Icemen Ready for Red Riot

The Colgate hockey team has a problem.

It's called road trips.

The Red Raiders--Harvard's opponent at Bright Center tonight at 7:30 p.m. (WHRB, 95.3)--finished last season with an 18-11-3 record: 13-1 on home ice, 5-10-3 on the road.

The road has been a dismal place for Colgate (5-4-1 overall, 2-2-1 ECAC) this season as well. The team has posted a perfect record (5-0) in its hometown of Hamilton, N.Y. But has played pathetically (0-4-1) once it leaves town.

"Our schedule is tough; we're not back at home until January 7," Colgate Coach Terry Slater said. "Being on the road all the time is frustrating. If you make a mistake, you just can't correct it."

Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, its scheduling has not been its only problem. Or its only mistake.

It was predicted that Colgate's defense--which returns all six of last year's starters--would be one of the toughest, and most physical, in the league this season. And the blue-line corps, headed up by Mike Bishop and Scott Young, has been rough and tough.

But more than one team has blown it down.

"This year we have three lines that are all basically new," Slater said. "That's putting pressure on the defense, and the defense is just not jelling, so we're having a lot of problems."

Colgate's problems included dropping a pair of non-league contests to Northeastern and Lowell, and getting swept on its weekend jaunt to Clarkson and St. Lawrence last month.

Juniors Joel Garder (nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points) and Shawn Lillie (8-9--17) have provided some offensive firepower for the Red Raiders. Sophomore Dave Gagnon has been starting in goal in all previous ECAC games for Colgate, but don't be surprised if classmate Greg Menges (2.50 goals-against average) is between the twines tonight.

The Red Raider defense needs to solidify if it expects to hold down the Crimson scoring machine. Harvard (7-0 overall, 6-0 ECAC, 5-0 Ivy League) blasted Brown with 10 goals last Monday and is averaging six goals a game so far this season.

"It we're working hard and clicking, we're going to have our chances," Harvard Associate Coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "It's going to take a good goaltending performance to keep our scoring down."

The real Red invasion will take place Sunday, when Cornell (5-1 overall, 4-1 ECAC) takes the ice at Bright at 2 p.m. (WHRB, 95.3) for the renewal of arguably the ECAC's biggest rivalry.

"You can throw out records, because there is the rivalry there," junior forward John Murphy said. "We always take Cornell as a really big game."

Although the rituals involving live chickens and dead fish will wait until the Crimson travels to Cornell's Lynah Rink in February, there will be more than a game on the line Sunday.

Some pre-season polls picked the Big Red to finish first in the ECAC, and Cornell is not ready to let Harvard forget that fact.

Cornell suffered its lone loss to St. Lawrence three weekends ago, and doing a favor for the second-place Saints (4-0 ECAC) is the last thing it has in mind. But the third-place Big Red needs to knock off the undefeated Crimson--giving St. Lawrence control of the league--if it wants to stay within a game of the league leaders.

Cornell's attack is led by senior Rob Levasseur (8-4-12), with junior Casey Jones (3-8-11), and sophomore Trent Andison (4-6-10)--last year's ECAC Rookie of the Year--giving an additional scoring punch.

"We always try to play a total game," Cornell Coach Brian McCutcheon said. "We certainly know there are a lot of people who can score [for Harvard]. They've got everything, then add [Allen] Bourbeau and [Captain Lane] MacDonald on top of it."

Bourbeau and MacDonald have combined for more than half the Crimson's total points. MacDonald has been the big goal scorer with two hat-trick nights and a total of eight goals and six assists (14 points). But Bourbeau tops the Crimson scoring list (3-12--15).

Expect freshman Allain Roy (2.00 g.a.a, .920 save percentage) to handle goaltending duties tonight, with classmate Chuckie Hughes (3.17, .860) taking over on Sunday.