one of the most biased games I have ever seen officiated.� When it comes down to it, not many people respect the ECAC as a serious threat.� Did theofficials not want to see thier team lose?� Or am I just wrong.� From where I sat it looked like the same play made by each team did not get the same treatment.� Colgate held off all the powerplays and pulled off an amazing 3-0 shutout of the Tigers at home.� It was the first time they lost at home in a year and the athletic director of CC says he cannot remember the last time they were shutout at home.� Shep payed the heaviest price for the win.� He was repeatedly hit and even vomited inside the net.� There were several times when he was knocked down and was very slow to get up but he stuck it out and played to the very end.� I would not be surprised to see him continue on after his time at Colgate is up.

Novemeber 5th - At Union
� Colgate kicked off their ECAC schedule with a surprise loss to perrenial celler dweller, Union.� Was it the two week layoff?� Colgate has never been able to get that psyched up for the small games.� Shep and Jason both let in 4 goals a piece.� Colgate still scored 6.� From what I hear the players just weren't into the game that night, very unfortunate.� Union has gone on to win some more games but is doing so in very unorthodox ways.

November 6th - At RPI
� The next night Colgate was set to play the highest ranked team in the ECAC, the RPI engineers.� Colgate played Shep in net and he turned in another stellar performance.� Poor officiating took both teams away from their usual playing style which might have hurt the technically sound Engineers more.� Colgate was looking sharp in all aspects of the game though and went on to a 4-2 win.

November 12th - Harvard
� Harvard might not be the highest ranked team in the league, but they know how to win ECAC games and are always a threat to win on any given night.� Colgate was still playing sharp and took home a 5-4 win.� The last minutes being played with a Harvard power play made for an exciting finish.

November 13th - Brown
� If its Brown...oh nevermind.� Another high scoring game.� I gotta say that Brown was not playing with a lot of class.� With about 5 minutes left and Colgate up by one a seemingly harmless hit against the boards resulted in a Brown player laying motionless on the ice.� I didn't see what was so hard about the hit but the Brown player, who was also the team captain, looked like he was hurt badly.� He was finally helped off the ice and Colgate was charged with a 5 minute major.� Upon hearing this, the Brown player turned to the fans, winked, and stuck out his tounge.� I guess he was fine the whole time judgeing by how hard eh was laughing.� Colgate held on the full 5 minutes and walked away with a 7-6 win.

Novemeber 19th - Clarkson
� What's going on with the Golden Knights this year?� No one knows for sure but they are not the ECAC champions of old.� They managed some really good plays but for the most part they looked very unpolished.� Starting goaltender, Shaw Grant is falling apart this season.� The coach will not play the backup goalie due to attitude problems from what I hear, which left him to put in a 3rd string goalie after he pulled Grant.� Both teams were hungry for a win but Clarkson just had too many problems to pull it off. 4-3 Raiders

Novemeber 20th - St. Lawrence
�� Another top team skated to Starr rink in the hopes of ending the Raider home unbeaten streak.� The score was the same, but St. Lawrence looked a lot cleaner in doing so.� Colgate had a large lead early but then might have gotten too confident and let in two more goals witch led to the final of 4-3.

November 27th and 28th -� at SIT Tournament vs Merrimack and Niagra
�� Colgate wins the tournament for the first time in 15 years.� Shep won a 3-0 shutout against Merrimack.� From what I hear the team did not play so well but still managed to win on the road.� The next night they faced Niagra, a ranked team that had beaten Cornell to get to the finals.� Colgate won 3-2.

December 3rd - At Yale
� Colgate once again let down their guard after a big win agianst a lower ranked opponent.� Penalties and sloppy playing cost Colgate a number of opportunities.� After a scorless first, Yale went on to score twice and held off every Red Raider attack.� Yale was highly motivated for this game and Colgate just was not.

December 4th - At Princeton
� The Raiders faced another highly motivated team, and again they lost.� This time the goaltending was Colgates weakness as both goalies saw ice time and let in a total of 5 goals.� Colgate did score once but turned in another lackluster performance.

December 10th and 11th - Ferris State
�� Colgate returned home for some tough, out of conference competition.� Several people who saw these games have called them some of the best college hockey they've seen.� The Ferris state team has some incredible shot takers, and Shep was on his guard all game.� The first night he held off Ferris state almost the entire game before finally letting on in.� The Ferris state goals made a mistake or two that made the score a lot more lopsided than it should have been.Colgate won 4-1, but the score was no indication of how close the game really was.� The next night was another classic game.� Ferris State took the lead and Coglate could not crack them.� The crowd was not nearly as large or into it due to finals being next weak, which might have cost Colgate some of its home ice advantage.� The third period saw a Colgate comeback and come within one goal of catching up to the Bulldogs.� The fans who were at the arena were on teh edge of their seat all the way to the final buzzer.� Coglate did not catch up though and lost 3-2.� This ended a home game unbeaten streak that was about a year long.

Mid Season report
Here's what I think so far, and your certainly welcome to state your own opinion on the message board.� Colgate definitly has big game potential.� Unfortunalty the wins against RPI and St. Lawrence get balenced out by losses against Union and Princeton.�� The Red Raiders are currently one point behind Harvard for the lead of the ECAC.� Will the January curse once again ruin Colgates chances of winning the ECAC crown?� Colgate has a fairly light schedule over break and then returns home to face Dartmouth and the Vermont Catamounts, who are embroiled in controversy right now.� A win over both these teams in necessary.� Colgate will be on home ice, but without a lot of thier fans as it is the weekend before classes start.� After that Colgate will face ECAC arch rival Cornell.� If Colgate can win both of these games then they should be able to do anything.� I personally am dying to see a win at Cornells Lynah rink.� After Colgate plays Army on Jan 14th they will not be playing another non conference team until the NCAA's if they make it.� The team has been ranked as high as 6th in the nation and is currently at number 10.� This could be a very exciting finish so pay atterntion!

December 30th- MercyHurst
Mercyhurst gets a little taste of Division 1 hockey.� Colgate scores twice in the first 5 minutes and again in the second period.� Shep Harder was flawless in goal and tied a regular season record with his third shutout.� Colgate wins at home, 3-0.

January 7th - At Ohio State
Let me give you the recap by the numbers here.� Colgate is a great hockey team, thats one point for us.� Colgate does not like to win on the road, Colgate does not like to win in the month of January.� Colgate has a problem beating teams lower ranked then them.� Thats three points against us.� See what the final score is here?� Colgate struck first of the stick of Cory Murphy but could not keep any sort of momentum going throughout the game.� For those of you who like excuses they were playing in an amazing arena packed with over 7000 fans.� And also the refs seemed to be a bit biased.� 3-1 Ohio.

January 15th - At Army
Colgate scored early and often in the first period and looked very good.� They were up 3-0 at the first break.� The second period saw a small change of fortune for the team.�� Colgate scored very early in the period but the refs seemed to have a change fo heart.� After calling just one penalty in the first they would go on to call an additional 13 in the rest of the game, most being on Colgate.� Colgate started Jason Lefevre in net and looked decent, giving up only two goals, both on power plays.� Unfortunatly, he only saw 12 shots so this will keep his save percentage below 85%.� Colgate looked like they lost part of thier edge when they had the early lead and were only able to put away Army 5-2 after a late game empty netter.� 3 is still the largest margin of victory for the team.� But they won on the road, in January, against a weaker team!� Now they will go on to face the rest of the ECAC for the rest of their season!

January 22nd - Dartmouth
Colgate looked very good the first two periods.� The defense was tight and did not allow Dartmouth to get off many good shots.� Two Red Raiders scored their first goal of the season to give CU a 2-0 lead going into the third.� Colgate responded slowely on two loose pucks in front of thier own net and saw the scoerd get tied.� With 8 minutes left Andy MacDonald scored a beautiful goal to put Colgate up.� Less than a minute later another nice looking Colgate goal, less than a minute after that colgate dened the top of the net with a 3rd goal within 3 minutes.� Colgate goes on to win 5-2.� This was also the closest I've seen to a game with a real fight this year.� Colgate played one of the most complete games I've seen them play so far and did not show any real weaknesses.

January 28th - Cornell
What a series! Colgate got on the board early when Sean Nolan and Erkki Rajamaki each scored in the first 10 minutes.� Colgate would then relax a bit and Cornell took over on offense for a while but just could not beat Shep Harder.� As we have seen many times in the past, Shep was able to frustrate the other teams offense who were taking quality shots, but then they got frustrated and lost some focus.� Cornell would give up another goal and took out thier starting goalie and put in one who hadn't played yet, but did surprisingly well.� Colgate did get one past him in the 3rd.� Cornell then abandoned thier normal game plan and began to playa� lot rougher.� There was an especially vicious hit on Sean Nolan that sent him head first into the boards, not smart,� a 5 minute major was called.� Shep only begame more focused and would go on to get a 4-0 shut out win.� Not only was this Colgates biggest win this season, but it was also a milestone for Harder, who broke a school record for shutouts in a season.

January 29th - At Cornell
This home and home weekend ended at the always intimidating Lynah rink.� Colgate took just 4 shots in the first period.� One did get by the line though and Colgate took a 1-0 lead.� The second period was almost all Cornell.� Shep was in net again and made some amazing saves.� He also let two past him to give the bears a brief lead.� Colgate scored early in the third and the teams were deadlocked for a time.� Shep continued to make great saves in net which prompted Cornell to make another mistake.� They started getting too physical with Shep, wich always seems to make him play even better.� Andy McDonald would score the go ahead goal with about 4 minutes left.� Colgate added another almost immediatly which took Cornell out of the game.� That's when the inevitable happened. Shep got hit one too many times and a brawl broke out. * At one point Shep was taken out of the fight, but he went headlong right back in there to mix it up some more.� As he was being taken off the ice he raised a skate behind him and waved to the Cornell fans, he had done his job, Colgate sweeps the big red for the first time in 5 years after a 4-2 win.

* We got this footage from www.hockey.cornell.edu

February 4th - At Brown
Colgate had to be patient for this one.� The first goal in this one was scored by Sean� Nolan on the power play in the third period.� Brown tied it up but Chad MacDonald reclaimed the lead for the Red Raiders.� Andy McDonald would add an empty netter before time expired.� Jason Lefevre had a great night in net, stopping 23 out of 24 shots.� Colgate won 3-1.

February 5th - At Harvard
Colgate seemed to be a little slow, especially in our own zone.� Harvard scored first but Colgate did not back down.� Sean Nolan evened things up with a power play goal early in the second.� Colgate had good offensive pressure but Harvard kept making good use of the chances they got.� Colgate took the lead but gave it up twice.� Cory Murphy had a very nice goal.� After a great begining to the third period Colgate would score no more.� The game went to OT, where it ended in a 4-4 tie.

February 11th - At St. Lawrence
CU skated into this one without Sean Nolan, Andy McDonald, and a whole bunch of our defensemen.� Not good against the best team in the league.� SLU scored early on a power play and Colgate found themselves on defense most of the game.� Colgate ammased a good amount of shots but had no one there to chip in the rebounds they were getting.� Both teams played a very mistake free game, only 4 penalties a piece.� Darryl Campbell scored Colgates only goal in the second.� Shep made a lot of good saves in net but it was not enough as Colgate losses 5-1.

February 12th - At Clarkson
The Golden Knights have been struggling this year, but are still a capable opponent, especially at Cheel Arena in the north country.� Colgate and Clarkson both scored in the first on a power play.�� Colgate scored again before the end of the period.� The second was controled by the Knights, who tied up the score.� The game continued to be tied until Andy McDonald connected with Kevin Johns on a pass that led to a no angle shot...that went in with about 7 minutes left in the game.� Clarkson would not go quietly and turned it up even more, forcing Shep to make some great saves.� One empty netter later, and Colgate wins 4-2.

February 18th - RPI
Many people considered this the battle for second place in the ECAC.�� It was also billed as a battle of the goalies, Hobey Baker canidate Joel Laing against our own, Shep Harder.� Lots of action in the first,� Morin finally scored on a power play with about a minute left to send RPI, frustrated, back to the locker room.� RPI was unfocused at the start of second and Colgate would enjoy some 5 on 3 hockey.� Bryon Long was the one to finally put the puck in the net.� Campbell scored soon after that.� Colgate's luck would change when RPI scored 6 seconds into a power play, then again on an almost identical shot about a minute later.�� Colgate wouldn't increase the lead again until after both teams traded goals early in the 3rd when Andy McDonald put the puck in the net.� RPI's Offense didn't fare so well in the third. They scored with 2 seconds left in the game after pulling a tiring Laing.� Colgate wins 5-4.

February 19th - Union
Remember when we lost to them 8-6 earlier in the season?� Time for some sweet revenge!� Colgate just scored twice in the 1st, but had a lot of missed passes on some good set ups.�� Colgate also scored the first three goals in the second period before Union broke the shutout.� Colgate just dominated, scoring agian and again and again.� Yet Unions goalie looked very surprised and pissed off when he was pulled.� Shep also got pulled, but that was just to give Jason some time in net.� Penalties just killed Union, who gave Colgate 9 power plays.� Scoring leaders for Colgate were Darryl Campbell, with two goals, Sean Nolan, two goals and an assist and Andy McDonald, also two goals and an assist.� Colgate wins 9-3, it was the most goals we've scored this season and the largest margin of victory.

February 25th- At Dartmouth
Colgate's only game this weekend due to the Vermont situation.�� A bit of a slow start for Colgate, who trailed twice in the first period.� Like the first game, Colgate remained level headed and even added an offensive flurry to close the second.� Colgate scored 3 times in about 2 minutes.�� Darryl Campbell led the scoring with 2 goals and Andy McDonald made 3 big assists.� Shep buckeled down in net after letting in a soft goal at the end of the first.� Looks like Colgate has found thier killer instinct!� 6-2 Colgate.

March 3rd- Princeton
Princeton was ready to put up one last fight as they tried to get into position for the post season.�� Cory Murphy and Andy McDonald both scored on a� powerplay and had an assist each.�� Shep let in two off 33 shots and the game went to overtime.� And there it ended, 2-2.� Perhaps a little wake up call for Colgate?� The tie ensured that Colgate would finish second in the regular season.

March 4th- Yale
Colgate was looking to get back on track.�� This was a very rough game.� Take into consideration that if Colgate wins then they will be facing Yale next weekend at home in a best of 3 series.� Think there was some stradgey going on in this game?� Colgate dominated.� Three power play goals, lots of pressure.� Scoring two goals for Colgate were Bryan Long and Andy McDonald.� Give Sean Nolan and Etienne Morin two assists each.� Shep let in one at the start of the second.� He made 17 saves before Jason Lefevre was put in for the final 14 minutes. Jason stopped all 5 shots he faced.� Perhaps we will see him in one of the games next weekend.� Another blowout for Colgate 7-1.

March 10th - Yale
ECAC Championships, first round
This certainly was not the Yale team we saw last weekend.� Colgate's game failed to click early on.� The passes and shots were not there.� Towards the middle of the second Colgate was looking at a 3-0 deficit.� Campbell and McDonald would tally two power play goals for Colgate to get back in the game.� Yal added a PP goal of thier own early in the third.�� It was time for Colgate to buckle down and take the game back into thier hands.�� Sean Nolan would be the go to guy.� He scored a few minutes in, and then again on a power play ten minutes later.� The third period ended in a a tie.� Colgate kept the momentum as the ice was resurfaced.� 53 seconds into OT Nolan was fed an up ice pass, which he slipped into the net for a natural hat trick and the game. 5-4 Colgate

March 11th - Yale
ECAC Championships, first round
Colgate would not get off to a slow start this time.� Campbell scored early to maintain the momentum from last night.� Murphy had the next goal of the night, it was also Chad MacDonalds second assist.� Yale scored a weird power play goal when there was a pile in front of the net and a Yale player found the puck first.�� Yale then scored again on a wrap around.� The game moved on until about 7 minutes left in the third when Andy McDonald scored his first of the night.�� Shep did look good in net all night.� McDonald raced ahead to get an empty netter as the game was ending.� Colgate moves on to Lake Placid to face RPI. 4-2 Colgate.

March 17th-� RPI
Lake Placid NY, Semi Finals
RPI looked like they were playing better all first.� Colgate got off 5 shots, Chad MacDonald putting one in near the end of the period.�� Colgate held off the RPI attck for about 7 minutes of the 2nd until RPI scored on the power play.�� Then again about 2 minutes later.� Colgate stayed with the game, but was not controling it.� For Colgate, there just wasn't any flow on offense and the transition from defense to offense seemed to be giving the team problems.� RPI scored with about a minute left to end Colgates ECAC hopes, 3-1.

March 18th- Cornell
Lake Placid, consolation game
The big red went into this game with 73 more minutes played than Colgate and they opted to play lots of thier freshman.� Colgate was more than happy to help them end their season and beat them for the third time in one year.� Sean Nolan scored the first goal on a� power play 15 minutes in.� McDonald put one in about a minute later.� Shep only faced three shots.� The second saw another fight almost break out, and another goal by Nolan.� Darryl Campbell outmanuvered the Cornell goalie to score in the third.� That was about it,� Shep shuts out Cornell with a score of 4-0 for the second time this year.� Colgate recieves a bid to play in the NCAA tournament.

March 25th- Michigan
At Albany, regional NCAA first round game
Colgate advances to the NCAA's for the first time in 10 years .� A large fan base was on hand in Albany to provide Colgate with some home ice advantage.� Colgate got off to a very slow start.� Michigan scored twice in the first and the game was not going well.� Michigan scored a second power play goal early in the second.�� Colgate was playing a lot tougher though, and a comeback was in order.� Andy McDonald put the puck in on a powerplay and soon Darryl Campbell added a power play tally.� The game winded down and Colgate was obviously in� control, barely missing the net on several occasions, while Shep really turned it on in the third to keep the team one goal back.�� When all seemed lost, Campbell scored his second goal of the night with jsut 48 seconds left.� This game was going to overtime.� Colgate's aggresive game had worn down Michigan and Colgate had better conditioning and the momentum.� About 6 minutes in, Mike O'Mally slipped the puck in the side of the net to turn the light on.� Only one problem, the puck slid in between the goallies skate and the post after a struggle in front of the net.� In short, the ref lost sight of the puck because it was hidden in the net from his angle.�� He blew the whistle and waved off the goal.� Replays will show the puck over the line and before the ref blew the whistle.� Still, he refused to consult the goal judge or allow for a replay.� Colgate continued to have the the momentum though.� Michigan was not done yet though.��� They made a break for the net, a slapshot got deflected, and Colgates season ended.�� The crowd was silenced in disbelief for a couple of seconds before they started chanting for Colgate again to cheer the team off the ice in appreciation of a great season.

Season review
Colgate had a wild ride this year.� They were led by a great group of seniors and strong suporting cast.� Early in the season, Colgate split with Colorado College, at that point in the season, that was a huge win for us, and Colgate threatened to break into the top ten.� The ECAC season began with aunfortunate loss to Union, then a victory over RPI at home, it was a sign of things to come and the begining of a wild ride for the ECAC.� Colgate then ammased a nice wining streak, beating Harvard, Brown, Clarkson and SLU.� Colgate then captured its first Syracuse Invintational Tournament crown in a long time by beating Merrimack and Niagra.� The streak could not last when Colgate resumed ECAC competition.� Two big losses to Yale and Princeton pushed Colgate down in the standings.� Colgate split with Ferris State, the loss was Colgates only home loss all year.� Colgate entered winter break, which is the time the team usually starts to lose games.� Thinks did not look good after CU got beaten pretty badly by an unranked Ohio State.� That was it for the January curse though, after that Colgate would beat Army at West Point.� There was concern� for how Colgate would play after having a lot of time off, but CU played like champions against Dartmouth, holding the lead, losing it, then piling on three in three minutes.� After thatit was time to tangle with Cornell.� Colgate would sweep the series for the first time in 5 years, but a Cornell instigated brawl would cost Colgate several players in the games to come.�� Don't look now, but Colgate is near the top of the ECAC and is pushing its way back into the top ten.� After a rather lackluster series with Harvard and Brown that resulted in a win and a tie, Colgate invaded the north country in an important series.� Unfortunatly, without several top players, Colgate was no match for SLU.� CU would win a� very close game at Clarkson the next night to prove Colgate was still a top team.� Colgate finished the regular season strong, but it wou not be enough to top SLU, Colgate finished second overall.� The first round of the playoffs brought Yale back to Starr rink.� Colgate woke up in time to win teh first game in OT and got a hard fought win the next night to move onto Lake Placid.�� RPI was the opponent, and they were ready,� a mistake free game gave them the win and ended Colgates ECAC title hopes.� After shuting out Cornell again in the consolation game, the Red Raiders awaited the NCAA tournament selections.� Based upon Colgates performance all year, Colgate was given the number 4 seed in the eastern bracket.� Michigans the opponent and CU suffed an OT loss after a hard fought struggle.� Even in defeat, Colgate earned a lot of respect from the entire College hockey community.� It was a great season, and the Colgate team and fans have a lot to be proud of.

Senior forward Andy McDonald netted his 10th goal and 18th assist against Dartmouth Saturday night, strengthening his case as a Hobey Baker candidate.

Senior goalie Shep Harder turned aside 68 of 70 shots in a 2 game sweep of the Cornell Big Red.� He set a Colgate record by picking up his 4th shutout of the season Friday night, and then led Colgate to their first win at Lynah rink in 5 years on Saturday night.� Shep stunned the "Big Red Faithful" crowd, and was simply unbeatable despite taking many hard hits from a rough Cornell team.

Cornell goalie Matt Underhill dreds another encounter with theRed Raiders.� Colgate would score 4 goals in each of the 3 games against the big red this season.

A new tradition was started as me and Mike ran the Colgate flag around the rink after a goal.� The fan support for this was incredible and it really brought the Colgate fans together.

Back to the MAIN page