St. Lawrence 5 Cornell 0
 
Cornell (1-2, 1-2)      0       0       0
SLU (2-1, 5-1)          0       1       4
 
Lines:
 
Drouin          HUGHES          Hammond
Kloboucek       HANNAH          Scollan
Sancimino       LOPATKA         Bumstead
Chartrand       KARAM           DeHart
 
Pairings:
 
Vogel           Felli
Dufresne        Belzile
Ettles          Holowatiuk
 
 
SLU 09:09 pp Beattie (Meany, Albert)
 
SLU 00:25    Albert (Carvel)
SLU 01:17    Murphy (Alain, Meany)
SLU 15:19 sh Carvel (ua)
SLU 17:28    Roderick (Beattie, Verbeek)
 
Saves:
 
Bandurski, COR 38, Giroux, SLU 22
 
Worst third period I've ever seen Cornell play. Ever. Fans who saw
Kaufmann's breakaway off the opening faceoff of the second period in
the Yale game can picture Albert's goal. McCutcheon quickly pulled
Hughes' line and sent out Hannah's, which prolonged the game's third
goal by about 40 seconds. The Red showed their inexperience after
that: it looked like they were trying to get 3 goals back on every
rush, with the result of breakdowns and SLU breakaways. Bandurski
looked like he was in shock (as well he might, with his team trying
to stop a mortar barrage with tissue paper), and played about as
badly as everybody else. Utterly awful.
 
Which is too bad, because the first two periods were among the best
of Cornell's early season. The forechecking was strong, and the
defense held up, and the Big Red were very much in the game,
controlling the tempo at times, through the first 40 minutes.
Bandurski made a number of really good saves (even as his "flop
first, ask questions later" style was sending me into cardiac
arrest), and the young defensemen kept their wits in front of a
strangely subdued Appleton crowd. No question about it: if Cornell
strings together three periods of this kind of hockey, they can play
with ANYBODY.
 
Cornell stars of the game: (1) McCutcheon. For getting a bunch of
kids in such good shape that a loss in Canton is actually a
disappointment.
 
------------------
 
Cornell 3 Clarkson 3 (ot)
 
The box score has already been posted by Bri Farrell.
 
Lines:
 
Lopatka         HUGHES          McManus
Chartrand       HANNAH          Scollan
Sancimino       KARAM           Hammond
Doll            DEHART          Bumstead
 
Pairings:
 
same as vs. SLU
 
 
On the next night, Cornell did string together three (actually, three
and 1/4) strong periods, took the play to the Golden Knights, and
took a point away from the North Country for the first time since the
90-91 trip.
 
The name of this game was don't give Clarkson a man advantage: the
Knights scored on a 5-on-3, a 5-on-4, and a 6-on-5. Cornell
did kill 5 Clarkson man advantages, but the Knights really rolled up
the shots and chances (and were unlucky, several times shooting wide
right on top of Bandurski, and once ringing a post).
 
Even strength, Cornell held a slight advantage in the play, but both
teams played excellent defense, and both goalies shone.
 
With the game tied 2-2, Jake Karam put the Red on top by deking
outside left around the Clarkson defense and launching a hard
slapshot that beat Currie over his right shoulder. The Red protected
the lead, even killing off a penalty when Shaun Hannah did one of the
dumbest things I've seen him do: cross-checking a Clarkson defenseman
in the Clarkson crease, after the play, right in front of both refs.
The crowd chanted for "5" (personally, I wanted "10"). The refs
settled for "2", but when the Big Red killed it off without many
fireworks, it began to look more and more like they would give the
Knights a tangible reminder of last year's ECAC SF.
 
It was not to be. The Knights pulled Currie (that man advantage
again) for a faceoff in the Cornell end, and the Red never cleared
the puck. Dubinski's screened, deflected shot dribbled past
Bandurski, Cheel rocked, and the visitors settled for the tie. Just
another in a series of incredibly hard-fought games between these two
teams in the past 3 or 4 years. Was Cornell playing over their heads?
Don't be stupid - of course they were. But they held their own
against a very annoyed team who did not want to lose another league
game.
 
Cornell stars of the game: (3) Ettles. The kid played solid defense
throughout, and his Brett Hull-like slapshot put the Red on the board
after 98 consecutive scoreless minutes. (2) Bandurski. Good play
under tough conditions. This guy's now started three road games: UVM,
SLU, and Clarkson; and two home games at Lynah. He must think all
crowds are like this! (1) Karam. Good shifts throughout, and one hell
of a big goal.
 
Honorable mention: freshman wing Mike Sancimino got creamed at Cheel,
and skated over to the Big Red bench without his helmet. Anne thinks
he's "kinda cute". But she always did prefer younger men...
 
 
Greg
Somerville, MA
Let's Go Red!