Cornell emerged from its opening weekend of play as the only undefeated team
playing Division I hockey, as its road sweep earned the Big Red a place atop the
standings along with travel partner Colgate and RPI. All in all, not a bad
weekend for Cornell, as they garner two tough wins despite tentative and sloppy
play for most of the Friday night game. The freshmen for the Big Red continued
to impress, particularly forward Ryan Moynihan, who showed he's the Real Deal
with a four-point weekend that included a pair of goals against Brown.
More thoughts on the games:
Cornell 5, Brown 4
In an interview prior to the game, Cornell head coach Mike Schafer mentioned
that forward Ryan Smart, who has been bothered by an arthritis-like condition in
his knee, would see some action that night. This was a welcome surprise for
Cornell fans, as Smart had not been expected to join the lineup for another week
or two, but Coach Schafer said he would play "in five-on-five situations." I
don't remember whether the next remark came from the coach or the interviewer,
but somebody said something to the effect of "given the officiating in the ECAC,
he's not likely to see much action," and whoever said it was right on the money.
This was an ugly game, with 82 minutes' worth of penalties in it, and thanks in
part to the parade to the sin bin, neither team was able to get much of a flow
going. The Bears, to their credit, gave Cornell a tough battle, but the Big
Red, with the help of a 26-shot second period and three power-play goals, would
prove to be too much.
Sloppiness was evident almost from the opening faceoff, and Brown's first big
opportunity came at about the 2:30 mark, when Cornell's Darren Tymchyshyn lost
the puck at center ice. A Brown player (Greg Hayes, I think) raced into the Big
Red zone and got off a hard shot that hit goaltender Jason Elliott's glove and
bounced over the crossbar. Another chance for Brown came about two minutes
later, when Jade Kersey fought his way through a clump of defenders and got off
a good shot that Elliott just got the pad on.
Jeff Burgoyne was called for slashing on the play, giving the vaunted Cornell
penalty kill its first chance of the new season. Last year, the Big Red led the
nation in penalty-killing efficiency with something like 86.7%, but they would
start off 1996-97 with an 0 for 1 mark. Kersey struck at 6:09 of the first, as
he caught Elliott by surprise with a quick sharp-angle wrister off a faceoff.
However, Jason Dailey would tie the score at 8:24 on a beautiful end-to-end
rush that started when he circled behind his own net and eluded a Brown checking
attempt. As Dailey raced toward the Bear net, he faked a shot to pull goalie
Jeff Holowaty down to the ice, then flipped the puck into the open net.
Ryan Moynihan got the first of his two goals at the 11:27 mark, and he had to
work for this one, skating across the blue line, muscling two defenders away
from the puck, and freezing Holowaty with a quick slapper from near the slot.
The lead lasted all of 21 seconds, though, as Mike Flynn, Brown's leading
returning goal-scorer, took advantage of a Cornell defensive miscue that left
him wide open for a hard slapper over Elliott's shoulder. The first period
would end at 2-2, but a minute into the second, Brown freshman Ryan Longfield
was sent off for hooking, and Cornell would take the lead eight seconds later.
Steve Wilson's long shot was blocked by Holowaty, but the goalie was unable to
clear the loose puck, and after a few other Cornell players had hacked at it,
Moynihan pried it away from Holowaty's skate and tapped it home.
Once again, though, the Bruins responded to the challenge. Brown had two
straight power plays after the Moynihan goal, and John DiRenzo converted the
second one, pouncing on Marty Clapton's rebound and, with Elliott screened by
three other guys, backhanding a soft shot into the net at 4:16 of the second
period. DiRenzo nearly gave Brown the lead a couple minutes later, as he took a
shot from the right side that rolled through the crease, but none of the other
Bears were near the net for the follow-up.
After a host of penalties and some shaky play, Cornell head coach Mike Schafer
used his timeout at the 10:13 mark and told his charges, "Look, guys -- get the
puck over to Vinnie on the right side and let him unload." OK, maybe not, but
whatever he said did spark the team to take the lead for good eighteen seconds
later. Tony Bergin bounced a shot off Holowaty and the rebound came out high in
the right circle, where Vinnie Auger was waiting to fire a rocket that deflected
off the post and caught the net under the crossbar. A couple minutes later,
Matt Cooney found Auger again, this time alone in the slot, but Auger's
point-blank slapper was stopped by Holowaty and the score remained 4-3.
Elliott had to react quickly to stop Robert Merrill on a breakaway after Merrill
stole the puck from Dailey, but the goaltender's quick glove preserved the Big
Red's lead. Cornell made it 5-3 with one minute left in the period. Moynihan
won a faceoff in the Brown zone, drawing the puck back to Chad Wilson at the
right point. Wilson skated in, waited for Holowaty to commit to dropping to the
ice, and then flipped the puck into the open net.
Brown picked up another power play opportunity 1:18 into the third period, and
DiRenzo almost scored his second goal, but Elliott smothered the shot from the
right circle. It looked like Cornell would kill this one off, but Flynn would
combine with Brent Hoiness to cut the Big Red's lead to one at the 3:16 mark.
Flynn broke down right wing, and as the Cornell defense closed in on him, he
centered the puck to Hoiness, who one-timed it into the net. The Bears had an
opportunity to tie the game at about the 6:30 mark on yet another power play
when D.J. Harding showed up in the slot with the puck, but Bergin leveled him
before he could get the shot off. Bergin sent the puck over to Jeff Oates who
took off the other way, firing a shot as Harding ran into his own goalie, but
the puck sailed over the crossbar.
Hoiness would later go off for the rarely-called but, in this case, totally
accurate "kneeing" penalty, as he crunched into Dailey and left him sprawled on
the ice for a few minutes. After the penalty-fest that was the first two
periods, referee Alex Dell and assistants Tim Kotyra and Paul Salway (sp?)
called it very loosely over the final 20 minutes, with only three calls until a
last-second melee. Brown called their timeout with 1:36 remaining, and when
play resumed, Holowaty was on the bench for the extra attacker. With very
little time remaining (in fact, it appeared that time had already expired),
Steve Wilson was knocked down at center ice, and a shoving match broke out.
Wilson might have been speared by Merrill -- at least, that's who he went after
when he was able to get back up. Four Cornellians wound up in the penalty box,
along with a couple of Brown players, and the officials had 1.9 seconds put back
on the clock. Bleah... if you're a Cornell fan, and you saw the game at Union
last year, you have to hate the phrase "one point nine seconds." But nothing
really happened here... the puck was dropped, the officials got out of the way,
and that was it.
Elliott had a shaky first period but settled down, winding up with 22 saves. At
the other end, Holowaty faced 44 shots and stopped 39 of them.
Cornell 3, Harvard 2
A rematch of the ECAC championship game, and as others have already noted, this
game was eerily similar to that one. The Crimson sorely missed Henry Higdon
(their leading goal-scorer last season, out with a shoulder injury) and Ethan
Philpott (leg injury), both of whom were hurt in the season-opener against
Brown. Strong goaltending sealed the win for the Big Red, as did a rejuvenated
penalty kill, which kept Harvard off the board in eight man-up situations.
As they had in Lake Placid, Harvard showed up to play first, as they lit the
lamp a mere 13 seconds after the opening faceoff. Ashlin Halfnight (I heard his
name was misspelled in the game program -- there's respect for you :-) dumped
the puck into the Cornell zone, and it eventually wound up behind the net.
Ethan Oberman tried twice to work it out in front, succeeding the second time.
Goaltender Jason Elliott got his skate on the first shot, but Rob Millar was
there to pop home the rebound. Harvard had an intense first period, winding up
with a total of 19 shots on goal (to 11 for the Big Red), but Elliott denied the
Crimson time after time, especially during a big flurry about seven minutes in.
Elliott made three point-blank saves before finally diving on the puck for the
faceoff.
The early deficit didn't shake the Big Red's confidence, however, and when they
finally got their first power play of the game at the 14:04 mark, they converted
it. Freshman goalie J.R. Prestifilippo (and the ECAC is just going to have to
learn how to spell that name, 'cause he'll be heard from a lot) stopped a long
drive by Kyle Knopp, but Darren Tymchyshyn hacked the rebound home. Harvard had
a golden opportunity with 20 seconds left in the period, when Matt Cooney got
leveled along the boards and all of a sudden the Crimson found themselves with a
4-on-1 break. But this play more than any other points out the rather dramatic
change in style that has taken place at Harvard during the Tomassoni era. The
slick-skating units of years past would probably have laughed their way to a
goal in this situation, but on this night, defenseman Ben Storey, who was
leading the break, fired a quick shot that sailed over the net, ending the
threat.
After the first period, the Cornell defense settled down, and Harvard's scoring
chances were considerably harder to come by. The Big Red took the lead for good
at 8:59 of the middle period, on a play that started when Mike Rutter bounced a
hard shot off the back boards. Prestifilippo seemed to react to that shot, as
he drifted to his left, and the rebound came out to Chad Wilson at the right
point. Wilson's shot deflected into the open net off a Crimson defender. The
game finally departed from the Lake Placid script when Rutter got the Big Red
some breathing room in the third with a goal at the 14:59 mark. This one came
courtesy of Ryan Moynihan, who did everything except actually score. Moynihan
stripped Marc Moore of the puck at center ice and fought his way into the
Harvard zone, feeding a wide-open Rutter in the slot. Rutter's backhander
eluded Prestifilippo and bounced in off the post.
Harvard stepped things up, and the last minute of the game was more exciting
than was absolutely necessary. Prestifilippo left for the extra attacker, and
the strategy worked as the Crimson cut the lead to one with 15 seconds left. A
defensive breakdown contributed mightily to this one, as the Big Red seemed to
be trying for the long empty-net goal and missed a couple of opportunities to
simply clear the puck. Joe Craigen took a pass from Craig MacDonald and, with
David Adler all over him, got off a backhander that found the net. Harvard kept
their goalie on the bench and put six forwards out for the ensuing faceoff, but
Cornell controlled it and was able to keep the puck away from the Crimson. The
clock didn't quite wind down, however, as Matt Cooney headed to the box with one
second left. Tomassoni tried to argue that there should have been more time on
the clock but to no avail. Once again, the puck was dropped, the officials got
out of the way, and the game ended. Prestifilippo had a solid game, stopping 27
of 30 shots, but Elliott was amazing, finishing with 37 saves.
Cornell returns home this Friday to take on Vermont in the home opener at Lynah,
followed the next night by Dartmouth.
--
Bill Fenwick Email: [log in to unmask]
Digicomp Research Voice: (607) 273-5900 ext 35
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