Defense Becomes Porous As Raiders Shred Crimson

HAMILTON, N.Y.—Colgate assistant captain Kyle Wilson shredded the opposing defense, registering assists on all four Colgate goals as the Raiders defeated the Harvard men’s hockey team, 4-1, at Starr Rink on Friday night.

Colgate junior winger Marc Fulton tallied the eventual game-winner with just 39 seconds remaining in the first period, converting from point-blank range on a feed from freshman blueliner Nick St. Pierre.

Wilson earned the secondary assist on the play, already his second point of the night after he helped set up sophomore center Tyler Burton’s tally to open scoring at 4:37 of the opening frame.

Thanks to those two goals, Crimson netminder John Daigneau was saddled with the loss, even though both Harvard goaltenders saw action in the contest. Daigneau started for the Crimson (15-10-2, 11-8-1 ECAC) and played for 20 minutes, but with Colgate (16-10-6, 12-6-2) leading 2-1 at the first intermission, Harvard coach Ted Donato ’91 replaced the starter with junior Justin Tobe.

“It was just very simple,” Donato said. “I thought Justin, at that time, gave us the best chance to come back.”

And Tobe did keep Harvard in the game, making 24 saves through two periods—including several acrobatic stops on odd-man rushes by the Raiders.

But the Colgate offense cracked the netminder in the third period, tallying two goals in the final frame.

Just 2:27 into the period, senior forward Zac Tataryn scored for the first time this season, taking a pass from linemate Tom Riley and putting it past Daigneau to double the Raiders’ lead.

Sophomore winger Jesse Winchester put the game out of reach at 11:37, tipping a Wilson shot to help Colgate keep pace with Cornell in the league standings.

“When you play good teams, it’s not only what you get, it’s what you give up,” Donato said. “And we gave up a couple of chances that they took advantage of.”

Junior forward Kevin Du scored the only goal for Harvard, equalizing for the Crimson at 8:05 of the first period.

With Harvard on the power play, defenseman Dylan Reese took a shot from the blue line that deflected off winger Alex Meintel before caroming off Du and past Raiders goaltender Mark Dekanich.

But despite firing 29 shots on net, that lone goal was all the Crimson would get—a far cry from the four tallies that Harvard launched past Dekanich earlier this season at the Bright Hockey Center.

“Our effort was there,” Donato said. “Our execution could have been a little bit better.”

—Staff writer Karan Lodha can be reached at klodha@fas.harvard.edu.