In a hard fought, ene-to-end hockey game at the Yale Whale,
Cornell prevailed 4-1 to advance to Boston.
 
I will hit on the high points, leaving the stuff you have
to write down during the game for you-know-who:
Play started tentatively, as neither team seemed to
want to make a mistake. Cornell scored the first of its
two disallowed goals on a stuff-in early in the first.
Ghallager waved it off, claiming a Cornell player was in the
crease, and the whistle had blown. I didn't hear it.
 
Soon after this, the Yale goaltender made a backing-in save,
fell onto his butt, and slid into the net with the puck.
It seems the whistle had blown this time too. Yale quickly
scored their only goal, on a play where the puck was played
in on one side of
Duffus, he kicked it out, and the Yale defenseman paseed back to the
other point. Kaufman tipped in the ensuing blast.
 
The first ended 1-1. In the second, Cornell looked much improved.
I believe there was no score in this period, but I could be
wrong. 10 hours of driving can do this to you. In the third,
Cornell scored number 2 and three and was starting to get excited.
Yale had lots of good offensive opportunites, as their small
forwards, esp. Kaufman and Sather hang at the Cornell blue
line looking for outlet passes. Etienne Belzile -played particularly
well on defense for Cornell, as did McPhee and Chambers. Dave
Burke had a couple assists.
 
Late in the third, Geoff Bumstead nearly made it 4-1 Cornell,
as he was left alone in fron of the Yale net, with time to draw
the puck back to his forhand and shoot high. It was like an
eternity for us, and Bumstead must have thought he aged about 5
years. The puck ended up in the Yale netminders chest.
Bumstead did much stick-thumping when he returned to the bench
right in fron of me.
 
With about 3 minutes to go Yale mounted big pressure, but
Paris Duffus came up HUGE. With 1 to go, Yale pulled the goalie,
but coudn't keep the puck in the Cornell end. Cornell scored
an open-netter to end the game.
 
Interesting things I saw:
Ghallager seemed intent on keeping total control of the game.
Twice he sent a Cornell-Yale pair off for shoving after the whistle,
in totally harmless ways. These were the kind of incidents that
defensemen are basically required to start when offensive players
are lurking near a goaltender who has the puck frozen. I was
pretty surprised that they weren't no-calls.
 
Cornell defenseman Todd Chambers nearly had his head torn
off by a Yale forward as Todd tried to skate the puck
out from behind the Cornell net. The Yale guy literally
reached out from behind, put the blade of his stick
around Chamber's neck, and hauled him down.
The Cornell fans were instantly out of their seats, holding
up five fingers and shouting for a major. I intend
to agree with this. The result was a paultry 2:00.
I was ashamed at this point to be a fan and player of
clean hockey.
 
At one point Duffus stopped a long drive between his
leg pads, and it stuck. He raised his arm asking for a whistle,
but got none. A Yale forward skated in, and was knocked down
by a Cornell defenseman. The Yale player slid at Paris, who,
keeping the puck between his pas, jumped into the air, letting
the player go underneath. The whistle went then, and he let the puck
drop out. Very impressive. This Duffus kid just keeps getting stronger.
 
Thanks to:
Yale fans and ushers for being tolerant of us excited
Big Red fans. I get the feeling they are
not used to much vocal expression at the Whale.
 
The guys who bake the pizza at Naples Pizza
in New Haven. Good stuff, if you're ever there,
try it. Very safe too, the Yale police are always there
eating.
 
The people who designed the roads into New Haven.
I mean what were they thinking? It takes half an hour
just to find rt. 34 at all! I know, I know, NO flames
against teams or schools, but how about highway departments?
 
On to Boston!!
 
Howard
Princeton '87  Cornell '91 '92
 
(Congrats to the Princeton Tigers on their playoff win)