Possibly heading toward their first losing season since 1981-82, the Elmira
College Soaring Eagles side-stepped that possibility a bit Saturday night,
rallying from two goals down to pull ahead of Division I Army before
settling for a 5-5 tie.  This was a game of streaky offenses, particularly
in the second period; Army scored a pair of goals seven seconds apart, and
Elmira responded later with three goals in half a minute.  The Soaring
Eagles now have a two-game unbeaten streak, both against non-Division III
teams (they beat Div. II AIC earlier in the week).  Considering that they
were coming off a seven-game winless streak, that's not too bad.  Box score
and more notes on the game below:
 
Elmira 5, Army 5 (OT)
 
Elmira    1    4    0    0  --  5
Army      1    3    1    0  --  5
 
First period -- Scoring:
     A Troy Eigner, 6:04                                         0-1
     E Randy Murphy (Russ Bitely, Brad Shaver), 16:55 (PP)       1-1
 
     Penalties:
     A Joe Sharrock (tripping), 3:49; E R. Murphy (tripping), 12:03; E Robb
     Wilson (boarding), 12:56; A Frank Fede (elbowing), 15:28; A Bill
     Morrison (hitting after whistle), 18:04
 
Second period -- Scoring:
     A Fede (Mike Mansell), 1:40                                 1-2
     A Sharrock, 1:47                                            1-3
     E Shaver (R. Murphy), 8:36 (SH)                             2-3
     A Fede (Ian Winer), 10:34 (PP)                              2-4
     E R. Murphy (Bitely, Jamie Wensley), 11:30                  3-4
     E Jeremy Baker (Tom Schrule), 11:40                         4-4
     E Baker (Schrule, Aaron Saul), 12:01                        5-4
 
     Penalties:
     E R. Murphy (rouhging), 5:33; A Fede (cross-checking), 5:33; E Saul
     (roughing), 7:16; A Sharrock (roughing), 7:16; E Vic Fidler
     (high-sticking), 7:52; E Jeremy Tabb (high-sticking), 9:00; E Petr
     Vasicko (hooking), 12:26; E Al Meola (hitting after whistle), 13:07;
     A Jason Dickie (interference), 15:56
 
Third period -- Scoring:
     A Anthony DiCarlo (Darren Clapprood), 3:15                  5-5
 
     Penalties:
     A Chris Perron (roughing), 10:19; E Fidler (roughing), 10:19;
     A Stachelski (misconduct), 14:50; E Wensley (interference served by
     Schrule, misconduct), 14:50
 
Overtime -- no scoring or penalties
 
Shots on goal:  Elmira 7-11-7-1 -- 26, Army 11-14-10-1 -- 36
 
Power plays:  Elmira 1 of 4, Army 1 of 7
 
Goaltending:
     E Rob McGrath (31 saves, 36 shots)
     A Brian Bolio (21 saves, 26 shots)
 
Notes:
 
Troy Eigner put the Cadets on the board 6:04 into the first period when he
picked off an errant clearing pass and beat Elmira goaltender Rob McGrath to
the stick side.  Elmira's Randy Murphy responded with 3:05 left in the
first, chipping in a Brad Shaver rebound from the edge of the crease, but
Army seemingly took control of the game early in the second period.  Frank
Fede jammed home a long feed from Mike Mansell to put the Cadets ahead at
the 1:40 mark.  On the ensuing faceoff, a miscue by Elmira allowed Joe
Sharrock to get to a loose puck, and he broke in alone on McGrath and fired
a shot through the pads to make it 3-1 seven seconds later.
 
Elmira fought back at the 8:36 mark, when Shaver got to Murphy's clearing
pass and beat Army goalie Brian Bolio for a short-hander, but Fede struck
again at 10:34 of the second, when Ian Winer found him all alone to the left
of the Soaring Eagle net.  Less than a minute later, Elmira closed to within
one when Murphy swatted home a Russ Bitely rebound from the slot.  Jeremy
Baker won the ensuing faceoff for the Soaring Eagles, drawing the puck back
to Tom Schrule and heading up the ice.  Schrule followed, then sent a nice
headman feed over to Baker, who caught Bolio napping with a high shot at the
11:40 mark.  Baker and Schrule worked a give-and-go to give the Soaring
Eagles the lead twenty-one seconds later, with Baker chipping the return
pass into the net from the edge of the crease.
 
Anthony DiCarlo followed up his own rebound to tie the game at 3:15 of the
third, and that's how the game ended.  McGrath had a solid game for Elmira,
stopping 31 of 36 shots -- including 14 of 15 during Army power plays.
Thanks in large part to his performance, the Soaring Eagles were able to
kill off three 5-on-3 power plays totalling 3:08.  For Army, Bolio had 21
saves.  Elmira next heads home to take on a pair of tough ECAC West
opponents, Mercyhurst on Friday and Canisius on Saturday.
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick                        |  Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and '94.5               |  [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  DJF  5/27/94
"I used to think the brain was the most important organ in the body, 'til I
 realized, yeah, look what's telling me that."
-- Emo Phillips