[ Pardon me for butting in on MAINE-L here, but... ]
What a way to end the home season! The Big Red won Lynah Rink's first-ever
ECAC preliminary round game in dramatic fashion, riding Geoff Lopatka's hat
trick to the overtime victory. Lopatka's first two scores erased one-goal
deficits for Cornell, and his third was the game-winner. His three goals
also matched his output in the entire regular season. The win was also the
200th of head coach Brian McCutcheon's career, which includes the six years
he spent at Elmira.
Oh yes, and our unborn child's record stands at 1-0...
Box score and more notes follow:
Cornell 5, Princeton 4 (OT)
Princeton 0 3 1 0 -- 4
Cornell 1 2 1 1 -- 5
First period -- Scoring:
C Jake Karam (Mike Sancimino, Geoff Bumstead), 0:42 0-1
Penalties:
C P.C. Drouin (tripping), 4:55; P Hartmann Schoebel (high-sticking),
10:04; C Geoff Lopatka (cross-checking), 10:04; P Jonathan Kelley
(roughing major), 13:00; C Dan Dufresne (roughing major), 13:00;
C Sancimino (boarding), 14:39; P Bench (too many men on ice, served by
Tony Ranaldi), 15:52
Second period -- Scoring:
C Mark Scollan (Steve Wilson, Jamie Papp), 8:46 (PP) 0-2
P Mervin Kopeck (Kelley, Sean O'Brien). 11:03 (PP) 1-2
P J.P. O'Connor (Ranaldi), 13:12 2-2
P Jean Verdon (S. O'Brien, David Scowby), 13:48 3-2
C Lopatka (Dufresne, Shaun Hannah), 17:03 3-3
Penalties:
C S. Wilson (interference), 0:46; C Christian Felli (tripping), 3:04;
P Gavin Colquhoun (tripping), 7:06; C Chad Wilson (cross-checking),
10:56
Third period -- Scoring:
P Colquhoun (Kopeck, Ethan Early), 3:10 4-3
C Lopatka (Sancimino, Hannah), 15:35 4-4
Overtime -- Scoring:
C Lopatka (Sancimino, Dufresne), 15:58 4-5
Shots on goal: Princeton 10-15-13-6 -- 44, Cornell 6-8-4-11 -- 29
Power plays: Princeton 1 of 5, Cornell 1 of 2
Goaltending:
P James Konte (29 shots, 24 saves)
C Andy Bandurski (23 shots, 20 saves), Eddy Skazyk (in at 13:48 of
second period, 21 shots, 20 saves)
Notes:
Early on, it looked like Cornell had put the problems of the RPI-Union
road trip behind them, as they dominated the first six or seven minutes
of this game. Jake Karam lit the lamp just 42 seconds after the
opening faceoff, as he came in on a breakaway and backhanded a shot
through goalie James Konte's pads. The Tigers lodged a mild protest of
this goal, and they may have had a point, since Karam caught a wobbly
pass in his glove and held onto it for a second or two while going
around a Princeton defender before dropping the puck to the ice. In
any case, the goal stood. Although there was no more scoring in the
period, Cornell controlled the tempo for the most part with some
aggressive play on offense and solid defensive play that did not allow
the Tigers much in the way of good scoring chances. The Big Red got
perhaps a little *too* aggressive 13 minutes into the period, when Dan
Dufresne got into a fight with Jonathan Kelley. Both were sent off
with roughing majors. (Question on the referees: what, pray tell,
were Hockey East ref Frank Cole and Hockey East ref/linesman Drew
Taylor doing officiating the game last night? A tuneup, maybe?)
Anyway, the Big Red killed off a couple of penalties early in the
second period and stretched their lead to 2-0 at the 8:46 mark. On the
power play, Jamie Papp dropped the puck off for Mark Scollan, who
rifled one from the right circle just inside the post. Princeton,
however, was not quite dead, as they proved at 11:03 of the middle
period off a flurry in front of the Cornell net. Goaltender Andy
Bandurski made two pad saves, but the third shot, by Mervin Kopeck,
found its way into the net from the right side.
The Tigers chased Bandurski by taking the lead with a pair of goals
just 36 seconds apart later in the period. At 13:12, J.P. O'Connor
skated across the blue line, went to his right, and wristed a
fluttering shot that Bandurski couldn't get the glove on. Freshman
Jean Verdon then gave his team the lead, taking a pass off the back
boards from Sean O'Brien and, with a defender draped all over him,
getting off a rolling shot from the edge of the right circle. Skazyk
replaced Bandurski at that point (the fourth time in five games that
Cornell has switched goaltenders), and found himself under fire
immediately from a flying Princeton team. He came up with a couple of
great saves to keep the Tigers from doing any further damage.
Geoff Lopatka tied the game at 3-3 with the first of his three goals at
the 17:03 mark. Shaun Hannah took a shot from the right side that
Konte got a pad on, but the rebound came out into the slot, and Lopatka
was waiting to flip it over the goalie into the open net. Cornell
picked up the pace near the end of the second period, but it was the
Tigers who controlled most of the third, and they started by taking the
lead at the 3:10 mark. With a screen set up in front of the Cornell
goal, Kopeck sent the puck back from the left side of the net to Gavin
Colquhoun between the circles, and Colquhoun slapped one just inside
the left post. Colquhoun apparently saved his best for the Big Red
this season; both of his goals on the year were scored at Lynah.
The Big Red were a little rattled after that, but they came very close
to tying the game again with 8:40 left in regulation. Off a 3-on-2
break, Papp fired one from the left circle, but it bounced off the
post. Lopatka was finally able to get the game-tying goal at 15:35 of
the third period, during a huge pileup in front of the Princeton net.
(Side note: Konte was credited with only three saves in the third
period, which seems ridiculous -- he had at least that many on this
flurry alone) There were at least two Cornell players and two Prince-
ton players in or near the crease while all this was going on, and I'm
surprised that Cole or Taylor (whoever was closest) didn't lose sight
of the puck and blow the whistle. Anyway, Lopatka kept hacking at the
puck, and was finally able to stuff it past Konte on the right side.
Princeton came close to pulling ahead again in the final three minutes,
but Skazyk came up with three solid saves in a row on Tiger wrap-around
attempts and, after an exchange of timeouts, the game remained tied at
the end of regulation. I'm not sure what went on in the Cornell locker
room while the ice was being resurfaced for overtime, but something
happened, because the Big Red, who to that point had mustered only 18
shots on goal the entire game, came out and put eleven shots on Konte
in OT.
The extra session was end-to-end and virtually non-stop; the first
stoppage of play occurred on an icing 30 seconds in, and the second
stoppage wasn't until about eleven minutes later. Skazyk preserved the
tie at 10:30 of overtime with a spectacular save, deflecting a shot
over the net with his glove while he was sprawled on the ice. The game
finally ended at 15:58 of OT, when Sancimino backhanded a shot off
Konte's pad and Lopatka, who was waiting between the circles, flipped
home the rebound. Lynah Rink, though it was maybe half full, went
nuts. Konte wound up stopping 24 of 29 shots, while Bandurski and
Skazyk had 20 saves each.
A note on the officiating: I'm not sure whether this is good or bad,
but Chad Wilson's penalty for cross-checking at 10:56 of the second
period was the last call made by Cole and Taylor. As the game wore on,
they were apparently following the "No autopsy, no foul" school of
officiating, letting a fair amount of hooking, holding, tripping,
slashing, interference, and God-knows-what go on both teams, whether it
happened in the middle of or away from where the puck was being played.
This was not consistent with the way the game was called in the first
period, but once you got used to the idea that the players had the
leeway to do pretty much anything, the almost continuous action and
back-and-forth play was very exciting. Again, I'm not sure whether
that's good or bad -- but as an acknowledged ref basher (only some-
times :-) I have to admit, I kind of liked it.
Anyway, the big win, coupled with Colgate's victory over St. Lawrence,
sends Cornell to Cambridge to face #1 seed Harvard in the quarterfinal
round. If the Big Red can keep their momentum going (and stay the hell
out of the penalty box), this should be a good series.
--
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!!
"I've pushed and pushed on this foot pedal and nothing happens."
-- from a call to the Dell Computer Corp. technical support department from a
user who, as it developed, was trying to turn on the computer by stomping
on the mouse
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