Clarkson's two victories this weekend against Vermont and Dartmouth extended
the Golden Knights' unbeaten home string to 25 consecutive games, dating
back to February 23, 1990 and a 7-5 loss to Dartmouth. The Golden Knights
have gone 24-0-1 at home since then. Kudos also to Union -- although the
Dutchmen are 0-3 in the ECAC and 0-4 overall, they have been playing
Division I teams a lot tougher than most people expected. Oh, and I
appreciate that the NCAA is always changing its mind on what calls its
officials are supposed to emphasize, and that it may take a little time for
the men in the striped shirts to adjust at the beginning of the new season.
But come on, guys -- 47 penalties in two games?
ECAC results from last weekend (home teams in CAPS):
Friday, Nov. 15
CLARKSON 6, Vermont 3
Cornell 3, PRINCETON 2
Harvard 7, UNION 5
RPI 4, Brown 1
ST. LAWRENCE 9, Dartmouth 1
YALE 10, Colgate 5
Saturday, Nov. 16
Brown 3, UNION 2
CLARKSON 10, Dartmouth 3
Colgate 4, PRINCETON 3
Harvard 6, RPI 0
ST. LAWRENCE 6, Vermont 5
YALE 3, Cornell 2
ECAC standings as of 11/18/91:
League Overall
Team W L T Pts GF GA W L T Pts GF GA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yale 2 0 0 4 13 7 2 0 0 4 13 7
Harvard 2 0 0 4 13 5 2 0 0 4 13 5
Clarkson 2 0 0 4 16 6 4 1 0 8 32 16
St. Lawrence 2 0 0 4 15 6 4 1 0 8 34 17
Cornell 1 1 0 2 5 5 1 1 0 2 5 5
Colgate 1 1 0 2 9 13 1 3 0 2 15 24
RPI 1 1 0 2 4 7 3 2 0 6 16 19
Brown 1 1 0 2 4 6 1 1 0 2 4 6
Vermont 1 2 0 2 11 13 3 3 0 6 26 21
Princeton 0 2 0 0 5 7 0 2 0 0 5 7
Dartmouth 0 2 0 0 4 19 0 2 0 0 4 19
Union 0 3 0 0 8 13 0 4 0 0 14 22
Notes on some of the games:
Yale 10, Colgate 5
Mark Kaufmann was the star for the Elis, racking up six points on four
goals and two assists. Yale led 4-1 after the first period, and after
the Red Raiders scored twice early in the second to cut the lead to
one, the Elis proceeded to blow the game open. Yale goaltender Nadew
Befekadu had 21 saves, while Colgate's Shawn Murray also picked up 21.
The ten goals were the most scored by a Yale team since 1986.
Cornell 3, Princeton 2
Well, I think it's about time Cornell fans, including myself, jumped
off the Parris-Duffus-bashing wagon. Cornell's sophomore goaltender
was easily the star of this game, coming up with 44 saves in his first
collegiate start. The Big Red was lucky that Duffus had such a great
night, since the Cornell offense elected not to test Princeton goalie
Craig Fiander very much -- he faced only 14 shots. Prior to this game,
Fiander had had just 12 minutes of varsity experience between the
pipes, all of it in the 1989-90 season.
In a sloppily played game, the Big Red opened the scoring at the 2:38
mark of the first period, when Etienne Belzile fired a low shot that
Tyler McManus got a piece of, deflecting it between Fiander's legs. A
couple minutes later, Princeton lost what had appeared to be the tying
goal. Off a scramble in front, the puck trickled into the net off
Duffus' pad, but referee John Gallagher had blown the play dead.
Princeton was doing some solid checking, though, and the Tigers were
able to knot the score 12:38 into the first. Terry Morris came out
from behind the Cornell net, and as Duffus tried to poke-check him
away, Morris slipped the puck into the net. After the goal was scored,
the Princeton fans showered the ice with about a hundred tennis balls
and several fish, prompting Gallagher to issue a warning.
Cornell had forechecking problems all night, and the Big Red had a lot
of trouble working the puck out of their own zone, even when they were
on a power play. Even a 5-on-3 opportunity later in the first period
didn't help, at least at first. But the Big Red was eventually able to
get the puck up the ice into the Princeton zone, and Dragon took a slap
shot at the Tiger net. Fiander made a good save on that one, as well
as on Alex Nikolic's follow-up try, but Nikolic corralled his own
rebound and stuffed it between Fiander's legs at the 16:11 mark.
Cornell's lead was short-lived, as Princeton's Jeff Kampersal tied
things up again with 1:21 left in the opening period. Sean O'Brien
took a soft shot from the left point that Duffus got a pad on, but the
rebound bounced about six feet out to his left, and Kampersal was able
to shoot the puck into an empty net.
With 1:43 gone in the second period, Princeton's Matt Zilinskas crashed
into the boards and suffered some sort of injury, leaving the ice for a
while (he would return in the third period). Cornell's Paul Dukovac
got the game-winner at the 4:36 mark, taking a pass at the left point
and unleashing a 50-foot blast that beat Fiander to the left side.
The rest of the night belonged to Duffus, as Princeton was unable to
solve him over the remaining 35-plus minutes. He seemed to get much
more confident as the game wore on, and he came up with several great
saves, especially during a 1:11 5-on-3 power play that Princeton had in
the third period. Duffus even got a chance to show off his acting
ability early in the third, when he was bumped into by Zilinskas and
collapsed to the ice, getting Zilinskas a roughing minor (don't laugh;
with the way some of the refs seem to be handing out penalties this
year, this may be an asset). Cornell kept giving the puck away in
their own zone, and Princeton was able to mount a lot of pressure, but
the Tigers never got the equalizer.
One further note on departed Princeton coach Jim Higgins, who was
rumored to have been let go after the Princeton players sent a letter
to the administration asking that his contract not be renewed. Senior
winger Dan Platella (sp?) played his first game in a Princeton uniform
Friday night, after sitting out his first three years because he was
not happy with Coach Higgins. There's gotta be something more to this
story...
Yale 3, Cornell 2
I was visiting my father-in-law in the hospital and had to miss this
game, so my notes won't be as verbose as they usually are. (how tragic
:-)
Once again, Duffus turned a solid effort, but this time the Cornell
offense fell a little short, although they at least got a few more
shots on goal than they did the night before. Referee Marty McDonough
was even more of a factor than usual, calling 24 minors and a mis-
conduct, and neither team was able to get much of a rhythm going.
Cornell got off to the early lead, as Jim McPhee took a pass from Tyler
McManus and beat Yale goaltender John Hockin with 2:12 gone in the
first. With Stephane Gauvin in the box for interference, Yale's Mark
Kaufmann tied it up at the 5:30 mark. A couple of unusual penalties
were called early in the second period, on Cornell's Marc Deschamps for
illegal use of hands (thank God it wasn't a clipping penalty :-) and
later on Yale's Matusovich for illegal substitution. This one happened
right after Matusovich's penalty for interference had expired, and as
near as I can figure, he either left the box early or did not skate
over to the Yale bench before joining the play. Anyway, you don't see
those two calls very often.
After all that, Yale took a 2-1 lead on a power play goal by Craig
Ferguson at the 9:04 mark of the second, but Alex Nikolic evened things
up a couple minutes later, stuffing home a pass from Dave Burke.
However, the Elis went ahead to stay with 1:15 left in the middle
period, on another goal by Ferguson. Although there was no scoring
over the final 20 minutes, the game still had some excitement left.
With 2:28 to go, the puck came loose in front of Hockin, but he managed
to get his glove on it before any of the Cornell players could take a
shot. Cornell forward Shaun Hannah proceeded to knock Hockin over, and
all of a sudden there was a melee in the Yale crease. Four players
were penalized, and Hannah was hit with a double minor for roughing.
This effectively killed the Big Red's chances, as when it was all
sorted out, Cornell wound up being a man down until there were 28
seconds left. Cornell coach Brian McCutcheon was upset with the double
minor, but Hannah did precipitate the whole thing by running into the
goaltender, which is something you haven't been allowed to do in
college hockey for years. Hockin finished the game with 21 saves,
while Duffus stopped 25 shots.
As Jim Teresco mentioned, Union will take next weekend off, but the other
eleven ECAC teams will all see action. Here's next week's schedule:
Nov. 22
Clarkson at Colgate
Princeton at Harvard
St. Lawrence at Cornell
Yale at Brown
RPI at Vermont 8:00
Nov. 23
Clarkson at Cornell 4:00
Princeton at Brown
RPI at Dartmouth
St. Lawrence at Colgate
Yale at Harvard
Notes on a couple games:
Yale at Harvard
Both teams will probably be undefeated going into this game, which
would make this the first "showdown" of the ECAC season. Yale has been
touted for years as a team that was supposed to have an explosive
offense, and their ten-goal outburst against Colgate may show that they
finally have got one. Yale coach Tim Taylor's experience in the inter-
national arena during the off-season, both at the World Championships
and the Canada Cup, may help his team also. As for Harvard, well, ten-
goal games may be a thing of the past for the Crimson with the forwards
they lost from last year, but they still have strong goaltending, and
their defense has improved. To coin a phrase, these are two teams who
"don't like each other".
Clarkson at Cornell
One of the more inexplicable streaks in the ECAC will likely end this
Saturday. The Golden Knights have not defeated the Big Red since a 1-0
mini-game win in the 1988 ECAC quarterfinals, going 0-4-4 against
Cornell since then. These games are always hotly contested, but this
season, Clarkson has a definite edge on offense, which might just be
the difference. However, if Parris Duffus puts up the kind of numbers
he did last weekend, the Knights will have more trouble then they might
think.
--
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and probably '94
LET'S GO RED!!
"No man is an island -- but Sherman Douglas comes close."
-- Unnamed Miami Heat official, on the Heat's overweight point guard, who is
holding out
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