The Big Red journeyed east to play the top two teams in the ECAC last
weekend, and although Cornell played better than the scores would indicate,
they still wound up with a pair of disheartening losses. The big difference
in the two games was the power play, as Cornell went 0 for the weekend while
each opponent scored three man-up goals. Box scores and other notes below:
Brown 7, Cornell 4
Cornell 1 2 1 -- 4
Brown 3 2 2 -- 7
First period -- Scoring:
B Brian Jardine (Mike Traggio), 0:32 0-1
B Chris Kaban (Ron Smitko, Kelly Jones), 1:01 0-2
B Eric Trach (Jardine, Ryan Mulhern), 9:00 (PP) 0-3
C Geoff Lopatka (Shaun Hannah, Brad Chartrand), 14:32 1-3
Penalties:
B Bill McKay (cross-checking), 4:16; C Mike Sancimino (interference),
8:17
Second period -- Scoring:
C Hannah (Lopatka), 0:39 2-3
B Mulhern (Jardine, Trach), 7:12 2-4
C P.C. Drouin (Mark Scollan, Chad Wilson), 12:03 3-4
B Mulhern (Jones, Jardine), 17:52 (PP) 3-5
Penalties:
C Jason Zubkus (cross-checking), 2:54; C Dan Dufresne (hitting after
whistle), 13:04; C Matt Cooney (hitting after whistle), 13:04; B Jones
(hitting after whistle), 13:04; B Kaban (hitting after whistle), 13:04;
C Steve Wilson (high-sticking), 15:21; C Sancimino (interference),
17:40; B Mark Shaughnessy (hooking), 19:17
Third period -- Scoring:
C Scollan (Drouin, Vincent Auger), 6:34 4-5
B Tony Martino (Mark Fabbro, Jardine), 14:12 (PP) 4-6
B Kaban (Jones), 16:37 (SH) 4-7
Penalties:
B Patrick Thompson (slashing), 0:37; C Cooney (hooking), 2:55;
B Thompson (tripping), 8:22; C Bench (too many men on ice, served by
Geoff Bumstead), 13:00; C Dufresne (misconduct), 14:12; B Charlie
Humber (tripping), 15:42
Shots on goal: Cornell 9-13-10 -- 32, Brown 19-12-5 -- 36
Power plays: Cornell 0 of 5, Brown 3 of 6
Goaltending:
C Eddy Skazyk (36 shots, 29 saves)
B Geoff Finch (32 shots, 28 saves)
Notes:
Remember back in the good old days, when you never used to hear the
word "speed" used to describe the Brown Bears? (unless it was preceded
by the phrase "lack of") Well, forget it. These guys are FAST, and
the Bear offense controlled this game for the most part. Despite that,
Cornell came very close to digging themselves out of a horrendous early
hole, cutting the lead to one on three separate occasions before
finally wilting under the Bruin attack.
Cornell goaltender Eddy Skazyk had a rough time of it at the outset, as
Brown's first two shots on goal found the back of the net, putting the
Bears up 2-0 with 61 seconds gone in the opening period. Early on,
Steve Wilson skated out of the Cornell end with the puck, but his pass
at center ice was stolen by Mike Traggio, who raced across the blue
line on a 2-on-1 with Brian Jardine. Traggio dropped the puck off for
Jardine just inside the right circle, and Jardine rifled one through
Skazyk's pads 32 seconds after the opening faceoff. Brown's next rush
up the ice produced their second goal, which was set up when Ron
Smitko's wrister hit somebody in front of the net. With Skazyk down on
one knee looking for the loose puck, Chris Kaban found it first and
backhanded a shot from the crease under the goalie's stick.
At the other end of the ice, Brown goalie Geoff Finch appeared to be a
little shaky, as he was having some trouble controlling the puck on
those occasions when the Big Red was able to challenge him. However,
Mike Sancimino was whistled for interference at 8:17 when he ran into
Finch, and it didn't take long for the Bears to boost their lead to
3-0. Jardine took a pass from Ryan Mulhern and skated toward the right
circle, and when Skazyk moved to his left to cut down the angle, Jar-
dine fired the puck over to Eric Trach, who was coming out of the left
corner. Trach had the open net to shoot at, and he popped the puck
home at the nine-minute mark.
The Big Red was reeling and seemed to be out of it, but they began a
comeback at 14:32 of the first, when Shaun Hannah and Geoff Lopatka
combined on a nice play. Lopatka lost the puck in the corner, but
Hannah dug it out as Lopatka moved between the circles. Hannah
centered the puck for the untouched Lopatka, who whacked it through
Finch's pads. Hannah and Lopatka teamed up again to bring the Big Red
to within one 39 seconds into the second period. Hannah took a headman
pass from Lopatka and raced across the Bears' blue line, putting the
brakes on and letting fly with a high slapper that beat Finch over his
shoulder.
Four and a half minutes into the second period, with a Brown power play
winding down, Steve Wilson dove in an attempt to knock a Bear pass away
and wound up getting caught up the ice, as Brown broke into the Cornell
zone on a 4-on-1. Chris Kaban had most of the net to shoot at, but
Skazyk, who was playing considerably better than at the start of the
game, dove back, got his stick on Kaban's shot, and then fell on the
loose puck to snuff the threat. Still, Brown was able to up their lead
to two again at the 7:12 mark. Jake Karam skated into the Bear zone
but lost the puck to Trach, who spotted Jardine racing back the other
way and sent a long cross-ice pass toward him. Jardine slipped and
fell at the Cornell blue line but maintained control of the puck,
faking a shot from the left circle and then sliding the puck over to
Mulhern in the slot, who unleashed a high shot that a screened Skazyk
never saw. Moments later, Kelly Jones had the puck at the edge of a
crease with a wide-open net to shoot at, but he was levelled from
behind (no call) and never got the shot off.
The Big Red closed the gap to one again at the 12:03 mark, on a
strange-looking rush that began with P.C. Drouin intercepting a Brown
pass. Mark Scollan wound up with the puck, and he stick-handled
through a scrambling Bear defense before getting off a weak shot that
Finch blocked. The rebound floated over to Drouin, who had most of the
net to shoot at.
With 6:56 left in the second period, Brown's Mark Fabbro worked his way
around defenseman Jason Zubkus and unleashed a slapper that Skazyk got
the pad on, covering up in the crease. Jones took a late run at
Skazyk, and the next thing you know, the fists were flying, with Matt
Cooney going after Jones. During the altercation, Kaban knocked Skazyk
down from behind and was almost immediately set on by Dan Dufresne.
When the dust settled, Cooney and Dufresne were sent to the penalty box
for Cornell, while Jones and Kaban made the trip for Brown. All four
received minors for hitting after the whistle, though the fight(s)
certainly seemed at least major-worthy.
Anyway, the Bears got their fifth goal with 2:08 remaining in the
second period. Jardine sent a bouncing pass over to Jones, who juggled
the pass but was able to slide it over to Mulhern, who rifled it past
Skazyk for his second goal of the night. Cornell refused to die,
however, as they once again cut the lead to one at 6:34 of the third
period. Drouin, Scollan, and Vincent Auger broke into the Brown zone
on a 3-on-2, which quickly became a 2-on-0. Drouin's deep pass bounced
off Auger's shin and rolled through the crease, where Scollan was
waiting to tap it home.
Later in the period, Scollan collided with Mulhern, losing his helmet
in the process, and skated over to the bench. Unfortunately, there was
some sort of miscommunication, and two players went in to replace him
at the same time, leading to a too many men on the ice call against
Cornell at the 13-minute mark. The mistake was crucial, because the
Bears converted the power play a minute and twelve seconds later. Tony
Martino was all alone near the right side of the Cornell net, and he
fired one that deflected off Skazyk's pads and barely rolled across the
goal line. Part of the reason Martino was unchallenged was that
Dufresne got tripped right in front of the net (and right in front of
referee Joe Kelly) and was taken out of the play. Dufresne was
incensed that there was no call, and he argued vociferously with Kelly,
earning himself a misconduct. Brown closed out the scoring with a
short-hander at the 16:37 mark, when Jones bounced a 45-footer off
Skazyk's pads and Kaban whacked home the rebound.
Neither goaltender looked particularly solid in net, but Finch settled
down after a shaky first period, finishing with 28 saves. Skazyk
stopped 29 shots for Cornell.
Harvard 4, Cornell 0
Cornell 0 0 0 -- 0
Harvard 1 1 2 -- 4
First period -- Scoring:
H Steve Martins (Chris Baird, Derek Maguire), 5:29 (PP) 0-1
Penalties:
C Mike Sancimino (holding), 5:11; H Perry Cohagan (high-sticking),
8:53; C Tim Shean (hooking), 12:15; H Marco Ferrari (tripping), 17:14
Second period -- Scoring:
H Martins (Baird, Sean McCann), 10:26 (PP) 0-2
Penalties:
H Peter McLaughlin (slashing), 6:28; C P.C. Drouin (roughing), 8:39;
C Dan Dufresne (roughing), 13:02; H Brian Farrell (roughing), 13:02;
H McCann (roughing), 16:25; C Geoff Lopatka (cross-checking), 20:00
Third period -- Scoring:
H Farrell (Maguire, Martins), 6:43 (PP) 0-3
H Joe Craigen (Stuart Swenson), 18:01 (EN) 0-4
Penalties:
H Kirk Nielsen (slashing), 2:20; C Mark Scollan (hitting from behind),
5:12; C Vincent Auger (roughing), 12:32; C Drouin (roughing), 12:32;
H Ferrari (charging), 12:32; H McCann (roughing), 12:32; H Swenson
(roughing), 12:32; C Tony Bergin (interference), 15:15; C Bergin
(roughing), 19:52; H Jason Karmanos (holding), 19:52
Shots on goal: Cornell 5-10-7 -- 22, Harvard 12-11-15 -- 38
Power plays: Cornell 0 of 6, Harvard 3 of 6
Goaltending:
C Andy Bandurski (out at ~17:45 of third period, in at 18:01 of third
period, 37 shots, 34 saves)
H Tripp Tracy (22 shots, 22 saves)
Notes:
As they did in their game against the Big Red at Lynah a few months
ago, the Crimson showed that, while they may be an above-average team
at even strength, they are absolutely deadly on the power play, con-
verting about 33% of their chances overall this season. Three of Har-
vard's four goals came with the man advantage, and the fourth was an
empty-netter. Harvard was also aggressive on the penalty kill, as the
Big Red was unable to mount much of a threat on any of their six power
plays.
Early on, Cornell was doing a good job of skating with the much faster
Crimson squad and keeping their offense somewhat under control. Cor-
nell's intense forechecking game rattled Harvard at the start, and the
Big Red came very close to getting on the board six seconds into the
game. Geoff Lopatka skated across the blue line and fired one that
surprised Harvard goalie Tripp Tracy but also floated just wide of the
net. It was unfortunate for the Big Red that they were unable to test
Tracy much in the first period, because he looked a bit shaky. He
would settle down later, however.
At 5:11 of the opening period, Cornell's Mike Sancimino was whistled
for his third penalty of the weekend (this time for holding), and for
the third time the opponent scored with him in the box. Steve Martins
drilled a quick shot from the right side that goaltender Andy Bandurski
got a piece of, but the puck deflected off him and into the net at the
5:29 mark. The rest of the period saw the Big Red do a pretty good job
of keeping Harvard's offense in check, although the Crimson would wind
up with a 12-5 shots-on-goal margin.
It's impossible to keep a team like Harvard under wraps forever,
though, and the Crimson proved that by opening up the second period
with a flurry of shots. Bandurski was somehow able to block almost all
of them, but at the 10:26 mark, with P.C. Drouin off for roughing,
Martins picked up his second goal of the game. Sean McCann unleashed a
rocket that bounced off the post, and with Bandurski down in the crease
and a Harvard player partially on top of him (don't know whether he was
pushed or not), Martins was able to lift the rebound into the net.
Still, with the score only 2-0 after two periods and Cornell playing a
pretty good checking game, the Big Red had to like their chances,
especially since they were able to generate some offensive pressure in
the latter stages of the period. A penalty to Geoff Lopatka at the end
of the second period had to be killed off, but Cornell did so success-
fully to stay within reach.
However, the Big Red were not so lucky later in the third period, when
Mark Scollan went off for hitting from behind at the 5:12 mark. The
Crimson all but put the game away at 6:43, when Martins took a hard
shot that Brian Farrell redirected past a sliding Bandurski. The game
had gotten rather nasty by this point, and at the 12:32 mark, after
Bandurski had gloved a slapshot, he was levelled by Marco Ferrari.
Vincent Auger responded by decking the defenseman, and suddenly there
was a big tussle in the Cornell crease. When order was more or less
restored, three Harvard players and two Cornellians were ushered to the
box to serve minors, Ferrari for charging and the others for roughing.
Cornell never really threatened the rest of the way, although Ban-
durski was pulled for the extra attacker with something like 2:15
remaining. The move backfired, however, as Joe Craigen was sprung on a
breakaway moments later, sliding the puck into the empty net with 1:59
left in the game.
Bandurski, benched in his previous two starts, rebounded in a big way
with a spectacular game against the relentless Harvard offense, as the
Grand Blanc, Michigan native stopped 34 of the 37 shots he faced.
Tracy, who is from Grosse Pt. Farms, Michigan, and oddly enough is a
former teammate of Bandurski's, made 22 saves in posting the shutout.
The win makes the Crimson unbeaten (5-0-3) in their last eight meetings
with the Big Red.
Thanks to a few upsets here and there, Cornell remained in seventh place
(tied with Princeton) despite getting swept. The Big Red has a crucial
stretch run coming up, with four of their six remaining games against
"bottom six" teams -- St. Lawrence, Princeton, and Yale at Lynah, and Union
on the road. (The other two games are against Clarkson at home and against
RPI on the road)
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
strictly those of:
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and '94 (.5) | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
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