Icemen Take Aim Over Colgate

Like so many playoff games, the Harvard-Colgate men's hockey game tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Bright Center is being billed as a battle of goalies.

While it is true that Colgate netminder Jeff Cooper and Crimson goaltender Grant Blair are among the elite in the East. Cooper will probably have to go down to the other end of ice and score some goals himself if his team is to have much of a chance in this best-of-two-games BCAC quarterfinal series.

Cooper may be the equal of Blair, but the rest of the Colgate squad can't begin to match the Crimson's speed, and isn't big or strong enough to pound the hosts into submission.

The squads meet Saturday night at the same time for the second game of the series. If they split the two games, there will be a 10-minute mini-game following the Saturday game to determine a winner.

If the Crimson win the series, it advances to the semi-finals at the Boston Garden Friday night.

Colgate (9-12 ECAC, 14-16 overall) is the seventh seed in the eight-team tourney, and at a decided disadvantage to the second-seeded Crimson (15-5-1 ECAC, 18-6-2 overall).

Colgate is young, inexperienced and without much scoring punch. Three Red Raiders posted respectable scoring numbers, but the attack does not go much deeper than that.

The Crimson, on the other hand, boasts one of the most potent first lines in college hockey, a unit that connects on over 35 percent of its power-play opportunities.

Harvard's top line is centered by Hobey Baker Award finalist Scott Fusco.

Fusco, who led the ECAC in scoring this season, may be base remembered by the Red Raiders for his game-winning goal at Colgate in December with just 1:11 remaining in overtime.

The Crimson exhausted from a 5-5 overtime tie at Cornell the night before, played poorly all evening and needed a Peter Follows goal with under a minute less and goalie Grant Blair on the bench--pulled for an extra skater--to force the period.

Fusco's tally spoiled an outstanding effort by Cooper, who single-handedly kept his squad in the game during the early going.

The Crimson faced the Raiders just three weeks ago at Bright--and the netminders dominated.

Blair earned his seventh career shortcut to tie the Harvard career record, stopping several breakaways to preserve his whitewash.

At the other end, Cooper again played well in a losing cause

One sidelight to the contest is the matchup between the MacDonald brothers. Harvard's Lane and Colgate's Lowell.

Lane has thus far enjoyed the best of the bank between the wins of former NHL all-star Lowell Sr.

The freshman had shrouded through two Harvard Colgate goalies, while his brother had just one, although Lowell came close on two separate breakaway occasions in slim second make-up.

The Crimson, which is 25-16-1 in ECAC tournament play over years, beat Colgate, 5-3 in the teams only previous playoff meeting back in 1963.

A footnote to this quarterfinal victory-the Crimson went off claim the first of Its three ECAC championships.