The Cornell Big Red played their second exhibition game of the 1996-97 campaign
and were impressive in a 5-0 win over the Waterloo Warriors.  Several
performances were particularly noteworthy:
 
Freshman forward Levi Clegg, who might be the odd man out when junior Ryan Smart
recovers from his injuries and returns to the lineup, made the coaching decision
somewhat tougher with a pair of third-period goals.  Both were set up by nice
feeds from Darren Tymchyshyn, a transfer from the defunct Illinois-Chicago
program.
 
Vinnie Auger, who has battled back injuries for the past two years and as
recently as last week was questionable, played a solid game, and while he might
not yet be back to the form that won him Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors,
he was plenty good enough.  He scored the Big Red's first shorthanded goal and
had a couple other clean breakaway opportunities.  A return to form for Auger
would be a BIG boost for Cornell.
 
Freshman Ryan Moynihan, the most ballyhooed of Cornell's Class of 2000, had no
points but was seemingly around the puck for most of the night and was
agonizingly close to lighting the lamp on at least three occasions.  If he can
finish opportunities like those, he'll be a deadly sniper for the Big Red.
 
Special teams play, which was probably the foremost area of improvement for the
95-96 squad, was as aggressive as ever.  The penalty kill produced two short-
handed goals, and while the power play went 0 of 8 on the night, it generated
numerous opportunities, forcing Waterloo goalie Andy Adams to come up with a
number of spectacular saves.
 
Prior to the start of the game, the 1996 ECAC championship banner was unfurled
(well, "revealed" -- it was already in the rafters, covered with a piece of
cloth) in a brief ceremony.  Cornell's first power play, which came a couple of
minutes into the first period, was sluggish for the most part, until the last 30
seconds, when Tony Bergin suddenly broke through a clump of Warriors in the slot
and fired point-blank at the Waterloo goal.  The puck bounced off Adams' chest,
and he was able to smother the rebound try, but off the ensuing faceoff, he
faced another big flurry, having to make three or four stops before one of his
defensemen was able to clear the puck away.  This was the kind of night that
Adams was going to have... facing a lot of shots and getting little or no help
from his defense.
 
Waterloo's first big chance came at about the 10:45 mark, when a long clearing
pass set up Jeff Goldie on a breakaway.  With a Cornell defender in hot pursuit,
Goldie got off a low shot that goaltender Jason Elliott got the pad on, quickly
kicking aside the rebound.  Moments later, Elliott came up with a pair of big
saves on point-blank shots from the slot.
 
Cornell found themselves with a 3-on-1 break late in the first, but Doug
Stienstra held the puck a bit too long, and when he fed Moynihan near the right
post, Adams was able to stay with the puck and deny Moynihan's stuff-in attempt.
The first period ended in a scoreless tie, and during the intermission, the
women's team came out and unfurled (or again, "revealed") their 1995-96 Ivy
League championship banner.  By the way, for all you long-time Cornell fans who
are used to the somewhat, ah, dingy appearance of the championship banners
hanging in Lynah... they've all been redone, and they look sharp.  The rink
itself has also been given a bit of a facelift, with a fresh paint job, new
pressbox, and pictures of Cornell teams from the past hanging on the walls.
 Very nicely done.
 
Anyway, it took the Big Red only 1:24 of the second period (and one penalty) to
get on the scoreboard.  Matt Cooney was sent off for hooking, but the penalty-
killing unit controlled the play and took only 15 seconds to light the lamp.
 Steve Wilson took the puck deep into the Waterloo zone, bouncing a shot off
Adams that Auger, who was trailing the play, stuffed through the five-hole.  The
middle period saw Adams being hung out to dry even more frequently by his team-
mates, as Cornell seemed to skate through the Warrior zone almost at will.
 Midway through the period, Auger steamed in on a breakaway, but Adams somehow
got a pad on the slapshot.  Mike Rutter also had a chance at the 13-minute mark
on another breakaway, but Adams quickly closed the pads and blocked the shot
from the slot.  Yet another breakaway came as a result of a long pass to Jeff
Oates, who skated in from the right side and tried to stuff the puck home.
 Adams was able to kick the shot aside to keep his team down by only one.
 
But as it turned out, it was only a matter of time before the Big Red would
break through again.  Waterloo went on their second power play of the period
when Chad Wilson went off with 1:36 left, but as it turned out, the Warriors
would have been better off declining the penalty.  A short-handed breakaway
(note the recurring theme) resulted in Cornell's second goal when Jason Dailey
skated in on a 2-on-1 with Kyle Knopp, looked at Knopp for what seemed like
forever, and then instead of passing, suddenly snapped a shot that caught the
net over Adams' shoulder ten seconds before the intermission.
 
Waterloo head coach Don McKee, apparently treating this game like the exhibition
that it was, elected to switch goaltenders, and Waterloo called their timeout at
the beginning of the third to warm up Joe Harris.  Adams certainly was playing
well enough, stopping 26 of 28 shots.  At any rate, Harris got a rude welcome
from Knopp, who put Cornell up 3-0 just 45 seconds into the third.  Auger sent a
pass from behind the Waterloo net that bounced off Harris and came directly to
the slot, where Knopp was waiting to wrist the puck inside the left post.  Clegg
scored the first of his pair at the 5:59 mark, when his hard slapper from the
right circle beat Harris to the stick side.  The Big Red rounded out the scoring
at 13:06 of the third, when Tymchyshyn found Clegg in the left circle and Clegg
lifted the puck over Harris' shoulder.  Bergin bunted the puck out of midair and
into the net with three minutes remaining, but the officials waved that one off,
ruling that he had been in the crease.
 
Harris didn't look all that great in relief of Adams, but he did stop 17 shots.
 At the other end, Elliott had an easy night of it after the first period, as he
made only six saves in the final 40 minutes and 15 overall to get the shutout.
 
Cornell opens its regular season on the road this coming weekend, as the Big Red
journeys to Brown Friday night and Harvard on Saturday.
 
 
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  DJF  5/27/94
"I got a new house.  I sold my old house for $85,000... boy, was my landlord
 pissed."
-- Garry Shandling
 
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