It was a truly wild game with many many penalties, some skirmishes, a
brawl, 3 ejections, and some good hockey too.  Vinnie Auger, who was ECAC
ROY of year 2 years back (I think) but missed last season due to injury
scored 2 goals including the GWer about 2 mins into OT.  He looked quite
impressive.  Steve Wilson had 2 goals and Mike Sancimino had 3 assists for
the Big Red.  Jason Elliott looked shaky in goal giving up 4 goals while
making less than 20 saves.  Cornell had close to 40 SOG.  Trailing 4-3 with
about 2 mins to play, Andre Doll knotted the game before Auger won it in OT.
     I am not sure how good of a Canadian team Western Ontario is, but
several things struck me about this game.  The first thing is the
intensity of the players.  Players were diving to stop shots more than any
time that I saw last year.  There was alot more checking and all around
hustling.  Also ALOT more penalties.  PC Drouin and Geoff Lopatka were
ejected along with a Western player during a brawl in the 2nd period.  New
head coach Mike Schafer seems to have really fired the team up.  It was
only an exhibition but Cornell played with as much fire as any time last
year.  It also seemed to fire up the fans at Lynah.  The crowd was as
raucous as I can remember at any game last year except Harvard.  The stands
were reasonably crowded with some empty seats on the fringes.  I was
surprised at the turnout for an exhibition.
        Cornell opens the regular season at Michigan State on Friday and
then opens the ECAC slate at home against Brown and Harvard on Nov 10 and
11th respectively.  If you have not gotten tix to the Harvard game and
want to, get them soon.  They are going really fast.  I'll be in Sec A (B
was sold out).
                                                Billy Lustgarten
                                                Cornell '96
                                                WVBR Sports
 
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