This was a heartbreaking weekend for the Big Red, as they came up with two
good efforts, only to lose both games in overtime. A few late notes and
highlights on the Cornell and Colgate games:
Yale 6, Colgate 3
The Elis' Mark Kaufmann was a key factor in this game, as he notched a
hat trick to go along with two assists; linemate Martin Leroux chipped
in with two goals and three assists. Yale goaltender John Hockin made
33 saves, while his Red Raider counterpart, Jason Gates, finished with
19. Rob Metz had a pair of goals for Colgate.
Yale 4, Cornell 3 (OT)
Cornell 2 0 1 0 -- 3
Yale 1 2 0 1 -- 4
First period -- Scoring:
C Jake Karam (Blair Ettles, Andre Doll), 13:54 (PP) 1-0
C Ettles (Bumstead), 14:28 (PP) 2-0
Y Andy Weidenbach (Martin Leroux, ?? Brown?), 19:49 2-1
[ may have been Peter Allen ]
Penalties:
Y Leroux (roughing), 1:29; C Dan Dufresne (roughing), 1:29; Y Peter
Allen (roughing), 8:44; Y Michael Yoshino (tripping), 13:05; Y Jason
Cipolla (tripping), 13:34
Second period -- Scoring:
Y Mark Kaufmann (Leroux, Jack Duffy), 19:00 2-2
Y John Emmons (Zoran Kozic, Cipolla), 19:32 2-3
Penalties:
Y ?? Dillon? (holding), 1:33; C Dufresne (tripping), 7:01; C Bill
Holowatiuk (delay of game), 16:58
Third period -- Scoring:
C Karam (Joel McArter, Christian Felli), 18:38 3-3
Penalties:
Y Yannick Chiasson (holding), 13:37
Overtime -- Scoring:
Y Kaufmann (un), 0:22 3-4
Shots on goal: Cornell 11-6-13-0 -- 30, Yale 8-13-10-1 -- 32
Goalies: C Eddy Skazyk (32 shots, 28 saves)
Y Todd Sullivan (30 shots, 27 saves)
Power play: Cornell 2 of 5, Yale 0 of 2
Notes:
What with the Big Red still missing forwards Jason Vogel, Russ Hammond,
and Tyler McManus, as well as goaltender Andy Bandurski, they were not
expected to provide much of a test for a nationally-ranked Yale team,
but Cornell surprised the Elis with a pretty solid game, at least until
a bad play in the overtime. Eddy Skazyk (the consensus seems to be
SKAH-zick, for whoever asked) was between the pipes for the Big Red
once again, and he turned in a good performance. He was tested early,
coming up with a big save off a Jason Cipolla slapshot five minutes
into the game.
Cornell stunned the Elis in the opening period with two goals on the
same power play. With Cipolla and Michael Yoshino both off for
tripping, the Big Red had themselves a 5-on-3 chance, and Jake Karam
converted it at the 13:54 mark. Blair Ettles took a pass off the
boards from Andre Doll, and though he had a little trouble with the
puck, he got off a shot that Yale goalie Todd Sullivan dropped to the
ice to block. Sullivan lost the rebound, however, and Karam was there
to flip it over the prone goalie. Half a minute later, with the teams
skating 5-on-4, Geoff Bumstead pounced on a loose puck in front of the
Yale net and sent it back to Ettles, whose blast from the blue line
sailed over Sullivan's right shoulder.
It appeared that the Big Red would cruise into the intermission with a
2-0 lead, but with less than half a minute left, Martin Leroux came in
on left wing and left a nice drop pass for Andy Weidenbach, whose quick
snap shot looked like it would miss the net. However, the puck
deflected off Cornell defenseman Bill Holowatiuk's leg before flying
through Skazyk's pads with eleven seconds remaining. Which brings up a
question that came up on the radio: Bumstead was called for something
or other on a delayed penalty, but after the goal was scored, he was
not sent to the box. The announcers thought (and I agreed) that the
rules this year would call for him to serve the penalty and give Yale a
power play, despite the goal being scored. I know I've seen a couple
similar situations called that way this season. (The newspaper box
score gave the second assist on this goal to "Brown" -- the only Brown
I see on the Yale roster is the assistant coach, Paul Brown)
Well anyway, Cornell sagged a little after that goal, and the Elis
began picking the pace up early in the second period, outshooting the
Big Red 13-6. Skazyk stood up to the onslaught, making a great pad
save midway through the period as a Yale power play was expiring and
following that up with a nice glove save on the rebound. The Big Red
got back into it with about eight minutes left in the second, as they
mounted some pressure on offense and started testing Sullivan again.
But with four and a half minutes to go, Cornell lost the puck at their
own blue line, enabling the Elis to fire a barrage at Skazyk. The Big
Red goaltender made at least three terrific saves before he was able to
dive out of the crease and freeze the puck. Despite it being only his
second collegiate game, Skazyk was looking very confident.
Based on this game, I think Cornell would be in favor of a motion
shortening the periods in college hockey games to 19 minutes, because
the Elis once again struck in the final minute of the period -- this
time for two goals to take the lead. Skazyk stopped a backhand try by
Martin Leroux as a Cornell penalty expired, but Mark Kaufmann pounced
on the rebound and whacked it home at the 19:00 mark. There was some
question as to whether this one should have counted, as the Elis had a
man in the crease, but the goal stood. Seconds later, Cornell defense-
man Etienne Belzile froze the puck in the crease by closing his hand on
it, which is usually worth a penalty shot or at least a delay of game
call. Referee Tim MacConaghy, however, simply signalled for the
faceoff, which Cornell lost. Cipolla dug the puck out of the corner
and centered it for John Emmons between the circles, and he slapped one
off the right post and in to give Yale the lead with 28 seconds to go
before intermission.
The Big Red could have folded right there, but they came out in the
third period and put some pressure on the Yale defense. Early on, Joel
McArter came off the Cornell bench and beat a pair of Eli defenders to
the puck, setting himself up on the breakaway; Sullivan was forced to
kick away the low shot. Cornell kept the pressure on, and it finally
paid off with 1:22 left in the third. In the middle of a Cornell line
change, McArter intercepted a clearing attempt by Yale's Jack Duffy
near the crease. Karam then sent the puck back to Christian Felli at
the point, who took a fluttering shot that Karam deflected past Sulli-
van. Felli's assist on the play was the first point of his career; he
had gone scoreless in his previous 41 games, which as far as I can tell
is a Cornell record for non-goalies. The Elis were back on their heels
after that, and Shaun Hannah came close to winning the game with 19
seconds left when he tipped a Brad Chartrand shot, but Sullivan came up
with a great save to preserve the tie.
It's a shame, really, that a game in which Cornell had put together
such a solid effort came to an end so quickly in overtime, and on a
miscue that has been all too common for the Big Red this year. The
Elis dumped the puck into the Cornell zone off the faceoff, and the
puck was loose in the slot, but nobody from the Big Red could clear it.
Kaufmann, with three Cornell defenders on him, got to the loose puck
and fired a low wrister from the edge of the circle that beat Skazyk to
the left side. And that was it. Skazyk wound up with 28 saves, while
at the other end, Sullivan had a solid game with 27.
Princeton 4, Cornell 3 (OT)
Cornell 1 1 1 0 -- 3
Princeton 0 1 2 1 -- 4
First period -- Scoring:
C Ryan Hughes (un), 12:29 (SH) 1-0
Penalties:
C Brad Chartrand (interference), 11:24; C Dan Dufresne (hooking),
18:28; C Bill Holowatiuk (cross-checking), 19:37
Second period -- Scoring:
C Jake Karam (Geoff Bumstead, Russ Hammond), 7:21 (PP) 2-0
P Corey Rhodes (Sean O'Brien, ?? Tucker), 19:38 2-1
Penalties:
P Brian Bigelow (holding), 4:52; P J.P. O'Connor (interference), 7:12;
C Etienne Belzile (hitting from behind), 10:56; C Blair Ettles
(holding), 16:32; P O'Connor (roughing), 16:32
Third period -- Scoring:
C Geoff Lopatka (Karam, Bumstead), 8:36 3-1
P Ian Sharp (Barrington Miller), 17:38 3-2
P Bigelow (O'Brien, Miller), 17:55 3-3
Penalties:
P Jason Smith (hooking), 9:32; C John DeHart (interference), 12:30
Overtime -- Scoring:
P O'Connor (Jonathan Kelley, Smith), 2:37 (PP) 3-4
Penalties:
C Shaun Hannah (tripping), 1:05
Shots on goal: Cornell 11-14-8-0 -- 33, Princeton 10-2-9-1 -- 22
Goalies: C Eddy Skazyk (22 shots, 18 saves)
P Craig Fiander (33 shots, 30 saves)
Power play: Cornell 1 of 3, Princeton 1 of 6
Notes:
Somebody better burn some incense or something, because this game is
proof that the gods are mad at the Cornell hockey team. The Big Red
controlled most of the action (including some terrific defensive play
in the second period) and had the game all but won with a couple of
minutes left in regulation, but the Tigers struck for a couple of fluke
goals to tie things up and then benefitted from a, well, questionable
call in overtime. The win ended Princeton's eight-game winless streak
(nine if you count the Moscow Spartak exhibition game), which had
stretched back to December 11.
The first-period action was back and forth, with Cornell playing a
solid forechecking game and working the corners pretty well. Brad
Chartrand was sent off for interference at the 11:24 mark, but for once
it was the Big Red taking advantage of the bad bounce. During the
Princeton power play, a pass back to Jonathan Kelley skipped over his
stick, and Ryan Hughes found himself with a short-handed breakaway,
converting it at 12:29. He skated in with the puck on his backhand
side, made as if he were going to shift to the forehand, then slid the
puck through Tiger goalie Craig Fiander's pads as Fiander reacted to
the fake.
The Tigers made a bit of a strategic mistake near the end of the first
period, when, with a Cornell player already in the box and a delayed
whistle on defenseman Bill Holowatiuk, they elected to play with the
puck for several seconds rather than forcing the Big Red to touch up.
This shortened the 5-on-3 considerably, and Cornell had little trouble
killing it off. The Cornell defense gave Princeton fits in the second
period, as the Tigers went the first nineteen and a half minutes with-
out a shot on goal. Meanwhile, the Big Red built their lead to 2-0
when Jake Karam broke in from the right side and tipped a Russ Hammond
rebound into the open net. Hammond was seeing his first action since
recovering from a bout with pneumonia.
Princeton's first shot on goal of the second period, by ?? Tucker (who
was apparently playing his first game in a Tiger uniform), was sticked
aside by Cornell goaltender Eddy Skazyk, but Corey Rhodes got to the
rebound and took a shot which hit three things: the left post, the
right post, and the back of the net, with 22 seconds left in the
period. There may also have been a Princeton player in the crease, but
no call was made. Anyway, perhaps because of what had happened the
night before, this goal seemed to take a little wind out of Cornell's
sails, and they were a little flat early in the third.
Six minutes into the third period, the Big Red was hit with yet another
injury when defenseman Blair Ettles, who also has served as point man
on the power play, did something to his left knee. He was helped off
the ice and did not return. In spite of that unwelcome news, the Big
Red regained their two-goal lead at the 8:26 mark, as they engineered a
successful 3-on-1 break. Geoff Bumstead brought the puck out of the
Cornell zone, and with Karam and Geoff Lopatka both breaking toward the
net, he rolled a pass near the slot. Lopatka caught up to it first and
redirected it past Fiander into the net.
Though the Big Red had a few more chances to pad their lead, they
seemed well in control of the game with under three minutes left, but
all of a sudden, a fluke goal turned things around. Barrington Miller
took a hard shot that Skazyk got the stick on, and the puck deflected
high over the net and appeared to be headed out of play. However, it
hit the top of the glass behind the net and dropped to the slot, where
Ian Sharp was waiting to flip it home at the 17:38 mark. The Big Red
was obviously shocked by the goal, and suddenly Princeton was moving
much more easily through the Cornell zone. Seventeen seconds later,
the Tigers had tied the game, and once again, a shot by Miller played a
pivotal role. Skazyk blocked a shot and wristed the puck out near the
point, but no Cornell players were close enough to clear it, and Miller
fired the loose puck toward the goal. Brian Bigelow got enough of his
stick on it to redirect the shot into the net. Cornell immediately
called timeout, but the damage was done.
Overtime loomed for the second straight night, and with 1:05 gone,
referee Tim MacConaghy hit Shaun Hannah with a tripping penalty. I
really don't have a problem with penalties being called in overtime --
in fact, I think it should happen more than it does -- but first of
all, the Tigers' Gavin Colquhoun took quite a dive to get the call, and
secondly, Colquhoun had just gotten away with hooking Hannah to stop a
potential breakaway. Well, anyway, the game ended at 2:37 of OT, after
Skazyk stopped a Kelley drive with his pads and the rebound was not
cleared. J.P. O'Connor got hold of the puck and fired it home, and the
game was over. Fiander stopped 30 shots, and Skazyk made 18 saves.
A pair of tough road losses for the Big Red, who came home with nothing to
show for two pretty solid efforts. Things don't get any easier for Cornell
in their hunt for a playoff spot, as they have the next four at home against
Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Harvard, and Brown before journeying to RPI. If the
Big Red can keep playing the way they did for the most part last weekend,
maybe they can grab a couple points in front of the Lynah Faithful. But for
now, they've got a hard road to a playoff spot.
--
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and probably '94 | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"Getting married was the best way I knew how to tick off my father-in-law."
-- Bob Saget
|
