recap follows box
period 1
G 3:15 CU (0-1) Stienstra(Tymchyshyn,Peach)
P 4:31 RPI St. Hillaire (holding)
P 7:50 RPI Murphy (charging)
P 10:01 CU Pierce (hooking)
P 16:51 CU Stienstra (interference)
P 17:20 RPI Gardiner (hooking)
period 2
P 3:34 RPI Gardiner (high sticking)
G 6:01 RPI (1-1) Brad Tapper(Riva) on delayed penalty call
P 6:12 RPI Murphy (elbowing)
G 7:12 CU (1-2) Moynihan(Knopp,Dailey) ppg
P 7:40 CU Hovey (roughing)
P 10:53 CU Stienstra (roughing)
P 10:53 RPI Gosselin (roughing)
P 14:29 RPI James (interference)
G 16:25 CU (1-3) Oates(Moynihan,Dailey) ppg
P 17:07 CU Smart (holding)
G 18:48 RPI (2-3) Brad Tapper(Gardiner,Bryan Tapper) ppg
period 3
G 2:18 RPI (3-3) Bryan Tapper(Brownlee,Caley)
G 6:52 CU (3-4) Oates(Burgoyne)
G 16:31 RPI (4-4) Brad Tapper(Aldous,Brownlee)
G 16:48 CU (4-5) Tymchyshyn(Stienstra,Peach)
18:13 RPI timeout
19:12 RPI Prekaski pulled
19:20 CU timeout
saves 1 2 3 total
Prekaski(RPI) 11 6 6 23
Elliott(CU) 12 11 11 34
referee - Noeth
asst referee -DiFusco,Dupree
attendance - 2366
RPI gave Cornell several opportunities to fold and lay down but Cornell
refused to give up and took the first game of the ECAC quarterfinals in
Troy tonight.
It was fairly obvious that both schools were on spring break as the announced
attendance was 2366 (Field House holds 5200+). The west grandstand which
Cornell usually fills when they come to town was less than half full.
The east section where the Cornell band sits had band members only,
no others.
Likewise, the RPI student sections were rather sparsely populated.
Jason Elliott made his return in the Cornell nets tonight. He had a big
impact on the game but not in the way you would expect. In my opinion,
Elliott did not have a good game. He gave up some unnecessary
rebounds and didn't look particularly sharp. His real impact was on the psyche
of the Cornell team. In the first period, the Cornell defense was super
protective of Elliott. But once they were convinced that the real Jason
Elliott was back, they showed their confidence in him by turning up
the offense a notch (more than they did for backup goalie Ian Burt).
Their confidence allowed them to take chances in the offensive zone
that eventually won the game for Cornell.
Cornell went up early at 3:15 of the first on a goal by Doug Stienstra.
But the story of the first period was a very well disciplined Cornell
defense. When RPI went on their first power play at 10:01 of the first,
RPI kept the puck in the Cornell zone for the first 1:45. They only had one
shot on goal and that wasn't a good shot. It wasn't that RPI wasn't moving
the puck well, it was the Cornell defense not giving them anything to
shoot at or pass to on the inside. It was an impressive display.
The idiot fan of the night award goes to a Cornell band member.
Late in the first period, Bryan Tapper took a shot from the blue line.
It caught Cornell defenseman Larry Pierce on the ankle and he went
down like a rock. Referee Mike Noeth saw the play but RPI recovered the puck
and play went on. After 30-40 seconds, the puck came loose behind the net
and was recovered by a Cornell player. Pierce was up but obviously still
hurt badly so Noeth then blew the whistle. This jackass in the band
started screaming at the referee yelling obscenities for blowing the
whistle when Cornell had the puck. It finally took some threats from Field
House security
to shut the jerk up, to the applause of both RPI and Cornell fans
nearby. (And anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I would
have awarded the idiot fan award to anyone who did that, no matter which
color red he wore).
The second period continued along the same lines, tight checking and hard
hitting.
RPI came back and tied the game at 1-1 at 6:01 on a goal by Brad Tapper
but Cornell's Ryan Moynihan put Cornell ahead 1:11 later on a power play
goal.
Cornell took a 2 goal lead at 16:25 when Ryan Moynihan came flying down
the left side and tossed a beautiful pass right onto the stick of a
breaking Jeff Oates who poked it past Prekaski for a 3-1 lead.
But 2 minutes later, Brad Tapper scored his second of the period
with an assist going to his brother Bryan Tapper closing the margin to
3-2 heading into the third.
In typical style, referee Mike Noeth put his whistle away in the 3rd period.
In the second period, 3 of the four goals were scored on the power play
and the fourth on a delayed penalty call. In the third, all 4 goals were
even strength and no penalties were called.
RPI tied the score 3-3 when Bryan Tapper took a nice easy shot from the blue
line that managed to get through the crowd out in front and Elliott
apparently just never saw.
At 6:52, Jeff Oates snuck in behind a back checking Eric healey and
took a lead pass from Jeff Burgoyne to beat Prekaski to give Cornell
back the one goal lead. RPI tied the game once again at 16:31 when
Brad Tapper got his 3rd goal of the game but 16 seconds later,
before the RPI goal was even announced, Darren Tymchyshyn scored to
put Cornell up 5-4. The defense shut down RPI's offense for the last
3 minutes of the game although Eric Healey had a good scoring opportunity
in the low slot with about a minute left but Elliott gave him nothing to
shoot
for and the defense cleared the rebound.
The game was just what most people expected. The Cornell defense keyed on
RPI's ECAC leading scoring line of Healey, Garver and St. Hillaire holding
them pointless for the game. This opened up some room for Brad Tapper
but it wasn't enough.
Cornell now takes a 2-0 point lead into Saturday's game and a win or a tie
sends Cornell to Lake Placid next week. RPI on the other hand must win
both Saturday and Sunday's game or their season ends.
The game was as close as I expected and there is no reason to expect
anything will change tomorrow.
Mark Lewin
RPI - class of '69
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