The Big Red won their first game ever at Clarkson's Cheel Arena Friday
night, riding a spectacular performance by surprise starting goaltender Eddy
Skazyk to a 2-1 upset victory over the #5-ranked Golden Knights. It
appeared that Cornell had the inside track to picking up their first North
Country road sweep in nine years, but the next night, an aroused St.
Lawrence team gained revenge for a pummeling at Lynah three weeks ago by
putting the Big Red away, 5-2. Cornell thus winds up in a ninth-place tie
with Yale in the standings. Box scores and more notes below:
Cornell 2, Clarkson 1
[ Bri Farenell has already posted a box for this one ]
Cornell goaltender Eddy Skazyk, making his first start in three games and
only his sixth of the season, was the star in this one, backstopping the Big
Red to the win with a 27-save performance. Fifteen of those came in the
first period, as a high-flying Clarkson team dominated the opening stanza
and threw everything they had at the Big Red net. Cornell couldn't get much
of anything going, as almost every loose puck wound up on a Golden Knight
stick. But despite the almost constant pressure, Skazyk was a wall, coming
up with a number of outstanding saves. A minute and a half in, Skazyk
quickly shot out a pad to rob Claude Morin on a drive from the slot.
Patrice Robitaille had a chance to bury the rebound, but he flipped it over
the net. At about the eleven-minute mark, Skazyk had a similar effort
against Steve Palmer, denying him from point-blank range. (Actually, if
this one had gone in, it would have been an outright gift, since the puck
had hit the screen above the Cornell net seconds before and should have been
blown dead)
The Big Red regrouped during the intermission, and the second period was
much more evenly played. Cornell spent most of the first five minutes of
the period in the Clarkson zone, and although the Big Red didn't manage a
shot on goal during that time, the momentum seemed to be turning. The
Golden Knights, perhaps sensing this, were pinching in a lot, trying to
generate some scoring chances. Clarkson had a 22-7 edge in shots on goal
midway through the second period and had pretty well controlled the play,
but the Big Red wound up with the last six shots of the second, and one of
them finally found the back of the net. Mike Sancimino stole a pass and
skated to the right circle, firing one that Clarkson goalie Dan Murphy
blocked. Geoff Lopatka crashed the net and tried to poke home the rebound,
but Murphy stuffed that one as well. The puck floated out high in the slot,
where Bill Holowatiuk blasted it home through a crowd at the 16:29 mark.
Clarkson would tie the game at 3:15 of the third on a beautiful play by
Robitaille and Marko Tuomainen. Tuomainen held the puck near the left
point, waited for Robitaille to sneak past the Cornell defense to the right
post, then slid a nice cross-ice pass to him. Before Skazyk could react,
Robitaille had flipped the puck home. (Aside to Clarkson fans: has Cheel
always had that train whistle? This is the first time I can remember
hearing it -- and I have a hard time believing I could forget something THAT
annoying :-)
The Big Red, however, would regain the lead just over nine minutes later.
Jake Karam dumped the puck into the Clarkson zone, and Mark Scollan, just
off the bench, outraced defenseman Nicholas Windsor and corraled it behind
the net. With Brian Mueller heading behind the net to cut Scollan off, the
Cornell winger dumped the puck out in front, where a wide-open Karam stuffed
it in past the left post. Clarkson's best chance at the equalizer came with
5:35 left, when Chris de Ruiter came free in the slot and appeared to have
Skazyk down and out. de Ruiter fired toward the net, but Skazyk somehow was
able to kick out the right pad and deflect the shot wide.
The Knights took their timeout with 1:04 left, and Murphy was off for the
extra skater when play resumed. P.C. Drouin had a chance for the empty-
netter with about 45 seconds remaining, but his slapper went over the net.
This gave Clarkson a chance to get a rush going the other way, but it was
broken up at the Cornell blue line. Murphy was overshadowed by Skazyk in
this one, but the Knights' freshman goaltender had a great game of his own,
stopping 21 of 23 shots.
St. Lawrence 5, Cornell 2
Cornell 1 1 0 -- 2
St. Lawrence 3 2 0 -- 5
First period -- Scoring:
S Tom Perry (Ryan Cassidy, Troy Creurer), 2:19 (PP) 0-1
S Perry (Paul DiFrancesco, Creurer), 10:36 (PP) 0-2
C Brad Chartrand (P.C. Drouin), 14:30 (SH) 1-2
S Derek McLaughlin (Cassidy, Thomas Cullen), 16:37 (PP) 1-3
Penalties:
C Bill Holowatiuk (roughing), 0:48; C Jason Kendall (roughing,
roughing), 5:54; C Jason Dailey (roughing, roughing), 5:54; S Cassidy
(roughing, roughing), 5:54; S Creurer (roughing, roughing), 5:54;
S Cullen (interference), 7:06; C Matt Cooney (roughing), 10:07; S Ken
Ruddock (cross-checking), 11:18; S Chris Dashney (tripping), 12:25;
C Steve Wilson (elbowing), 12:35; C Drouin (hooking), 15:14
Second period -- Scoring:
S Dan Skene (Brian Kapeller, Cullen), 4:15 1-4
S Scott Murphy (Cassidy, Mark McGrath), 11:35 1-5
C Mark Scollan (Jake Karam, Andre Doll), 15:57 2-5
Penalties:
S DiFrancesco (hooking), 2:02; S Creurer (hooking), 5:55
Third period -- Penalties:
C Tony Bergin (hitting after whistle), 6:00; S S. Murphy (hitting after
whistle), 6:00; C Geoff Lopatka (roughing), 9:07; S Skene (hooking),
15:35; S Kapeller (tripping), 17:12; C Cooney (roughing), 20:00;
S Kapeller (roughing), 20:00; S Joel Prpic (roughing), 20:00
Shots on goal: Cornell 8-17-13 -- 38, St. Lawrence 9-18-6 -- 33
Power plays: Cornell 0 of 7, St. Lawrence 3 of 5
Goaltending:
C Jason Elliott (out at beginning of second period, 6 saves, 9 shots),
Eddy Skazyk (in at beginning of second period, 22 saves, 24 shots)
S Jon Bracco (36 saves, 38 shots)
Officials: Bill Stewart (R), John Murphy (R), Larry Legault (L)
Notes:
Special teams told the tale in this one, as St. Lawrence scored three
power-play goals -- all in the first period -- and kept the Big Red off the
board in seven man-up situations. The Saints were flying from the start,
and they lit the lamp just 2:19 into the first period. Tom Perry wound up
and fired from the point, and the low shot eluded goaltender Jason Elliott
to the glove side. The Appleton Arena scorekeepers were apparently using a
modified basketball scoring system, as the scoreboard actually read 2-0 for
a little while -- either that or they were indulging in a little fore-
shadowing.
At 5:54 of the first came a marvelous case of penalties (*eight* of them)
that probably should not have happened. With the Saints tying up the puck
along the board and the Big Red trying to dig it away, referees Bill Stewart
and John Murphy elected to let the players continue hacking at each other
rather than call for a faceoff. Tempers flared, and with a clot of three
players from each side trying to get at the puck, the pushing and shoving
started. St. Lawrence's Ryan Cassidy hauled off and belted Jason Dailey,
who responded in kind, and those two went at it. When order (?) was finally
restored, those two headed to the box, along with the Saints' Troy Creurer
and Cornell's Jason Kendall, all receiving double roughing minors. This did
not sit well with either coach, and it would not be the last time that the
officials would be hearing it from the team benches.
Anyway, St. Lawrence picked up its second power play when Matt Cooney took a
foolish roughing penalty midway through the period, and once again it was
Perry converting it. This time, Paul DiFrancesco sent a nice pass over to
the right circle, and Perry one-timed a shot over Elliott's right pad at the
10:36 mark. The Saints had a brief ten-second power play later in the
period, but it was Cornell striking for the short-handed goal, their fourth
of the year. P.C. Drouin intercepted a pass at center ice, and he and Brad
Chartrand headed into the St. Lawrence zone on a 2-on-1. Drouin feathered a
pass over to Chartrand, who snapped a high shot just behind the crossbar
with 5:30 remaining in the first period.
However, the Saints were not through, and they managed to score yet another
power-play goal less than two minutes later. Elliott stopped a wrap-around
try by Cassidy, but the rebound came loose in the slot, and Derek McLaughlin
tipped it through Elliott's pads. Elliott had looked shaky on all three
goals, and he was replaced by Eddy Skazyk at the start of the second period,
but that didn't make a lot of difference to the Saints. Dailey tried to cut
off a long outlet pass from the St. Lawrence end by Brian Kapeller, but he
wound up tipping it to Dan Skene, who charged up right wing and let fly with
one from just inside the blue line that went under Skazyk's right arm and
found the back of the net at the 4:15 mark.
St. Lawrence made it 5-1 at 11:35 of the second. Cassidy dumped the puck in
front of the Cornell net, and when Skazyk went down to block a shot, the
puck hit the shaft of his stick and bounced out to Scott Murphy, who flipped
it into the net. The Big Red was doing reasonably well controlling the puck
in the corners, but the Saints were not allowing them to work it out to the
front of the net -- that is, until a defensive breakdown led to Cornell's
second goal with 4:03 left in the middle period. Mark Scollan left the puck
behind the net for Jake Karam, who dug it off the boards and waited for
Scollan to break free in front. Scollan jammed Karam's quick pass through
goalie Jon Bracco's pads.
McLaughlin nearly extended the Saints' lead three minutes before the inter-
mission when he fired point-blank at the Cornell net, but Skazyk was able to
kick the shot aside. St. Lawrence pretty much coasted through the third
period, and Cornell had a little more room to operate than they had had in
the first two periods, but they could not generate much sustained pressure
on Bracco. Play got a little chippy later in the period, as the teams
exchanged cheap shots, and the game ended with a skirmish when the Saints'
Joel Prpic speared Cooney after the whistle. Cooney went after him, and
Kapeller joined the fray, as did a couple other Cornellians. It could have
gotten ugly, but fortunately, cooler heads prevailed.
Elliott stopped six shots in the first period, while Skazyk made 22 saves in
relief. Bracco had a fine night for the Saints, finishing with 36 saves.
Cornell will hit the road again next weekend, as they take on Princeton and
Yale.
--
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
"Come to think of it, there are already a million monkeys on a million type-
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