{"id":57141,"date":"2014-07-29T20:56:14","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T00:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=57141"},"modified":"2014-07-29T19:58:13","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T23:58:13","slug":"harder-97-named-to-raiders-hockey-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=57141","title":{"rendered":"Harder \u201997 Named to Raiders Hockey Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"COLGATE<\/a><\/p>\n

By John Painter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Hamilton, NY \u2013 July 25, 2014)\u00a0Don Vaughan needed look no farther than his own locker room for the perfect replacement to his 2014-15 coaching staff.<\/p>\n

Vaughan\u00a0on Friday\u00a0promoted former Colgate All-American Mike Harder \u201997 from volunteer assistant to assistant coach. Harder spent last season behind the bench with Vaughan and helped boost the Raiders into the NCAA tournament as an at-large entry.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike Harder is the obvious choice and the best person for this job,\u201d Vaughan said. \u201cI know I speak on behalf of the coaches and our student-athletes when I say that I am very excited that Mike will be joining our staff on a full-time basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe brings a wealth of knowledge from his experiences as a professional hockey player and coach in both North America and Europe. We saw that in action last year in his role as our volunteer assistant, and his impact on the success of our team was very obvious. He has the respect of our team members, and his transition from volunteer to full-time assistant will be seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harder joins Vaughan and fellow assistant coach Jason Lefevre \u201902 to make up the Raider coaching staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team culture the staff has created makes this an incredible opportunity to walk into,\u201d Harder said. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to joining forces with Coach Vaughan and Coach Lefevre to help this team realize its full potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fortunate to be part of Coach Vaughan\u2019s first recruiting class and loved playing for him. It shaped how I see the game and I\u2019m thrilled to be returning to Colgate in this new role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late Surge Bodes Well for This Season<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Raiders finished last season 20-14-5 and ranked 13th nationally in both major polls after advancing to the NCAA tournament as an at-large selection. Colgate was second to eventual national champion Union in both the ECAC Hockey regular season standings and ECAC Hockey Tournament.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s 20 victories included a 13-5-3 record in the 2014 calendar year. Harder saw the team surging down the stretch and expects more good days ahead for Colgate hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite being young, this team accomplished so much,\u201d Harder said. \u201cOur combination of skill, speed and work ethic puts us in a great position for this season. This is a true character team whose capabilities are limitless. I couldn\u2019t be happier to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harder remains Colgate\u2019s all-time leading scorer with 214 points. He finished his career with 88 goals and 126 assists.<\/p>\n

Harder’s best statistical season came in 1995 when he scored 58 points on 22 goals and 36 assists. He went on to earn 1997\u00a0All-American\u00a0honors and was a Hobey Baker Finalist. Harder was elected to the Colgate Athletics Hall of Honor in 2008.<\/p>\n

A native of St. Adolphe, Manitoba, Harder earned his degree in international relations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving been a very successful student-athlete at Colgate and the program\u2019s all-time leading scorer will serve him well,\u201d Vaughan said. \u201cHe knows how to identify student-athletes that will succeed at Colgate \u2013 both on the ice and in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two Professional Titles<\/strong><\/p>\n

After graduation, Harder played 13 seasons professionally. Included were stops in the American Hockey League along with European League ventures in Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Italy.<\/p>\n

He helped Hartford claim the AHL\u2019s Calder Cup in 2000, and then was a key figure in a 2004 championship in the Deutsch Eishockey Liga, or German Elite League.<\/p>\n

Before joining the Raiders, Harder got his coaching start with SC Cortina of the Italian A League. He also founded and directed IPH Hockey in Connecticut. IPH Hockey provides training lessons and quality instruction for youth hockey players.<\/p>\n

\u201cMike\u2019s communication skills, passion for the game and his desire to help our players improve make him a perfect fit for our Colgate hockey program,\u201d Vaughan said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Harder\u2019s wife, Dana, also is a 1997 Colgate graduate. They have a dog named Teddy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Painter (Hamilton, NY \u2013 July 25, 2014)\u00a0Don Vaughan needed look no farther than his own locker room for the perfect replacement to his 2014-15 coaching staff. Vaughan\u00a0on Friday\u00a0promoted former Colgate All-American Mike Harder \u201997 from volunteer assistant to assistant coach. Harder spent last season behind the bench with Vaughan and helped boost the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}