Icemen Thinking Red on Road Trip

Thinking Red.

That's what the Harvard men's hockey team has been doing lately in preparation for its second-to-last road trip of the regular season this weekend.

The Crimson (16-2-2 overall, 13-1-2 ECAC) faces off against Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., tonight and makes the short trip to Hamilton, N.Y., the next night to do battle against Colgate.

Neither the Big Red (5-14-1 overall, 4-11-1 ECAC) nor the Red Raiders (8-13-3 overall, 6-10-0 ECAC) come close to matching up to Harvard in terms of speed, skill, and offensive power. The Crimson should notch two victories with little difficulty.

(Of course, last weekend's match against Princeton was supposed to be a piece of cake too, and Harvard barely escaped Bright Hockey Center with a tie. Sometimes cake doesn't go down to well.)

Against the Tigers, the Crimson suffered from a lack of intensity which allowed an inferior Princeton team to keep the game close and actually threaten to pull off a major upset.

"We didn't start working until the third period [against Princeton]," sophomore Cory Gustafson said. "We were just sitting back and letting things happen, instead of making them happen."

If the passive play returns to haunt Harvard, the Crimson could find itself staring at the upset ghost again.

Red Raiding

Especially against Colgate. In his first year as head coach, Don Vaughan has led the Red Raiders to some impressive victories.

Although Colgate started this season the same way it ended last year's (losses, losses and more losses), the Red Raiders have won four of their last six games, including last weekend's 5-2 triumph over Clarkson, one of the hottest teams in the ECAC right now.

In Hamilton, N.Y., Colgate snapped the Golden Knights' five-game winning streak and improved its home record to 4-6-2.

Clearly the Red Raiders are no Boston University, but they are still dangerous. They showed the Crimson how dangerous they are when they gave Harvard a scare in Bright back in December (when the Crimson eked out a 5-4 win).

"Colgate has some really talented forwards," Gustafson said. "And they'll be pumped up for us. Every team gets pumped up when they play us."

The Red Raiders are led by leading scorer Captain Andrew Dickson, who has tallied 10 goals and dished out 20 assists in 24 games.

Juniors Dan Gardner and Brent Wilde have also stepped up to provide support, scoring 14 goals and 30 assists between the two of them.

Goaltending for the Red Raiders has been rather suspect all season, and the Crimson must take advantage of whoever is in between the pipes for Colgate. Whether it's sophomore Jason Gates, junior Shawn Murray or rookie Matt Weder, Harvard will face a netminder who has not had much luck keeping the puck out of the net.

Big Red Woes

Cornell, the other Red team in upstate New York, has also had to deal with defensive woes this season.

In his sixth year as head coach, Brian McCutcheon has seen what used to be a dynasty of college hockey sink the bottom of the ECAC and Division 1 pile. Cornell has lost six straight games and is tied for second-to-last place in the ECAC. The only light at the end of the tunnel for Cornell is the last game of this season.

Even if the Big Red defense was good (which it isn't), this ailing squad just can't get anything going on offense. Only one Cornell player has broken the 20-point barrier (Captain Ryan Hughes) and no one else is even close.

Cornell has only one thing going for it: its fans, renowned throughout the ECAC. When Lynah Rink is filled to the brim with loud, screaming, obnoxious fans who have no qualms over throwing sharp objects at the opposing goalie, its not a pretty sight for visiting teams.

"It's always fun playing [at Cornell]," Gustafson said. "It gets pretty crazy. Last year, it was definitely interesting."

'Every team gets pumped up when they play us.' Sophomore forward Cory Gustafson