The Big Red took to the road last weekend hoping to keep their new-found
momentum going, and they were able to do just that in putting together their
first road sweep since a pair at Air Force in mid-January of 1992. Friday
night, Cornell played perhaps its best game of the season in downing Vermont
3-2, handing the Catamounts their fifth straight home loss. The Big Red had
a rough time of it against Dartmouth the following night, blowing a two-goal
lead and giving up a pair of short-handed goals, but they edged the Big
Green 6-5 thanks in large part to another hat trick by Ryan "This Rookie of
the Week thing is really cool -- I think I'll go for another one" Smart.
With the four points, Cornell moved into a seventh-place tie with Yale in
the ECAC standings. More notes below:
Cornell 3, Vermont 2
The Big Red extended their unusual mastery of Vermont at the Catamounts'
home rink, as this marks the fifth straight time that Cornell has come out
of Gutterson with at least a point. Things did not look so well for the Big
Red early on, however, as Vermont dominated the first half of the opening
period and Cornell had a rough time getting the puck out of their own end.
Despite controlling the action, the Catamounts were unable to get much in
the way of shots on goal, and the Big Red eventually worked the puck up the
ice and had a nice flurry in front of the Vermont net about midway through
the period.
The Cats appeared to have drawn first blood at the 11:30 mark, as a Martin
St. Louis pass from behind the net somehow wound up over the goal line.
Referee Alex Dell waved it off, however, apparently ruling that the puck had
been kicked in (St. Louis was NOT happy). It was the Big Red getting on the
scoreboard first, at 16:17 of the opening period. Mark Scollan skated be-
hind the Vermont net and dumped the puck out in front for P.C. Drouin. Cat-
amount goalie Tim Thomas stopped Drouin's shot, but Jake Karam backhanded
the rebound through the five-hole from deep in the slot.
It looked like the Big Red lead would stand up until intermission, but Ver-
mont tied the game with 38 seconds remaining in the first on a bit of a mis-
communication in the Cornell end. St. Louis skated across the blue line and
got walloped by two Big Red defenders but still managed to get off a pass
toward the net. Defenseman Chad Wilson slid over to cut the pass off, but
goaltender Jason Elliott came out of the net after it as well, and when J.C.
Ruid beat both Cornellians to the puck, he had an empty net to shoot at.
This has been the kind of breakdown that in the past has caused the Big Red
to fold, and indeed Vermont came out flying to start the second period,
taking the lead at the 4:13 mark on a beautiful play. Ruid poked the puck
away from Ryan Smart in the Vermont end, skated up right wing, criss-crossed
with St. Louis at the Cornell blue line, and left a drop pass for him. St.
Louis sent a beautiful cross-ice pass to Eric Perrin near the left post, and
Perrin one-timed it into the net.
But Cornell struck back at the 6:59 mark, five seconds into their first
power play of the night. Brad Chartrand drew the faceoff back to Drouin,
who sent the puck over to Steve Wilson at the right point. Wilson ripped a
bullet that Chartrand deflected through Thomas' pads as the goalie was going
down. The Big Red's transition game was working nicely, and they were able
to get a number of odd-man rushes in the second period, nearly scoring on
one with about four minutes left. Thomas blocked a shot and cleared the
rebound right to Karam, who fired point-blank, but Thomas, while sitting
down on the ice, was somehow able to glove the shot.
Smart got what would prove to be the game-winner with 2:22 remaining in the
period. Linemate Mike Sancimino held the puck to Thomas' left, then sent a
long pass over to Jason Dailey at the right point. Thomas stopped Dailey's
shot, but Smart crashed the net, poked the puck away from Thomas' glove, and
flipped it home. Thomas was upset after this one, probably feeling he had
held onto the puck long enough to warrant a faceoff, but the goal stood.
The third period belonged to Elliott, who stopped all 13 shots he faced in
the final 20 minutes. Just 1:15 in, he came up with two huge saves during a
prolonged Vermont flurry, and then midway through the period, he robbed Mike
Larkin, gloving a bullet from the edge of the faceoff circle. The closest
the Catamounts would come to tying the game was at the 3:35 mark, and it was
actually pretty close at that, as a shot hit the right post, rolled along
the goal line through the crease, and squirted out the other side. Had
Elliott turned to look for it, he probably would have knocked it in. The
officials pretty much swallowed their whistles in the third; two penalties
were called, but Dale Patterson slammed Elliott into the goal post with
three minutes left, and Bill Holowatiuk levelled Ruid from behind about a
minute later, and there was no call in either case.
Thomas left the game with 1:15 remaining, and even though Vermont was able
to keep the pressure on (especially when they won a crucial faceoff in the
Cornell end with only a few seconds left), Elliott stood tall and kept the
Cats off the board. Elliott made 25 saves overall, while Thomas had a good
night as well, stopping 21 shots.
Cornell 6, Dartmouth 5
Riding a three-game unbeaten streak (their first of the year), coming in
against a team that had lost eight straight, and then proceeding to put two
quick goals on the board, it is understandable how the Big Red might have
let up a bit -- but it also was almost very costly, as Dartmouth came
storming back to make a game of it. In the end, the Big Red needed Ryan
Smart's hat trick (his second of the year, making him the first Cornellian
to record multiple hat tricks in the same season since Doug Derraugh, and
the first freshman to do so since Joe Nieuwendyk back in 1984-85) to help
them fight off the Big Green and get the victory.
A potential warning occurred in the first couple minutes of the game, when
the Big Red turned the puck over three times in their own end. Fortunately,
goaltender Eddy Skazyk kept Dartmouth off the board with a couple of good
skate saves, and soon Cornell was headed back the other way. The Big Red
lit the lamp at 3:39 of the opening period, on a nice combination by Mike
Sancimino and Smart. Sancimino flipped the puck over to Smart, who carried
it behind the Dartmouth net, waited for Sancimino to slip behind the de-
fense, and then slid the puck out in front. Sancimino then lifted the puck
over diving goalie Ben Heller.
Dartmouth nearly tied the game midway through the period when, with Skazyk
looking to his right, a Big Green player tried to stuff the puck in to his
left. But, as happened against Vermont the night before, the puck rolled
along the goal line and came out the other side. Matt Cooney converted off
a flurry in front of the Dartmouth net to give Cornell the 2-0 lead at the
11:33 mark. Heller made a skate save of a Christian Felli shot, but Tony
Bergin muscled his way to the rebound and fired toward the net. Heller
stopped this one as well, but kicked the rebound out to the slot, where
Cooney was waiting to chip it home.
Cornell slacked off a bit after that, and Dartmouth proceeded to score the
next three goals, thanks mainly to Cornell-killer Mike Stacchi, who has
historically been extremely tough against the Big Red. He set up the Big
Green's first goal, a power-play marker at 12:52 of the first period, with a
cross-ice feed for Dave Whitworth, who banged the puck past a sprawling
Skazyk. Stacchi got the next two himself to put the Big Green up 3-2. He
breezed down left wing, then cut to the center toward the Cornell net with
no Big Red player touching him, and wristed a shot into the corner of the
net at the 15:34 mark. Patrick Turcotte went off for hitting from behind
two minutes later, but that made little difference to the Big Green. Steve
Wilson's cross-ice pass to P.C. Drouin was broken up by Jon Sturgis, and
when Drouin slipped, Sturgis found himself on a 2-on-1 short-handed break
with Stacchi. Sturgis sent the puck over to Stacchi, who put home his own
rebound with 2:17 left in the period.
Brent Retter ran defenseman Jason Dailey near the end of the first period
and got a minor for it, but Tony Bergin returned the favor by colliding with
Heller behind the Dartmouth net and getting called for charging in the
opening seconds of the middle period. The Big Red tied the score at 3:57 of
the second on a nice move by Smart, who got the puck at the blue line,
skated to the right circle, shook off a big hit by a Dartmouth defender, and
bounced a tough-angle shot off Heller's left arm into the net. A minute and
a half later, Stacchi had another chance at a short-handed break after an
errant Cornell pass, but he could not catch up to the puck. Smart converted
that power play at the 6:19 mark to give the Big Red a 4-3 lead. Sancimino
feathered a nice pass over a fallen defenseman, and went top-shelf on
Heller.
By this point, the game had gotten a bit chippy (Dion Del Monte, who had
gotten into a center-ice tussle with Steve Wilson that earned them both a
trip to the penalty box, speared Wilson moments after returning to the game
and got away with it), but Cornell's transition game was working much better
in the second period than it had in the first. Dartmouth once again looked
like they were going nowhere, but another short-handed breakaway resulted in
the game-tying goal at the 16:36 mark. Dailey lost the puck at the point,
and Stacchi corralled it, headmanning a pass for Sturgis, who drew Skazyk to
the left side of the net and flipped the puck into the right corner. The
Big Green almost gave Cornell a gift with 1:45 left, when Heller thought
there was a delayed penalty call and headed toward the bench. Fortunately
for Dartmouth, they were able to keep control of the puck.
Smart completed his hat trick with a power-play goal at 2:30 of the third,
skating down left wing, using a Dartmouth defenseman as a screen, then
firing the puck through the defender's legs and low to Heller's glove side.
The Big Red went up 6-4 at the 4:05 mark on Jason Kendall's first collegiate
goal, a one-timer from the left point that banked off a defenseman's skate
and went through Heller's pads. After the goal, Drouin and Whitworth en-
gaged in a shoving match in the crease, earning themselves double minors
each for roughing.
At 6:13, Joel McArter was called for high-sticking after he was hooked from
behind and spun by a Dartmouth player (his stick did catch the Dartmouth
player in the head). Skazyk kept the Big Green off the board with a couple
of great saves, including one off a deflection right in front of the Cornell
net. Dartmouth did convert their next power play opportunity, when Owen
Hughes deked Matt Cooney to the ice and wristed a soft 40-footer that a
screened Skazyk never saw. Heller left the game with a minute remaining,
but it was Cooney nearly getting the empty-netter when his shot hit Trevor
Dod-man's skate and deflected toward the open net. The puck wound up
rolling through the crease, however, and Dartmouth came back the other way.
It came down to one final faceoff in the Cornell end with a few seconds
left, but Brad Chartrand, the Big Red's best faceoff man, won it, and
Cornell ran out the clock. Probably to no one's surprise, there was some
pushing and shoving after the final whistle, and Brent Retter got hit with a
misconduct -- which seemed a little silly at that point.
Heller stopped 19 of 25 shots in this game, while Skazyk made 27 saves. The
Big Red returns home this weekend to face Harvard and Brown.
Injury update: Geoff Lopatka, who was leveled by Stacchi with two minutes
left and had to be helped off the ice, suffered a mild concussion but should
be all right. Tyler McManus, who has missed the last four games with a bad
back, is hoping to return to the lineup for the Harvard game. Vinnie Auger,
who has been out all season with a degenerative disk in his back, has been
undergoing treatment for it and will not be back this year. He will hope-
fully return next season and is expected to have three years of eligibility
if he does (I suspect the Ivy League will have to be petitioned or something
to let him red-shirt this season).
--
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!! DJF 5/27/94
"Top Ten San Diego Charger Excuses:
"6. If only we'd had Shapiro and Cochran on defense."
-- David Letterman, "Late Show with David Letterman"
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