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Colgate 2009-2010

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Re: Colgate 2009-2010

I would definitely take a split right now; Harvard's not bad and Dartmouth really has nothing to lose at this stage of the season. The key is to finish #5 or #6 (assuming that Yale and Cornell finish 1-2 or 2-1) since I continue to believe they're the two best teams in the ECAC.
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

For the 3rd time in the last 4 games, we gave up 6 goals :(

But for the 2nd time in the last 3 games, we scored 6 :D

Will take the point considering that (A) it's on the road and (B) we battled back from 4-1 and 6-4 deficits. Our tie coupled with Princeton's loss guarantees us at least a 9th place finish. We clinch playoff home ice with ONE of the following outcomes in the next 3 games: a win, a tie, a Brown loss, or a Brown tie. Wonder if Bessette will get start tomorrow? He started the game @ Harvard last year, but we lost 3-2. Something's wrong with Evin, as he's been yanked 2 games in a row. And Long has had limited playing time since January, so I doubt we'll see him get the nod.

I'll be at tomorrow's game. Hoping for a good result to keep us in the hunt for a bye ...
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Uh-oh. Looks like giving the Big Green a point hurt our chances for a bye somewhat. Winning out with SLU not winning out will get us the bye, but even 5 pts out of 6 will probably keep us out of a top-4 finish. Brown plays SLU tomorrow ... who to root for? Saints hold the tiebreaker over us but if they don't lose to the Bears, they give us a top-8 finish.
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Not thrilled with the defense, especially in the early going. Happy with the grit the team showed, continuously coming back as they did. Not facing a team as good as Cornell or Yale certainly helped, but given what they were facing, Colgate did a great job of not giving in

Evin certainly does not seem to be right, and I think Bessette will get that start. As Rainman mentioned, we haven't seen Long for a while, and he's not even the backup now. Is something going on there?

Given our inconsistency this season, it's hard to feel terribly confident going into Harvard, but we've beaten them already, and we've done much better against teams below us in the standings. I'd like to say I'm not concerning myself with SLU, but when push comes to shove, I'd rather they go down to Brown. At this point, clinching the Top 8 should be all but taken care of. If it doesn't happen, Colgate will have no one to blame but themselves
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Glad the guys showed some grit and salvaged a tie. Of course, a penalty in the waning minutes is Colgate through and through.

Always the same this time of year - everyone worrying about who needs to win or lose to help boost Colgate. It never bodes well that way. We've had our chances, played musical goalies all year...our inconsistent offense may be our secret weapon, lol.

Not looking forward to Union/RPI. Union's record at Starr may have little consolation on paper. Thankfully, we beat RPI early in the season but they're a completely different team now with the nation's leading scorer and a lot to lose.

Never liked those *%&#! tiebreakers!

Go 'Gate...Beat Harvard
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

TchrBill said:
Glad the guys showed some grit and salvaged a tie. Of course, a penalty in the waning minutes is Colgate through and through.
Go 'Gate...Beat Harvard
Click to expand...

According to the Gate Radio during the broadcast, the late Penalty took away a clear open shot on net, and likely preserved the Tie.
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Don't forget RPI...they lose to Cornell and we beat them next weekend we own the tiebreaker even in a tie situation. Still many possibilities ! Be nice if SLU Loses tonight .
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Rainman said:
For the 3rd time in the last 4 games, we gave up 6 goals :(

But for the 2nd time in the last 3 games, we scored 6 :D
Click to expand...
Rainman's comment about giving up 6 goals in 3 of the last 4 games says it all for me. There is no way we're going to go far without a goalie that's on his game. I don't think Long or Bessette or Evin is the answer....:confused:
Don't know what to do frankly.

I'm not optimistic that our 6-goal offense is going to make up for the sins of the goaltending this time of year.. Forget about the other teams and where we are in the final standings; our work between the pipes just isn't going to cut it.

Gotta give props to the team for coming back last night, but is this an abberation? At this point I'm more inclined to think our failures in net are going to outdo our offensive firepower. A tie at Harvard may be what we should wish for..
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

ColSkate65 said:
Gotta give props to the team for coming back last night, but is this an abberation? At this point I'm more inclined to think our failures in net are going to outdo our offensive firepower. A tie at Harvard may be what we should wish for..
Click to expand...

I think some of it is related to the fact that our other two 6-goal-allowed games involved Yale and Cornell, 2 of the ECAC's best. Dartmouth is definitely not on that level, and teams below those two we can exploit offensively to some degree

You're certainly right that the whole defense has to improve. Not to absolve Evin, but his defensemen need to help as well. Defense is a team effort, and giving up 6 goals is a mark on the records of both goaltender and defensemen
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Doghok is correct - I was in section 3 last night and had a perfect view of the play - without the slash, the Dartmouth player would have had what amounted to a penalty shot. I was a bit surprised there wasn't a matching penalty called on the play as the Dartmouth player continued to skate with the broken stick for too long and the refs had ignored a trip of a Colgate player on nearly as dangerous a play just a minute earlier.

Strange game overall. For the first 12-14 minutes we were beyond horrible. We were inept. Standing around, bunching like a pee-wee team, blown assignments, passes across the middle in our defensive zone - every hockey sin known to man - we committed numerous times. It looked like the team simply forgot to get off the bus - no passion - no nothing. The remainder of the game we simply dominated. We won the battles in the corner, we won the footraces, we got sticks in passing lanes and we made pretty plays (though there was a bit too much with the fancy stick work and not enough with the dump and chase given we were winning the board battles for the most part). While the quality of play was night and day - I didn't sense a heck of a lot more passion. It came across as simply a better team exerting itself in a workman-like way to beat its opponent (not saying Gate was definitely a better team overall, just for the last 45 minutes). At one point mid 3rd period I remember thinking I was glad Cox put a good hit on a Dartmouth player because if you are only going to have one hit in a game, it better be good. That changed after his hit and it made a big difference. We have some size, we need to use it with some malice. For much of the game, the Dartmouth players could skate fearlessly in our offensive zone because there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

Evin didn't look horrible and at least one of the goals was on the defense, but he probably should have had the first. Didn't really see how the second went in but it looked more sub-standard defensive/goalie play than great offensive play. Bessette wasn't tested too much but had a pretty kick save early on to keep things within reach and some nice glove-work later on.

The reffing was mostly out of the way and both teams played fairly clean. That said, Colgate was on the short side of the ledger with several Dartmouth hits from behind ignored and a ticky-tacky high sticking call. In my opinion, the tripping call on Larkin was bad but probably the result of positioning - from the front it was clear he had established position and made a good play - from the back (and the Ref was well back) it may have appeared differently. Was a good play regardless as otherwise it was a clean break-away on the tender.

Not knowing anything besides what I saw in the @ Brown and @ Dartmouth games and what I read at USCHO, I do wonder if there isn't some sort of locker room problem. There was considerably less "jump" in the play when we were playing well last night than there was earlier in the year. And the abomination that was the first 12-14 last night was unreal.

Final observation: Price of Jr. admission ticket - $5 - observations of a certain nearly 5 year old seat-mate - Priceless. (to whit - "I will be sad if the red team doesn't have more at the end than the white team"; "Next year I want the red to to have like a hundred more than the white team"; "I am already thinking about next year's game"; and "Can we PLEASE go to tomorrow night's game too?" - That.Is.My.Boy!)
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Gate takes 3 of 4 points on the road, and is now tied for 4th place with 2 big games on seniors weekend to go. Like I stated earlier, if we win both we earn a bye, as RPI lost 7-0. SLU tied Brown in O.T.
Not bad with 17 underclassmen.
Here's hoping.
I guess all you naysayers are crossing your fingers.
Shabby, makes for a great final weekend. Hope you'll be there to watch.
 
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Re: Colgate 2009-2010

The tie at Dartmouth's looking better and better, isn't it? We all now how huge one lousy point can be in the standings.

RPI's just as up and down as we are. They beat Yale twice this year but get killed tonight by Princeton in their freakout game before a huge crowd. But they're very dangerous with Polacek, Damigo and Pirri.

We got some help from Brown tonight as they scored with under a minute to go for the tie with SLU. So now we control our destiny going into the final weekend, which is all we could have asked for. Now comes the tought part - actually winning these next 2 games. Friday night vs RPI should a great game with so much at stake for both teams. If we don't come out strong in that game then we never will.
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Magoo said:
The tie at Dartmouth's looking better and better, isn't it?
Click to expand...

So is the OT loss to SLU :rolleyes:

Was at the Harvard game tonight. Great game, great crowd, great turnout of Colgate supporters. We were all sitting behind the Colgate bench (including my Dad and I).

Both teams did look a bit flat in the 1st period, as if they were trying to get a feel for each other. But once we went on our 1st power play, we started to get our acts together. Even though we didn't score on the PP, Austin Smith found the back of the net not long after to give us the 1-0 lead. Fortunately, we didn't experience any letdown after the goal, and went into the intermission with the lead.

2nd period: for some reason, Harvard decided to change goalies and put in Kyle Richter. Huh??? Were they trying to give us fits? Not really, as we didn't play sloppy to start the period. But we had a stoppage of play about 3 min. in due to one of the linesman getting injured. :eek: Fortunately, he was able to be helped up (and he came back in the 3rd period), though it gave us only 3 zebras for the rest of the 2nd. But that stoppage allowed us to catch our breaths and make a play or two, as thankfully Brian Day lit the lamp for his 20th goal of the season not long after. But then Harvard got on the scoreboard on a mini-breakaway. We didn't pack it in after that, as we had a few more scoring chances (Day and Smith each had mini-breakaways, but tried to feed someone streaking down the center only to find nobody there), but ...

Around 5 min. left in the 2nd we started playing sloppy. Most of the time in our defensive zone, a few bad neutral zone turnovers, and giving Harvard some scoring chances. But thankfully we held up and went into the 2nd intermission up 2-1.

Now for the 3rd period: we started out strong, especially since Harvard had a fresh-ice power-play, and killing the penalty gave us some momentum. But then we iced the puck. Then got called for icing again. Icing a 3rd time. Then a 4th time. I was getting angry. I thought Harvard would score there because we were stuck with the same fatigued players with a defensive zone faceoff. But finally we got the puck over the center line and could get a change. And not long after, Jason Williams scored on a offensive zone turnover by Harvard. Things were looking good. Until Jeremy Price went to the box. It unfortunately lead to a Harvard PP goal, and I knew this game was far from over.

The minutes were ticking down and eventually Harvard pulled Richter for a 6-on-5. Two defensive zone faceoffs in the final minute had me on my heels. But then Ethan Cox punched in the empty-netter sealing the victory for us, and a 3-pt weekend on the road :D

And thankfully Alex Evin and the defensemen have finally redeemed themselves!!!! Our win, along with SLU's tie over Brown and RPI's loss over Princeton means we control our own destiny for 4th place!!!!! We can finish between 4th and 7th, and at least 1 pt next weekend gives us at least a 6th place finish. If we finish 5th, we play Clarkson. Finishing 5th or 6th also means we don't have to play at Yale or Cornell in the 2nd round. So at least 1 point next weekend is HUGE.

Oh, I've been told that Brian Sullivan (ECACHL Writer) was in attendance at tonight's game, and was frustrated that Harvard lost ... keep it up 'Gate!
 
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Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Good recap, Rainman. An alternate ref replaced the one who got hurt.

Evin made some great saves. Thought he looked good. Harvard always competes, though they lack some size and skill this year.
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

" Just win at home " Next weekend will be fun..as will all this week. Our next 4-5 games are home...no matter what ! What a crazy year....
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Now that we are so close, Its time to close down the lanes in our own zone, and play great team defense. The best defensive teams go deep into the playoffs, and if Evin remains consistent, which he is showing flashes of, then offensively we can compete with any team.
Our offense is being spread around, which takes pressure off the go-to guys throughout each game.
The Cox, Williams and Firman line is now chipping in fairly regularly, and that leaves Corrin,Carty and Bartliff to take the body and slow down the opposition from gaining momentum.
I believe that any one of our top two lines can out perform RPI and Unions best, so defense will be a premium.
Lets stay calm, and play smart, and we should see our first bye in a while. I like the fact that we are underdogs, but our young players are showing maturity and poise on a more consistent basis. This is a good recipe for positive results, especially this time of the season.
 
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Re: Colgate 2009-2010

listened to the first part of the game, then had to go socializing (even a shut-on like yours truly needs some social contact)...then came home and finally read the recap on USCHO.com by Jennie Sullivan; frankly, I thought the analysis was quite one-sided, as if Harvard had outshot us by a wide margin and controlled play for most of the game. Perhaps Jennie Sullivan (and I'm just spiffballing here) is related to our friend, Brian Sullivan. In any event, we've got a few things falling in place and apparently Don still has a lot of confidence in Evin (3 of 4 goals against Evin early in Dartmouth game were not his fault). Evin will have to be very solid next weekend, but I'm hoping against hope that the home support is better than the norm. I've been critical of our inability to compete against good teams, but the kids compete and compete hard (they easily could've mailed it in against Dartmouth on Friday). It's also true that the third line (Cox line) has chipped in quite nicely recently and defensively they are solid (Cox and Williams are both definite PLUS players this year). Fourth would be fantastic, but #5 or #6 would be OK (we could lose two next weekend and Quinnipiac would essentially have to beat Yale for us to finish below #6). Crazy year isn't it?
 
Re: Colgate 2009-2010

Fortune smiles upon the 'Gate, and we control our own destiny, which is really all you can ask for headed into the last weekend. From the radio, it sounded like a heck of a game, and Evin made a couple of really nice saves. First sweep of Harvard since 2004-05. Two winnable games this weekend, though given our respective positions in the conference, this is easily the biggest ECAC weekend set of the season (#3-Union/#5-RPI at #2-Cornell/#4-Colgate). As much as I predicted coming up short of the bye for most of the year, the opportunity exists and we must sieze it. Games like this weekend's will show how good this team really can be

If you look at the season so far, we're fairly predictable. Sweeps (either for or against) against 7 of our opponents, plus the ties with Dartmouth (3 of 4 pts. on the season) and Yale (1 of 4). With this as our guide, clearly a split with a win over RPI and loss to Union is at hand for the weekend. I'll be watching the RPI game with the Colgate Club of Dallas on Friday, so have fun continuing to update without me :D
 
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