The Cornell hockey team played its annual Red-White scrimmage Saturday night
at Lynah Rink, with the White team prevailing by an 8-5 score. Box and some
thoughts below:
White 8, Red 5
Red 3 1 1 -- 5
White 1 3 4 -- 8
First period -- Scoring:
R Jake Karam (Mark Scollan), 11:51 1-0
R Jamie Papp (Christian Felli), 14:12 2-0
R Jason Weber (Tony Bergin, Papp), 17:31 3-0
W Geoff Lopatka (Geoff Bumstead), 19:54 (PP) 3-1
Penalties:
W Matt Cooney (charging), 0:25; R Jason Zubkus (holding), 18:57
Second period -- Scoring:
R Andre Doll (Zubkus), 0:20 4-1
W Jiri Kloboucek (Mike Sancimino, Vincent Auger), 0:48 4-2
W Jiri Kloboucek, 3:32 (SH) 4-3
W Brad Chartrand (Cooney, Jason Kendall), 8:09 (PP) 4-4
Penalties:
W Steve Hayden (holding), 2:22; R Steve Wilson (high-sticking), 7:00;
R Martin Kandrac (cross-checking), 9:14; R Felli (interference), 12:36;
W Sancimino (high-sticking), 16:51
Third period -- Scoring:
W Dan Dufresne (Cooney, Chartrand), 2:15 4-5
W Cooney (Chartrand, Bumstead), 14:18 4-6
R Papp (Zubkus, Karam), 16:31 5-6
W Chartrand (Bumstead), 17:35 5-7
W Chartrand (Cooney, Bumstead), 18:18 5-8
Penalties:
R Marc Wyttenbach (roughing), 9:45; W Dufresne (roughing), 9:45
Shots on goal: Red 15-4-8 -- 27, White 13-22-9 -- 44
Power play: Red 0 of 3, White 2 of 4
Goaltending:
R Eddy Skazyk (44 shots, 36 saves)
W Andy Bandurski (27 shots, 22 saves)
Notes:
It's always dangerous to evaluate a team based on how it looks in a scrim-
mage, but considering that the Big Red had only been practicing on ice for a
week, this was not a bad performance at all. Some of the freshmen looked
quite good, while the team as a whole seemed to display more of a willing-
ness to hit than they did last year. Four players were out with assorted
injuries: team captain Shaun Hannah, defensemen Blair Ettles and Bill
Holowatiuk, and freshman blueliner Chad Wilson. Hannah watched the game
from behind the team bench, offering encouragement; the others were up in
the press box. P.C. Drouin also dropped by to watch his once and hopefully
future teammates. More on the game:
Offense:
Some solid performances here. Jiri Kloboucek was all over the ice and
jump-started the White team with a pair of goals early in the second
period, including a nice unassisted short-hander where he popped the
puck through a small gap that Red goaltender Eddy Skazyk had left
between his stick and the post. Jiri got the crap beat out of him for
most of the game (which was what happened to the whole team last year)
and was less of a factor later on, but a good job nonetheless. Mike
Sancimino had a terrific game himself, despite notching just one
assist. He seems to have recovered fully from last year's case of
mono, which kept him out of the lineup for almost two months. Freshman
Jamie Papp starred for the Red team with a pair of goals. However, the
real stars of this game were Brad Chartrand, Geoff Bumstead, and Matt
Cooney. This line came together in the second period and pretty much
took over the game. Chartrand finished with a hat trick and two
assists to lead all scorers with five points, while linemates Bumstead
(0-4) and Cooney (1-3) were not far behind. I don't know whether or
not Coach Brian McCutcheon plans to break up the Hannah-Chartrand
connection (which worked pretty well last year), but it's impressive
that the Chartrand-Bumstead-Cooney line was able to work so well
together after only a week. This might be a group to watch.
Defense:
It needs work, but then again, Cornell's two best blueliners (Ettles
and Holowatiuk) didn't play. Each team had a number of breakaway
opportunities in this game, which is a problem that plagued the Big Red
defense last year. At least the White defense, led by sophomore Dan
Dufresne, was able to pull together some over the last two periods.
But hopefully, Blair (knee problems -- he was walking a lot better
Saturday than the last time I saw him, about two weeks ago) and Bill
(don't know what his injury is, if any) won't be out too long. If this
unit is going to improve from last year, they'll need all the bodies
they can get.
Goaltending:
Apparently, Coach McCutcheon is looking to use a goalie rotation this
year (he said as much after the game). Andy Bandurski and Eddy Skazyk
will almost assuredly be Cornell's only two goalies for the season,
although there was a third one dressed for the scrimmage (he wasn't
listed in the program -- I suspect it was Jasen Adams). At any rate,
Bandurski was shaky early on, although he played pretty well in the
first period. Neither of the Red's first two goals was his fault: on
the first one, Jake Karam blew through the White defense as if they
weren't even there, and Jamie Papp's first goal was set up by a fluke
when Bandurski's clearing pass bounced off the linesman and came back
to a clump of Red players. Bandurski then proceeded to let in a couple
of soft goals, but he settled down and played a terrific game after
that. He was not roaming as often or as far from the net as he did
last year, and he was not quite as quick to drop to the ice when an
opponent threatened a shot -- both welcome improvements.
As for Skazyk, he came up with a number of big saves during the first
period and showed flashes of greatness throughout, but the Red defense
caved in on him in the second period (allowing the White team a 22-4
shot advantage), and he seemed to get a little rattled. Nonetheless,
he appears to have benefitted from a full preseason of training. Part
of his problem last year was that he didn't join the team until second
semester, and he was immediately thrown into action in his first game
in a Cornell uniform a week later.
All in all, hockey on the Lynah ice, even a scrimmage, was a welcome sight
for sore eyes. The Big Red laces 'em up for real on November 6th, when they
take on Western Ontario in an exhibition game.
--
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and probably '94 | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"This is a really sexy thing to do, according to the French, although you
should keep in mind that these people also like to eat snails."
-- Dave Barry, on French kissing
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