Ah, the drawbacks of being in a strage city without access to
your email. I actually wrote these reports (under my radio name, with
apologies to New York Giants fans) Wednesday and Thursday nights while
I was in Denver, but couldn't upload them until after I drove back to
Santa Barbara yesterday. And then when I got in last night, UCSB's
dialin lines were down for maintenance. So here, at the earliest
possible moment, are my thoughts on the Denver Cup, such as they are.
(BTW, this report is available on the World Wide Web, along with the
weekly ECAC reports from my college radio show out here in California,
at <http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/john_whelan/jphock.html>.)
John Whelan
Cornell '91
<[log in to unmask]>
<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>College Hockey Special Report</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>Special Report: 1995 Denver Cup</H1>
<UL>
<LI><A HREF="#round1">First Round</A>
<LI><A HREF="#round2">Final Round</A>
</UL>
<H2><A NAME="round1"> Favorites Command First Round of Denver Cup</A></H2>
by Joe Pisarcik
<P>
(Denver, December 27) It wasn't pretty, but it got the job
done. That's probably the best thing that can be said about the first
round of the Denver Cup, played this evening at McNichols Arena.
Everyone in the house not sporting Carnellian and White or Blue and
Silver was looking forward to a Denver University-Colorado College
showdown in the final tomorrow night. And they weren't going to let a
little something like underdogs Cornell University and Air Force get
in their way. What resulted were a couple of ugly games. Ugly, as in
CC leading Cornell 1-0 after one minute of play and 2-0 after two.
Ugly, as in Denver's Brent Cary setting a tournament record with six
points (two goals, four assists) against Air Force. Ugly, as in the
two favorites piling on a total of 22 goals in the two games.
<P>
The Big Red of Cornell, who are tied for third in the ECAC
with a 4-1-3 mark, but whose big losses to Michigan State (6-2) and
Boston University (7-1) seemed to indicate they're not prepared to be
a player on the national scene, were never really in the early game.
Things had already gotten far enough out of hand for Cornell coach
Mike Schafer to call his time-out in the first period, trailing 3-0.
It didn't help much, though, as freshman goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier
ended the period having surrendered 4 goals on 15 shots, while the Red
could only muster 4 shots of their own. Cornell switched goalies to
Senior Eddy Skazyk at the intermission, and although their defensive
woes continued, typified by tentative checking, they did manage to
mount a few offensive flurries of their own, and even out-shot the
Tigers 11-10 on the period. But they would never succeed in lighting
the lamp, and suffered the indignity of a shorthanded goal in each of
the last two periods of the 11-0 defeat. Oddly, the Red's few bright
moments came shorthanded, where despite giving up two Tiger power play
goals in six opportunities, they looked stellar on one penalty kill in
the third, and then killed off a minute and a half 5-on-3 opportunity
for the Tigers.
<P>
The late game, pitting #7 Denver against hapless Air Force,
whose only victory of the season came against division III Elmira,
seemed even more of a mismatch, and sure enough, the Pioneers also
scored thirty seconds in, and again two minutes later. But then the
Falcons tightened up, and played even for the rest of the period.
Slowly but surely, though, things got away from them. Junior goalie
Pat Kielb, who made some impressive saves but also let in several long
goals, was finally replaced in the third with Denver up 8-1, but the
Pioneers added three more to make the final 11-1. DU Goaltender
Sinuhe Wallinheimo, perhaps subdued by his shelling at the hands of
North Dakota in his most recent start, entertained the crowd with none
of his famed antics, but was nonetheless named by the Denver media as
the #2 star of the game (after Cary), stopping all but one of the 23
shots he faced.
<P>
Over 9,000 people attended the first day of the tournament,
the largest crowd ever to see DU play in Denver, but I found their
level of involvement disappointing, even considering the lopsided
nature of the games. None of the four schools sent a pep band. I
rallied the small Cornell contingent as best I could, and a few "Let's
Go Red!" chants went on. but I doubt many people could hear us over
the piped-in music. The CC fans were louder, but didn't seem very
organized. The late game was of course more enthusiastically viewed
by DU fans (I could detect no substantial Air Force cheering section)
but had the feel of a pro game, with the Pioneers being introduced in
a spotlight on the darkened rink, and the public address announcer
bellowing about "your Pioneers". A few young people chanted "sieve"
at Kielb a couple of times, but on the whole, I didn't get the feeling
of crazy student fans. Another thing which detracted from any
potential excitement was the lack of much animosity between the
schools. (The Cornell-BU game last month may have been a blowout, but
both sides of the crowd were vocal to the end.) This problem, at
least, should be solved at the CC-DU championship game, 7pm tomorrow
(preceded by Cornell and Air Force in the consolation at 4:00), which
just goes to show that today's action served its purpose after all.
<H2><A NAME="round2">Denver Cup Final Delivers Promised Show</A></H2>
by Joe Pisarcik
<P>
(Denver, December 28) After the disappointing blowouts in both
Denver Cup semifinals, fans of College Hockey had to expect more from
the second day's play, with Cornell and Air Force looking to redeem
themselves in the consolation, and powerhouses Denver and Colorado
College facing off in the main event. And sure enough, the teams came
through. [<A HREF="#final">Jump to final</A>]
<P>
Cornell came out at the beginning of the consolation game
against Air Force looking ready to dominate the 43rd-ranked Falcons.
They scored early and spent most of the first five minutes in the Air
Force end. But then things slacked off later in the period, and the
underdogs got an opportunity with a 5-on-3 power play. The Big Red
killed off the two-man advantage, but Air Force was able to score on
the ensuing 5-on-4 to tie the score. For the next period or so,
Cornell was able to regain some control, despite being whistled for 7
penalties in the first two periods to Air Force's 1. But then, up 3-1
late in the second, a series of misfortunes struck the Red. A Cornell
player took a shot to the head from an Air Force attacker away from
the play in the middle of the Cornell zone, but the officials didn't
call it and the Falcons scored a few seconds later. Then, already
shorthanded, Cornell's Steve Wilson was called for a five-minute major
hitting from behind, sending a Falcon into the boards head-first.
Time expired before the delayed call could be enforced, so the Big Red
faced the prospect of starting the third period two men down for a
minute and a half, followed by three and a half more minutes of
5-on-4. But the Big Red special teams stepped up and took charge,
killing the 5-on-3 and scoring on Andre Doll's shorthander to turn the
tide. Cornell never looked back, adding two more goals to win 6-2 and
take third place. They also seized the chance to regain a little
pride heading out of the holiday season and into a big ECAC series
with St. Lawrence and Clarkson.
<P>
Perhaps a third of the Cornell supporters from yesterday's
games returned this afternoon, but those of us who were there were
louder than in the semi-final, not least because we had something to
cheer about. Without a band, most of the Cornell cheers require
something good to happen; there's no point in riding a goalie who's
shutting you out; you both know he's not a sieve. And since you can
only chant "Let's Go Red!" so many times before it gets old, it was
hard to muster much in the CC-Cornell game yesterday. But today was
different. Early on, there were almost no Cornell fans, and I got the
feeling we were going to be the loudest 5-person cheering section
ever. There were two alums from the early '80s sitting with me who
hadn't been to the semifinal, and they were more than loud enough to
make up for the few noisy fellow '90-somethings we'd lost from
yesterday's bunch. (Unfortunately, between the number of beers they'd
had and the fact that they hadn't been to a game in over a decade, the
precision of their cheering left a little to be desired.) Plus we
were joined by a current undergraduate living in Denver and her
friend, who'd sat farther up before.
<P>
As an added bonus, talking to a real live member of the Lynah
Faithful gave me some inside information, for instance that the
enormous object thrown on the ice at the beginning of the latest
Cornell-Harvard game was a Lynah record 19-pound tuna head. She also
insisted that the now-infamous fish thrown at the beginning of the
second period of the <EM>previous</EM> Harvard game came from Section
F, not Section D, where she was sitting. So she hadn't appreciated
the chants of "Section D sucks!" after Harvard converted the ensuing
power play. I also learned that the only cheers Coach Schafer has
forbidden so far are those involving farm animals or ending in "munch
munch munch".
<P>
Speaking of cheers, although only I yelled "Red!" during the
national anthem (and half a beat early at that), we did sing "Davy" at
the beginning of the first two periods and after every goal, plus the
Alma Mater (which got the best participation from the non-lunatic
Cornell contingent) at the end of the second intermission. In the
end, I can only hope we made an impression. I'd like anyone who sees
a Cornell hockey game, home or away, to come away saying, "Boy, those
Cornell fans are nuts, but they're really into it."
<P>
<A NAME="final">The</A> first period of the much-anticipated
final between WCHA foes the University of Denver and Colorado College
was filled with end-to-end action, with the CC Tigers getting the
better of it, outshooting Denver 12-6 and scoring two pretty goals,
one off the rebound and one from a perfect setup at the doorstep.
With the 2-0 lead after one, Colorado College seemed on their way to
another demonstration of why they entered the game at 15-0-3. But the
host Pioneers responded with a vengeance in the second period. After
starting the period with a disappointing power play, they spent most
of the rest of the period on the attack, firing 10 shots in the period
to CC's 6. Antti Laaksonen scored to bring DU to within one, and as
the Pioneer attacks continued, one could feel the tide turn. Erik
Andersson scored the tying goal shorthanded, and the teams went into
the locker rooms tied at 2. Laaksonen scored his second goal early in
the third to put DU on top, 3-2. CC put on a number of fierce attacks
throughout the period (in which they outshot the Pioneers 6-4),
including a 2-0 breakaway when DU was caught in a line change, but DU
goalie Jim Mullin stopped them every time, and Denver prevailed 3-2 to
take their fourth straight Denver Cup and snap Colorado College's
unbeaten streak.
<P>
The top two stars of the game were no surprise, as Laaksonen
took the #1 spot with two goals and an assist, and was also named
tournament MVP, and Mullin was named the #2 star.
<P>
Both schools were well represented, and the crowd was noisy
and excited. (And the overwhelming majority of the 14-and-a-half
thousand on hand showed up after the Consolation.) But again I'm
struck by how different this seems from the College Hockey scene I'm
used to. I heard a few chants of "CC sucks!", and the Pioneer mascot
led the crowd with a "GO/DU" sign, but there was none of the sort of
ritualized enthusiasm of, for example, Cornell, BU, Wisconsin or
Minnesota. (In fact, during the consolation, someone a few sections
away yelled at me to sit down and shut up near the end of the
Davy/count/"Sieve!"/"It's all your fault!" routine after Cornell's
fifth goal.) A Cornellian from Denver told me that DU hockey is very
much a family event, which I assume came about somewhat during the
years when Denver had no NHL franchise. And I suppose it's also to be
expected when you have less than 3,000 undergraduates in a city of
several million. Anyway, at least the fans were more into the play
tonight, as contrasted with all the people who chose to find their
seats for the DU-Air Force semifinal while the rest of us were trying
to watch the end of the Cornell-CC game, and the mass exodus during
the third period of DU-Air Force. But then when the action's as hot
as it was in the final, who wants to leave?
<HR> Last Modified: 1995 December 29 <ADDRESS> <A
HREF="squishy.html">Joe Pisarcik</A> / <A
HREF="mailto:[log in to unmask]" >[log in to unmask]</A>
</ADDRESS> </BODY> </HTML>
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.
|
