Another home loss for the Big Red, as Boston College comes to Lynah Rink for
the first time in three seasons and picks up the victory...
Boston College 5, Cornell 2
The late Pete Axthelm used to refer to games like this as "Smashed
Windshield specials", because if you were to leave two tickets to the
game on the dashboard of your car, someone would smash the windsheld
and leave four more. This one was Just Plain Awful. It really looked
like neither team was terribly interested in being on the ice: there
was no forechecking to speak of, the passing was unbelievably sloppy
(constantly off the heels of the sticks), and both teams seemed to be
playing at about one-eighth speed. If BC has been doing this all
season, it amazes me that they came into this one with a record above
0.500 and a split against a pretty good New Hampshire team.
As for the Big Red, I hope it was just a downer after a highly
emotional weekend at Yale and Princeton, or perhaps the players were
preoccupied with finals (this is Cornell's study week), but this was a
vivid flashback to the latter stages of last season. The Cornell
players were doing a lot of poking at the puck and avoiding contact,
and it seemed almost like the Big Red was worried about mixing it up
with the Eagles. Yes, BC has quite a few more players in the above-
200-pound range than Cornell does, but the Big Red's game goes nowhere
without some decent checking -- as last night proved. On at least two
occasions, a Cornell player was skating with full control of the puck
(which in itself was a rare sight to see for either team, but I
digress), and when a BC player charged toward him, the Cornell guy
backed away from the puck, giving it up. Even the somewhat diminished
crowd got into the mood of this game, as with few exceptions they were
lethargic from the opening faceoff. I admit to not having gotten much
sleep the past few nights, but I don't think I have ever yawned so much
at a Cornell game -- that's how bad it was.
There was some action in the first period, due mainly to some rotten
puck-handling by BC which gave the Big Red a number of scoring oppor-
tunities. With 3:45 gone in the first, a Vinnie Auger shot wound up
right on the goal line, just begging to be tapped home. A BC defender
got to it at the same time Auger did, however, and the puck was cleared
out of the crease. A few minutes later, Brad Chartrand was all alone
in the slot, but his point-blank shot glanced off goalie Greg Taylor's
leg and fluttered wide of the net. Speaking of Taylor, has this guy
perfected the save-with-the-back-of-the-leg-as-the-puck-goes-through-
the-five-hole, or was he just insanely lucky? I lost count of how many
times that happened in this game.
Anyway, the Eagles' first power play came at 9:03 of the first, when
Geoff Lopatka was sent off for high-sticking, but Cornell started off
the penalty kill with a huge flurry in the BC end, forcing Taylor to
make three or four of those back-of-the-leg saves. The Eagles finally
worked the puck out of their own end, however. BC had an odd power
play, sometimes winding up with three or even four guys behind the
Cornell net, but whether that was by accident or design, they did
manage to get on the scoreboard. Rob Canavan took a shot from in close
that goaltender Eddy Skazyk got a pad on, but Jerry Buckley picked up
the rebound and flipped it into the top of the net at the 10:09 mark.
Another Cornell flurry later in the first produced a few scoring
chances that Taylor turned aside, and BC extended their lead to 2-0
three minutes and four seconds into the second period. Don Chase
skated out of the Eagle zone on a 2-on-1 with Buckley, and with de-
fenseman Tim Shean between them to cut off the potential pass, Chase
elected to take the shot from the right circle, beating Skazyk low.
Skazyk redeemed himself with a good sliding save of a point-blank shot
a minute and a half later, but at the 8:26 mark, BC scored again. This
time, John Joyce skated in with the puck, and the Cornell defense was
able to force him off it, but Ryan Haggerty picked it up, skated to his
left, and unleashed a low slapper that bounced in off Skazyk's pad.
The rest of the period was low-lighted by the occasional officiating
snafu, including a shot which clearly went out of play by hitting the
net above the glass. It dropped to the ice, everybody just sort of
looked at each other and shrugged, and play continued. Oh, well. Any-
way, the Big Red came out a little more fired up for the third period,
and they proceeded to fire up the crowd as well by finally getting the
puck past Taylor. As a Cornell power play neared expiration, Blair
Ettles blasted one from near the blue line that bounced off Taylor's
pad, and during the ensuing scramble near the goal mouth, Mike Sanci-
mino got his stick on the puck and popped it in from the left side at
the 1:07 mark. Lynah rocked -- for all of 19 seconds, which is how
long it took BC to respond. Jeff Connolly skated behind the Cornell
net with the puck, and as Skazyk looked over his left shoulder to see
where he was, Connolly came out to the goaltender's right and scored on
the wrap-around.
A hooking and a tripping call on BC set Cornell up with a 53-second
5-on-3 power play, but it looked like the Big Red was going to spend
the whole time passing around the perimeter. Finally, however, Geoff
Bumstead rang one off the left post, and Mark Scollan was right there
to flip it in over Taylor at the 7:09 mark. The action started to pick
up, though the game was still being played sloppily. With about ten
minutes remaining in the game, BC's Clifton McHale doubled over in
front of the Eagle bench (in the manner of somebody who has just been
speared, though I didn't see any Cornell players near him). McHale was
helped to the banch, where I believe he remained for the rest of the
game. At any rate, BC's Joe Harney closed out the scoring with 6:34
remaining, on a fluttering shot from the blue line that a screened
Skazyk never saw.
BC head coach Steve Cedorchuk proved himself to be a sadist, as he
called for a timeout in this already interminable game with 2:44 left.
Whatever for? I thought maybe he was going to give a backup goaltender
some work, but no, Taylor stayed in the game. He wound up with 30
saves on the night; Skazyk, who had a bad game but got absolutely no
help from his teammates, stopped 19 shots.
Lost in the general malaise of this game were two relatively bright
spots for Cornell. They had a 32-24 edge on BC in shots on goal, the
first time that the Big Red has had the lead in that department since
the season opener at Dartmouth. Also, both Cornell goals came on the
power play, which despite an inconsistent performance managed to go
2 of 9 on the evening. This means that the Big Red's power-play unit
has converted 23% (3 of 13) of its chances against non-league opponents
BU and BC, while going scoreless in 30 opportunities against ECAC com-
petition.
Cornell takes a three and a half week break before going to Minnesota to
play in the Mariucci Classic on December 31 and January 2. The Big Red will
play the host Minnesota team on New Year's Eve, while Maine and Lake
Superior battle it out in the other first-round game.
--
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and '94 (.5) | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"What do you do? Nothing? If you do nothing, how do you know when you're
finished?"
-- Charles Fleischer
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