>with 37 saves freshman goalie Jason Elliott got his first win tonight at
>cornell came back with two unanswered goals in the third, and then fell
>into a defenseive shell, and Elliott held the fort the rest of the way.
 
I wouldn't have described it as a defensive shell.  Granted, the  play was
mostly in Cornell's end in the third period, especially after the game
winning goal.  However, I would attribute that more to Vermont putting on
great offensive pressure rather than Cornell just trying to hold onto the
small lead they had.  Cornell was trying to generate some offense and did
skate it down into Vermont's end occasionally.  They were thinking about
getting another goal, but Vermont was as well.  This is very different from
the past few years when we've seen Cornell get back on their heels and hope
the defense can win the game.
 
Some other notes:
 
This is the best Vermont team I've seen since the Catamount win over
Harvard in the ECAC semifinals in '89.  I was not impressed with Tim Thomas
though.  He looked very shaky and had the Red put more shots on net, the
score could have been a lot worse for Vermont. (Thomas had only 25 saves
for the night.)
 
Jason Elliott, on the other hand, did a great job of denying the Vermont
offense (37 saves).  Perhaps Cornell should recruit Aussies more often.
 
P.C. Drouin had two points in this game despite Vinnie Auger's absence.
The two work well together, but it was nice to see that P.C. can produce
without Auger. (P.C. also had an assist against Dartmouth).
 
Cornell defensemen had 3 goals and 3 assists this weekend.
 
Cornell skated the puck into the offensive zone when possible rather than
simply playing dump-and-chase all night.  That combined with better line
changes is helping The Red offensively.
 
All of this, of course can be attributed to my moving back to Ithaca.
Since my leaving right after Cornell's NCAA tournament appearance in 1991,
the team has failed to get home ice for quarterfinals.  They did manage to
make it to the ECAC finals when they were played in Boston and I was moving
to Mass. Last March when I was visiting Cornell to return for grad school,
they won the preliminary round of the ECAC tournament at Lynah.  To welcome
me back this fall, they went undefeated in the home openers.  Evidently my
residence has an effect on their performance :-).  Cornell fans will be
pleased to hear that it should take me at least five years to get my Ph.D.
 
Paulette Dwen
Cornell '89 + sometime after the Cornell program has reestablished itself
nationally
Let's Go Red!