The Big Red wound up going 0-for-February, stretching their losing streak to
ten straight with a pair of defeats at RPI and Union. The latter loss gives
Cornell the distinction of being the only team that Union has beaten more
than once since moving up to Division I and joining the ECAC. This week-
end's disastrous road trip dealt what may be a fatal blow to the Big Red's
already slim playoff hopes. A win against Union, or even a tie, would have
put Cornell in fairly good position to wrest the final playoff spot away
from Princeton this weekend. As it stands now, the race may end Friday
night, with either a Princeton defeat of Union or a Cornell loss to Dart-
mouth (both of which seem likely).
RPI 8, Cornell 2
Cornell 0 1 1 -- 2
RPI 3 3 2 -- 8
First period -- Scoring:
R Ron Pasco (Bryan Richardson, Tim Regan), 2:59 0-1
R Xavier Majic (Wayne Clarke, Craig Hamelin), 3:18 0-2
R Eric Perardi (Brad Layzell, Kelly Askew), 8:43 0-3
Penalties:
R Clarke (boarding), 15:36; C Bench (too many men on ice, served by
Mark Scollan), 17:47
Second period -- Scoring:
R Regan (Jeff Brick, Layzell), 3:30 0-4
C Scollan (Bill Holowatiuk, Christian Felli), 7:07 (PP) 1-4
R Pasco (Hamelin, Majic), 11:39 (PP) 1-5
R Richardson (Adam Bartell, Layzell), 15:38 (PP) 1-6
Penalties:
R Cam Cuthbert (holding), 4:38; R Allen Kummu (tripping), 6:07; C Andre
Doll (roughing), 9:17; R Richardson (roughing), 9:17; C Geoff Lopatka
(high-sticking), 10:50; C Tyler McManus (cross-checking), 12:32;
C Etienne Belzile (cross-checking), 13:48; C Holowatiuk (cross-
checking), 15:31; R Layzell (interference), 16:28
Third period -- Scoring:
C Belzile (Scollan, Shaun Hannah), 7:44 2-6
R Brick (Richardson), 7:53 2-7
R Richardson (Perardi, Kummu), 10:44 2-8
Penalties:
R Perardi (tripping), 15:12; R Askew (hooking), 17:35
Shots on goal: Cornell 8-14-16 -- 38, RPI 16-15-8 -- 39
Power play: Cornell 1 of 6, RPI 2 of 5
Goaltending:
C Andy Bandurski (21 shots, 17 saves); Eddy Skazyk (in at 3:30 of
second period, 18 shots, 14 saves)
R Neil Little (26 shots, 25 saves); Mike Tamburro (in at 5:37 of third
period, 12 shots, 11 saves)
Notes:
You would expect an eleventh-place team to have little, if any, chance
to stay with a second-place, nationally-ranked team, and in fact, Cor-
nell was only in this game for about the first three minutes. RPI
simply came at the Big Red in waves, and no matter what a disorganized
and demoralized Cornell team tried, they couldn't stop the Engineers.
It got so bad that RPI even took the third period off (allowing the Big
Red to outshoot them 16-8), and they STILL outscored Cornell by a 2-1
margin. This is quite a well-rounded team that Coach Powers has got,
what with Neil Little in goal and a defense that seems to have caught
up to the always potent offense. The Big Red somehow came up with the
astonishing total of 38 shots on goal (by far their season high), but
it was to no avail.
With second-leading scorer Jeff Gabriel out with a separated shoulder
(suffered against Clarkson the weekend before), Powers went with three
forward lines and dressed seven defensemen. The Engineers got it going
from the opening faceoff, and their early pressure paid off at the 2:59
mark. A Cornell clearing pass was knocked down at the blue line, and
this led to Bryan Richardson bolting toward the net, drawing goaltender
Andy Bandurski to the left goalpost, then sliding the puck over to Ron
Pasco (who had just waltzed through the defense) for the tap-in. That
goal was still being announced when Xavier Majic took a feed from Wayne
Clarke and unleashed a 35-footer that beat Bandurski low to the stick
side 19 seconds later. It's an accurate measure of the kind of season
this has been for the Big Red to note that coach Brian McCutcheon
elected to use his timeout right there.
RPI extended their lead to 3-0 at the 8:33 mark. Off a faceoff, Eric
Perardi got control of the puck, streaked down the right side and, with
the Cornell defense backing off, rifled one through Bandurski's pads
from the right circle. McCutcheon shortened his bench after that,
going almost exclusively with his top two lines (centered by Jake Karam
and Ryan Hughes) for a while. Eventually, though, confusion during the
line changes resulted in Cornell's being nailed for too many men on the
ice. RPI's ensuing power play saw the Engineers using a five-forward
unit, which, although they didn't score, was not a pretty sight for the
Cornell faithful.
A complete defensive breakdown led to the Engineers' fourth goal, at
3:30 of the second period, when RPI skated across the blue line and
suddenly found themselves on a 4-on-1. Brad Layzell left a drop pass
for Jeff Brick, who spotted both Richardson and Tim Regan alone near
the Cornell net. Richardson overskated Brick's pass, but Regan did
not, whacking it past a hung-out-to-dry Bandurski. The Cornell net-
minder was pulled from the game in favor of Eddy Skazyk at that point,
and the move gave the Big Red a little bit of life.
A couple of calls against RPI gave the Big Red a 31-second 5-on-3 power
play, but the Engineers killed that one off when they won the faceoff.
Cornell did score on the 5-on-4 which followed, as defenseman Bill
Holowatiuk let loose with one from the point that missed wide right but
bounced off the back boards and came out to the left side of the net.
With Little still over by the right goalpost, Mark Scollan got the re-
bound and slapped it home at the 7:07 mark. However, RPI regained
their four-goal lead with a power-play goal of their own at the 11:39
mark, after Little came up with a great save on a short-handed break-
away by Brad Chartrand. The Engineers raced back down the ice, and
Craig Hamelin's one-timer from just inside the blue line was redirected
past Skazyk by Pasco in the slot.
A minute later, Little got the chance to show that he's become a very
confident goalie. (Well, most of them are when they play Cornell this
year, but anyway...) With a delayed penalty call on Tyler McManus,
Little was on his way to the bench for the extra attacker when he made
a slight detour, strolling over to center ice and playing the puck back
into the Cornell zone. The call on McManus was the first of three
consecutive cross-checking penalties against the Big Red over the next
three minutes, and RPI made the last one count with a 5-on-3 power-play
goal with 4:22 remaining in the second. Adam Bartell's shot floated
wide of the net, but Richardson tracked down the puck and fired it
toward Skazyk. The Cornell goaltender made the initial save, but the
puck trickled along the goal line until Richardson got to it and shoved
it into the net. Scollan appeared to have scored his second goal of
the game a minute or so later, but referee John Gallagher waved it off,
since the play had been blown dead before.
Between the second and third periods, Cornell play-by-play announcer
Grady Whittenburg interviewed _Albany Times-Union_ sports columnist Bob
Croce, who had several things to say about various professional sports
in the Albany area (including arena football!). What I found more
interesting were comments he made on Little, as he said he didn't
believe the RPI goalie would turn pro after this season. I hadn't
heard that this was a concern -- Little was an 11th-round pick of the
Flyers a couple years ago.
Little left the game for freshman Mike Tamburro at 5:37 of the third
period, and Tamburro was almost immediately tested, coming up with a
nice glove save of a Russ Hammond slapshot. The Big Red eventually got
to him at the 7:43 mark, when Etienne Belzile followed up his own re-
bound from near the crease. Whatever thoughts Cornell may have had
about mounting a big comeback were almost immediately squelched, how-
ever, as RPI's Brick lit the lamp behind Skazyk just nine seconds
later. Richardson won the faceoff and worked the puck over to Brick,
who blew through the Cornell zone and backhanded a shot past Skazyk's
glove. The Engineers closed out the scoring with 9:16 left in the
game, when Allen Kummu's fluttering slapper from the right point hit
the right post and rolled across the goal mouth, until Richardson
showed up untouched at the other side of the net and poked it in.
Tamburro played well in relief, stopping 11 of 12 shots to go along
with Little's 25 saves. Bandurski finished with 17 saves, while Skazyk
stopped 14 shots.
Union 5, Cornell 3
Cornell 1 0 2 -- 3
Union 1 2 2 -- 5
First period -- Scoring:
C Brad Chartrand (Mark Scollan, Shaun Hannah), 6:17 (PP) 1-0
U Jayson Flowers (Brad Kukko, Jeff Jiampetti), 15:40 1-1
Penalties:
U Scott Boyd (interference), 4:43; U Jon MacDonald (hitting from
behind), 10:48; U Boyd (tripping), 12:26; C Etienne Belzile (holding),
19:58
Second period -- Scoring:
U Corey Holbrough (Keith Darby), 4:17 1-2
U Kukko (Jiampetti, Flowers), 11:59 (PP) 1-3
Penalties:
C Scollan (tripping), 4:33; C Felli (roughing), 5:26; U Chris Albert
(roughing), 5:26; U Matt Kelley (holding), 7:40; C Bench (too many men
on ice, served by Scollan), 9:28; C Felli (cross-checking), 11:25; C
Geoff Lopatka (tripping), 13:29; U Alex Vallee (slashing), 13:29; U
Chris Hancock (charging), 15:59
Third period -- Scoring:
U Albert (Kelley, Ryan Alaspa), 8:15 1-4
U Vallee (MacDonald, Keith Darby), 10:30 1-5
C Chartrand (Scollan, Shaun Hannah), 14:20 (PP) 2-5
C Jake Karam (Geoff Bumstead, Andre Doll), 15:13 3-5
Penalties:
C Doll (cross-checking), 8:34; U Boyd (cross-checking), 8:34; U Alaspa
(interference), 14:04
Shots on goal: Cornell 8-6-17 -- 31, Union 7-11-13 -- 31
Power play: Cornell 2 of 6, Union 1 of 4
Goaltending:
C Eddy Skazyk (27 shots, 22 saves); Andy Bandurski (in at 10:30 of
third period, out at 19:00 of third period, 4 shots, 4 saves)
U Luigi Villa (31 shots, 28 saves)
Notes:
Well, we knew we were going to see the worst team in college hockey in
this game, but we did not expect to see that title change hands. Don't
get fooled by the score -- this was basically a 5-1 game in which the
Union defense fell asleep for a minute in the third period. The Big
Red came out flat, disorganized, lethargic, and so forth in the first
period, and then proceeded to reach new lows in the second and third.
Union didn't start out much better, but the Skating Dutchmen at least
had some spirit, and they were eventually able to out-hustle and
dominate Cornell (which on this night didn't take much effort).
This being Union's last home game of the season, there was a short pre-
sentation before the start of the contest involving the Dutchmen's two
seniors, defenseman Greg Steele and forward Kevin Darby. Cornell coach
Brian McCutcheon also came up with a bit of a surprise, starting the
game with the line of Brad Chartrand, Shaun Hannah, and Mark Scollan
(Ryan Hughes' line has generally been the starting line for the Big
Red, but frankly, Chartrand's line has been somewhat better over the
past few weeks). Anyway, the puck was dropped for the opening faceoff,
and it seemed as though it was dropped at the Cornell blue line,
because Union spent most of the first two minutes in the Cornell zone.
The Big Red could not break out or even clear the puck, though they
were eventually able to work it up the ice and get a couple of scoring
chances.
Cornell converted the game's first power play at the 6:17 mark, after
Union goalie Luigi Villa had kicked aside a pair of shots by Scollan.
The Big Red worked the puck back to the point, where Hannah sent a pass
toward Scollan in the slot. The pass was a bit too far ahead, but
Scollan was able to shovel the puck over to the left side of the net,
where Chartrand redirected it past Villa. Union's Jon MacDonald was
whistled for hitting from behind midway through the first period, and
then at the 12:26 mark, referee Pierre Belanger fell for a bit of a bad
acting job. Cornell's P.C. Drouin skated into the stick of the Dutch-
men's Scott Boyd, and though the contact was incidental, Drouin lurched
forward to the ice and did a half somersault, causing Belanger to call
Boyd for tripping. The Union fans were highly agitated at that one, as
was Boyd, who was *very* lucky he didn't get hit with a misconduct as
well. He hollered at Belanger all the way to the penalty box, which is
not a wise thing to do to the ECAC's least imperturbable ref.
With under five minutes to go in the first period, Brad Kukko worked
the puck out of the Union zone and dumped it across the Cornell blue
line. Linemate Jayson Flowers pursued it, and all of a sudden a break-
away developed, as Flowers outskated a Cornell defender (I think it was
Bill Holowatiuk) and fired a shot from the right circle that went
through goaltender Eddy Skazyk's pads as he was going down. The first
period ended with the score tied at 1-1 (although Union had another
good chance as time was winding down), and the second period began with
the Big Red showing some signs of life. Fifty-five seconds in, John
DeHart got the puck deep in the Union zone and had two opportunities at
a short-handed goal from point-blank range. Villa blocked both shots
with his pads, though, and the threat was defused.
It was Union taking the lead for good at the 4:17 mark of the second,
off a protracted scramble in front of the Cornell goal. Union players
took several whacks at the puck before Corey Holbrough finally forced
it across the goal line (I was surprised that only one assist was given
out on this one -- it seemed like every Union player except Villa had a
shot at it). The Dutchmen appeared to have scored again at the 6:33
mark, when Skazyk went way out to the right side of the net to stop a
shot, only to have the puck get past him. The puck lay in the crease
as three Cornell players rushed to the net and tried to clear it, and a
couple of Union players arrived and stuffed it across the line. Belan-
ger immediately waved the goal off, however. Which brings up a point
about Belanger that has often bothered me -- he never went over to the
announcer to explain why the goal didn't count. True, there aren't any
rules that obligate him to do so, but most refs I've seen do it as a
matter of courtesy. If you're going to take a goal off the board, one
would hope that you'd have a good reason for doing so, and the fans
ought to be let in on what it is. In this case, I believe there was a
crease violation, but we'll never know.
By this time, Union was starting to play a better, more organized game,
while Cornell was falling farther and farther into disarray -- which
was aptly demonstrated at the 9:28 mark, when the Big Red was called
for too many men on the ice for the third consecutive game. This was
actually the only time Cornell was caught, although they should have
been called for it at least twice more during the game. At any rate,
another penalty two minutes later extended Union's power play, and the
Dutchmen cashed in at the 11:59 mark. Jeff Jiampetti whiffed on his
first pass attempt, but he finally got the puck over to the right side
of the net, where Kukko was waiting. Kukko turned and beat Skazyk with
a low slapper.
Skazyk came up with a pair of terrific saves three and a half minutes
into the third period, going down to block the first shot with the leg
pad and then, while sprawled on the ice, flailing his leg up and de-
flecting a high shot over the crossbar. The Big Red responded with a
pair of scoring chances a few minutes later on nearly identical plays.
DeHart brought the puck across the blue line and got behind the defense
on a mini-break, faking Villa down to the ice, but his slapshot hit the
crossbar. Seconds later, it was Hannah's turn, as he found himself on
the breakaway with Villa down on the ice, but he flipped the puck over
the net. The missed opportunities, as usual, would come back to haunt
the Big Red, especially at the 8:15 mark, when Union made it 4-1.
Skazyk blocked a shot by Ryan Alaspa and appeared to have it under
control, but suddenly the puck bounced in the air and Chris Albert
whacked it home. Two minutes and fifteen seconds later, the Dutchmen
were on the board again, after Cornell failed to clear the puck. Alex
Vallee pounced on a loose rebound in the slot and wristed it past
Skazyk.
At this point, Cornell took their timeout, and Skazyk was pulled for
Bandurski, a move that -- if its intention was to fire the Big Red up -
- might have been better made at the end of the second period. With
under six minutes left in regulation and Alaspa off for high-sticking,
Cornell caught the Dutchmen penalty-killers napping, when Hannah's pass
found Chartrand in the slot. Chartrand flipped the puck over a diving
Villa at the 14:20 mark, and the sizable Cornell contin-gent finally
had a little something to cheer about. The noise grew louder 53
seconds later, when Jake Karam was left alone to the left of the net
and fired a high shot just inside the crossbar. This made the score 5-
3 and gave us a rather interesting vignette: the Union fans, seeing
the Cornell faithful hollering at Villa and the other Dutchmen players,
pointed and began to chant, "Score-board, score-board!" This is
obviously something the Union followers have not had many chances to do
since the Dutchmen joined the ECAC, and they were understandably taking
a lot of pleasure in it. The Cornell fans responded with the accurate
but totally ineffective "Stan-dings, stan-dings!"
Cornell started to pick up the pace, but before Union coach Bruce Del-
venthal's blood pressure could start to rise, the Dutchmen clamped down
and gave the Big Red nothing to shoot at. Bandurski was pulled with a
minute left, but it was Union getting control of the puck and coming up
with a couple of chances at the empty-netter. The biggest cheer of the
night came with five seconds left, when Steele and Kevin Darby came out
for what would be their last faceoff at Achilles Rink. Steele got the
louder applause, having been with the Dutchmen for his whole college
career (Darby transferred from Army). That was a nice touch by Coach
Delventhal.
Villa played a superb game in net for the Dutchmen, stopping 28 shots.
Skazyk recorded 22 saves, and Bandurski came up with four. With this
loss, Cornell also keeps its season-long 0-for-Saturday streak intact;
the Big Red is now 0-10-1 in games played on Saturdays. The Big Red
may very well be the only team in Division I with that distinction.
--
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and probably '94 | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"Come on, you don't think the Beatles did drugs? They were so high, they let
*Ringo* sing a few songs."
-- Jimmy Tingle
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