Cornell won the 1996 ECAC tournament with a couple of strong defensive perfor-
mances, shutting out Clarkson 3-0 in the semis and defeating Harvard in the
championship game, 2-1. The championship was Cornell's eighth in the history
of the ECAC, but their first in ten years. Several posts have already been
made about the tournament, but I'll just add my usual three cents:
Harvard 4, Vermont 3
I only saw the third period of this one, but I have to add my kudos to the
Crimson for keeping Vermont pretty much under wraps in this one and not letting
them free-wheel as much as they would like. Tripp Tracy had an outstanding
third period between the pipes for Harvard. An interesting comment from color
man Lane MacDonald, who said that, rather than trying to match lines with
Vermont and get the checking line out there whenever Perrin, St. Louis, and
Ruid were on the ice, Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni was putting as many seniors
as he could find out there with the "French Connection" and relying on their
experience. Harvard had made the trip to Lake Placid in 1993 and 1994, while
this was Vermont's first time there (and their first trip to the ECAC Phinal
Phour since 1989). That may have ultimately proved to be the difference.
The Catamounts played the final three minutes of this game in a total panic,
looking like they had never been behind late in a game (which of course they
have). If they had somehow been able to settle down, they might have gotten
a few more quality chances at Tracy, and maybe the result would have been
different.
In general, I didn't find too much to complain about with regard to the offi-
ciating in this tournament, but Vermont got flat-out robbed in the final
minutes of this one when Phil Eboli, while racing down left wing, got hooked
around the shoulder (or maybe it was the neck) by a Harvard player and then,
while he was falling to the ice, got elbowed by another one... and nothing
was called. Nobody calls anything late in a game come tournament time, and
it would be quite a stretch to blame Vermont's loss on this non-call (es-
pecially considering how pathetic the Cats' power play is), but IMHO, both
the hooking and elbowing were so blatant that at least one of them should have
been whistled.
Cornell 3, Clarkson 0
This was a very tough and physical contest, as Cornell forechecked, back-
checked, and generally pounded Clarkson around, sending the Golden Knights to
their first defeat in 13 games. Special teams play was a factor as well, as
Cornell killed off seven Clarkson power plays and even added a short-handed
goal.
Both teams came out a bit tentatively, but the Big Red started to step up the
physical play, and they got on the board at 6:43 of the first, courtesy of
the checking line. Tony Bergin skated down left wing and cut through the
left circle, rolling the puck across the goalmouth. With goalie Dan Murphy
still at the left post watching Bergin, Jamie Papp reached around a defender
and one-handed the puck into the open right side of the net. Clarkson had a
golden opportunity later in the period, when first Matt Cooney and then P.C.
Drouin went off, giving the Knights a 44-second 5-on-3 power play. The Knights
got off a few good shots, but goaltender Jason Elliott stood tall in the net --
as he would all night.
At about the 15-minute mark, with the Big Red on the power play, a 2-on-0
quickly developed in the Clarkson end when Brad Chartrand got around a diving
defenseman in the right circle and sent a backhander over to Cooney, who was
streaking toward the net. However, Chartrand's pass didn't lead Cooney enough
and wound up in his skates, defusing the threat. Drouin had a big chance
when Cornell was a man down a couple minutes later, as he skated through the
slot with a headman feed from Geoff Lopatka, but he lifted his shot just over
the crossbar.
Cornell appeared to have taken a 2-0 lead at 3:34 of the second, and in fact
Harry Ammian signalled a goal, but the net had come off, and after consulting
with fellow ref John Murphy, Ammian waved the goal off. I thought initially
that Clarkson's Kevin Murphy had checked Tony Bergin into the net, thus
knocking it off, but replays showed that he had dove into the left post (OK,
so maybe he was going after Bergin, who was standing next to the post). What-
ever the cause, the net was off just before the puck crossed the line. Cornell
did wind up with a power play after all this when Josh Bartell was sent off for
interference, and they converted it at 4:18 of the second. Ryan Smart sent a
pass over to Mike Sancimino in the slot; the puck was in the air, and Sancimino
whacked it in with his stick as he was being knocked down. It was almost a
high-stick, and the Clarkson players seemed to think it was one, but the goal
stood.
Dana Mulvihill came thisclose to getting Clarkson on the board a few minutes
later, when he skated in from center ice on a breakaway and tried to put a low
shot past Elliott, but the netminder completely stoned him. Smart had a break-
away opportunity of his own, skating almost to the edge of the crease before
trying to flip one over Murphy, but the Clarkson goalie was able to get the
blocker pad on the shot and deflect it over the net.
Lopatka, Cornell's Mr. March, made his presence felt at 7:10 of the third
period, scoring his second goal of the tournament (both short-handed, yet!)
after notching just one during the regular season. The Clarkson power-play
unit had been on the ice for a full minute and were obviously getting winded.
Kevin Murphy skated over to the bench for a replacement, and the puck trickled
up the ice behind him. Murphy didn't play it, but Lopatka did, grabbing the
puck and skating in on a 2-on-1 with Andre Doll. Lopatka skated to the right
circle and rifled a shot through Murphy's pads.
>From there, it was just a matter of finding out whether Elliott could hold on
for his second career shutout, which of course he did, stopping all 27 shots.
Dan Murphy had 20 saves.
Didn't see the consolation game, but...
Cornell 2, Harvard 1
A dream matchup of two bitter rivals for the tournament championship, featuring
a Harvard team that had rebounded from a dismal final month of the regular
season to turn it on in the playoffs against a Cornell team that had gone 13-1-1
in its last 15 games. Though not a goal-fest, this one certainly did not lack
for drama.
The Crimson, refusing to allow their season to die, had the audacity to light
the lamp just 36 seconds after the opening faceoff. Speedy Kirk Nielsen raced
down the left side and got off a weak shot that goaltender Jason Elliott got
his stick on. And then, Elliott made perhaps his only mistake of the weekend
-- and naturally, it ended up in the net. Elliott directed the rebound right
into the slot, which would have been OK had any of the Cornell defenders
bothered to do anything about Tommy Holmes... but they didn't, and he stuffed
the loose puck through Elliott's pads. Just like that, Cinderella was in the
lead.
Already down 1-0, the Big Red found themselves in even more trouble when they
had to kill off a couple of penalties, but they did so, and that was when the
tide began to turn. Cornell started to settle down and play the hard-checking
game that had gotten them this far. Even so, Harvard had the better of the
play until the 10:05 mark, when the Big Red tied the score on a fluke goal.
Matt Cooney skated deep to the left side of the Crimson cage and got off a
tough-angle shot; goalie Tripp Tracy made the save, but the rebound bounced
high in the air, hit defenseman Jeremiah McCarthy (standing at the edge of the
crease) in the back, and went into the net. The break seemed to energize the
Cornell team, as they dominated play through the rest of the first period, and
pretty much for the rest of the game as well.
With 1:15 left in the first, Harvard committed a blunder reminiscent of the
too-many-men penalty that had cost them a chance to tie the score at the end
of the last game between these two a month ago. With a delayed penalty call on
Cornell's Steve Wilson, Tracy headed to the bench and the extra skater jumped
out to replace him -- but when Tracy reached the bench, another player went
out, and Harvard was nailed for too many men on the ice, thus nullifying a
potential power play.
Cornell's hard checking along the boards helped set up the game-winner 2:06
into the second period, when Cooney knocked a Harvard forward off the puck and
freed it up for Mike Sancimino, who skated over from the end boards and got off
a shot on his way past the Harvard crease. Tracy made the save, but Sancimino
reached back and hacked the puck high into the air, bouncing it off the cross-
bar and in.
For the second straight night, the Big Red had an apparent goal disallowed,
this time with 4:07 left in the second. Steve Wilson blasted one from the
point that eluded Tracy... probably because Geoff Lopatka ran into the goalie
as Wilson was winding up. Lopatka was called for interference, and the goal
was waved off.
Cornell played strong defensive hockey in the third period, permitting the
Crimson just three shots on goal, but the Big Red was able to keep the
pressure on at the other end as well, putting ten shots on Tracy. Harvard
pulled their goalie for the last 55 seconds of the game and spent the entire
last half-minute in the Cornell zone, but even with the extra skater, they were
unable to get a single shot off. Tracy had 29 saves, while Elliott stopped
25 shots.
Elliott was the obvious choice as tournament MVP, as in the four playoff games
he allowed only five goals, one off the tournament record set by St. Lawrence's
Paul Cohen in 1989. The ECAC All-Tournament Team:
G Jason Elliott, Cornell
D Jeremiah McCarthy, Harvard
D Steve Wilson, Cornell
C Martin St. Louis, Vermont
W Tom Holmes, Harvard
W Mike Sancimino, Cornell
Other somewhat more whimsical awards:
The Let's-Make-Sure-He-Doesn't-Get-A-Big-Head Award: To PRIME/ESN ice-level
reporter Jim Rich, who in interviewing Cornell head coach Mike Schafer after
the championship game referred to him as "Ric", was corrected by the coach --
then did it again when talking with team captain Brad Chartrand.
The Did-You-Say-That-With-A-Straight-Face Award: To Lane MacDonald, who noted
the appearance of several fish on the ice after the championship game, dis-
cussed the fish-tossing that has been known to occur at Cornell when these two
play, and added, "You know you're in trouble when you see the fish at Lynah."
This from a guy who played on Harvard teams that lost only once to Cornell in
nine career meetings -- and never at Lynah.
And finally, the Get-The-Hell-Out-Of-My-Face Award: To whoever is responsible
for the Wack Attack (it's a fishing lure), whose ads played incessantly during
the broadcast of the ECAC Tournament. First of all, folks, you do not pro-
nounce the L in "salmon", and secondly, for 26 bucks, that damn thing better
CLEAN the fish as well as catch them.
Many thanks to all the teams involved for making this an ECAC tournament to
remember. On to the NCAA's!
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
strictly those of:
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95
LET'S GO RED!!
"Thank you, Schafer!" DJF 5/27/94
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.
|
