Cornell's four-game unbeaten streak came to a crushing end last weekend, as
the Big Red lost back-to-back one-goal games to Harvard and Brown. Friday
night, Lynah Rink hopefully saw the death of a tradition, as the Crimson
took Cornell's usual gift delay-of-game penalty (courtesy of a less than
intelligent fish-tosser) and converted it into a power-play goal, propelling
Harvard to their eighth straight win against the Big Red and extending their
unbeaten regular-season streak against Cornell to 20 games. The following
night, a tired Cornell squad gave Brown all they could handle in a wild,
back-and-forth game, but the Big Red finally bowed to the Bruins for the
fifth straight time. More notes on the games below:
Harvard 2, Cornell 1
Ah, tradition, thy name is Lynah Rink, especially when the Crimson comes to
town. It's become downright predictable: the Harvard team becomes the
target of all sorts of objects from the stands (usually, though not always,
dead fish) before the start of the game; the warning about bench minors is
read and, at the request of the Cornell coach, read a second time; and then,
as inevitable as the sunrise (and even in Ithaca, that's pretty inevitable),
some idiot disregards the warning and... well, more on that later. Lynah
Rink sold out for the first time in two years for this game, and there were
certainly a LARGE number of fish heaved out of the stands. PA announcer
Arthur Mintz read the announcement, adding, "This is NOT a drill!" and then
head coach Brian McCutcheon, who is all too familiar with the way this
tradition works at Lynah, requested that the announcement be repeated.
Well anyway, the game started, and it was pretty physical in the early
going. Cornell wound up outshooting Harvard 12-7 in the first period, but
it was the Crimson who had the better scoring chances, especially on the
three straight power plays they got in the game's first ten minutes. But
goaltender Jason Elliott was able to keep the Crimson off the board early
(no thanks to Harvard's Doug Sproule, who ran him twice without getting
called for it). The game's first real bit of excitement came at 8:56 of the
first period, when Cornell's Jason Kendall and Harvard's Tommy Holmes got
into a shoving match and were each handed hitting-after-the-whistle minors.
As Holmes headed to the box, he mouthed off to referee John Gallagher, who
responded, "Well, OK, have a misconduct" or some such, and gave Holmes the
extra ten minutes. Despite the two minors being coincidentals (since Har-
vard was already on a power play), Stu Swenson went into the box to serve
Holmes' minor. I'm not sure who was at fault on that one, but Gallagher
dropped by with about ten seconds left in the penalty and told Swenson he
didn't have to serve it.
Cornell had a nice flurry in the Harvard end with about five minutes left in
the first, and Tony Bergin had a turn-around try from the slot that hit the
left post. The Big Red's other real chance in the opening period came with
about 2:30 left, when Crimson goalie Tripp Tracy came out to the right
circle after a loose puck, barely beating a Cornell forward to it.
Nevertheless, things were looking reasonably good for the Big Red, who were
beginning to mount some pressure on Tracy after a slow start.
And then... well, there's this argument going on in the Ivy League sports
group on USENET about which Ivy League schools do and do not admit students
with triple-digit SAT scores. Let's just say that, based on the actions of
one unidentified fan in the student section at Lynah, Cornell will have
difficulty winning the argument. The teams had just come out after the
first intermission when a few Harvard players caught the attention of one of
the referees and pointed out a fish near the blue line, in front of Section
D. As promised, the ref called Cornell for delay of game, handing the Crim-
son a power play with which to start the second period. Arthur "once again"
read the warning, but the damage was done. This happens every damn year in
the Harvard-Cornell game, but this time there was an important difference:
the Crimson converted the power play, the first time I can recall that
happening on a "fish penalty." Elliott got a pad on a drive by Steve Mar-
tins, but the rebound came straight out to the top of the slot, where Bryan
Lonsinger was waiting to flip it into the corner of the net at the 56-second
mark. Just like that, Harvard had a 1-0 lead. The "It's all your fault"
cheer, usually reserved for opposing goaltenders, was directed at Section D
of the stands by most of the rest of the Lynah Faithful after that one.
Jason Karmanos came close to giving the Crimson their second goal a minute
later, when he fired one from the right circle that bounced off the left
post. Harvard was flying, but a silly holding penalty by Geb Marrett took
away the Crimson's momentum, and a power-play goal by Matt Cooney at the
8:01 mark took away their lead. During a scramble in front of the Harvard
goal, Jamie Papp slapped one off Tracy's pads from the left side, and Cooney
charged in to hack the rebound into the net over the prone goalie. When
Cory Gustafson was called for slashing half a minute later, it looked like
the Big Red would have a golden opportunity to take the lead.
However, an aggressive penalty kill by the Crimson took care of that, and it
was Harvard striking for what turned out to be the game's last goal. Joe
Craigen fired a shot from near the right point that Elliott kicked aside,
but Kirk Nielsen tipped the rebound into the air, Elliott juggled the puck,
and it went off his left shoulder and trickled into the net at 11:15 of the
second.
Harvard stepped up their physical play even more in the back-and-forth third
period, and Tracy began roaming even farther from the net to play the puck.
Several times, it looked like the Big Red had caught him out of position,
but they could not convert. When Harvard's Michel Briestroff got called for
hitting from behind with 6:30 left (the first call of the third period),
Cornell used their timeout, but the ensuing power play was awful, as the Big
Red could not handle Harvard's aggressive penalty kill and never managed to
get a shot on goal. The Big Red's last shot at the equalizer came with 29
seconds remaining, when Harvard's Peter McLaughlin was called for holding.
With Elliott on the bench, Cornell was skating 6-on-4, but Harvard suc-
cessfully stalled and tied the puck up until a faceoff was called with 14
seconds left. Cornell won it, and Jake Karam had Tracy down on the ice with
seven seconds left, but the Harvard goalie reached up to glove the
backhander, and that was it.
Tracy finished the game with 27 saves and an in-your-face victory dance
performed in front of (and directed toward) the Section B fans, who had been
on his case the whole night. I'm really not sure what brought that on --
for heaven's sake, Tracy is a junior and ought to be used to beating Cornell
at Lynah by now :-( (A possible small consolation to Cornell fans: last
year, Vermont's Tim Thomas did much the same thing and lived to regret it,
as the Big Red beat the Catamounts twice this year -- perhaps history will
repeat itself.) As for Elliott, he stopped 26 shots.
And one final note on the infamous fish toss: it can't really be said that
this little incident cost Cornell the game, because there were over 39
minutes left for the Big Red to overcome that power-play goal. But it
certainly changed the complexion of the second period, and it more than
likely cost Cornell a shot at building some momentum. The Big Red seemed
quite happy with the way the first period went, at least on the scoreboard,
and there was a good chance that they could have come out after the inter-
mission and really taken it to their arch-rivals, possibly laying the ground
for that all-important first regular-season win against Harvard in ten
years. But we'll never know, will we?
Brown 5, Cornell 4
As usually happens after the emotional Harvard game, the Big Red was tired
in this one, but they gave Brown all they could handle, staying close all
the way despite some questionable officiating in the third period (I know,
whine whine whine -- don't worry, I'll get to it). Cornell had any number
of chances to win this game, but Brown goalie Mike Parsons was pretty solid
between the pipes, and when the Big Red did have him down and out, they
couldn't convert.
A scary moment for Brown fans occurred just 1:15 into the game, when Parsons
dove after the puck near the left circle and took a knee in the head from an
onrushing Cornell player. Parsons was down for three or four minutes, but
he was able to continue. A presumably relieved Bear squad promptly lit the
lamp at the other end, as James Mooney's slapper from the right point was
deflected by Scott Bradford off goaltender Jason Elliott's right pad and
into the net at 2:25 of the first. Cornell nearly tied the score two min-
utes later, when Bill Holowatiuk's drive from the point bounced off Parsons'
chest and Geoff Lopatka just missed putting home the rebound on a
turn-around try from the slot.
Cornell started the game flat, but they gradually got more into it and had
several quality chances before finally getting one past Parsons at the 15:16
mark. Jason Kendall blasted a low one from near the left point that Parsons
got the pad on. Parsons also stuffed the rebound try by Lopatka, but Mike
Sancimino was able to hack the puck away from him and flip it into the net.
The Bears came close to retaking the lead on a Mike Flynn breakaway two and
a half minutes into the second period, but his shot floated wide left. But
Brown did in fact take the lead at the 2:56 mark. Mike Traggio's shot from
near the right circle was stopped by Elliott, but the rebound came loose in
front of the net, and Charlie Humber rushed in from the point and poked the
puck over the goal line.
A pair of Brown penalties 23 seconds apart later in the period gave Cornell
a 5-on-3, and they responded by converting both power plays to take the
lead. Steve Wilson fired a bullet from the right point that Parsons
stopped, but Ryan Smart was right there at the edge of the crease to lift
the rebound home for his team-leading eleventh goal at the 8:59 mark. Jason
Dailey then dumped the puck out of the Cornell zone, and Jamie Papp, just
coming off the bench, caught up with it at center ice. He skated between
the faceoff circles and uncorked a slapper that beat Parsons through the
five-hole at 9:52 of the second. Ryan Mulhern tied the game with 3:59 to go
in the second, after corralling a loose puck at center ice. He skated to
the right circle, then either faked a pass or nearly lost control of the
puck -- but whatever, he snapped off a high shot that beat a screened
Elliott.
Eric Trach put the Bears up 4-3 just 1:22 into the third period, skating out
from the end boards to the right of the Cornell net and bouncing a tough-
angle shot off Elliott's shoulder and into the net. Cornell responded with
Papp's second goal of the game at the 6:15 mark. Dailey faked a shot in the
right circle, then slid the puck over to Papp, who wristed a high shot just
inside the crossbar. Lopatka and Matt Cooney nearly gave Cornell the lead
off a 2-on-1 short-handed break midway through the period, when Cooney took
Lopatka's quick pass and fired one that Parsons barely got the pad on. With
Lopatka charging toward the crease, Parsons was able to drop on top of the
loose puck to snuff the threat.
Moments later, Lopatka was sent off on a lame interference call by referee
Marty McDonough (all right, I admit I can't stand McDonough, but this one
was pretty bad), and Brown called timeout to discuss the brief 5-on-3 power
play they would have. While they did not convert that one, they did convert
on the 5-on-4, with Jimmy Andersson feeding Flynn low in the left circle.
Flynn skated closer to the net and flipped a tough-angle shot in behind
Elliott at the 11:52 mark. Cornell had several chances to get the equal-
izer, the best of which may have been Sancimino's rebound try with Parsons
sliding away from the net (the shot just missed to the left). A bit of
comedy occurred with a minute and a half left, as a long Cornell clearing
attempt went right past two Brown players and resulted in an icing call
anyway. Hmm, I was under the impression that icing was waved off if any
opposing player could have played the puck -- apparently, it's only if an
ODD number of opposing players could have played the puck (facetious mode
off). Anyway, the officials seemed to admit they had made a mistake,
signalling for the center-ice faceoff, but the faceoff was abruptly moved to
the Cornell end.
Brown's Tony Martino was hit with a tripping penalty at the 18:41 mark, and
if the Brown bench complained about that being a make-up call, they had a
good case. Cornell called their timeout, and after they won the ensuing
faceoff, Elliott left for the extra skater. And now, a brief interlude
while we check out Rule 6-13-a, which states, "A minor penalty shall be
imposed on a player other than the goalkeeper who deliberately falls on or
gathers a puck into the body." This is precisely what Brown did in their
own end at least three and maybe four times, and they were frankly blatant
about it, with the players involved reaching out and GRABBING the puck while
they were lying on the ice. But they got away with it each time, as the
officials were content to call for the faceoff. Sigh. Parsons wound up
with 33 saves, and Elliott stopped 22 shots.
After two weekends in which the bounces pretty much went Cornell's way, they
came in and had a pair of games in which most of the bounces went against
them, even though they played well enough to win. The Big Red doesn't get
much of a chance to recover, as the dreaded North Country trip is next for
them on the schedule. Cornell will take on league-leading Clarkson Friday
night and will face St. Lawrence Saturday.
--
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!! DJF 5/27/94
"Top Ten San Diego Charger Excuses:
"6. If only we'd had Shapiro and Cochran on defense."
-- David Letterman, "Late Show with David Letterman"
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