Hmm, apparently the quick ECAC standings I sent out were a little TOO quick!
Mucho apologies, and thanks to all those who sent corrections and updates.
I did have Union-McGill as an exhibition, but that would leave the Skating
Dutchmen with only 24 regular-season games, so I'm willing to bet it
counted.
Some notes on the Cornell-Western Ontario game:
Cornell 5, Western Ontario 3
Western Ontario came into this game with a record of 9-3, while this
was the first time the Big Red had taken on a real opponent this
season, so you would expect Cornell to have the worse of the play early
on, and they did. It was a MASSIVE relief to see defenseman Blair
Ettles in the lineup and skating with little or no trouble -- he had
knee problems during the preseason, but apparently they weren't all
that serious. Anyway, he was a welcome addition to a young Big Red
defensive corps.
Western Ontario's Greg Pajor got nailed for holding at 5:17 of the
first period, but this served to show that the Cornell power play still
has a few kinks in it. The Mustangs converted a short-handed oppor-
tunity at the 6:35 mark, when Cornell goaltender Andy Bandurski left a
rebound for Michael Fabro, who flipped the puck over the goalie's right
shoulder from the faceoff circle. That, however, would be Bandurski's
only miscue of the night, as he played the first half of the game and
stopped 22 of 23 shots.
The Big Red gradually gained control of the game, and Jake Karam made
it 1-1 at 11:21 of the first. As Karam skated toward the crease, line-
mate Mark Scollan fired a pass from behind the net that Karam stuffed
through Mustang goalie Richard Gallace's legs. Less than six minutes
later, Karam's second goal put Cornell in front for good, as his point-
blank shot ricocheted off Gallace's pad and into the net. Mike Sanci-
mino made it 3-1 1:37 into the second period when he took a long pass
from Ettles, skated toward the net, and let fly from the slot.
Eddy Skazyk went between the pipes for Cornell at 9:55 of the second.
Admittedly, he was going to have a tough time measuring up to Bandur-
ski's sterling performance, but I tend to agree with Paulette -- the
first goal he gave up was relatively weak. The Mustang's Michael
Shewan came up with a shot from near the left point that beat Skazyk to
the glove side at the 12:20 mark. Skazyk may have been partially
screened, but it looked like he had the wrong angle anyway. He settled
down and did all right after that.
Shaun Hannah restored the Big Red's two-goal lead with a power-play
marker nineteen seconds into the third period, taking a pass from Chad
Wilson, moving to his backhand, and slapping a low shot past Gallace
from in close. Brad Chartrand had one hell of a nice move at about the
3:30 mark with Cornell down a man, as he pounced on a loose puck at
center ice and deked the Mustang defender to set up a breakaway. His
backhander from a tough angle wound up going over the net. Mark
Scollan scored Cornell's fifth goal at 9:37 of the third on a nifty
move, corralling a Sancimino rebound and getting off a shot while
skating backwards between the circles. The shot itself was not a thing
of beauty, but Gallace couldn't get to it.
Western Ontario closed out the scoring on a goal by Christopher Chard,
as after a Mustang flurry, he tapped the puck into an empty net. From
my vantage point, it looked like one of the Cornell defensemen tried to
kick the puck out of the crease and wound up directing it to Chard's
stick. Anyway, Skazyk made 11 saves in relief, while Gallace finished
the game with 26.
More thoughts:
Bandurski's new more-or-less stand-up style of goaltending looked
GREAT. He's got quick reflexes, but his tendency last season to drop
to the ice at the first sign of pressure got him into a bit of trouble
at times. Then again, with the Cornell team in the shape that it was
in 92-93, there was a lot of pressure on Andy to do just about every-
thing back there. With a better defense in front of him, Bandurski
should have the opportunity to get comfortable with his new style, if
indeed it's a permanent change. The black pads look sharp! I wonder
if he still has his nasty-looking helmet (painted to resemble a wol-
verine, I think)
I actually think Skazyk was somewhat better than he was last season,
but he is still not Bandurski's equal. Despite that, we can expect a
rotation, though you can never tell what Coach McCutcheon will do --
he's junked a rotation in favor of the hot goalie in the past, and he
may very well do so again. If there is a rotation, it will probably be
similar to the D'Alessio-Crozier one in the 89-90 season, in which the
better goalie (Andy) draws the perceived tougher opponent. That would
be Dartmouth this weekend, although Bandurski has had great success
against Vermont (1-0-1 at Gutterson).
It was good to see a solid-looking offense against Western Ontario, but
I have to say "Remember Waterloo!" in about the same tone Napoleon
would have used. Last year, in their season-opening exhibition against
an unbeaten University of Waterloo team, the Big Red put nine goals on
the board (all within the first two periods!), and then proceeded to
average about nine goals a month from then on. I'll have to see a few
regular-season games before pronouncing the Big Red's offensive woes
cured.
I was a bit surprised to see Jiri Kloboucek instead of Mark Scollan
with Shaun Hannah and Brad Chartrand, but moving Scollan to the second
line was probably an attempt to get two reasonably good scoring lines
instead of one "go-to" line. So far, it seems to have worked. Jake
Karam looked quite good on Saturday. If he can break out and show the
form he did a few years ago with the Pembroke Lumber Kings (49 goals in
56 games), the Big Red will really start having an offense to talk
about. I frankly have no idea what Andre Doll was doing on a line with
Geoff Lopatka and Tyler McManus, but he looked all right, so I guess I
can't complain. There appears to be one forward spot still open, as
newcomers Jamie Papp and Matt Cooney were alternating on the fourth
line (with Geoff Bumstead and Vincent Auger). I couldn't hazard a
guess as to who would win that one, though Papp seemed to be getting
more playing time.
The situation with the defense appears to be a little more shaky,
thanks to preseason injuries. Ettles and Chad Wilson saw their first
action of the year Saturday night (neither played in the Red-White
game), and Bill Holowatiuk is still out with an injury or illness or
whatever. (I saw him after the game, and he didn't appear to be
injured -- God, I hope it's not mono) However, Cornell's never-ending
search for point men on the power play may be coming to a conclusion.
Blair Ettles is one if he stays healthy, and newcomer Chad Wilson dis-
played a flair for the offense. If Holowatiuk comes back and continues
to work on shot accuracy, the Big Red may get another one. Cornell
just might develop a two-way defense the likes of which Big Red fans
haven't seen since Dan Ratushny, Bruce Frauley, and Tim Vanini left
town. First things first, though -- Cornell needs to settle on defen-
sive pairings and get things cleaned up in their own zone.
Finally, I'll second Paulette's kudos to the Big Red for being able to
regroup when things got disorganized. This is a young team that's
going to have to learn things as they go along, and it was good to see
them not totally lose their composure. The ability to regroup will
serve the Big Red well.
Cornell opens the regular season with a stiff test on the road, going to
Dartmouth (who have beaten the Big Red three straight times) on Friday and
Vermont on Saturday.
--
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and probably '94 | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"This is a really sexy thing to do, according to the French, although you
should keep in mind that these people also like to eat snails."
-- Dave Barry, on French kissing
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