The men’s hockey team’s season came to a close this past weekend after battling with Harvard in the ECAC championship game. The Raiders ended their season with an overall record of 22-12-4. While the season ended for our hockey team, they played some unbelievable hockey in the ECAC tournament, and got to play on the historic 1980 Rink – Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, NY. In the competitive ECAC tournament, anything can happen and as a result the Raiders were unable to seal their championship win over Harvard.

After tallying two huge wins over Dartmouth in the ECAC quarterfinals, the fourth-seeded Raiders went on to face second-seeded St. Lawrence in the semis. The St. Lawrence game was a very intense bout and went into a nail-biting overtime. The Raiders, however, never fell behind St. Lawrence, and ultimately won the game in overtime from a goal scored by junior forward Mike Borkowski. The other Raider goals came from senior captain and forward Joe Wilson and junior forward Darcy Murphy. Borkowski, Murphy and Wilson were all on the same line and they led the Raiders to the championship game.

“Even though St. Lawrence ended up tying the game late in the third period, the mood in the locker room was still full of positivity and knowing that we were going to win,” Wilson said when asked about the St. Lawrence game.

The Raiders had about the same amount of shots on net as St. Lawrence (31-32) but they dominated on face-offs won (46-29). After this hard-fought victory, the Raiders geared up to battle Harvard in the championship game this

past Saturday.

The fourth-seeded Raiders trailed from behind throughout the game against the seventh-seeded Crimson. Although Colgate fell behind in the beginning minutes of the first period, Wilson and his linemates had still more success with another goal from Darcy Murphy to tie it up before the period was over. Some penalties from the Raiders gave Harvard several power play opportunities and they capitalized on these and scored two goals. Heading into the third period, the score was 3-1, Crimson. Halfway through the third period, the Raiders made one last effort to come back from their deficit, and senior forward John Lidgett put one in the back of the net off a rebound from fellow senior forward Daniel Gentzler. Harvard sealed their victory with an empty-netter at the end of the

third period.

“I thought as a whole we left everything we had on the ice. All of our defenders played a ton of minutes on Friday night’s game and we’re still able to put in a tremendous effort on Saturday,” Wilson said when asked about the Harvard loss.

As the season is over, it is important to reflect on the Raiders’ season as a whole. More than last year’s team, this year’s team is privileged in the sense that the seniors have done an amazing job leading the team. Although there were so many players with injuries this season, including senior captain Spiro Goulakos, the team kept their heads high and rebounded excellently after some unfortunate losses. Sophomore goalkeeper Charlie Finn was a vital part of the Raider’s success this season and will

be essential for Colgate during the next two sesons.

“The greatest accomplishment that I will remember about this team is the way we handled high expectations while dealing with a lot of key injuries throughout the season. Our main goal was to get back to the championship game and we fought extremely hard to get there,” Wilson said when looking back on the season.

While the seniors leave some big shoes to fill, I have confidence that the rising juniors and seniors will lead the team to great success next year. 

“I know this team is capable of winning the ECAC championship and national

championship,” Wilson commented.

I echo Wilson’s sentiment and believe that this young team will continue to mature next year and claim its place as the ECAC champion and a national competitor. The off-season is important for the Raiders, and I have no doubt that they will take their training seriously and come back in the fall ready to play the hockey they are capable of playing every single game.