This was the final weekend before the start of league play in the ECAC, and
the ECAC teams performed quite well, winning five of six games against
Hockey East competition. Scores involving ECAC teams from Friday and
Saturday (home teams in CAPS):
Friday, 11/2:
BOSTON COLLEGE 5, Vermont 1
CLARKSON 9, Northeastern 5
ST. LAWRENCE 6, Lowell 3
Saturday, 11/3:
CLARKSON 9, Lowell 4
Colgate 9, BOSTON UNIVERSITY 6
ST. LAWRENCE 9, Northeastern 2
CORNELL 5, Waterloo 4 (OT) (exhibition)
I don't have the results of the US Air tournament at Providence, which RPI
participated in. Also, I believe Western Ontario played an exhibition at
Harvard this weekend, and I haven't heard a score for that one either.
Here are some other scores from the weekend -- I believe these are all
Division III contests:
Friday, 11/2:
Brockport State 13, Rochester 1
Potsdam State 8, SUNY-Binghamton 4
RIT 4, Fredonia State 1
Saturday, 11/3:
Cortland State 7, Potsdam State 2
Iona 7, RIT 3
Notes on a couple games:
Potsdam State 8, SUNY-Binghamton 4
Potsdam jumped out to a 6-2 lead by the middle of the second period,
then pretty much coasted to victory, outshooting Binghamton by a 37-23
margin. For Binghamton, this loss was their 53rd in a row.
Cornell 5, Waterloo 4 (OT)
I'll add a few (okay, MORE than a few) notes to Andy's posting. This
was "just" an exhibition game, and both coaches were certainly treating
it that way, with Cornell's Brian McCutcheon giving both his goalies
some playing time and juggling a few line combinations and Waterloo's
Don McKee letting each of his three goaltenders play for a period.
Nevertheless, the game was pretty intense, and there was a lot of
physical play, accompanied by the usual host of penalties.
The Big Red got on the scoreboard quickly when, on a 5-on-3 power play,
Kent Manderville let loose a quick shot from just over the blue line
that beat Waterloo goalie Mark McCue with less than two minutes gone in
the first period. "Mandy" scored again at the 10:47 mark of the first,
poking the puck into the left corner of the net just as a penalty to
Cornell's Dan Hughes ended. However, Waterloo's clutch-and-grab
tactics were beginning to bother the Big Red, and the Warriors were
able to control the ice and knock Cornell off their high-tempo game in
the second period. In addition, James Organ came in to play goal for
Waterloo at the beginning of the second, and he stymied Cornell several
times. Cornell's power play began to look a little sluggish also.
Cory Keenan scored a power play goal for Waterloo at the 11-minute
mark, and as Andy mentioned, Jim Crozier replaced Corrie D'Alessio at
that point. Despite the score, Cornell's shorthanded unit was pretty
impressive, as they rushed the Warrior net and almost scored a goal of
their own. Later on, Cornell killed off a 50-second 5-on-3, but
Waterloo wound up knotting the score with 2:46 left in the second, as
Dave Lorentz knocked home a rebound off a scramble in front of the
Cornell net. The second period ended with the teams tied at 2.
Steve Udvari went between the pipes for Waterloo at the start of the
third, and Cornell's Trent Andison greeted him rather rudely with a
power play goal just 1:39 into the period. On the play, there was a
delayed penalty call, and Waterloo defenseman Jeff Ballantyne was hit
with a 10-minute misconduct. About a minute later, after Joe Dragon
was called for roughing, a fight broke out between Manderville and
Waterloo's Rod Thacker, and they were both given roughing majors and
high-sticking minors. The big loser in the fight, however, was the
Warriors' Ian Pound, who tried to join the fight and was hit with a
five-minute major and a game misconduct for being the third man in (an
excellent rule, by the way). In an effort to remind us that this is an
exhibition game for the officials as well, referee Dan Murphy took a
few minutes to straighten this all out and was hollered at repeatedly
by both coaches. I think the cause of the confusion was that while
both teams each had two men in the penalty box, one of the Waterloo
guys was Ballantyne, who was still serving his misconduct -- there
wasn't anyone in there serving Pound's major. At any rate, on the
ensuing 3-on-3, Steve Schaefer tied the game up for the Warriors by
tapping in a loose puck. Later, after Waterloo had killed off a three
minute Cornell power play, Lorentz scored his second goal off a 2-on-1
break to give the Warriors the lead.
Cornell had several good scoring opportunities in the third, out-
shooting the Warriors by a 14-4 margin, but the Big Red could not get
the equalizer until very late in the game. Cornell defenseman Todd
Chambers was hit with a high-sticking minor on a VERY late call with
about two and a half minutes left, but even though they were
shorthanded, Cornell continued to press on the attack. With about
thirty seconds left, Crozier was pulled for the extra attacker as
Chambers came out of the box. (Are you in suspense yet?) With the
sellout crowd going wild, Dan Ratushny blasted a shot at Udvari, who
blocked it, but the rebound came to Andison, who tied the game with
just 16 seconds remaining in regulation. Lynah Rink literally shook,
and the place exploded again when Dragon's deflection of a Ratushny
shot ended the game in OT.
Whew! It wasn't exactly a great game, but it offered plenty of
excitement and most likely gives the Big Red a huge emotional lift as
they begin the regular season next weekend. I agree with Andy that
D'Alessio will likely be the starting goaltender for Cornell. The
power play looked a little shaky, and the passes were a little off the
mark at times, but the penalty-killers performed very well despite
allowing two Waterloo power-play goals.
A human interest note on the Waterloo team: On their roster is winger
Darren Snyder, who played for Cornell in the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons.
Also, I think Ian Pound played in the ECAC a couple of seasons ago.
Next week's ECAC games:
Nov. 9
Army at Cornell
Brown at Harvard
Clarkson at RPI
Princeton at Colgate
St. Lawrence at Vermont
Yale at Dartmouth
Nov. 10
Army at Colgate
Brown at Dartmouth
Clarkson at Vermont
Princeton at Cornell
St. Lawrence at RPI
Yale at Harvard
The games to watch on the ECAC's first weekend of league play include:
Clarkson at RPI
If these two teams' early games are any indication, this one is likely
to be a shootout, as Mike Zak mentioned. Clarkson has shown flashes of
a high-powered offense ("flashes"? How about 28 goals in three games!),
and RPI's defense is even more suspect than they were last year. The
Golden Knights handled RPI's offense reasonably well last season in
their 6-5 and 5-3 wins. The difference in this one may be whose goalie
ends up less shell-shocked.
Brown at Harvard
Two teams with some questions to answer. Are the Bruins really as
improved as they appeared to be last year? And what happened to the
perennially-contending Crimson down the stretch? Brown won't be able
to sneak up on anyone this season, and although their defense is
considerably better than in years past, Chris Harvey's graduation was
perhaps the second-biggest loss of a single player in the ECAC (behind
only Colgate's losing All-American goalie Dave Gagnon). As for
Harvard, there really isn't any good explanation for their closing last
season on a 1-7 skid, but shed no tears for new Crimson head coach Ronn
Tomassoni -- Harvard's got plenty of talent, as usual. If the
goaltending comes around, and if defenseman Steve Flomenhoft stops
trying to be the next Kevan "Watch for me in the new Friday the 13th
movie!" Melrose, Harvard will be a force in the ECAC.
Army at Cornell
Why on earth should anyone be interested in a game between perhaps one
of the best teams in the country and a team that is constantly one of
the league's weakest? Well, Army seems to cause a lot of problems for
Cornell. Since the Cadets started playing the full slate of ECAC games
back in 1986, they have split the two-game season series with the Big
Red in three out of four years. Army plays a very physical game, and
as the exhibition against Waterloo indicated, physical teams give
Cornell a fair amount of trouble. Another factor for the Cadets is the
play of Brooks Chretien, the best goalie you've never heard of. This
looks to be a tougher one than people think.
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86
LET'S GO RED!!
"I love driving. My dad gave me a car when I was 16 years old. What a nice
guy, huh? Although I recently found out it was a rental car and I owe 1.5
million dollars."
-- Peter Gaulke
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