Taken from the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, Monday, March 13, 1995.
 
CORNFORTH: GOALS AND NEW RINK WILL HELP
by Bill Burt
 
BOSTON - Neither the record nor the record books will accurately tell
"The Mark Cornforth Story".
 
Cornforth's teams won only 27 of 98 games in Hockey East.
 
And while his 77 career points are respectable, they don't put him among
the top 60 all-time point-getters at Merrimack.  Eleven defensemen tallied
more points and assists, too.
 
What the stats don't report are his contributions.  Unlike the bulk of
Merrimack's all-time leaders, Cornforth's points came against the best.
In the country.
 
He may in fact leave Merrimack as its best player.  If not the best, he
deserves a spot beside goalie Jim Hrivnak (1985-89) and forward Jim
Vesey (1984-88).
 
Cornforth's problem was that old problem.  The wrong place at the wrong
time.
 
His first couple of seasons, Merrimack could score, it just had trouble
defending and keeping the other guys from scoring.
 
The last two, it could defend and keep the puck out of the net with
the best in the country.  The problem was it couldn't whack a beach
ball into Hampton Beach.
 
The only constant the last four years, besides the disappointing record,
has been Cornforth.
 
If it took an offensive drive to tie or win a game in the waning seconds,
Cornforth had the puck.  If it meant keeping the other team's best
offensive player out of his goalie's sight, Cornforth was doing the
wrestling.
 
"Mark will be missed," said Merrimack coach Ron Anderson.  "He's a
special player.  He gave us four consistent years.  He had areas to
improve and he did.  As you saw, he was usually out there when we needed
something done."
 
Cornforth leaned against the glass after last night's loss, another
heart-breaker ("They all seem like heart-breakers," said Cornforth),
pondering the future of Merrimack hockey.
 
"What's the future?" repeated Cornforth.  "First of all, they've got to
get a new rink.  When you see a school like UMass-Amherst, and what they've
got, and then all the other schools, it won't be easy to get players.
 
"The immediate future?  It looks pretty good," added Cornforth.  "There
are a lot of good guys.  It seems everyone gets along.  That hasn't always
been the case.  Merrimack needs another group of good freshmen."
 
And what about the obvious reason Cornforth's career came to an abrupt
end last night?
 
"Yes, scoring too," said Cornforth.  "There are some young forwards that
should develop, but they could use a few more.  Goaltending looks good.
There is a lot more depth at a lot of positions.  But yes, Merrimack has
to score more goals."
 
As disappointed as Cornforth was last night, his four years at Merrimack
won't go in vain.
 
Merrimack hockey is close.  Really.
 
"We've got an attitude," said coach Anderson.  "If we lost, we didn't get
down.  We bounced back this year like never before.  I'm probably
happiest about that."
 
If attitude is the virtue that carries Merrimack into the 21st century
among the best hockey teams in the country, then remember Cornforth for
the attitude.
 
END
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Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93