Historically, success is the true measure of leadership. But as Tennyson illustrates in “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” the same cannot be said of loyal followers and team members.  The fearless charge of the six hundred earned them a badge of honour – a name – for their unwavering bravery in the face of attack.

The charge offered by the men’s Light Blue ice hockey team in Oxford last week was of this calibre.

For Cambridge, Varsity this year was the finale of what was becoming a dreamlike year.  The Light Blues began the ice hockey season with only two returning players, no goaltender, a dismal 12-1 loss to Oxford, and not a single victory in Michaelmas.  In response, Cambridge ran an especially intensive training camp in Switzerland in January, and returned to storm through Lent unbeaten with four straight wins.  This included the largest margins of victory in recent memory against Cardiff and the first win over the mighty London in five years.  The men in Light Blue arrived in Oxford as reigning Varsity champions, fielding league leaders for goals scored (Eric Kroshus and Julien Gagnon), assists (Kroshus, Jaason Geerts, and Gagnon), and points (Kroshus and Gagnon).  The Cambridge of Michaelmas had been superseded by a stronger, fitter, more explosive unit.

Conversely, though Tennyson’s roaring guns and Valley of Death are too strong for Oxford, the Dark Blues were introduced at Varsity as undisputed league champions with impressive depth and firepower.  The Light Blues donned the new red away jerseys in which they had never so far lost, fastened their fighting straps, and charged onto the ice.

As expected, Oxford came out fast, and it took them just over a minute to open the scoring, much to the excitement of the hometown crowd.  The 150 or more Cambridge supporters would not be outdone, however, and their cries boosted the spirits of the Light Blues.  Two minutes later, Cambridge assistant captain Ben McDonald knifed a near impossible pass over two lines that found the tape of British University Ice Hockey Association (BUIHA) leading scorer Kroshus’s stick. Kroshus walked in and easily beat the Dark Blues goalie to tie the contest at one. 

Still early in the first of the three periods, Oxford got another goal, before the referee conspicuously took over the game.  There were questionable penalties on both sides, but it was the Oxford side that capitalized with two power play goals in less than two minutes.

With the score at 4 – 1, the Cambridge captain called timeout to rally his troops and avoid the game slipping out of hand.  The message was one of encouragement, a calming of nerves, and a call to get back to basics.  Cambridge pressed harder thereafter, but Oxford’s intensity showed no signs of waning.  Chances were had at both ends, but goaltender Mike “King” Kang obliterated any Oxford attacks.  The only exceptional point was a 10-minute misconduct penalty to an Oxford player for a hit to the head. That incident brought the first period to a close with Oxford ahead 4 - 1.

Cambridge came out blazing in the second frame.  More penalty trouble held them back initially, but while on the penalty kill, Kroshus stole the puck and raced up the ice to score agoal which even the Oxford players admitted was one of the nicest they'd seen all season. Oxford rebounded quickly, scoring two in quick succession before Cambridge answered with a bullet shot by Kroshus for his hat trick. The Light Blues ten finally got a power play marker of their own, with a two-player advantage, and once again Kroshus ripped through the Oxford defense and scored his, and Cambridge's, fourth. A late penalty right before the end of the period took the score to 7 – 4 as the teams retired to the dressing rooms at the end of the second period.

Just one minute into the third and final period, Oxford increased their score to 8, before Cambridge's French Canadian Dave Brassard fired in a rocket to take Cambridge to 5. At thi point Cambridge were still in touch, but the match began to run away from them. Despite a valiant showing and tremendous fan support in the third period, the three full Dark Blue lines stretched the light two Cambridge lines and Oxford managed to tally score goals without reply. A final thrust from the men in Light Blue saw Gagnon snipe two goals in quick succession off excellent feeds from Kroshus. One final marker for Oxford near the end of the game would round off the scoring for a final score of Cambridge 7, Oxford 13. 

The nearly 50 minutes in penalties (compared to 8 in Cambridge’s match the week before) favoured Oxford’s power play, but the Dark Blues fully demonstrated why they were ths year's league champions.  They were also formidable hosts before and after the match.

Cambridg's Eric Kroshus, with four goals and three assists, picked up the individual Man of the Match award. Goaltender Mike Kang also had an excellent game, making a host of saves throughout the match.