Cornell went into the weekend with an outside chance at avoiding the
preliminary round of the ECAC playoffs, but a pair of disappointing losses
left the Big Red in eighth place, hosting a Tuesday night playoff game
against Princeton. Still, it's a definite improvement over last year, when
the team didn't make the playoffs at all. Box scores and notes from both
games below:
RPI 9, Cornell 1
Cornell 0 1 0 -- 1
RPI 4 4 1 -- 9
First period -- Scoring:
R Bryan Richardson (Tim Regan, Cam Cuthbert), 7:58 0-1
R Craig Hamelin (Ron Pasco, Wayne Clarke), 10:37 0-2
R Jeff Brick (Richardson, Regan), 16:49 0-3
R Richardson (Regan), 17:29 0-4
Penalties:
R Clarke (tripping), 0:45; C Geoff Lopatka (tripping), 5:09; C Dan
Dufresne (high-sticking), 19:13
Second period -- Scoring:
R Hamelin (Pasco, Clarke), 4:55 0-5
C Geoff Bumstead (Mike Sancimino), 9:40 1-5
R Clarke (Pasco, Xavier Majic), 14:02 1-6
R Jeff O'Connor (Kelly Askew, Jeff Matthews), 16:46 1-7
R Brick (Richardson), 19:13 1-8
Penalties:
C Sancimino (high-sticking), 6:50; R Jeff Gabriel (hooking), 11:50
Third period -- Scoring:
R Pasco (Clarke, Hamelin), 6:16 1-9
Penalties:
R Cuthbert (tripping), 2:49; C Brad Chartrand (slashing), 13:54
Shots on goal: Cornell 5-10-4 -- 19, RPI 18-13-13 -- 44
Power plays: Cornell 0 of 3, RPI 0 of 4
Goaltending:
C Andy Bandurski (out at beginning of second period, in at beginning of
third period, out at 9:45 of third period, 23 shots, 18 saves), Eddy
Skazyk (in at beginning of second period, out at beginning of third
period, in at 9:45 of third period, 21 shots, 17 saves)
R Neil Little (16 shots, 15 saves), Mike Tamburro (in at 6:16 of third
period, 3 shots, 3 saves)
Notes:
It's the snow's fault. Ithaca got hit with almost two feet of snow on
Thursday, forcing the sheriff to close all roads in Tompkins County and
delaying the departure of the team bus until Friday morning. Thus, the
Big Red did not get much of a chance to skate at the Houston Field
House before the game, which was a problem because there is consider-
ably more room behind the nets there than at Lynah. If Cornell had had
more of an opportunity to adapt to the bigger rink, the score would
have been...
OK, we really can't blame the snow. RPI was simply overwhelming,
playing perhaps their best game of the season. Cornell was having its
problems, and practically every mistake they made wound up in their own
net. Not only that, most RPI mistakes did too. The Engineers relied
on their team speed and an aggressive forechecking game, and Cornell
just could not keep up.
The Big Red appeared to catch a break 45 seconds into the game when
RPI's Wayne Clarke was called for tripping, but in a sign of things to
come, the Engineers put together a very aggressive penalty kill and
didn't allow Cornell to get much of anything started. Bryan Richardson
got things started for RPI at the 7:58 mark, when he worked his way
around defenseman Blair Ettles (who lost his balance and fell) and
skated in alone on the Cornell net, backhanding a rolling shot through
goaltender Andy Bandurski's legs. Craig Hamelin and Ron Pasco worked a
pretty give-and-go for RPI's second goal at 10:37 of the first. As
Bandurski came out to cut down the angle on the expected shot from
Pasco, the Engineer forward returned the puck to Hamelin, who tipped it
into the empty net.
The Engineers made it 3-0 at the 16:49 mark. RPI had a breakaway but
messed up two opportunities before Jeff Brick finally got the puck
alone in front of Bandurski and wristed it by the goaltender. Forty
seconds later, Richardson converted off a 2-on-1 with Tim Regan.
Richardson worked his way past defenseman Steve Wilson, bouncing a pass
off the boards to himself in the process, and backhanded the puck over
Bandurski's shoulder. Eddy Skazyk replaced Bandurski at the start of
the second period, but it made little difference to the Engineers, as
Hamelin greeted him at the 4:55 mark by skating through the Cornell
defense and wristing one to the stick side.
Later in the period, the Big Red offense showed some life when Geoff
Bumstead and Mike Sancimino skated into the RPI zone and teed off on
goalie Neil Little. Thanks to a pair of great saves by the Engineer
netminder, that rush was blunted, but half a minute later, the next one
was successful. This time, Sancimino and Bumstead worked their way up
the left boards, and Bumstead fired home Sancimino's centering feed at
9:40 of the second period. The Engineers regained their five-goal
advantage at the 14:02 mark. Xavier Majic lost the puck on a wrap-
around try, but in a good illustration of how the night went for RPI
(and Cornell), the loose puck wound up on the stick of Clarke in the
slot, and he batted it past Skazyk. A similar bit of good fortune (or
aggressive play) resulted in RPI's seventh goal, at 16:46 of the
second. A wide-open Kelly Askew fanned on his shot, catching the puck
with the heel of his stick, but it dribbled over to the right side of
the crease, and Jeff O'Connor, who was coming out from behind the net,
slapped it home.
Brick bounced one into the net off Geoff Lopatka's skate 47 seconds
before the second intermission. Bandurski returned to the Cornell net
at the start of the third period, and a bit surprisingly, Little
remained in the game. He was a bit shaky early on, so perhaps he did
need the work -- then again, he only faced one Cornell shot before his
eventual departure. Pasco closed out the scoring at 6:16 of the third
period, firing the puck home from the slot. At this point, Mike Tam-
burro came in for Little, and at 9:45 of the third, Skazyk replaced
Bandurski in what looked like a pre-planned move. Mercifully (at least
from the Cornell point of view), there were very few stoppages of play
the rest of the way.
Little stopped 15 of 16 shots, while Tamburro mopped up with three
saves. For Cornell, Bandurski had 18 saves and Skazyk 17. RPI's power
play, which was #7 in the country going into the weekend's action, was
somehow kept off the board. Well, that's *something*, anyway...
Union 5, Cornell 2
Cornell 0 0 2 -- 2
Union 2 2 1 -- 5
First period -- Scoring:
U Greg Buchanan (Chris Albert, Jeff Jiampetti), 3:45 0-1
U Russ Monteith (Reid Simonton, Chris Ford), 10:55 (PP) 0-2
Penalties:
U Buchanan (cross-checking), 3:58; C Joel McArter (roughing), 6:45;
C Geoff Bumstead (interference), 9:38; U Buchanan (cross-checking),
13:41; U Chris Hancock (checking from behind), 17:08
Second period -- Scoring:
U Monteith (Troy Stevens, Scott Boyd), 1:38 (PP) 0-3
U Jiampetti (Albert, Andrew Will), 7:48 (PP) 0-4
Penalties:
C Dan Dufresne (hooking), 0:36; U Chad Thompson (roughing), 4:34;
U Ryan Donovan (roughing), 4:34; C Chad Wilson (roughing), 4:34;
C Jason Kendall (roughing), 4:34; C P.C. Drouin (boarding), 5:43;
U Stevens (hooking), 5:43; C Jake Karam (interference), 6:42; C Steve
Wilson (checking from behind), 7:04; U Patrick O'Flaherty (hooking),
9:16; U Dean Goulet (hooking), 15:26; C S. Wilson (holding), 15:33;
U Boyd (holding), 18:19
Third period -- Scoring:
C Jamie Papp (Kendall, Brad Chartrand), 1:20 (PP) 1-4
C Papp (Chartrand, Jason Zubkus), 8:20 (PP) 2-4
U Jiampetti (Will, Luigi Villa), 19:23 (EN) 2-5
Penalties:
U Monteith (tripping), 1:07; U Goulet (slashing major), 3:56; C Shaun
Hannah (interference), 9:31; C Hannah (roughing), 14:15; U Albert
(roughing), 14:15; C Dufresne (holding), 16:18; C Vincent Auger
(fighting major, game disqualification), 18:29; C Lopatka (misconduct),
18:29; C Matt Cooney (misconduct), 18:29; U Simonton (roughing,
roughing), 18:29
Shots on goal: Cornell 8-9-13 -- 30, Union 9-9-12 -- 30
Power plays: Cornell 2 of 9, Union 3 of 8
Goaltending:
C Andy Bandurski (18 shots, 14 saves), Eddy Skazyk (in at beginning of
third period, 11 shots, 11 saves)
U Luigi Villa (30 shots, 28 saves)
Notes:
You can forget about the Union teams that finished last each of the
previous two seasons -- these Dutchmen are for real. Union played a
solid game in running their unbeaten streak to nine games and beating
Cornell for the third time in a row. The Big Red now have to regroup
and get ready for Tuesday night's preliminary-round game (the first
ever at Lynah Rink) against Princeton.
The Dutchmen were on top of things virtually from the opening faceoff,
and a Union forward had a breakaway just one minute into the game, but
his slapper was wide right by inches. It made little difference,
though, since Greg Buchanan would light the lamp a short while later.
Jeff Jiampetti led a 2-on-2 into the Cornell zone, and it became a
3-on-2 when Buchanan raced up the right boards, took Jiampetti's pass,
and sent a low shot under a diving Andy Bandurski at the 3:45 mark.
Union stretched its lead to 2-0 at 10:55 of the first, when Reid Simon-
ton's wrap-around attempt went off Bandurski's pad and over to a wide-
open Russ Monteith for the tap-in.
Buchanan went off for cross-checking at 13:41 of the first, and Cornell
was able to put together a couple of flurries during the power play,
but Union goalie Luigi Villa was a wall, coming up with three great pad
saves on point-blank attempts. The Dutchmen killed off that power play
as well as another one near the end of the first period, and they
almost increased their lead half a minute into the second. Bandurski
had to come up with a couple of great saves of his own to thwart a
Union 2-on-1. At the one-minute mark, he gloved a wrap-around try by
Cory Holbrough, but Monteith was able to convert on a similar play at
1:38, stuffing the puck through Bandurski's pads.
A preview of some later nastiness came at the 4:34 mark, when Cornell's
Chad Wilson and Jason Kendall got tangled up with Union's Chad Thompson
and Ryan Donovan along the boards. All four were sent off for
roughing. Cornell almost wound up with a power play a minute and nine
seconds later, when Mark Scollan drew a hooking penalty on Simonton at
the Union blue line, but during the stoppage in play, P.C. Drouin was
called for boarding, wiping out the man advantage.
A pair of calls against the Big Red set Union up with a 1:38 5-on-3
advantage, and the Dutchmen converted it at the 7:48 mark. Chris
Albert fired one from the left circle that Jiampetti got his stick on,
deflecting the puck through the five-hole. By this point, Union was
skating through the Cornell defense almost at will, and Bandurski had
to face four or five breakaways over the rest of the period --
including a short-handed attempt by Jiampetti (who was all over the ice
in his last game at Achilles) as time ran out in the second.
Eddy Skazyk went between the pipes for Cornell to start the third
period, and the switch apparently had some effect, because Cornell got
on the board 1:20 later. Jamie Papp jumped on a Brad Chartrand rebound
and beat Villa with a low shot from the left edge of the crease. At
3:56 of the third, Union's Dean Goulet handed the Big Red a chance to
get back into the game when he deposited Mike Sancimino in a heap along
the boards and was called for a slashing major. Sancimino was down for
several minutes before he was able to get up and make his way back to
the Cornell bench.
Cornell had an awful time on the ensuing power play, as they had a fair
amount of difficulty completing passes. A timeout was called at the
7:07 mark, and a minute later, Sancimino appeared to have scored when
he deflected a high shot into the Union net. However, the referees
ruled that he had high-sticked the puck, and the goal was disallowed.
Cornell did get a power-play goal at the 8:20 mark, when Papp blasted
one from near the left circle, sending it into the net over Villa's
shoulder.
The Big Red was unable to do much after that, however, and play started
getting chippy. Shaun Hannah tangled with Albert inside the Cornell
net with about six minutes remaining, but the frustration hit the
boiling point at 18:29 of the third period, when a fight broke out
between Cornell's Vincent Auger and Union's Reid Simonton. Auger had
the better of the action (if you want to call it that), as he belted
Simonton and shoved him into the Cornell bench, where the two went at
it for about half a minute before they were separated. Simonton wound
up with a double minor for roughing, but Auger would top him with a
major and game disqualification for fighting -- a big blow to Cornell,
which will sorely miss him Tuesday night against Princeton. Two other
Cornellians, Geoff Lopatka and Matt Cooney, both of whom had dragged
Simonton away from Auger, were hit with misconducts. It was not a
pretty scene.
Skazyk was pulled for the extra attacker with 59 seconds left, but
Jiampetti ended up converting off a 2-on-1 break with Andrew Will for
the empty-netter at 19:23 of the third period. Villa had a terrific
game between the pipes for the Dutchmen, stopping 28 of 30 shots. For
Cornell, Bandurski had 14 saves, while Skazyk stopped all 11 shots he
faced.
Union had a pretty good and vocal crowd for this one, as well they should
have. It was unfortunate that, as Jim mentioned, a certain segment of them
did their best to ruin the game. The "things" being thrown at the Cornell
section were coins. Hopefully, either the crowd will police itself in the
future or the Union higher-ups will take some steps to ensure that this does
not become a tradition. That type of behavior is unacceptable at a college
hockey game, or any sporting event for that matter.
--
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!!
Reporter: "What do you think of the team's execution?"
John McKay: "I'm in favor of it."
-- an exchange that occurred while McKay was coaching the 0-14 Tampa Bay
Buccaneers in 1976
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