Cornell split their series against Vermont and Dartmouth last weekend, and
in the process picked up their first home win of the season. Friday night,
the Big Red were plagued by inconsistency and missed opportunities, as well
as some good defensive play on Vermont's part, but Saturday, the Cornell
machine was firing on all cylinders as they overwhelmed a weak Dartmouth
squad. More notes below:
Vermont 6, Cornell 4
Vermont 2 0 4 -- 6
Cornell 0 1 3 -- 4
First period -- Scoring:
V Rob Pattison (Eric Hallman, Jason Williams), 11:26 (PP) 1-0
V Martin St. Louis (Dale Patterson, Eric Perrin), 18:49 2-0
Penalties:
C Mike Sancimino (hooking), 9:45; V Jonathan Sorg (high-sticking),
14:15
Second period -- Scoring:
C Geoff Lopatka (Vincent Auger, P.C. Drouin), 17:51 2-1
Penalties:
V Mike Larkin (hooking), 5:11; V Steve McKell (high-sticking), 6:02;
C Shaun Hannah (hooking), 10:28; V Larkin (elbowing), 19:04; C Brad
Chartrand (elbowing), 19:04; V Patterson (hitting after whistle),
19:31; C Sancimino (hitting after whistle), 19:31
Third period -- Scoring:
V Eric Lavoie (McKell), 1:25 3-1
V Travis Lehouiller (Patterson), 3:58 4-1
V St. Louis (Lehouiller), 7:29 (SH) 5-1
C Geoff Bumstead (Sancimino, Auger), 8:06 (PP) 5-2
V Pattison (Hallman, Dominique Ducharme), 14:55 6-2
C Bumstead (Sancimino, Jake Karam), 15:15 6-3
C Chartrand (Karam, Sancimino), 19:22 (PP) 6-4
Penalties:
V Lehouiller (hooking), 1:51; C Dan Dufresne (hooking), 5:17; V Hallman
(cross-checking), 6:37; V McKell (hooking), 18:17
Shots on goal: Vermont 11-6-11 -- 28, Cornell 8-14-13 -- 35
Power play: Vermont 1 of 3, Cornell 2 of 6
Goaltending:
V Tim Thomas (35 shots, 31 saves)
C Andy Bandurski (22 shots, 17 saves), Eddy Skazyk (in at 8:02 of third
period, out at 18:46 of third period, in at 19:22 of third period, out
at 19:43 of third period, 6 shots, 5 saves)
Notes:
You know things are bad when the opposing coach is quoted after the
game as saying, "By all rights, Cornell should have been ahead 4-2 or
5-2 after that second period." Vermont coach Mike Gilligan's assess-
ment was right on; the Big Red outshot the Catamounts 14-6 in the
second period (and had a 35-28 advantage for the game), but Vermont
went into the second intermission with a 2-1 lead, with that one goal
coming late in the middle stanza. Missed scoring chances, along with
an occasional reluctance to take the open shot, have bothered the Big
Red all year, but they were particularly noticeable in this game.
Vermont goalie Tim Thomas wound up being a hero, but he looked very
shaky in the early going. A minute into the game, he made a save on a
long, fluttering shot from the left side by Jake Karam, but he then
dropped the puck in front of the net -- right in the path of Shaun
Hannah and Mark Scollan, both of whom overskated it (probably out of
sheer surprise). Forty-five seconds later, Thomas came up with another
weak effort, waving at a high slapper from the slot. The puck de-
flected off the top of his glove and barely missed the net. However,
the Big Red couldn't keep the pressure on Thomas, and he settled down
and got very tough later in the game.
A hooking call on Mike Sancimino gave Vermont their first power play of
the game, and they converted it at 11:26 of the first period. Rob
Pattison skated in from the right boards and wristed one from the
circle that hit goaltender Andy Bandurski's blocker and went into the
net. Cornell sagged noticeably after that goal, but they recovered a
couple minutes later. The Cats threatened to make it 2-0 with seven
minutes left, as a mixup on a play near the Cornell bench resulted in a
Vermont forward getting the puck, but Bandurski smothered the 2-on-1
break. However, the Big Red lapsed into sloppiness in the latter
stages of the first period, and it cost them a goal with 1:11 left. A
bad clearing pass resulted in a turnover at center ice, and Dale Pat-
terson skated in and slid the puck over to Martin St. Louis in the
right circle. St. Louis' one-timer sailed over Bandurski's shoulder.
Cornell dominated most of the second period, and they had what looked
like a golden opportunity six minutes in, as first Mike Larkin was sent
off for hooking and then Steve McKell was nailed for high-sticking.
The Big Red ended up with a 5-on-3 power play lasting a minute and nine
seconds, but they proceeded to pass the puck around the perimeter for
almost that whole time, ending up with just one shot on goal. This of
course did not sit well with a frustrated and impatient Lynah crowd,
and they reacted with a strong chorus of boos. Cornell teams have been
booed at home before, but this was NASTY. I haven't heard anything
like that since the 1986-87 season.
Anyway, Vermont had one of its few good second-period chances with four
minutes left, as they broke into the Cornell zone on a 3-on-1, but they
botched a pass and wound up shooting the puck over the net. By this
time, the Big Red was disorganized and sloppy, and they looked like
they were starting to panic. Even so, they got their first goal at the
17:51 mark, when Geoff Lopatka fired a low shot from the left circle
that Thomas couldn't get the pad on.
The Cats reacted with three straight goals in the first eight minutes
of the third period to all but put the game away. The barrage started
with McKell and Eric Lavoie skating in on a 2-on-1 break. Lavoie had
the puck and was looking pass all the way, but as he closed in on the
net, he suddenly wristed a shot over Bandurski's shoulder at the 1:25
mark. Vermont made it 4-1 at 3:58, when Travis Lehouiller came out of
the penalty box behind the Cornell defense, which was still pinching in
at the Vermont end. Lehouiller took a long clearing pass from Patter-
son and broke in alone on Bandurski, sending a low shot to the glove
side.
Referee John Murphy took forever to blow the puck dead after Thomas had
covered it, which led to a Vermont penalty at the 6:37 mark when Eric
Hallman cross-checked Vincent Auger, who was trying to hack the puck
loose. In a way, though, this was a blessing for the Catamounts, who
got a short-handed goal at 7:29 of the third. Dan Dufresne lost the
puck at center ice, and a Lehouiller - St. Louis 2-on-1 developed along
the left boards. St. Louis got off a soft shot that fluttered through
Bandurski's pads to give Vermont the four-goal lead.
Cornell did manage to score on the power play, however, as Mike Sanci-
mino rolled the puck through the crease to Geoff Bumstead, who stuffed
it in from the left side at the 8:02 mark. The crowd cheered the goal,
and they cheered even louder when Eddy Skazyk went in for Bandurski.
To be honest, this wasn't entirely fair to Andy, since the 5-2 deficit
wasn't all his fault. He did let in a couple bad goals, but he would
have had an easier time of it if he hadn't had to face so dang many
breakaways.
The Catamounts extended their lead with 5:05 left in the third period,
when Pattison skated by the Cornell net and flipped one in off the
right post. Cornell responded 20 seconds later, courtesy of Bumstead,
who bounced one off a Vermont defenseman, retrieved the rebound, and
slapped a shot that bounced off Thomas' pad and rolled over the goal
line.
With three minutes left and play stopped, the Lynah crowd began sere-
nading Thomas with the cheer: "Hey, Tim! Your mom called..." etc.
You have to question the timing of this, with Vermont leading 6-3, and
in fact Thomas DID question it, gesturing and waving at the crowd in a
sort of "You talkin' to ME?!?" style. Naturally, the crowd reacted to
this by getting even louder (and cruder), and Thomas then pointed to
the scoreboard. This went on so long that McKell skated over from the
Vermont bench and apparently told the goalie to cool it. In a perverse
way, I kind of liked seeing Thomas give as good as he got in that
situation, since, as opposing goalies usually do, he was getting all
sorts of abuse the entire game. However, Thomas is just a freshman,
and if he keeps carrying on like that at Vermont away games, he's going
to have a very long next three years (unless Vermont keeps winning on
the road).
McKell was sent off for holding at the 18:17 mark, and Cornell called
their timeout to try to set something up. Skazyk left for the extra
attacker with 1:14 remaining, and Brad Chartrand (the extra skater) cut
the deficit to two with 38 seconds left. Chartrand skated through the
slot and fired one that Thomas thought he had, but the puck slipped
through his pads and went into the net. Thomas was very irritated with
himself after that one, and you can imagine what the Lynah Faithful's
reaction was. It's not really going out on a limb to suggest that his
mind probably wasn't on the game after he got into it with the crowd.
What happened next was something I don't really understand: Skazyk
came back in for the faceoff. Now, I know Cornell has not been parti-
cularly good at winning faceoffs this year, but if the Big Red did win
this one, they would need as many attackers as possible for as long as
possible if they were to have any hope of wiping out a two-goal deficit
in 38 seconds. And if Vermont were to win it, the game would be over
whether the Cats scored or not. Well, anyway, the Cats did win it, but
Cornell got control of the puck, and Skazyk was out again with 17
seconds remaining. However, the Big Red couldn't get off another shot
before time ran out.
Thomas stopped 31 of 35 shots, while Bandurski had 17 saves and Skazyk
made five in relief. Predictably, Thomas waved at the crowd again (the
student section, anyway) after the teams shook hands. Cocky so-and-so.
Cornell 7, Dartmouth 1
[ box score already posted by Arthur ]
The Big Red finally ended their winless home streak with a convincing
victory over Dartmouth, becoming the last Division I team to record a
home win (they were 0-6-2 prior to Saturday night). The seven goals
was the most Cornell has scored in a game in a little over a year.
Dartmouth, by the way, had only sixteen skaters dressed for the game
instead of the usual eighteen; anybody know why?
This game looked a lot like Cornell going up against its own practice
team, as Dartmouth appears to have many of the same problems that have
bothered the Big Red all season: inability to convert scoring chances,
frequent defensive breakdowns (though the Big Green doesn't seem to
have a particularly young defense), and a rotten power play. Dartmouth
found themselves with a minute-and-a-half 5-on-3 at 6:30 of the first,
and they proceeded to do nothing with it. With apologies to Dartmouth
fans, it was a relief in a way to see another team blow a two-man
advantage as badly as Cornell had blown the one against Vermont the
night before. The Big Green's only real opportunity on that one came
near the end, when Derek Geary blasted one from the point that hit
teammate Darren Wercinski in the chest. A bit later, right after
Cornell returned one man to the ice, Matt Cooney and Vincent Auger
broke into the Dartmouth end on a short-handed 2-on-1, but in trying to
get the puck around the defenseman, Cooney shot just to the left of the
goal.
Geoff Bumstead finished off a nice tic-tac-toe play by wristing the
puck over Dartmouth goalie Ben Heller (Huh? What happened to Mike
Bracco?) with 2:45 remaining in the first period. It took the Big
Green only 19 seconds to respond, as Scott Fraser worked his way
between two Cornell defensemen and found himself all alone in front of
goaltender Eddy Skazyk. Fraser shifted to his backhand and whacked the
puck past Skazyk's stick side.
Cornell took the lead for good at 2:12 of the second period. Tim Shean
took a shot from the point that Mark Scollan deflected in front.
Heller got the pad on that one, but the rebound floated out to Vincent
Auger, who knocked it home from the left edge of the crease. Shaun
Hannah had a breakaway opportunity four minutes in, and linemate Brad
Chartrand nearly had another one half a minute later, but the score
remained 2-1 until the 5:15 mark. P.C. Drouin dug the puck out from
the right corner and passed to Auger in front of the net; Auger made a
great fake to get Heller to drop to the ice, then backhanded a shot
over him. Geoff Lopatka had a golden opportunity a few minutes later
when he was all alone in front of the net and the puck was flipped over
it into the crease, but his shot bounced off Heller's leg.
The Big Red exploded for four goals in the third period, beginning with
Jason Weber's tally at the 3:30 mark. This one was set up by a ter-
rific effort on the part of Tony Bergin, who obliterated a Dartmouth
player with a brutal check along the left boards and still hung on to
the puck, dropping it off for Matt Cooney. Cooney spotted Weber in the
right circle and hit him on the stick with a pass, and Weber slapped it
through the pads as Heller was going down. Heller quite frankly gave
up an awful goal at 5:55 of the third, as P.C. Drouin broke in from the
blue line and, with a defenseman trying to hook him, got off a soft
shot that rolled between the goalie's legs.
Later in the period, Shean dumped the puck out of the Cornell zone for
Chartrand. The pass was too far ahead of him, but Chartrand beat the
Dartmouth defense to the puck, skated toward the net, and slid a one-
handed shot past Heller. Cornell closed out the scoring with 7:55
left, when Jake Karam ricocheted one off Heller's pad and Mike Sanci-
mino blasted home the rebound. Heller wound up with 26 saves, while
Skazyk, who might possibly be playing his way into the full-time
starter's role, stopped 25 of 26 shots.
It was good to see Cornell finally take one at home this season, and the
crowd gave the team quite an ovation when the Dartmouth game was over.
Still, the loss to Vermont may have dealt a fatal blow to whatever chances
the Big Red had for avoiding the Tuesday night first-round ECAC playoff
game. A win against the Cats would have given Cornell a sixth-place tie
with Vermont in the standings, and the Big Red would have held the tie-
breaker edge. With the loss, Cornell is four points behind Vermont and
Clarkson, and the Cats have the edge based on their 1-0-1 record in head-to-
head meetings with the Big Red. To gain sixth place, Cornell will more than
likely have to beat Clarkson in a couple of weeks and hope that the Golden
Knights fare worse against a slightly easier schedule than Cornell does the
rest of the way. On the bright side, if the Big Red does have to play a
first-round game, their chances of hosting that game look quite good.
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
strictly those of:
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and '94 (.5) | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"You know how they're always naming drinks after various celebrities? Well,
there's a new one now called the Tonya and Lorena. It's club soda with a
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