Cornell came home from the Yale-Princeton trip with a split, and considering how
tough this road trip has been in recent years, that could conceivably be cause
for celebration... but the team played an awful game against a much-improved
Yale squad to earn the loss on Friday night.  The Big Red was able to rebound
against the Tigers to win the battle for first place in the ECAC (imagine your
reaction if, a month ago, someone had said, "Hey, that Cornell-Princeton game is
gonna be for first place in the league!")  Some voluminous thoughts on the
weekend follow:
 
Yale 4, Cornell 3
 
Let's get the kvetching out of the way first.  With about 1:06 left in the third
period and the teams tied at three apiece, the Big Red's Vinnie Auger skated
into the Yale zone on an apparent clean breakaway, but he was tripped up from
behind by the Elis' Daryl Jones.  Referee Alex Dell did not call a penalty, the
puck fluttered wide of the Yale net, and the Elis went the other way on a 3-on-2
break, with Matt Cumming redirecting a Jeff Hamilton centering feed past goal-
tender Jean-Marc Pelletier at the 19-minute mark for what would prove to be the
game-winning goal.  During the Yale celebration that followed, Cornell captain
Matt Cooney took an unforgivably dumb penalty, cross-checking a Yale player to
the side of the head and winding up with a major.  Thus, Cornell was short-
handed... and yet, twelve seconds later, they were called for icing.  That's not
supposed to happen, folks.
 
Two calls, one that should have been made (denying Cornell a scoring chance and
setting up Yale with one, which they proceeded to convert) and one that should
not have (preventing a possible Cornell scoring chance from developing).  A
tripping call on Jones would certainly not have been out of line for the way the
game was being officiated up to that point, and as for the phantom icing call...
OK, I accept that the officials are human, and that mistakes will be made, but
is it too much to ask of them to remember that something unusual is going on (a
*major* had just been called, for heaven's sake) and that the teams are not
skating even-up?  The tripping non-call seems to me to be a clear-cut case of an
official not wanting to make the penalty call that "decides the game", so he
doesn't call it -- and decides the game.
 
Speaking of which, let's talk about how the officiating in the last minute cost
Cornell the win.  Well... it didn't really.  Certainly the Big Red lost a couple
of chances at the end and gave up a goal on a play that should not have been
allowed to happen, but when you consider that in the previous 59 minutes,
Cornell:
 
     1) had already allowed 40 of the 41 shots that Yale would end up with;
     2) had been handed eight power-play opportunities (to four for the Elis),
        including a 51-second 5-on-3, and had but one PP goal to show for them;
        and
     3) spent a good portion of the game displaying all the spark and aggres-
        siveness of a tranquilized tree sloth;
 
you begin to see that the blame for this one has to be spread around a bit, kind
of like fertilizer.  Coming off a sluggish win against Dartmouth the Saturday
before, Cornell never seemed able to handle a fired-up Eli team that is playing
considerably better than the Yale teams that have finished in the cellar the
past two years.
 
Following a familiar script, the Big Red's opponent got the first goal of the
game, this one coming at 11:15 of the first period.  Cornell was already
demonstrating that they were going to have trouble handling the puck in their
own end, and this time it cost them.  Geoff Kufta came into the Cornell end
facing three Big Red defenders and lost the puck, but a pass along the boards to
Cornell's Jeff Burgoyne was broken up and deflected to center ice by the Elis'
Jeff Hamilton.  Kufta got to the puck, and this time there was no one between
him and the Cornell net; he skated in and backhanded a shot over Pelletier.
 
Cooney had a shot bounce into the Yale net off his skate at about the 15:45
mark, but he was in the crease at the time, so the apparent goal was waved off.
 However, Cornell did get the equalizer 1:59 before the intermission on a bit of
a lucky break, when a drive from the right point by Burgoyne deflected off
Darren Tymchyshyn's stick, hit the post behind surprised goalie Dan Choquette,
and went in.  A minute into the second, Tony Bergin and Jamie Papp combined on a
2-on-1 break, but the shot was wide, and Yale brought the puck back the other
way.  Jones fired a shot from the right side that Pelletier had a bead on, but
the puck hit a stick in front and bounced off to the left.  With Pelletier over
to the side of the goal, Brad Dunlap flipped the loose puck home at 1:32 of the
middle period.
 
Midway through the period, Cornell's Frank Kovac finished serving a minor
penalty, hopped over the boards, and headed straight for the puck (nice rule
change, that).  Kovac flipped a feed ahead to Ryan Moynihan to start a 3-on-1
break, but Choquette made a chest-pad save of Moynihan's shot.  Kovac tried to
center the loose puck to an onrushing Kyle Knopp, but a quick whistle nullified
the play.  Grumble... not a very good night for the men in the black-and-whites.
Anyway, Yale had a goal disallowed with about 4:20 left, when the officials
ruled that the net had come off.  Cornell tied the game 2-2 at 16:30 of the
second, when Auger intercepted a Yale clearing attempt at the right point,
skated toward the goal and, as Choquette came out to cut down the angle, wound
up from the top of the circle and... partially fanned on the shot, coming up
with a soft, fluttering thing that rolled past Choquette anyway and into the
net.
 
Yale retook the lead with 56 seconds left in the middle period.  Brad Dunlap
started the play with a long pass through center ice to Jay Quenville, who
skated in and sent a slapper toward the net.  Pelletier made the save but gave
up a long rebound to the left circle, where a trailing Dunlap was waiting to rip
a bullet over the goaltender's shoulder.  This goal meant that, despite giving
up the first goal in every game this season, this would be the first time that
the Big Red would trail on the scoreboard going into the third period.
 
Frustration may have begun to set in for the Big Red in the third, as Jason
Dailey put a nasty cross-check on Cory Shea at the 1:10 mark and laid him out on
the ice.  Shea was helped to his feet and eventually into the locker room, and I
believe he did not return to the game.  Dailey was called for the cross-check,
and Kufta would return the favor for Yale a minute later, putting Auger down for
several minutes with a cross-check of his own.  After all the fun and games
began to settle down, Cornell finally converted a power play on its seventh
opportunity, with Dailey getting the goal at the 7:34 mark.  Once again, it was
an odd and somewhat lucky goal for the Big Red, as Dailey's wrister from the
left point was harmless enough, but a screened Choquette never saw it.  With
seven minutes left, Kufta and Hamilton combined on 2-on-0 break, but an on-
rushing Jason Kendall dove to take Kufta out as he was getting the pass off, and
Hamilton's backhander floated wide of the net.
 
Then came the tripping non-call, followed by Cumming's goal and Cooney's major.
 Cornell called timeout at that point, and Jason Elliott replaced Pelletier in
the net, taking some slow warmups and checking every piece of equipment check-
able, apparently in an effort to gain more time for his teammates.  (Actually,
this timeout was probably more to calm the Big Red down than anything else)
 Then came the non-icing call, and at that point, Cornell coach Mike Schafer
called for a measurement on Hamilton's stick, which was found to be illegal.
 Side note:  how in the world does anybody pick this up?  It's rarely tried, but
I've never seen this fail (it's a delay-of-game penalty if it does).  At any
rate, the teams were at even strength again, and Elliott left for the extra
attacker.  Cornell's frustration was still evident, as Bergin took a poke at
Choquette after the Yale goalie had made a save with 18 seconds left.  Keith
McCullough responded by taking a poke at Bergin, and the two headed to the
penalty box.  The game then ended (mercifully), and then Schafer and Cumming
exchanged some heated words.  McCullough responded with kind of a half-swing at
Schafer, who then had some words with Yale coach Tim Taylor.  Thankfully,
nothing ugly happened, and the team handshake that followed (I'm surprised the
officials didn't just usher the teams off the ice immediately) was uneventful.
 
Pelletier stopped 37 of the 41 shots he faced, while Elliott did not face a shot
during his brief stint.  Choquette was the star of the game for Yale, recording
37 saves in a brilliant performance.  I was a little surprised he got the start
for this one, as I thought Alex Westlund had pretty much displaced him.
 Choquette's GAA in limited action this year was something like 7.8, and his
career GAA is somewhere around 5, but he was a major factor in the Yale win on
Friday.
 
 
Cornell 3, Princeton 1
 
More of the same for the Big Red in this one, at least in the first period.
 Looking sluggish after their loss the night before, Cornell had difficulty
getting things started, and for the sixth time in their six games this year
allowed the opposition to score first.  This time, however, the Big Red
recovered and was fired up over the final 40 minutes, allowing the Tigers just
10 shots on goal during that time and aggressively taking control of the game.
 
Jason Given put the Tigers on the board just 1:17 into the contest, beating
goaltender Jason Elliott from in close after a Princeton flurry that began
virtually with the opening faceoff.  Princeton kept the pressure on for most of
the first period, as Cornell was having difficulty sustaining an attack of their
own, but fortunately for the Big Red, Elliott was having a hot night.  Midway
through the first, the always-dangerous Casson Masters streaked in on a short-
handed breakaway, but a brilliant leg save by Elliott robbed the junior forward.
Nevertheless, with Princeton already ahead by one at the end of the first and
the Big Red looking like they would rather be anywhere else, the prospects for
Cornell did not look all that bright.
 
But Cornell came out of the locker room on fire and dominated the second period,
outshooting the Tigers by a 16-4 margin and scoring twice to take the lead.
 Princeton killed off the remainder of an anemic-looking Big Red power play to
start the period, but Syl Apps was whistled for tripping to give Cornell another
man-up chance, and Darren Tymchyshyn cashed in on this one.  Tymchyshyn moved
toward the net as Jamie Papp put a nice feed right on his stick, and Tymchyshyn
rifled a quick shot past goalie Nick Rankin.  Midway through the period,
however, the Big Red suffered what could turn out to be a huge loss when former
Ivy League Player of the Year Vinnie Auger was slashed on the hand by the
Tigers' Dominique Auger (they're not related) and was taken off the ice for
X-rays.  Vinnie's status is still unknown, but he probably has a broken hand.
 No penalty was called on the play, and according to a USCHO report (hey,
they're even getting mentioned in our local rag -- nice going, guys!) Cornell is
planning to send a video of the slash to the ECAC office.
 
Cornell took a 2-1 lead with 4:14 left in the second.  Chad Wilson took off on
an end-to-end rush and fired a shot that Rankin kicked aside, but the rebound
went to a trailing Papp, who slapped it past the diving goalie.  The Big Red
mustered only three shots in the third period, but one of them came on another
beautiful end-to-end rush, this time by Tony Bergin.  The senior forward eluded
two Princeton defenders, put a move on Rankin, and then flipped the puck into
the net at 10:22 of the third as the goalie was going down.
 
Team captain Matt Cooney, who was benched for the first period of this one after
his major at the end of Friday night's game, appeared to have scored an
empty-net insurance goal with 1:32 left, but a pair of coincidental minors was
being called on Cornell's Ryan Smart and Princeton's Auger, and the goal didn't
count.  Still, it was a solid win for the Big Red, and they appear to be back to
the form that won games against Brown, Harvard, and Vermont to open the season.
 Rankin had 26 saves, while Elliott had 22.
 
Cornell takes a "break" from ECAC play this Saturday, as they will entertain a
tough Miami team at Lynah Rink.
 
--
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
"A man shouldn't be an athlete after the age of 27."
-- George Foreman, in 1973
 
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