Results from the ECAC West semifinal and final rounds (all games played at
Elmira's Murray Center):
Friday, 3/1:
Semifinals:
Mercyhurst 4, RIT 1
Elmira 8, Geneseo State 2
Saturday, 3/2:
Championship:
Elmira 6, Mercyhurst 3
Notes on the games:
Mercyhurst 4, RIT 1
Just a few details to add to Dave Weismore's earlier posting. Troy
Winch put Mercyhurst on the board with the only goal of the first, on a
power play at 11:43, and Scott Patterson tallied with 8:36 left in the
second. Scott Burfoot, who also had two assists, gave the Lakers a 3-0
lead 6:41 into the third, but RIT's Mike Heaney ruined Mercyhurst goal-
tender Gary Bowles' shutout bid two minutes later, catching him out of
position and rifling a shot past his pad. Micky Keen iced the game for
the Lakers, scoring with less than five minutes left.
Elmira 8, Geneseo State 2
Led by Joey Spinelli's three-goal, two-assist effort, the Soaring
Eagles rebounded nicely from a subpar quarterfinal effort against
Oswego State and pasted Geneseo. Scott Doherty got Elmira going with
the first two goals of the game, flipping in a centering pass from
Bernie Cassell at 3:36 of the first period, and then following up on a
Cassell rebound just over five minutes later. Spinelli scored his
first goal at 13:33 of the first period, blasting one from the slot
that beat Geneseo's All-American goalie, Lou Germain, to the glove
side.
Mitch Major cut Geneseo's deficit to two with 3:13 left in the first,
but Elmira's Bob Holmes helped the Soaring Eagles pull away by scoring
the next two goals, at 18:46 of the first and a minute into the second.
A Spinelli backhander at the 7:42 mark of the second period gave Elmira
a 6-1 lead. Chris Smith kept Geneseo's faint hopes alive by scoring 36
seconds into the third, but Spinelli and Greg Moore would each tally
later in the period to slam the door shut. Germain wound up with 34
saves, while Elmira's Tom O'Brien made 31.
Elmira 6, Mercyhurst 3
Elmira won its second straight ECAC West championship, and its third in
the last four years, by defeating the only team they had not beaten
during the regular season. A key to the victory was that the Soaring
Eagles took care of Scott Burfoot, who had picked up five goals and
three assists in the two previous games between these two teams.
Burfoot, the leading scorer in all of college hockey with 46-45-91
numbers in 29 games (3.14 points per game), was shut out in this game,
getting only three shots on goal.
Greg Moore and Bernie Cassell scored to give Elmira a 2-0 lead with
only 2:02 gone in the first period, and then the Soaring Eagles picked
up two more goals less than two minutes apart in the second period.
Bob Holmes stole the puck and slid it over to Moore, who beat Mercy-
hurst goalie Gary Bowles from the slot at 9:50 of the second. Holmes
himself blasted a 40-footer past a screened Bowles to put Elmira up
4-0.
Mercyhurst fought back, beginning with a goal at 13:07 of the second by
Micky Keen, who picked up a loose puck behind the Elmira net and scored
on a wrap-around. Ken Gushie made it 4-2 on a Mercyhurst power play
with less than two minutes to go in the second, and then Troy Winch
beat Elmira goalie Tom O'Brien from in close at the 2:09 mark of period
three to bring the Lakers within one. It looked like Mercyhurst was
going to find a way to beat the Soaring Eagles for the third straight
time, but Joe Caswell effectively killed the Lakers' comeback hopes
with a tally at 4:40 of the third, putting Elmira up 5-3. The Soaring
Eagles were able to hold off Mercyhurst for the rest of the game. Joey
Spinelli notched an empty-netter with four seconds left in the game,
off a 2-on-0 break with Holmes. The goal was the 80th point for Spin-
elli, tying the Elmira record for points in a season set by Rich Bopray
in 1979. Bowles had 31 saves in picking up the loss, while O'Brien
finished the game with 32 and was named MVP of the ECAC West tour-
nament.
The Soaring Eagles, with their tournament championship and Division III-best
26-3-0 record, are likely to be the top seed in the East Regional of the
NCAA Division III tournament, which begins next weekend. Middlebury
defeated Babson for the ECAC East championship, but Middlebury does not
accept NCAA tournament bids.
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86
LET'S GO RED!!
"My brother was on Wheel of Fortune once -- and he embarrassed the SH** outta
us, man: 'Yeah, Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel... lemme have a K.'"
-- Paul Rodriguez
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