Colgate Squeezes Icemen, 3-2; Crimson Tie Yale in OT, 6-6

Two games, two disappointments.

The Harvard men's hockey team went into this weekend with good chances for making the ECAC playoffs. After Saturday afternoon's 6-6 overtime tie with Yale at the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum and last night's disheartening 3-2 loss to Colgate at Bright Center, the Crimson's ECAC record dropped to 6-9-2 (7-13-2 overall), which leaves them behind both Colgate and Cornell for the final playoff spot.

A fluke Colgate goal by Red Raider freshman Ken Iselmoe at 19:28 of period two, which Crimson goaltender John Hynes originally saved, then dropped into the net, turned out to be the game-winner. Playing for regular goaltender Wade Lau, who rested after Saturday's overtime game, Hynes had been shaken up early in the first period, but stayed in the game and made several outstanding saves.

"I was dizzy and couldn't stand up too well for a while, but I really can't blame that on the two goals I let in the second period," Hynes said after the game. "On the second one, the puck just flipped in and out of the glove. Before I could catch up with it, it was over the line."

The icemen finished the first period with a 2-1 lead, on Graham Carter's unassisted goal at 15:50 and Rick Benson's tally less than a minute later, but Red Raider Vasken Matteosian's first goal of the year at 18:15 of period two and Iselmoe's a minite later sent the Crimson to defeat. to defeat.

With just over a munute left in the game, Crimson coach Billy Cleary pulled Hynes from the net, hoping that a sixth skater would get the icemen a goal. But Colgate goaltender Terry McSweeney came up with several clutch saves, and left Cleary shaking his head.

"We just couldn't put the puck in the net," Cleary said. "It's been the same all year."

The Yale game featured wide-open, end to end hockey, and Crimson forward Greg Olson and Yale's Paul Castraberti each slammed home hat tricks. Freshman Olson's three goals, which give him a team-leading 14 on the year, are the most scored in a game by a Crimson player this season.

The Bulldogs jumped to a 3-1 first period lead, riding high on Castraberti's first two tallies.

Yale extended its lead to 4-1 at the start of period two, but from then on the period belonged to the Crimson.

The icemen struck like lightning with five unanswered goals in a 6:05 span--including Olson's trio of power-play tallies--and burst out to a 6-4 lead over the bewildered Bulldogs.

Aiding Olson on the power-play goals, which have come few and far between for the Crimson this season, Dave Burke assisted on all three and Mike Watson on the latter two.

In between Olson's second and third red-lighters, a Rick Benson drive from the left circle at 11:16 tied the score at four, and then Burke chalked one up, closing the Crimson scoring with a neat flip shot, unassisted, at 15:05.

Third period goals by Bulldogs Castraberti and Ed Kilroy sent the game into overtime, where the Crimson could come no closer to victory than a Mike Watson shot that hit the post.