Cornell returned to the friendly confines of Lynah Rink to host the two teams
they had just played the previous weekend, Yale and Princeton. Friday night,
the familiar refrain continued for the Big Red, as they controlled the game for
several long stretches and dominated on the stat sheet but wound up on the
wrong end of a 2-1 score. The frustration continued in the first period of
Saturday's game, as Princeton put up a 3-0 lead, but all of a sudden, Cornell
got rolling, scored eight straight, and blew the Tigers out of the building.
The Big Red sits in seventh place in the ECAC but only two points out of fifth
and that all-important first-round home-ice slot.
More notes on the games:
Yale 2, Cornell 1
One couldn't fault the Big Red if, after this game, they would have launched an
all-out investigation aimed at determining who's got the voodoo doll. Cornell
played a pretty good game, and while they did not dominate the Elis, it sure
looked that way in the statistics. The Big Red outshot Yale by an outrageous
37-15 margin and did control much of the game, but they were unable to take
advantage of several quality opportunities. Yale, in contrast, converted just
enough quality scoring chances, took advantage of a couple Cornell mistakes,
and rode the incredible performance of goalie Alex Westlund to the win, their
fourth straight over the Big Red.
Yale would put up only three shots on goal in the first period (compared to 12
for the Big Red), but they came close to lighting the lamp on their first one,
42 seconds after the opening faceoff. With the Elis on a power play, Jeff
Hamilton took the puck deep in the Cornell zone and, with a pair of defenders
chasing after him (understandable, as he's by far Yale's leading scorer), slid
the puck through the crease to a waiting Joe Dart. Dart's shot, however, was
stuffed by goaltender Matt Underhill, who quickly slid over from the opposite
post and got a pad in front of the shot.
Many of Cornell's scoring chances were sparked by defenseman Jeff Burgoyne,
whose return to the lineup after missing the previous two games with the flu
gave the Big Red a big lift. Burgoyne's end-to-end rushes were an element of
the offense that had been sorely missed last weekend, and he helped Cornell
keep the pressure on a busy Westlund. Even so, the second period looked like
it would be as boring on the scoreboard as the first, until the 16:57 mark.
Luke Earl tried a shot from the right point that was blocked by a Cornell
defenseman. The puck wound up in the defender's skates, and before he could
react to it, Hamilton swooped in, poked it away, and snapped a shot past
Underhill, who had come out to clear the loose puck.
Hamilton almost beat Underhill about half a minute later on the power play, but
the goaltender made a great sliding glove save of the slapper. So Cornell went
into the third period down 1-0, but they got a chance when John Chyz went off
for tripping 53 seconds in, and they tied the game at the 1:45 mark. Ryan
Moynihan started the play by sending the puck ahead to Burgoyne, who corralled
the pass at center ice. Meanwhile, Yale's Jim Morrissey tripped up Moynihan,
and referee Dan Murphy signalled the delayed penalty. Burgoyne beat a pair of
Eli defenders and got off a soft shot from near the slot that Westlund blocked.
Kyle Knopp was trailing the play, however, and he put the rebound into the
open net. The power-play goal ended an 0-for-28 drought that stretched back
six games to the second period of the Ohio State contest.
Morrissey went off for tripping after the goal, but unfortunately for the Big
Red, they could not duplicate their success on this power play. Westlund came
up huge with about nine minutes left, when Frank Kovac skated past a couple of
Elis at the Yale blue line and was suddenly on a mini-break. But Westlund
stayed with him, giving Kovac nothing to shoot at, and eventually smothering
the shot that did come.
Mark Turco got the game-winner at the 13:58 mark on a tough-angle shot from
near the boards. The puck appeared to be headed wide, but it went through a
screen, hit a Cornell defenseman's stick, and deflected into the net under
Underhill's arm. Cornell kept pressing, pulling Underhill with 1:12 left (by
the way, I was listening on the radio and hardly heard a peep from the Lynah
crowd over the last 1:12; I'm hoping the microphone was badly placed) and
winning three straight faceoffs in the Yale end, but Westlund kept the Big Red
at bay and sealed the victory. The Yale goalie finished with 36 saves;
Underhill stopped 13 of 15 shots.
Cornell 8, Princeton 4
This one looked like it was going to be even worse than the game the night
before, with Cornell not playing as well, Princeton converting their first two
power plays en route to a 3-0 first-period lead, and referee Bill Doiron (true
to his nature, at least) calling pretty much anything harder than a gentle hip
check. But the judicious use of a Cornell timeout sparked the Big Red to an
eight-goal explosion, as the game turned completely around. The win was the
first for Cornell in five games, salvaged a split on the weekend, and hopefully
gave the Big Red some badly-needed momentum for the final eight games of the
season.
Princeton dominated the early going, putting up the first five shots on goal of
the game and taking the lead 2:11 into the first period. Goaltender Matt
Underhill made a sliding stop of a Chris Corrinet shot, but Ethan Doyle tracked
down the loose puck and flipped it over a sprawled Underhill. Cornell's Danny
Powell got the first penalty of the night when he went off at 6:27 for holding
the stick, and Princeton capitalized at 8:07 to make it 2-0. Scott Bertoli
fired toward the Cornell net, and the puck hit defenseman David Adler's skate
and bounced past a surprised Underhill.
Given the state of Cornell's offense of late (and the Big Red didn't help
themselves by frittering away a 57-second 5-on-3 a couple minutes after
Bertoli's goal), the Tigers appeared to have the game well in hand at 14:38 of
the first, when they scored their third goal, courtesy of a hard slapper by
Corrinet. A few minutes later, though, Cornell went on the power play when
Bertoli was whistled for charging, and then during a scramble, Darren Yopyk
lifted the Princeton net off its moorings and was called for delay of game.
You don't see that one very often, but it was certainly a legitimate call.
Immediately, Cornell used their timeout, and Coach Schafer could probably
retire tomorrow (not that I am for one minute suggesting that he do so!) if he
were to write down and publish whatever he said during that timeout, because
what happened next was astonishing. The Big Red, having scored just eight
times in their previous five games and not looking like they were going to add
to that total on this night, exploded for the game's next eight goals. The
barrage started when Cornell did something I haven't seen them do in, well, I
don't know how long -- they converted both penalties in a 5-on-3. Defenseman
Jeff Burgoyne played a role in both goals, starting the first with a nice pass
through the Princeton defense to Ryan Moynihan. Moynihan's shot bounced off
Princeton goalie Nick Rankin, but Denis Ladouceur was there to poke home the
rebound at 18:09 of the first for his team-leading 12th goal of the season.
On the ensuing 5-on-4, Burgoyne fired a blast from the point that Rankin got
his pad on, but again the goalie was unable to control the rebound and Frank
Kovac flipped it home to make it 3-2 with 43 seconds left in the first.
Princeton's Jeff Halpern and Cornell's Jeff Oates tangled shortly after that,
each earning roughing minors and misconducts, and then the Big Red got put on
another power play to start the second period when Doiron called Bertoli for
elbowing at the end of the first.
Now, I have great respect for the job Don Cahoon has done with the Princeton
Tigers. He's taken a squad that really never won anything of note before his
arrival and gotten two ECAC championship game appearances and a title out of
them, not to mention throwing a big scare into eventual champ Michigan during
last season's NCAA tournament. Princeton has been nationally ranked this year
and prior to this weekend was tied for first in the ECAC. All in all, an
amazing job by Cahoon since his arrival at Princeton in 1991. But, assuming
the newspaper and radio accounts are correct -- and I'm sorry to say this --
I'm about to call him an idiot. As a thought experiment, put yourself in his
shoes at the end of the first period. You've just seen referee Doiron,
notorious for calling everything, do just that, including a delay-of-game when
one of your players lifted your net off its mounts (which is never, and I mean
NEVER, called -- a pet peeve of mine, by the way). You've seen him call FOUR
misconducts in addition to a host of minors. You've just seen him nail one of
your guys for elbowing at the end of the period. What do you say to him as
your team heads for the locker room?
Well, "nothing" would be an excellent choice, and certainly better than what
Cahoon came up with. The livid Princeton coach started hollering at Doiron,
who naturally slapped the Tigers with a bench minor, meaning that the Big Red
would start the second period with a full two-minute 5-on-3 power play. And,
despite the absence of Burgoyne (who remained in the locker room after the
intermission ended to be checked out after taking a big hit from a Princeton
player), Cornell made the most of it, with David Kozier backhanding a shot past
Rankin at the 52-second mark. The Big Red did not convert on the 5-on-4 which
followed, but a mere 10 seconds after it ended, they took the lead for good
when Dan Svoboda picked the puck off the back boards and whistled a backhander
that Rankin never saw.
After this goal, Burgoyne returned to the ice to a standing ovation from the
Lynah Faithful. Thanks to the misconducts from the first period, 13 minors in
the second, and two MORE misconducts, the penalty box was never empty during
the middle period. Having showed that their power play was back in action, the
Big Red proceeded to give their short-handed unit some work, as Oates notched a
man-down goal at 16:38 of the period. The play was set up when Frank Kovac
stole the puck from a Princeton forward just inside the Cornell zone and skated
up the ice. A 2-on-1 developed, and as the defender started to go after Kovac,
he slid a perfect pass over to Oates for the easy redirection.
Doug Stienstra made it 6-3 1:48 into the third with Cornell's second
short-hander of the night, matching their total for the season up to Saturday's
game. Burgoyne set Stienstra up with a long cross-ice pass. Burgoyne and
Stienstra combined again for Cornell's seventh goal, at the 10:08 mark, and
this one finished Rankin's night. Into the game came Craig Bradley, which made
a bit of a rooting difficulty for me, as he's from my hometown of Chalfont, PA.
(OK, so I had no difficulty rooting against him, but he's the first college
hockey player I've ever seen from there... Vermont had a guy a few years ago
from Doylestown, the next town up the road. Neither is a hockey hotbed by any
stretch of the imagination) (But I digress) Kyle Knopp rounded out the scoring
for Cornell with a wrister from in close at 13:05 of the third.
Corrinet ended Princeton's scoring drought at the 14:18 mark, beating Underhill
low, but it was far too little far too late. Princeton never seriously
threatened again, and the Big Red coasted to the win. Underhill settled down
after the early Princeton barrage, finishing with 31 saves. Rankin made 28
saves before giving way to Bradley, who stopped six of the seven shots he
faced.
The boost in momentum for Cornell couldn't have come at a better time. Five of
the next six games for the Big Red are against teams below them in the
standings, a good recipe for a move up. The sixth is against RPI, who Cornell
already took a point from in December (of course, that was at Lynah, and the
Capital District trip has been a horror show for the Big Red for, well, years)
The Big Red starts this stretch with a trip this coming weekend to Vermont and
Dartmouth.
P.S. OK, "idiot" is probably a bad word to use in describing the tete-a-tete
between Coach Cahoon and referee Doiron at the end of the first period, but if
the coach is not going to keep his composure, he can't expect his team to do
so, and they did not. Cornell played very well in the second and third
periods, but the Princeton team was clearly flustered, and that also played a
major role in the Big Red's success.
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
strictly those of:
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95 DJF 5/27/94
LET'S GO RED!! JCF 12/2/97
"You know it's going to be a rough flight when they tag your luggage *and*
your big toe, just in case."
-- Gary Kern
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.
|
