2008 Woodie Awards
Back On Top: Men's Hockey Gains Control Of ECACHL
Alex Clark
Issue date: 1/21/05 Section: Sports
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This year's brand of Colgate men's hockey has the chance to be one of the most successful in school history. With only one loss in their last 10 contests, the Raiders have dropped only five games all season. The men hit the home stretch with a flurry of conference games over the next few weeks, beginning with a pair of league match-ups at home this weekend.
When we last saw the Raiders, their most recent victims had been ECACHL opponents Princeton and Yale. Since then, Colgate racked up five victories and one exhibition win en route to its current first place standing in the league.
The Raiders' first chance to prove themselves in the new year, however, did not begin well. In a non-conference rematch with Hockey East's Northeastern at the Denver Cup, Colgate laid an egg and continued its streak of never having reached the championship game of a tournament in five years.
"It's hard to talk about the good without talking about the bad," Colgate head coach Don Vaughan said, "and that really disappointing Northeastern game is motivating us now. We went to that tournament very much expecting to win that game and play [defending NCAA champion] Denver, but we played very poorly. I didn't realize we were capable of playing that poorly."
A 5-1 loss at the claws of the Huskies left Colgate vying for third place with a struggling Air Force club. Despite two periods of scoreless hockey, the Raiders clearly regained their focus and buried the Falcons, 3-0, with a third period flurry.
"After the loss, we dominated Air Force the next night and have now put together some nice games," Vaughan said. "The puck's bouncing for us. You can't look at the game without realizing that you do have to get some of those breaks. But the harder you work, the luckier you are. So that's where our efforts have been focused."
Colgate recommenced its ECACHL schedule with important road games against Harvard and Brown on January 7 and 8. The Crimson entered the contest as hot as any team in college hockey, ranked 12th in the nation. The Raiders swept the season series with Harvard for the first time since 1998-99, however, with a 3-1 victory. They knocked off Brown the following night by the same score to take all eight points from the normally tricky travel pair.
When we last saw the Raiders, their most recent victims had been ECACHL opponents Princeton and Yale. Since then, Colgate racked up five victories and one exhibition win en route to its current first place standing in the league.
The Raiders' first chance to prove themselves in the new year, however, did not begin well. In a non-conference rematch with Hockey East's Northeastern at the Denver Cup, Colgate laid an egg and continued its streak of never having reached the championship game of a tournament in five years.
"It's hard to talk about the good without talking about the bad," Colgate head coach Don Vaughan said, "and that really disappointing Northeastern game is motivating us now. We went to that tournament very much expecting to win that game and play [defending NCAA champion] Denver, but we played very poorly. I didn't realize we were capable of playing that poorly."
A 5-1 loss at the claws of the Huskies left Colgate vying for third place with a struggling Air Force club. Despite two periods of scoreless hockey, the Raiders clearly regained their focus and buried the Falcons, 3-0, with a third period flurry.
"After the loss, we dominated Air Force the next night and have now put together some nice games," Vaughan said. "The puck's bouncing for us. You can't look at the game without realizing that you do have to get some of those breaks. But the harder you work, the luckier you are. So that's where our efforts have been focused."
Colgate recommenced its ECACHL schedule with important road games against Harvard and Brown on January 7 and 8. The Crimson entered the contest as hot as any team in college hockey, ranked 12th in the nation. The Raiders swept the season series with Harvard for the first time since 1998-99, however, with a 3-1 victory. They knocked off Brown the following night by the same score to take all eight points from the normally tricky travel pair.