A few scores from Wednesday night's action:
 
     CORNELL 4, Colgate 1
     Fredonia State 5, St. Bonaventure 0
     Salem State 5, Norwich 4
 
Parris Duffus had another solid night between the pipes for the Big Red, and
the defense did quite well in shutting down Colgate as Cornell picked up its
fifth consecutive victory last night.  Duffus did not face a particularly
large number of shots (21 saves), but many of them were of the point-blank
variety, like the one 45 seconds into the game which he deflected over the
goal.  Colgate had several opportunities in the early part of the game, but
they kept trying to make too many picture-perfect passes and were unable to
capitalize.  Cornell scored at 6:19 of the first, when Dave Burke brought
the puck up the left side of the rink and fired from the top of the circle.
Colgate goalie Ken Baker kicked the puck aside, but it went right to Jake
Karam, who poked it into the net for the first goal of his career.  Cornell
had several other chances in the first period, but Baker came up with some
great saves and the Big Red lost control of the puck a few other times, so
the period ended with the score 1-0.
 
Much of the second period was back and forth, but the Cornell defense was
beginning to take control of the game (Colgate got off only four shots on
goal in the second period).  Despite that, Cornell was unable to get on the
board until Jason Vogel, who had had four or five golden opportunities
earlier in the game, finally popped in the one at the 20:00 (more or less)
mark.  After all the discussions and controversy that this goal generated,
the Big Red went on to make it 3-0 just 1:21 into the third.  Phil Nobel fed
Karl Williams on the right side, and the Cornell center flipped a high shot
just inside the right post.  Just over a minute later, referee Jim Cerbo,
who was not having the best of nights, hit Cornell's Jim McPhee with an
interference call (McPhee was pinned against the back boards by a Colgate
forward at the time).  The Red Raiders lost no time in converting, as Dale
Band one-timed a cross-ice pass from Brad Dexter into the open Cornell net
at 2:46, just seven seconds into the power play.
 
Cornell regained its three-goal lead thanks to Alex Nikolic, who was back
after missing three games with a sprained wrist.  Nikolic got hold of the
puck in the right circle, then spun around and waited for a few seconds.
With the crowd screaming "SHOOT!" he did, a low wrister that beat Ken Baker
at the 7:47 mark.  Cerbo kept the game exciting with a few strange calls
later in the period, including a holding penalty on Williams which was so
questionable that I swore I could detect a note of incredulity or scorn in
the normally calm and professional voice of PA announcer Arthur Mintz.
Duffus was equal to the task, however, as he came up with a number of point-
blank saves in the latter part of the third period -- including three within
one minute during a 3-on-3 situation.  Colgate's Baker stopped 23 shots.
--
Bill Fenwick                        |  Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and probably '94        |  [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"Cornell blanks Dartmouth, 1-0"
-- headline in _The Ithaca Journal_ sports section, Saturday, January 11, 1992
"Clearing the Record:  It was Vermont"
-- correction in _The Ithaca Journal_, Monday, January 13, 1992