The thirty-second annual Cornell Hockey Team banquet was held on Saturday,
May 1, and despite the Big Red's rather gloomy season, the event was a lot
of fun.  In between the eating and the speeches, a number of awards were
given out, starting with the Senior Recognition awards.  Each of the four
seniors -- Ryan Hughes, Jason Vogel, Russ Hammond, and Etienne Belzile --
was given a team jersey.  (A somewhat cynical note here:  these awards used
to be called "Hat Tricks", in part because jerseys were also given out to
those on the team who had scored hat tricks during the season.  But, since
no one has gotten one for the Big Red the last two years, the name was
changed.)
 
Cornell hockey color commentator (and former player) Pete Tufford was the
master of ceremonies for the event, and he had one of the better lines of
the night early on.  Noting that the seventh game of the Toronto-Detroit
playoff series was going on at the same time as the banquet, he said, "We
have an update on the score of the hockey game -- the score is 1-1, and Kent
Manderville has scored both goals."  (Manderville, who as Greg Berge
mentioned was called up by the Maple Leafs for the playoffs, was considered
by most observers to have been an underachiever during his two seasons with
the Big Red)
 
Cornell athletic director Laing Kennedy later took the podium and reflected
on Cornell's great hockey tradition, stating a couple times that "this
season is not indicative of Cornell hockey."  He encouraged the returning
players to keep working hard (they have been lifting weights on their own
three or four times a week in an attempt to bulk up) and thanked the seniors
for their contribution to Cornell hockey over the last four years.  I think
for the most part, he was very encouraging, in effect issuing a challenge to
the returning players to improve on their performances of this season, but I
also felt he was sending a bit of a warning to head coach Brian McCutcheon
and his staff -- if the team doesn't make a substantial move in the ECAC
standings next year, there may be some trouble.
 
Kennedy had another of the night's good lines, though.  Cornell trainer Ray
Barile was selected as the trainer for Team USA at the just-completed World
Championships, and in remarking that Barile was in attendance on Saturday,
Kennedy said, "... and thanks to Team Sweden, Ray was able to make our
banquet tonight."
 
Junior Varsity leading scorer Marc Wyttenbach gave a summary of the JV
team's up-and-down season, which included changing coaches in the middle of
the season and having ten players leave the team for one reason or another.
Coach McCutcheon then summarized the varsity season, which -- let's face
it -- was not easy for him to do.  He did make the point that, especially
later in the season when injuries forced Cornell to ice a team with a dozen
freshmen on it, it was "like sending boys out to play against men."  (Hope-
fully, the off-season weight training will make some difference there)  He
also mentioned that, despite the awful record, there was "not much" finger-
pointing or back-stabbing on the team.  Like Kennedy, he thanked the depart-
ing group of seniors.
 
It was then time for each of those seniors to give a speech, and they all
related some amusing stories about their Cornell careers.  Most of the
stories had to do with Etienne Belzile, with Jason Vogel's tale being the
best.  Jason talked about the trip to their first college hockey game, at
Princeton three years ago.  He and Ryan Hughes were sitting on the bus,
"nervous as hell", and Jason noticed Etienne sitting behind them, "and he
was studying something about a BEAK on a BIRD?  Then he says to me, 'Did you
know birds have *chins*??'"  Finally, Jason recalled, "I couldn't take it
any more.  I said to him, 'Ets!  Are you playing a hockey game, or are you
studying biology?!'  He looked at me and said, 'Yeah!'"  I should mention
that when it was Etienne's turn to speak, he allowed as how this was the
first time he had ever given a speech completely in English in front of a
large group.  I thought he did pretty well.
 
And then finally, after all this, it was time for the Cornell hockey awards:
 
     The Bill Doran Memorial Award for sportsmanship:  winger/defenseman
     Jason Vogel.
 
     The Wendell Earle Memorial Award for excellence in both hockey and
     academics:  defenseman Etienne Belzile.   The award was presented by
     Wendell's ten-year-old grandson Evan, who is extremely poised and
     mature for his age.  He even slipped in a line about "studying all
     those bird chins paid off" during his presentation.
 
     The Joe DeLibero - Stan Tsapis Memorial Award for skilled efficiency,
     dedication, and hard-nosed competitiveness:  center/wing Shaun Hannah.
 
     The Sam Woodside Hockey Award for most improvement during a rookie
     season:  center Brad Chartrand, who finished the season as the team's
     leading goal-scorer.  Pete Tufford accepted the award on Brad's behalf,
     since Brad was home sick with mono.
 
     The Cornell Hockey Boosters Award for the player "whose contribution to
     the team is not apparent in box scores" -- enthusiasm, dedication,
     desire, etc.:  defenseman Christian Felli.
 
     The Mark Weiss Memorial Award, given by the Class of 1981 in memory of
     Mark Weiss, a hockey player who died during his sophomore season, to
     the player who shows the most determination and passion for the sport
     of hockey over his career.  The award went to winger Russ Hammond.
 
     And finally, the Nicky Bawlf award, for the team's most valuable player
     went to center and team captain Ryan Hughes.  This may raise a few eye-
     brows in light of his disappointing season, but since the award is done
     by player voting rather than by the coaching staff, I guess it's a
     little tough to argue with.
 
Also given out was the John D. Velie award, which goes to an outstanding
player on the junior varsity team.  This year's winner was Marc Wyttenbach.
 
One more award, which is not a Cornell award:  the Gun Hill Player of the
Year.  Players accumulate points for this award every time they are named
one of the three stars of a game, with first star getting three points,
second two and third one.  Ryan Hughes also won this award, which carries a
$500 donation to a non-profit organization designated by the winner.  Ryan
chose the Special Children's Center of Ithaca, which works with pre-kinder-
garten-age disabled children, and which was the same organization Parris
Duffus gave the donation to when he won the Gun Hill award last year.
 
With the awards ceremony over, I guess we can officially close the book on
the Cornell 1992-93 season, and start wondering about '93-'94 for the next
four months until the hockey office decides to release some information
about the recruits (geez...)
--
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and probably '94
LET'S GO RED!!
"I've had a wonderful evening -- but this wasn't it."
-- Groucho Marx