Icemen To Face Colgate

So, it's back to square one.

The Harvard men's hockey team, battered and bruised, will focus on the little things to prepare for tonight's game at Colgate.

"We've got to get back to the basics," Harvard senior Steve Martins said.

Blistered 5-2 by New Hampshire on Wednesday, the team's momentum from last weekend's decisive 4-1 win over Brown screeched to a halt.

"We didn't play with the same emotion that we had against Brown," Martins said. "We played well until we really just collapsed."

According to Brian Lonsinger, the breakdown was caused by a lack of concentration.

"Against New Hampshire, we played a good period and a half-but then we started beating ourselves," the senior defenseman said. "We made a lot of mental mistakes. The key is that we've got to concentrate on ourselves."

And that's exactly how the team spent its Thursday afternoon-concentrating on those little mistakes.

"We watched the film together today to see just how terrible we played," Martins said.

A cruel punishment? Not at all.

"Watching the film, we actually learned a lot about what we have to do to improve," Lonsinger said.

Martins pointed out a fundamental problem-the third period.

"We have a tendency to let up [in the third period]," he said. "We either let the other team catch up with us or we let them pull into the lead."

This letting up syndrome struck hard during the New Hampshire game. The Crimson blew its 2-0 lead, allowing the Wildeats to score five unanswered goals-three of which rudely came in the third period.

Now, the team marches away on an arduous campaign-seven straight regular season games on the road, beginning today against Colgate.

In the Red Raiders' last trip to the Bright Center, Colgate also took advantage of Harvard's weak third period play. The Red Raiders erased the Crimson's 3-1 lead in the first minute of final period, ripping two pucks past goaltender Tripp Tracy to tie the game at 3-3.

How will Harvard handle Colgate on the road? Will the third period go differently?

"We've always had a hard time at Colgate-they have a small rink that's usually packed with people," Martins said.

"The Colgate game will be a big step for us," Lonsinger said. "We will win if we come out solidly like we did against Brown-we've got to come out banging hard."

"We're going to rebound from the [UNH] game, and we're going to be more up for this game," Martins said.

"The key factor is heart."