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Colgate 2024-25 Harder Hockey

College_Hockey_Fan said:
Tough post seasons for men and women. Losing puck battles, not connecting passes, untimely penalties and not capitalizing on PP's ...made for frustrating hockey to watch. We've been better prepared with answers and playoff mentality in the past. But now I'm looking to gather some optimism going into the off-season. Cornell graduating 10 skaters is a start. Anyone have a lead on where I can read more about next year's incoming talent? Hopeful for the men to keep at .500 hockey with our Route 20 rivals.
Click to expand...
CHN shows our recruits under roster. Think the other site I use is College commitments, I'll find it for you.
 
Not gonna lie - this hurts. This REALLY HURTS! :mad:

2 years ago, Mike Harder became head coach of Colgate men’s ice hockey. In his 2 seasons as head coach, we’ve had 2 winning regular seasons. Each season we notched 13 league wins and a top-4 finish, avoiding the first round single elimination game.

But we’re 0-4 in playoff games. Repeat. 0 and 4.

Last season you could have argued “Hey - it happens. This league is competitive from top to bottom.” But 2 seasons in a row of getting the bye then getting upset in the quarterfinal round at home (AND getting swept at home both times) is a cause for concern.

We were 8-0 at home in January and February of 2024 before the season came to a crashing halt. We were 10-3-2 at home in the entire regular season this year and crash landed again. Since the ECAC went to a 12-team format in 2003, I don't think there has ever been a team that got a 1st round bye 2 years in a row and got swept at home both times, let alone failed to reach the semifinals both times.

I do hope next season we get more out-of-conference home games. This past season we only played 4 non-conference home games to 8 non-conference road games.
 
You guys ran in us at our peak; just bad, bad timing.

Harder will have Gate a perennial bye and title contender. Love the guy as a player and deeply respect him as a coach. Y'all are gonna be fine.
 
Last year was much more disappointing for me in that I thought we could go to LP and win it again. And we were playing really well at home going into the playoffs. But we forgot how to put the puck in the net and SLU didn’t. This year Cornell was better than us - plain and simple. Bottom line - we haven’t been able yet to replace the offense the Young brothers provided.
 
Like for other 'Gate fans, it was a disappointing weekend for me. Cornell earned the wins.

I come away from the season impressed with the performance of the 'Gate skaters and coaches. Given the number of losses to the transfer portal, I had low expectations. The season was frustrating at times, but who can forget the wonderful January and February (very cold and snowy outside, but warm and joyous within the arena). I enjoyed the up-tempo games.

Looking back to the beginning of the season (see the ECAC pick the standings thread), many of us were predicting Colgate would end the season near the middle of the pack. (And many correctly picked the Lake Placid participants in their top four.) I see the season as a positive overall, exceeding my expectations. Of course there is room for improvement. Already looking forward to next year!

The same six teams ended up at the top of the standings the last two years.
 
Pretty much as I feared. An underachieving Cornell team now healthy playing classic Cornell Hockey. And playing for Coach Schaefer. Congrats to seniors. All good comments above BTW. Disappointing to lose two QF series at home but overall a decent though frustrating season.
 
Kepler said:
You guys ran in us at our peak; just bad, bad timing.

Harder will have Gate a perennial bye and title contender. Love the guy as a player and deeply respect him as a coach. Y'all are gonna be fine.
Click to expand...
Thanks Kepler, over the years you've always been fair and articulate. Good luck in Placid !
 
Here’s an interesting thought exercise as I think someone recently brought up the Spink twins era.

Query:
Without looking, which offenses were more prolific? The Harder teams of the past two years or the Spink teams of about a decade ago?
 
Marmot said:
Here’s an interesting thought exercise as I think someone recently brought up the Spink twins era.

Query:
Without looking, which offenses were more prolific? The Harder teams of the past two years or the Spink teams of about a decade ago?
Click to expand...

Just so we are comparing apples to apples…
you are asking about 2012-16 vs. 2023-25,
right?
 
Marmot said:
Here’s an interesting thought exercise as I think someone recently brought up the Spink twins era.

Query:
Without looking, which offenses were more prolific? The Harder teams of the past two years or the Spink teams of about a decade ago?
Click to expand...
Spinks by far.
 
Marmot said:
Here’s an interesting thought exercise as I think someone recently brought up the Spink twins era.

Query:
Without looking, which offenses were more prolific? The Harder teams of the past two years or the Spink teams of about a decade ago?
Click to expand...
This isn't quite an apples-to-apples comparison. We've had 4 seasons of the Spink twins vs. 2 seasons of Harder hockey so far.

The graduating class of 2016 as a whole was talented, which in addition to the Spinks, also included Kyle Baun, Mike Borkowski, and Darcy Murphy. Sadly, their senior season we got "caught with our pants down" after both Baun and Ryan Johnston left school early to play professionally. Baun we had a feeling would leave early, but Johnston left in I think July or August of the offseason, really putting us in a roster pinch.

In the two Harder seasons, we've had a "goal scoring by committee" approach which has worked well. I'd wait to see how the next 2 seasons pan out before deciding which "era" has the more prolific offense.
 
Marmot said:
College Hockey Fan,

If you scroll to the bottom of the roster, you can see the list of recruits for the next few seasons:

Colgate roster

I am very curious to see how Tyson Doucette is as he is our first major junior recruit under the new rules (Sarnia Sting). I also believe Scott Niedermayer’s kid is coming here next year. He played for Arizona State for one year and then went back to juniors. But I am not sure where I saw it and cannot state it definitively. To get more info on any of them, just type their name and hockey and search. Usually you will land on the Elite Prospects page which will have their bio and stats.

Thoughts on season when I have a little more distance.
Click to expand...
Niedermayer's player page in Dubuque lists Colgate as his next stop.

Josh Niedermayer - 2024-25 - Men's Ice Hockey - Dubuque Fighting Saints

Josh Niedermayer (24) Defense - Before Joining Saints: Niedermayer skated in 19 games for the Arizona State Sun Devils in 2023-24, recording 4 assists for ASU.
dubuquefightingsaints.com dubuquefightingsaints.com
 
So, for no reason other than the season being over and no games to analyze, I took a deep dive into the last 10+ seasons or so to look at some numbers. I broke it up into the four years of the Spink twins (12-13 through 15-16), the last six years of the Vaughan era (16-17 through 22-23 not including the COVID truncated year) and the first two years of the Harder regime.

Spinks Era

12-13 36 GP 109 GF 102 GA

13-14 39 GP 108 GF 104 GA

14-15 38 GP 102 GF 82 GA

15-16 37 GP 95 GF 132 GA

AVG 103.5 GF 105 GA

GFPG 2.77

GAPG 2.8

Overall record: 67-66-16


Post Spinks/ Pre Harder Era

16-17 37 GP 78 GF 113 GA

17-18 40 GP 88 GF 88 GA

18-19 36 GP 95 GF 111 GA

19-20 36 GP 76 GF 87 GA

21-22 40 GP 111 GF 112 GA

22-23 40 GP 113 GF 109 GA

AVG 93.5 GF 103.3. GA

2.45 GFPG

2.71 GAPG

Overall record: 66-96-27


Harder Era

23-24 36 GP 120 GF 112 GA

24-25 36 GP 114 GF 116 GA

AVG. 117 GF 114 GA

3.28 GFPG

3.17 GAPG

Overall record: 34-31-7
 
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