The Colgate men’s ice hockey team traveled to West Point, New York on Saturday, December 2, to take on the Army West Black Knights in an exciting competition that resulted in a tough loss for the Raiders at Tate Rink.

The Raiders came out with a strong defense and managed to hold the Black Knights off for the majority of the first period, until senior forward Brendan McGuire tallied his second goal of the season, sneaking the puck into the back of the Raiders net with just 1:34 remaining in the first period. Early on in the second period, Army West Point managed to gain an aggressive lead on the Raiders as they rallied off a pair of goals with just 4:08 left in the second period, securing a comfortable 3-0 lead over the Raiders. 

The first of the two goals occurred off a power-play by sophomore defender Alex Wilkinson on a blast from the left wing right before freshman forward Mason Krueger tipped a pass from Wilkinson past Colgate sophomore goalie, Colton Point, for the third Black Knights’ goal. 

Colgate sophomore forward, Ben Sharf, managed to put the Raiders on the board within three minutes of the third period as they attempted to mount a comeback over Army in the closing period. First-year defender Trevor Cosgrove blasted a shot from the right point that was tipped by first-year forward Evan Tschumi, but was blocked by Army’s goaltender Jared Dempsey. Determined, Tschumi tapped the puck back toward the slot where Sharf slid the puck across the goal line clinching his second goal of the season, and Tschumi successfully tallied his first career assist. Despite their valiant efforts, the game finished with a 1-3 loss for the Raiders. While the Raiders did not have the success they set out for, goaltender Point secured 19 saves for the team with the Raiders outshooting the Black Knights overall 25-22.

“It was a disappointing effort from our team. We came out flat and didn’t play like we are capable of. Obviously we’re not happy with the result and are looking forward to next weekend to rebound against UConn before we head into the halfway break,” junior defenseman Ken Citron said.

Head Coach Don Vaughan commented on the game as well. 

“It’s disappointing, we knew they were going to come out hard and they won most of the one-on-one battles tonight. They went hard to the net, that’s how they scored their goals. We can’t fault Colton; he couldn’t see them half the time because they were bouncing off people in front of him. I was disappointed we didn’t have an answer with our energy, we talk a lot about energy and I didn’t think we had it tonight. It’s back to the drawing board and we’re going to have to play much better next Friday night.” 

The Raiders’ overall record ultimately fell to 8-5-2, yet they look forward with optimism as the team moves on to its last calendar game in 2017 to take on the UConn Huskies on Friday, December 8, in the hope to add another win to their record. 

Contact Dana Monz at dmonz@colgate.edu.