Cornell ended their 1996-97 regular-season campaign in second place in the ECAC
with a record of 14-6-2, good for 30 points.  Their overall record of 17-8-4
matches last year's regular-season record... an impressive achievement,
considering the loss of nine seniors (including a healthy portion of the
offense) from that team.  Friday night, Cornell stayed with league-leading
Clarkson through two periods before running out of gas in the third.  The next
night, the Big Red clinched second place with a solid win over St. Lawrence
despite a frightening injury to their captain.  Cornell now awaits the results
of Tuesday night's ECAC prelimary round to see if their quarterfinal opponent
will be Colgate, Harvard, or St. Lawrence.
 
More notes on the games:
 
Clarkson 3, Cornell 1
 
As it developed, this game was not for first place, because with RPI's finish in
the top four, Cornell would have lost the tiebreaker to Clarkson anyway... but
the atmosphere for this one was electric, even more so than the Harvard game.
Both teams went at each other for most of the first two periods, but by the time
the third rolled around, Clarkson's edge in speed and talent began to tell on
the Big Red, and the Golden Knight's stifling defense didn't let Cornell set up
much of anything, allowing only four shots on goal over the final 20 minutes.
 Dan Murphy also had an outstanding game between the pipes for Clarkson, making
sure that the pucks that did get through the Clarkson defense had nowhere to go.
And oh yes, there was that guy, whatever-his-name-is, number 12, who scored a
couple times.
 
Clarkson came out for this one apparently determined to blow Cornell out of the
building, but the Big Red stayed right with them through the first.  Four key
players who had missed the previous weekend with injuries (Vinnie Auger, Matt
Cooney, Jamie Papp, and Keith Peach) were questionable for most of the week, but
all of them played except for Papp, who is still troubled with a disk problem in
his back.  Anyway, the Golden Knights put 14 shots on goaltender Jason Elliott
in the first, but, shaky as he was, he turned aside all of them.  Cornell had
quite a bit of pressure of its own in the opening stanza, most of it coming on
an early power play.  However, Murphy was a wall, and the first period ended
0-0.
 
Cornell lit the lamp at 9:44 of the second on a goal resulting from a lucky
bounce.  With the Big Red on the power play, Chad Wilson took the puck behind
the Clarkson net, then snapped a pass out in front.  Clarkson had the Big Red
players covered, but the puck hit defenseman Nick Windsor's skates and rolled
through Murphy's pads.  But Clarkson was able to tie the score at the 12:34 mark
thanks in part to a bit of a defensive mistake by Cornell.  Todd White (that's
who number 12 is, if you hadn't guessed) made his way to the right post, where
he waited a few seconds before Jean-Francois Houle sent a perfect pass across
the crease to him.  Leaving White alone was bad enough, but the real problem was
that Elliott had lost his stick in a collision several seconds before, and none
of his teammates thought to get it for him or to hand him their own.  If
somebody on your team is going to be playing without a stick, for heaven's sake
it better not be the goaltender!  Not that Elliott would have been able to stop
this one even *with* a stick.  Houle and White worked the play perfectly.
 
The Big Red had two huge chances to regain the lead in the last two minutes of
the second.  Ryan Moynihan found Mike Rutter alone in front of the net, and
Rutter tried to lift the shot over Murphy, but the goalie blocked it nicely.
 Moments later, Cooney and Auger combined on a 2-on-1 break, but Murphy snuffed
that one as well.  Even so, Cornell had to be happy with a 1-1 tie after two.
 In the third, however, the Clarkson defense took over, and the momentum began
to turn toward the Golden Knights.
 
White put his team ahead for good 3:11 into the third, and not to take anything
away from Clarkson's Hobey Baker candidate, but this one came about as the
result of a poor decision by Elliott.  Chris Clark fired one from the right
circle that Elliott blocked, with the rebound coming out to his right just
outside the crease.  Elliott went after the loose puck, but White beat him to
it, skated around him, and slid the puck into the open net.  Elliott redeemed
himself a minute and a half later, when he reacted to a pass across the crease
(similar to the first Clarkson goal) and dove to smother the resulting shot.
 
Murphy denied Cornell a chance at the tying goal at the 6:42 mark on a heads-up
play.  A pass from the left point seemed headed to a Cornell player at the right
post for the easy tip-in, but Murphy darted out and gloved the pcuk in the air
before the Big Red player could get to it.  Dana Mulvihill got the game's final
goal at 13:27 of the third, as he streaked down the right side, eluded Chad
Wilson in the faceoff circle, drew Elliott out of the net, then quickly skated
behind the goal and stuffed the wrap-around home.  Elliott was pulled a couple
times in the final minute and a half, but Cornell could not muster a shot on
goal.  Murphy stopped 19 of 20 shots, while Elliott, who settled down after the
first but never looked completely comfortable, still made 31 saves.
 
Hobey watch note:  I don't think Todd White is going to win the Hobey, since
long-standing bias against Eastern hockey (especially the ECAC) will tend to
discredit his amazing statistics.  ("Yeah, he leads the nation in points-per-
game, but look at the crappy league he plays in!" -- logic that I disagree with,
BTW)  But if he's not at least the runner-up, it'll be a crime.  I've certainly
not seen all the candidates in action, but White is one hell of a player at both
ends of the ice and is certainly deserving of the award.
 
Cornell 5, St. Lawrence 2
 
The Big Red bounced back from a disappointing and emotionally exhausting game
the night before to drop a tough St. Lawrence team and wrap up a second-place
finish, their highest since taking the ECAC regular-season title back in 1973.
 This being the final regular-season game at Lynah, the team's seven seniors
were introduced, along with their parents, and the starting lineup was composed
entirely of seniors, except for goaltender Jason Elliott -- and featuring
defenseman Chad Wilson at wing, where he's actually had to play at times this
season.  Among the seniors, Wilson and Vinnie Auger each had a big effect on
this game... as did Matt Cooney, though in a way no one could have anticipated.
 
Auger put Cornell on the board 3:17 into the game, atarting a big offensive
flurry in front of the Saints net with a couple of point-blank shots from in
close and ending it several seconds later when he hacked a rebound over goalie
Clint Owen's leg.  The Saints shocked Cornell with a pair of goals 13 seconds
apart to grab the lead.  During a power play, a long pass from Paul DiFrancesco
found Thom Cullen to the right of the slot, and Cullen made a quick move to his
left and wristed a shot over Elliott from in close at the 5:38 mark.
 
Then a bit of a fluke set up the Saints for their second goal.  Big Red
defenseman Jason Kendall reached up in an attempt to bat a high pass down to the
ice, but he deflected it straight up instead, and when the puck came down, he
couldn't find it.  Troy Creurer saw it, though, and sent it over to Ryan Cassidy
between the circles.  In a move much like Cullen's on the Saints' first goal,
Cassidy went to his left and flipped a shot over Elliott's arm.  Cornell had
some good pressure the rest of the way, but Owen was making some fantastic saves
to keep his team ahead.  However, with 57 seconds left in the period, Chad
Wilson got the equalizer on a soft, high shot from the right point.  Owen was
screened by Tony Bergin and one of his own defenders, Justin Harney, and never
saw the shot.
 
Cornell played a sluggish and distracted game for most of the second period, but
it turned out there was a damn good reason for that.  As the team was getting
ready to head out of the locker room, Cooney, who had hit his head on the boards
after taking a check in the first period, complained of dizziness and nausea and
suddenly fell to the floor unconscious.  He apparently had some convulsions as
well, and was taken to the local hospital.  The report was that he had suffered
a "mild" concussion which caused his seizure in the locker room.  Further tests
were run at the hospital and he was kept there overnight.  Head coach Mike
Schafer, generally a hard-nosed kind of guy as anyone who has ever seen him play
or coach can attest, was almost in tears after the game, terming the incident
"one of the scariest things I've ever seen."  Fortunately, Matt appears to be
okay, and the coaches and players were able to get word of his status during the
game.
 
Despite their obvious concern for their fallen teammate, the Big Red was able to
generate some scoring opportunities in the middle stanza.  Among other things,
Darren Tymchyshyn had a breakaway with four minutes left, which Owen had to make
a nice glove save on.  There were several occasions in which a Cornell player
was all alone near one post or the other, but he just wouldn't be able to get
good wood on the shot.  This was all a preliminary to the third period, however,
when Cornell broke the game open with three straight goals.  Chad Wilson got the
game-winner just 26 seconds into the third, when he took a pass from Tymchyshyn
near the Cornell blue line and weaved his way down the ice past two or three St.
Lawrence players.  Wilson skated to the slot, bounced a shot off Owen's pads,
and stuffed the rebound through the five hole.  Tymchyshyn converted a 2-on-1
break himself at the 11:33 mark, as he skated in with Jeff Oates, looked to
pass, then wristed the puck over Owen's shoulder from the edge of the right
circle.
 
St. Lawrence used their timeout with 1:51 left but were unable to pull Owen
until there were 36 seconds remaining.  Kyle Knopp got the empty-netter with a
long shot from his own slot that rolled over the goal line at 19:57.  Elliott,
who looked somewhat better than he had the previous night, stopped 27 shots;
Owen had 30 saves.
 
A few more notes:
 
The _Cornell Daily Sun_ reports that, when reached at his apartment after
returning from the hospital, Cooney said, "I'm not quite 100%, but I'm getting
better."  Cooney will not dress for this weekend's quarterfinal series and may
not see any action at all in the postseason.
 
Defenseman Steve Wilson, who has missed only one game in his career, has set a
new record for games played in a Cornell uniform.  By suiting up for Clarkson
and St. Lawrence this weekend, Wilson pushed his total to 122, breaking the
previous record of 120 held jointly by Dave Burke and Stephane Gauvin.  Burke
and Gauvin, who both played in every game of their careers, still hold the
record for consecutive games.
 
It is sounding like Vinnie Auger is going to be back next year.  The senior
forward, who missed his entire sophomore season with a back injury, may take the
"medical hardship" redshirt, which would give him one more year of eligibility.
 
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  DJF  5/27/94
"I believe Marcel Marceau said it best."
-- Madeline Kahn, "Cosby"
 
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