Reflections in Foreign Ice

Brown vs. Cornell at Lynah Rink
    After surrendering a 3-1 lead in the third period, Brown held on for a
3-3 overtime tie with Cornell in a physical contest played at Lynah Rink
last Friday evening.  All three of the Bear goals were scored in special
team situations, with senior defenseman Vince Macri and senior forward Brent
Robinson both collecting power play goals and senior forward Chris Swon
adding a shorthanded tally.

    But the real story of the game involved the final two Big Red goals
which can only be described as bizarre, for different reasons. With Brown
ahead, 3-1, going into the final frame, the Bears had 40 seconds to kill on
a carry-over penalty assessed at the end of the second period.  As the
Cornell power play unit began to set up in the Brown defensive zone, Big Red
forward Cam Abbott fired the puck on goal.  Bear goaler Yann Danis made what
seemed like still another innocuous stick save, but the puck caromed
straight up into the Lynah rafters about 10-feet in the air, and as the disc
began its decent, Danis apparently lost sight of it and it struck him on the
back of his shoulder and bounded into the net.  Time of the goal: 0:25.

    But things would get even more incredible when, on still another Cornell
power play in the final stanza, Big Red forward Matt Moulson, stationed near
the special spot in the right face-off circle, blasted a laser shot toward
the Bear net which appeared to glance off the right post and back into play
in the slot area.  The players on both sides continued the action
momentarily until they noticed referee Dan Murphy pointing emphatically over
the right top corner of the net and signaling a goal at 15:20.  There was no
one seated in five rows of Section O (the side of the ice from which Moulson
had fired the puck and the section which is located right on the goal line)
who claimed to see the puck enter the net, and there is no way the shot
could have entered the goal and bounded straight back out from Moulson's
position without somehow curving around right goal post.  Bottom Line: the
only people (perhaps in the building) who claimed to see the puck cross the
goal line were Murphy and the goal judge (who the press reported turned on
his light, but I was too busy watching Murphy go through his pointing
routine to notice).  Perhaps someone or more people (bandspeople included)
sitting in Section A on the opposite side of the ice had a better view and
can shed some light on the puck's miraculous flight.

    Needless to say, the fluke goal and then the phantom goal, coming
back-to-back and erasing Brown's two-goal margin, took considerable fire
away from the Bears and gave the Lynah Faithful a boost which carried the
Big Red skaters for the balance of the game.  It could be claimed that Brown
deserved a better fate than the one point it earned, but following its
freaky power play goals, Cornell dominated the contest through the remainder
of regulation and the overtime.  Sometimes, when you're on the road, all the
breaks seem to go to the home team.


Brown vs. Colgate at Starr Rink
    There is not much to report of the Saturday night game the Bears played
against Colgate except to say that a mere shadow of the squad that had
played at Cornell showed up at Starr Rink the next evening.  The Raiders
took immediate control of the game from a skating standpoint and with the
exception of a Bear power play goal by freshman forward Brian Ihnacak at
14:16 of the middle stanza, after Colgate had forged a 2-0 lead, the balance
of the game belonged to the Raiders who won going away, 6-1.

    The lop-sided score represented the first time Brown had been outclassed
all season and could probably be attributed to the hard-hitting, emotional
game that took place the night before as well as the disappointment in
having to settle for a tie at Lynah.  Bottom Line: The Bears did not play
nearly well-enough to overcome a opportunistic Colgate squad, and the
vaunted Brown defense (forwards included), uncharacteristically left
numerous loose pucks all over their defensive zone for the energetic and
aggressive Raider forwards to fire at Yann Danis who finished his outing
with 35 saves and was replaced by junior goaltender Scott Rowan after giving
up the final Colgate tally at 9:47 of the third period.  And so, the Starr
Rink jinx continues for Brown, but Bear fans should be consoled by the fact
that this was only one of 22 conference games and that the difficulty of
playing consecutive road games at top proficiency is occasionally evidenced
by an unexpectedly weak performance.

    Now the good news -- At the holiday break, there is no question this
#13-ranked Brown team is for real.  With their most demanding road trip now
behind them, the Bears still lead the ECAC standings (13 points) with a
6-2-1 record (Brown is third in terms of winning percentage behind Cornell
and Dartmouth).  After lo these many years of trying to work their way
through a typical ECAC schedule that had the Bears play 9 (and sometimes all
10) of their first ten games in conference, the Bears have finally been able
to negotiate that gauntlet with success.

    Brown has now developed a balanced attack, getting everyone on the bench
involved in the offense.  And the team defense that has been the squad's
hallmark should continue to yield positive results in the second half.  The
holiday break in the schedule should serve to revitalize the Bears and the
future looks bright.

    Next on the schedule is a trip to the Subway Holiday Classic hosted by
the University of North Dakota at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks,
ND.  The Bears will play Wayne State in an opening round game on Saturday,
December 27th and hope to meet #1-ranked Sioux in the championship final the
following afternoon.


Bill Corrigan

LET'S GO BRUNO!