Last night Cornell skated into the Houston Fieldhouse with a mission: prove
that they, and not the upstart Engineers, were the team destined for
post-season success.  And Cornell succeeded totally, even to the point of
dominating the decibel competition inside the Fieldhouse, which these days
isn't much to write about.  As a result of their efforts Cornell returns to
Ithaca with second place in the ECAC all but locked up, and with a slim
chance to grab first place and the automatic bid to the NC$$'s.
 
I'm sure the Cornell crowd will be crowing about their success, as they have
a right to, so I'll keep my comments to a minimum.  In fact, from an RPI
perspective, the only period worth talking about is the first.  RPI came out
of the locker room ready to play, and got off the first shot 45 seconds into
the contest.  Their first power play at the 2:00 mark saw a return to the
futility of the previous five games.  Cornell does such a good job on the
kill that the Engineers don't even get a shot on goal.  But the Engineers
turn up their pressure as the power play expires, and the Engineer defenseman
accelerate through the center zone to start several scoring rushes.  The
Engineers seem to have so much confidence on offense that goaltender Joel
Laing feels secure enough to jump into the play.  At 7:06 Laing controls the
puck, skates out to his left and makes a long pass to Murphy at the blue
line.  Murphy skates the puck on into the Cornell zone, holds it, and finds
Pete Gardiner standing alone directly in front of Cornell's Jason Elliot.
 Gardiner gets off a beautiful rising shot that finds the top shelf of the
goal.
 
That would conclude the scoring for the first period, with the only other
action consisting of a series of penalties to Cornell's Dailey, including a
humorous "delay of game" to him and Mauro DiPaolo as they wrestled in back of
the net., and two to RPI's Brian Pothier, who will tally eight minutes in
penalties for the night.
 
During the first intermission Mike Shafer evidently proved why he and Stan
Moore of Union should be considered the leading candidates for Coach of the
Year.  Shafer definitely made an adjustment, although I'm not sure exactly
what (different forecheck, moving the forwards closer together in the center
zone?)  From the opening face-off Cornell skated like a different team.
 Cornell's forwards nearly forechecked the Engineers through the sideboards
as almost the entire period was played in the Engineer end.  That the period
ended a tie was seemingly  a gift from God.
 
Soon after a pair of matching minors to Battaglia and Dailey, Cornell takes a
face-off in the RPI zone.  The puck goes to the front of the net where
Moynihan gets off a shot to pull Laing out of position.  Kyle Knopp buries
the rebound into the open goal with Wilson getting the third assist, at 2:27.
 Cornell's tying goal allows the Big Red to turn up the pressure another
notch, and their second goal was the inevitable result of the suffocating
control they exerted over the Engineers.  After Brian Pothier gets whistled
for hooking, Cornell gets its second power play of the period.  Near the end
of the two minutes Burgoyne skates the puck into the offensive zone and
passes off to Dailey.  Dailey sends it across the goalmouth to Stienstra,
standing unattended to the right of Laing, who quickly deposits it into the
open net.
 
RPI will continue to play on its heals for the remainder of the period, but
gains a power play at the 17:32 mark.  With 6 seconds left on the man
advantage the Engineers finally get the puck down low in the Cornell zone.
 Battaglia simply sends the puck to the front where a scrum erupts.  Dan Riva
pushes the puck home through the pile of bodies in front of Elliot, Gardiner
getting the third assist, for something.  RPI and Cornell end the period tied
at two, but Engineer fans wonder whether their team will have the strength to
play the third period the way they had until recently.
 
The Engineers didn't, and the game was over before half the period expired.
 At 5:01 Cornell scores the winning goal on a fluky play with Kendall sending
a slow backhander at the goal, which riccochets off an RPI leg and straight
into the open
goal.  Brian Pothier's fourth penalty of the night gives Cornell a power play
at 5:56, and Cornell goes to work immediately.  After the face-off in the RPI
end the puck goes to the point, where Dailey whistles a slap shot off the
post and into the goal.  Stienstra and Burgoyne receive assists, at 6:00.
 And Cornell isn't finished as they score a fifth goal a minute and a half
later.  At 7:31 RPI's Steve Caley coughed up the puck deep in the RPI zone.
 Knopp gains the puck and sends a quick shot from the slot past a confused
Laing, Rudder getting an assist for being on the ice.  An obviously irritated
Laing takes the puck out of the net and sends it to the blue line, after
being wearied from 20 Cornell shots in the second, 13 in the third, and abuse
heaped on him from the Cornell visitors camped in the stands behind him.
 Tonight the RPI fans deserved to be censured for non-support, as a season lon
g decline in attendance and emotion left the Fieldhouse an easy target for
the boisterous/obnoxious Cornell fan contingent.
 
That's it for the recap.  Next week the Engineers will need at least two
points to secure home ice, and may need to defeat Princeton in the final game
of the season regardless of their success against Yale.  Instead of cruising
off a sweep on their home ice in the penultimate week of the season, the
Engineers instead must struggle for a sweep on the road next week.
***************************************************************
Brian Morris                              RPI Engineers--Big and Nasty
[log in to unmask]
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.