[Apologies if this repeats a bunch of stuff -- I haven't gotten anything
from the list since Monday, and I don't have any room for the list server's
log files, *sigh*]
Congratulations to the Clarkson Golden Knights, who added the "Scotty"
Whitelaw trophy to their collection in winning the ECAC tournament
championship for the first time in 25 years. Congratulations also to the
Never Say Die Saints of St. Lawrence, who knocked off Cornell in OT and
almost stole the title game from Clarkson, after falling behind in both
games (their only lead of the whole weekend was when they notched the game-
winner against Cornell).
A few notes on Hockeyfest '91 action on Saturday and Sunday:
St. Lawrence 4, Cornell 3 (OT)
OK, I'm not panicking yet, but Cornell's recent performances in the
ECAC tournament are starting to resemble the period between 1974 and
1979, when the Big Red advanced to Boston Garden five of six times and
lost in the semifinals each time. To add to what Mike and Mike have
already posted: both teams were a little tentative in the first
period, but St. Lawrence had the better of the action, playing a good
physical game and generating a number of scoring chances in the Cornell
end. The Big Red, for their part, looked a little sloppy and disor-
ganized, especially on their only power play of the opening stanza.
Toward the end of the period, things got a little better for Cornell,
as they generated quite a flurry in front of the Saints net in the last
ten seconds. St. Lawrence goalie Les Kuntar had to come up with a big
glove save to preserve the scoreless tie.
Cornell's momentum carried over into the second period, in which the
Big Red came out fired up and got two quick goals. Dan Ratushny picked
up a loose puck and skated through the Saints defense, beating Chris
Lappin around left wing and wristing a shot between Kuntar's pads at
the 1:12 mark. Cornell went up 2-0 just over two minutes later, as
Bruce Frauley sent a long pass to Shaun Hannah, who broke away from St.
Lawrence defender John Roderick and beat Kuntar from 20 feet out. As
mentioned, however, some bad penalties gave the Saints the opportunity
to come back and tie the game up. The most crucial of these occurred
at the nine minute mark of the second period, when, with St. Lawrence
already on the power play, Cornell's Stephane Gauvin had his helmet
knocked off while fighting for a loose puck and continued to play. I
admit I hollered along with the rest of the crowd when referee Marty
McDonough whistled Gauvin for delay of game, but playing without a
helmet is a safety violation, and I doubt there's a referee in the
world who wouldn't have made that call. At any rate, Cornell came
close to killing off the ensuing 5-on-3, but at 9:34, Eric Lacroix
backhanded the puck inside the left post while sprawled on his stomach.
The Saints evened the score on their next power play, as Mike Lappin
fired a shot between Cornell goalie Jim Crozier's pads at the 15:12
mark. It was the first time all season that the Big Red had blown a
two-goal lead, but they were able to rebound early in the third,
keeping the pressure on and bottling up St. Lawrence in their own end.
It all paid off at 10:09 of the third on a terrific play by Kent
Manderville. He beat the St. Lawrence down the left side, cut in front
of Kuntar, and backhanded a shot off the right post and into the net.
Cornell's lead was short-lived, however, as the Saints evened the game
again a minute and a half later off a flurry in front of the Cornell
goal. Crozier made two great saves on Andy Pritchard, but Lee Albert
corralled the second rebound and flipped it into the net.
Both teams had chances to end the game in regulation, as Crozier and
Kuntar each stopped a breakaway attempt in the final minute. With 22
seconds left, Dave Burke stopped an Eric Lacroix attempt by diving on
the puck in the Cornell crease, and probably the reason Burke was not
hit with a penalty was that Crozier immediately dove on top of him. At
any rate, Cornell was very shaky in the overtime period, and St.
Lawrence almost ended the game thirty seconds in. Ratushny dove to the
ice in an attempt to keep the puck in the St. Lawrence zone, but he
missed it, and all of a sudden the Saints were flying up the ice on a
3-on-1 break. However, they botched a pass, and Crozier was able to
kick the puck away.
It was only a matter of time before SLU converted on an opportunity to
win, but no one expected the game to win on a soft wrister from the
blue line, especially Daniel LaPerriere, the guy who shot it. Greg
Carvel got the puck in the Cornell zone on a giveaway and passed to
Laperriere, who later admitted he tried the shot "because you never
know..." Crozier appeared to have a bead on it, but Tim Vanini bumped
into him and knocked him off balance, and the next thing anyone knew,
the puck was in the back of the net and the game was over after 6:24 of
OT. Laperriere seemed as stunned as the whole Cornell team was, but he
quickly got over it when his teammates piled on top of him.
Clarkson 3, Harvard 2
I was surprised at how physical Harvard was in this game. Whether it
was by design or in response to Clarkson's play and the small ice
surface, the Crimson deviated from their usual high-flying style so
much that they didn't even record a shot on goal until there was 8:20
left in the first period. The much-maligned Chuckie Hughes played
quite well for Harvard, finishing with 28 saves, but he also got quite
a bit of help from the Crimson defense. Hughes was roaming way out of
the crease on occasion, and he was able to get away with some risky
moves. Chris Rogles also had a great game for Clarkson. One other
thing: Harvard's Peter Ciavaglia, a Hobey Baker finalist, was hit with
a roughing penalty in the second period, which is noteworthy because he
went into the game with only two minutes' worth of penalties on the
entire season. That other one was probably a bad call...
Boston University 4, Maine 3 (OT)
A great win for BU, helped out somewhat by a number of blown oppor-
tunities by the Black Bears. Moment of the game: Maine coach Shawn
Walsh modeling his new hockey stick bow tie, demonstrating the vicious
hooking by BU's Peter Ahola on Jean-Yves Roy. In watching Frank Cole
officiate this game, two words kept flashing in my mind -- Pierre
Belanger. The styles were practically identical: some reasonable
officiating for a while, but then all of a sudden, THINGS would start
happening, like the afore-mentioned hooking or the two body-slams that
Maine goalie Garth Snow had to endure. Walsh also claimed that BU's
second goal was set up by an uncalled hand pass, and it wouldn't
surprise me if he were right. (I think Walsh is going to have to watch
his temper. Later in the game, he threw a stick on the Maine bench and
almost hit one of his own players in the head.) Oh yes, Snow wandered
around a heck of a lot in the Maine end, at times playing like a third
defenseman or maybe even a fourth forward. It turns out that his
mother was sitting right in front of me for this game, and I don't know
how she could remain so calm while he was playing the puck with a
couple of BU guys racing toward him.
Clarkson 5, St. Lawrence 4
Two small notes: St. Lawrence goalie Les Kuntar definitely should have
gotten a misconduct (at least) for his little temper tantrum. If he had
acted in a similar fashion toward an on-ice official, I guarantee you
he would have been thrown out of the game, and I'm very surprised that
referee John Gallagher let him get away with it. Also, with six
minutes left, Chris Rogles denied the Saints the game-tying goal with
an unbelievable save, whipping his glove up *behind* his head to trap a
high shot. I know it doesn't sound particularly impressive, but
believe me, it was.
Oh yes, and I see someone read Carol's "I'm blind, I'm deaf, I wanna be
a ref!" posting to the Clarkson fans. :-) :-)
The ECAC All-Tournament team:
GOALIE: Chris Rogles, Clarkson
DEFENSE: Daniel LaPerriere, St. Lawrence
Dave Tretowicz, Clarkson
FORWARD: Hugo Belanger, Clarkson
Andy Pritchard, St. Lawrence
Scott Thomas, Clarkson
Tournament MVP: Hugo Belanger
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86
LET'S GO RED!!
"A four-year study of couples found that men who did housework were healthier
than those who didn't."
"Their wives let them live."
-- "Sylvia"
|
