Cornell defeated Harvard 3-1 in a 'home-away-from-home' contest last night.
With the majority of the crowd being Cornell supporters despite the Crimson
ticket office's best attempts to deny tickets to Cornell fans by phone, the
Big Red scored twice late in the second period to secure the victory.  The
two goals came on a 5 minute power play when a Harvard player was penalized
for a cross-check from behind by the boards on captain Jason Dailey.  The
referees have been extraordinarily consistent on handing out 5 minute/game
misconducts for these types of hits, and I, for one, am very pleased to see
this.  Hopefully this heavy handed punishment will cause a quick stop to
these dangerous plays.
 
The two goals came after senior netminder Jason Elliott went down with
about 7 minutes to go in the second period.  After a scramble in front of
the net, where no contact was made with the Cornell goalie by any Harvard
players, Elliott failed to return to his feet.  He kneeled on the ice in
obvious pain for 30 seconds until the puck returned to the Cornell zone
when he tried to get up and defend the goal.  As the puck went into the
corner he desperately tried to lift the goal off its moorings until a
whistle was finally blown.  After a brief attempt to skate which did not
see Jason put any weight on his right leg, he was helped off the ice and
went to the locker room.  He was later seen on the bench in street clothes
with crutches.  Ian Burt entered the game, and did not face a shot for the
remainder of the period.  He looked good in the third period making some
good saves and giving up a goal only with 12 seconds left, one which
appeared to have been kicked in after a big scramble in the crease but was
not waived off.   Word on Elliott's condition has not yet become available
to my knowledge.
 
Cornell resolved to block as many shots as possible in the third to protect
Burt and as such, packed up the offense and sent them home for the final 20
minutes.  Burt still saw 13 shots, but many more were taken and did not
reach the net area.  The Big Red get a key win, and wrap up a season sweep
of the Crimson, important in the tie break criteria.  A loss by RPI would
have been helpful in attempting to move up, but two late Engineer goals
leave the Red tied with Brown in 5th and 2 points back of 3rd place RPI and
1 back of fourth place Colgate.
 
Additionally, this was the chippiest game I have yet seen.  Murphy left his
whistle at home, and while neither team benefitted, punches, late hits,
slashes at both goaltenders, and anything else was commonplace.  At one
point Big Red captain Jason Dailey took a two handed cross check to a
Harvard player's face as he was getting up well after the whistle.  Nothing
was called.  Rabbit punches, headlocks, face rubs were the standard
behavior last night and nothing was done to attempt to stem the tide of
violence.  Not what I'd call a well controlled game.
 
 
 
 
Larry Weintraub '98,
Cornell University
Let's Go BIG RED!!!!!
 
Quote of the Semester:
        "They wear their hearts on their sleeves here at Cornell...and also
their faces."
 
        -- TV Announcers at the Cornell-Colgate game,
           while the camera was in a close-up on my painted face.
 
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