Brown would be happy never to see Colgate goaltender David Cann again, as the junior improved his record to 3-0-0 against the Bears by way of a 3-0 shutout victory.
Cann closed the door on all 23 shots he faced and registered his second career shutout. The Raider goalie has posted a save percentage approaching .975 in his three games against Brown (4-2, 4-2).
“At mid-week I wasn’t sure who I was going to start,” said Colgate coach Don Vaughan. “We thought David had a good week in practice and decided to put him in. He obviously had a great game. We hope it will jump-start him and help him to play the way we know he is capable of. He made some great stops tonight.”
Colgate (5-6-1, 2-3) did what no one else managed to do against Brown all season: score first. Defenseman Rob Brown unleashed a slap shot that beat highly touted goaltender Yann Danis just as a Raider power play expired.
Danis appeared to struggle, allowing three goals on only 16 shots faced. He received no support from his defense, however, who gave Colgate ample time and good positioning to create easy goals.
“I don’t think anyone really stood out as having a great game for us tonight,” said Brown coach Roger Grillo, who remains winless in his coaching career when visiting Colgate. “I thought that across the board it was a pretty average effort.”
Raider Scooter Smith increased the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal early in the second period. Colgate’s leading scorer untangled a puck from between a defender’s skates and flicked a wrist shot past the glove of Danis and into the net. Smith added a second goal later in the game to give the senior 13 points in 12 games played this season.
“He’s been our best player all year,” said Vaughan. “He’s got great jump and he’s strong. Scooter’s on top of his game, and that’s great to see especially because he’s a senior and has faced so much adversity throughout his career.”
Tight officiating and sloppy play by Colgate gave the Bears multiple opportunities to strike on the power play. The team that operated at 36.9% efficiency with the extra man entering Friday night’s competition failed to score on 10 such chances against Colgate.
“That was the game,” said Grillo. “They got a power play goal and we came up with a goose egg. Obviously you can’t do that.”
Vaughan, frustrated with his team’s lack of discipline, happily gave credit to his special teams coaches for saving the game.
“The part of our game that was a little disappointing were the penalties,” he said. “But our penalty killing really played great tonight, and there was a lot of momentum in our favor because of that. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to [assistant coach] Stan Moore. He’s done a lot of work with video and breaking down our opponents’ power plays. The guys are listening and keeping their sticks active. When they did shoot, I think we did a good job of not giving up a lot of second and third chances.”
Colgate managed only one shot in the final period, but made it count, as Smith one-timed a centering feed from Kyle Doyle high over Danis’ left shoulder to put the game out of reach.
“[Danis] is a great goalie, and we have so much respect for him,” said Vaughan. “On that last goal Scooter just had a real quick release. And that’s what we talked about. With a goaltender like that, if you hang on too long and try to make the perfect shot he’s going to beat you most of the time. So we just tried to get rid of it and threw it at the net.”
The victory helped Colgate halt a three game skid, and the Raiders hope it will provide momentum as they host a tough Harvard team on Saturday. Brown’s weekend will not get any easier as the Bears travel to Ithaca to face Cornell Saturday night.
