Game one of hockey quad weekend, Friday night, with the Bright public
address system hitting new lows, the Crimson of Harvard overcame the
Cornell Big Red 4-2.  Cornell seemed content to be boxed in all night,
while Harvard used just enough of a skating edge to get by.
 
The game started somewhat chippy.  Too much dump and chase, or only
let one to two forwards have a really go, while everyone else plays
defense, is not my style of hockey.  Kirk Nielsen (Jason Karmanos)
gave the Crimson the lead when the opportunistic Karmanos poke-checked
the puck away from Big Red, and then raced into the attacking zone
before laying off a lovely pass.  Karmanos showed excellent speed
and quick thinking all night.  Cory Gustafson (Perry Cohagan, Steve
Martins) made it 2-0 Harvard when a low overload play paid off.  The
passing by that top line was very good last night.
 
In the second period, the Crimson came out fast and took a 3-0 lead
when Ashlin Halfnight (Gustafson, Martins) broke into the slot and
put home the nice setup pass.  Cornell immediately came back off the
ensuing face-off.  Mark Scollan (Mike Sancimino, Jake Karam) finished
off the perfect play when Sancimino just blew through the Harvard
defense with his speed and power.  Marvelous goal!  The Big Red made
it tight at 3-2 when Karam (Christian Felli) broke in one on one,
pulled wide and had the easy high shot to beat the flopping Harvard
netminder.  That all happened early in the second, at which point
both teams went off the boil.
 
In the final period, Gustafson (Cohagan, Martins) put the game away
when his rebound found net.  The play was made by the thundering slap
shot of Martins, which the Cornell goalie just kicked out.  The rest
of the game featured Harvard staging a few attacks and Big Red coming
on with some pressure.
 
Cornell's tradition of strong goaltenders seems to be continuing with
first-year goalie Jason Elliott.  A big standup stopper who cuts down
the angles in a wise manner.  Elliott also showed a very quick glove
last night.  I thought the line of P.C. Drouin, Brad Chartrand and
Tyler McManus played very well as a unit.  Chartrand showed some
excellent skating and stick skills.  His one solo rush in the third
was memorable.  Mark Scollan, Karam and Sancimino were another big
strong, fast line.  I was surprised they did not do more against the
Crimson.  I felt overall that Cornell lacked some direction on offense,
just like Harvard.
 
It was not a great night for Harvard, but they played the whole game
solidly.  The defensive pair of Halfnight and Bryan Lonsinger was
incredibly strong.  Halfnight was doing his wonderful skating and
passing and last night handed out a number of big, clean checks.
Lonsinger was skating as fast as I have ever seen him move.  He had
a big night at both ends of the ice!  Brian Famigletti and Peter
McLaughlin also played excellent defense.  McLaughlin made play
after play last night and is defensively superb.  Geb Marett and
Michel Breistroff did not look great.  Marett is very strong and
given time to settle will be a force on the blue line.  I have
to agree with Sandy's comments about Breistroff.  He does not look
comfortable out there.  The time with the French National Team had
a bad effect on him.  Like captain Coughlin, they need to both forget
about it all, and just get back to playing hockey like they use to.
On offense, my man of the match has to be Jason Karmanos.  He was
a ball of fire out there.  Along with linemate Nielsen he was always
pressing the attack with sharp dotting runs or passes.  The big
line of Gustafson, Martins and Cohagan played a more laid-back style
and it seemed to suit them.  They were much more in control and a
force on the ice.  Brad Konik lead the other line that I found click-
ing last night.  Along with Tom Holmes and Joe Craigen they created
some interesting moments for Big Red.  The power play featured Konik
and Halfnight at the points.  Great idea!  The finesse of Konik on
the point was brilliant stuff.  Those two were made to play point,
as they both can move and create marvelous touches in any situation.
The move of Lonsinger down low-wide(?) seemed to be wishful thinking
to the days of Sean McCann.  Maybe following Sandy's idea of having
the large Lonsinger in front of the net would have worked better.
The other evolving idea of the Crimson was the corner overload.  That
cover-the-attack-with-a-blanket approach I would see as easy to defend.
However they scored two goals with it.  It seems to be the natural
progression from one player carries it in and we hope for the best,
but I pray we can move on to some more clever sets.  Overall, a
confidence building game for the Crimson.
 
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 good shooting
 rhun
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