Some other Division III scores from the weekend:
 
Saturday, January 11:
     American International 4, RIT 4 (OT)
     Canisius 9, Scranton 2
     Mercyhurst 8, Hobart 2
     Potsdam 6, Iona 2
     Williams 5, Amherst 2
 
Sunday, January 12:
     Cortland State 8, Hobart 5
     Mercyhurst 10, Elmira 7
 
Earlier in the season, the Mercyhurst Lakers had to forfeit two of their
wins (2-1 over Kent State and 6-1 over Geneseo State) because one of their
players, forward Jim Pollio, was declared ineligible by the NCAA.  Pollio
transferred from Plattsburgh State after his freshman year, but according to
Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery, the school had ruled him academically ineli-
gible for his sophomore year.  Under NCAA rules, someone who is academically
ineligible at one institution cannot go somewhere else and play.  Pollio
says that there was a paperwork mistake made at Plattsburgh, but that he is
hoping to work things out.
 
Sunday night, the Lakers broke the game open early, taking a 3-0 lead just
7:04 into the first period on goals by Mick Keen (30 seconds in), Scott
Burfoot, and Trevor Hunt.  Burfoot -- an All-American center, the leading
scorer in all of college hockey last season, and perhaps the best player in
Division III -- made the game his own personal highlight show, tallying four
goals to go along with five assists.  Even though Elmira's power play had a
good night statistically, going 5-for-11, they were victimized by the Lakers
for three shorthanded goals.  There were 31 penalties called in the game,
which featured a 10-minute delay thanks to an "incident" (translation: big
fight) at 7:29 of the second period.  Three players from each team earned
roughing minors after that one.
 
By the midpoint of the game, Mercyhurst had built up an 8-2 lead and Elmira
goaltender Tom O'Brien (14 saves) had been benched in favor of Dave Laudato.
Greg Moore scored for the Soaring Eagles at 14:08 of the second, but Burfoot
responded with a short-hander with 1:43 left in the period.  Elmira managed
to cut into the Lakers' lead with a pair of power-play goals in the last
minute and a half of the second period, one by Bernie Cassell eleven seconds
after Burfoot's goal and the other with one second remaining in the period.
The Soaring Eagles then scored twice in the first 7:18 of the third to pull
to within 9-7, and it looked like they would overtake Mercyhurst, but then
they ran out of gas.  Burfoot's empty-netter with 13 seconds left rounded
out the scoring.  Laudato finished the game with 12 saves, while Mercyhurst
goalie Mirko Pellizzari had 29.
 
Ah, yes -- and about five days after the fact, there was finally a little
blurb in the Elmira _Star Gazette_ about O'Brien and Bob McGee having their
cases thrown out of court last week (as Mark Daly reported earlier on
HOCKEY-L).  It didn't really say much, just that the cases were dismissed,
that Chris Wayland had pleaded guilty and paid a fine, and that all three
had served one-game suspensions imposed by head coach Glenn Thomaris.  No
further word on the suspensions of the three players at the Salem State
tournament.
--
Bill Fenwick                        |  Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and probably '94        |  [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"Cornell blanks Dartmouth, 1-0"
-- headline in _The Ithaca Journal_ sports section, Saturday, January 11, 1992
"Clearing the Record:  It was Vermont"
-- correction in _The Ithaca Journal_, Monday, January 13, 1992