In their first ECAC action in over a month, Cornell journeyed to the Capital
District and came away with a split.  Friday night, the Big Red defeated the
Union Skating Dutchmen 4-1 in a game that was closer than that score but was
still a satisfying win over a team that had beaten Cornell three straight
times and four of the last five.  The following night, the Big Red gave RPI
a tough game, but they had no answer for the Engineer power play and wound
up bowing by a 4-1 score.  Boxes and more notes on the weekend games below:
 
Cornell 4, Union 1
 
Cornell   0    2    2  --  4
Union     0    1    0  --  1
 
First period -- Penalties:
     C Jason Kendall (hitting after whistle), 2:52; U Craig Reckin (hitting
     after whistle), 2:52; C Mike Sancimino (slashing), 7:32; C Dan Dufresne
     (holding), 11:19
 
Second period -- Scoring:
     C Jake Karam (P.C. Drouin, Tony Bergin), 3:59               1-0
     U Andrew Will (John Sicinski, Chris Albert), 5:54           1-1
     C Geoff Lopatka (Andre Doll, Steve Wilson), 19:24           2-1
 
     Penalties:
     U Albert (holding), 8:36; C Brad Chartrand (elbowing), 20:00; U Russell
     Monteith (roughing), 20:00
 
Third period -- Scoring:
     C Karam (Lopatka, Doll), 18:51                              3-1
     C Karam (Bill Holowatiuk, Bergin), 19:44 (EN)               4-1
 
     Penalties:
     C Chad Wilson (hooking), 5:02; C Jason Dailey (hitting after whistle),
     10:23; U Chris Ford (charging), 10:23; C Holowatiuk (crosss-checking),
     14:47; C S. Wilson (slashing), 15:28; U Jay Prentice (cross-checking),
     15:28; C Dailey (hitting after whistle), 19:44; U Reid Simonton
     (hitting after whistle), 19:44
 
Shots on goal:  Cornell 6-7-14 -- 27, Union 9-20-9 -- 38
 
Power plays:  Cornell 0 of 1, Union 0 of 4
 
Goaltending:
     C Jason Dailey (37 saves, 38 shots)
     U Luigi Villa (out at approx. 19:20 of third period, in at 19:44 of
     third period, 23 saves, 26 shots)
 
Officials:  Scott Leavitt (R), Fred Campatelli (R), Fratella (L)
 
Notes:
 
This one couldn't exactly be called The Clash of the Titans, as neither team
had had a win since November.  Cornell came in riding a four-game winless
streak and had tasted victory just once in their last seven games.  As for
Union, they were on a six-game winless streak, all on the road, so the
Skating Dutchmen were presumably looking forward to finally playing one in
front of their own fans.  The stars of the game were freshman goaltender
Jason Elliott, who had his best performance in a Cornell uniform in stopping
37 of 38 shots, and senior center Jake Karam, who matched his season goal-
scoring total in picking up his second career hat trick.
 
Union had some nice scoring opportunities in the first period, mainly as a
result of their keeping only one defenseman back and generating odd-man
rushes into the Cornell zone.  One of these nearly resulted in a goal a
couple minutes into the first period, after the Dutchmen intercepted a bad
clearing pass by Jason Dailey and found themselves on a 2-on-1, but the
wobbly shot floated just wide of the net.  Another potential Union breakaway
was thwarted midway through the period when Greg Buchanan was hauled down in
front of the Cornell net, earning Dan Dufresne a holding call.  The Dutchmen
could have easily had more chances than they did in the first period, but
Cornell was doing a good job of clearing, or at least controlling, rebounds,
and the defense was playing considerably better than they had in recent
games.
 
The Dutchmen came out flying in the second, and they wound up outshooting
the Big Red 20-7 in the period.  They had yet another scoring opportunity
three minutes in, when Chris Ford tried to flip the puck over a prone
Elliott, who was somehow able to get his glove on the shot.  It was the Big
Red lighting the lamp moments later, as Karam tallied his first of the night
at the 3:59 mark.  Tony Bergin started the play by fighting off a Union
defenseman and retrieving the puck in the right corner, then sending it over
to P.C. Drouin behind the net.  Drouin dumped it in front for Karam, who
flipped it over goalie Luigi Villa's right shoulder.  The Big Red had
actually spent a large portion of their morning practice working on this
play, and it was good to see it pay off.
 
Union fought back with a goal of their own at 5:54 of the second, and this
one was set up by Andrew Will's huge hit on Brad Chartrand behind the
Cornell net.  This eventually allowed Chris Albert to gain control of the
puck, and his shot was deflected home by Will in the slot.  This goal
sparked a flurry of Dutchmen shots lasting most of the rest of the period,
but several brilliant saves by Elliott kept Union off the board.  Neverthe-
less, the Dutchmen had taken control of the game -- that is, until the Big
Red took advantage of one of Union's odd-man rushes to set up a momentum-
killing goal in the final minute of the second period.  Steve Wilson stole
the puck at the Cornell blue line and fed Andre Doll, who came up the left
side with Geoff Lopatka trailing him and only a lone Union defender to beat.
Doll's drive was stopped by Villa, but he kicked the puck out into the slot,
where Lopatka was waiting to knock it home at the 19:24 mark.  This marked
the sixth straight game in which Lopatka had scored a goal.
 
The second period ended with Russell Monteith taking a run at Chartrand from
behind, in response to Monteith's getting decked by somebody in front of the
Cornell bench.  Union was not dead by any means, as Troy Stevens had a clean
breakaway a couple of minutes into the third, but after deking Elliott to
the ice, Stevens wound up shooting wide.  Cornell, however, did a better job
of controlling the Dutchmen's rushes than they had done earlier in the game,
and Union could not generate anywhere near the pressure they had in the
second period.
 
The Big Red stepped things up on their own offensive rushes, and it finally
paid off with an insurance goal at the 18:51 mark.  Lopatka skated toward
the Union net unmolested and let loose a slapper that Villa got a pad on,
but Karam was there to pounce on the rebound and send it through Villa's
pads and into the net.  Villa left the game for the extra skater in the
game's final minute, but Karam rounded out the scoring, as well as his hat
trick, by firing the puck into the empty net from center ice.  Villa
finished the night with 23 saves.  The win was head coach Brian McCutcheon's
100th with the Big Red.
 
RPI 4, Cornell 1
 
     [ Kurt Stutt already posted the box on this one... though I have the
       PPs as 0 of 6 for Cornell and 3 of 7 for RPI ]
 
Notes:
 
Take away the RPI power play, and this was an even game; unfortunately for
the Big Red, they were unable to do that.  The Engineers scored their first
three goals in man-up situations, and freshman Bryan Masotta, who has been
at least as up-and-down as his team this year, was decidedly up for this
one, stopping 33 of 34 Cornell shots.
 
The game was fast-moving for the first five minutes, but then a rash of
penalties midway through the first period slowed things down.  The Big Red
had a solid penalty kill on RPI's first power play and then wound up with
four power plays of their own but were unable to mount much pressure on any
of them (OK, so one of them was only 15 seconds long).  RPI got their second
power play with 4:44 left in the first when Jamie Papp was sent off for
high-sticking, and the Engineers converted this one in somewhat bizarre
fashion.  Craig Hamelin held the puck in the right circle, then apparently
tried to back-door it past two Cornell defenders to a teammate near the net,
but the puck hit something in the crease (most likely goaltender Jason
Elliott's stick) and deflected into the net at the 15:54 mark.
 
Cornell captain Jake Karam went off for roughing less than two minutes later
-- his first penalty of the year, and oddly enough, he shook the referee's
hand after talking with him a bit.  Anyway, the Big Red came close to
killing this one off, but during a delayed call on Steve Wilson, Jeff Brick
found Bryan Richardson in front of the net, and Richardson lifted the puck
over a fallen Elliott with 18 seconds remaining in the first period.  Des-
pite trailing 2-0, Cornell was actually playing fairly well, generating some
good scoring opportunities off their transition game, but Masotta had served
notice that he would be difficult to beat on this night.
 
The Engineers played a more physical game in the second period (helped in no
small measure by some inconsistent officiating on the part of Scott Leavitt
and Fred Campatelli), while the Big Red were back on their heels for the
most part.  Still, Cornell had a couple of golden opportunities to light the
lamp, including a potential short-handed break a minute in when Bill Holo-
watiuk and Geoff Lopatka steamed into the RPI zone (Holowatiuk lost Lopat-
ka's pass near the Engineer net), and a Matt Cooney backhander that Masotta
had to make an outstanding save on  a few minutes after that.  The momentum
seemed to swing solidly in RPI's favor when Dan Dufresne picked up a foolish
interference penalty with 2:38 left, knocking down an Engineer during a Cor-
nell rush up the ice.  Just over a minute later, Steve Wilson cross-checked
Tim Regan in the back, and Regan went head-first into the boards, crumpling
to the ice.  It was a little surprising that Wilson didn't get a major for
that one, but still, Cornell was faced with having to kill off 42 seconds of
5-on-3 time.  Which they succeeded in doing, thanks largely to Elliott, who
made two huge saves off point-blank drives to keep the Engineers off the
board.
 
The Big Red finally hit pay dirt at 3:47 of the third period, on a goal by
the little-used fourth line.  Actually, it was an individual effort by Mark
Scollan, who scored just after coming off the bench.  In attempting to clear
the zone, RPI defenseman Jon Pirrong put the puck right on Scollan's stick,
and Scollan snapped one from the right circle that beat Masotta over the
left shoulder.  However, the Big Red momentum generated by the score was
short-lived, as Fred Campatelli called Brad Chartrand for holding a minute
later.  Eyebrows were probably raised, as Richardson had taken up residence
in the Cornell crease and Chartrand was trying to get him out of it, but in
any event, RPI had another power play, and they proceeded to convert it at
the 5:44 mark.  Pirrong slapped a shot from the point that went behind the
net, where Hamelin tracked it down and dumped it out in front of the net for
Eric Healey's one-timer.
 
Cornell had another big chance a couple minutes later, when Mike Sancimino's
drive was redirected by Andre Doll, but once again, Masotta came out of no-
where to make the brilliant save.  Richardson had a clean breakaway nine
minutes in when he intercepted a pass at the RPI blue line, but Elliott
stoned him with a great pad save.  However, RPI kept pressing, and it paid
off at the 14:20 mark on a great play by Hamelin.  He won a faceoff at
center ice, put a move on defenseman Jason Dailey, skated down the left side
unmolested, deked Elliott to the ice, and flipped the puck into the open
net.  And that was all she wrote.  Elliott, though overshadowed by Masotta,
had a solid performance of his own, stopping 37 shots.
 
Next up for Cornell:  a rare Sunday afternoon game at home, a non-league
contest against Army -- a physical team that has always given the Big Red
fits.
--
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
"I used to think the brain was the most important organ in the body, 'til
 I realized yeah, look what's teling me that."
-- Emo Phillips