This was the final weekend before the start of league play in the ECAC, and
the ECAC teams performed quite well, winning five of six games against
Hockey East competition.  Scores involving ECAC teams from Friday and
Saturday (home teams in CAPS):
 
Friday, 11/2:
     BOSTON COLLEGE 5, Vermont 1
     CLARKSON 9, Northeastern 5
     ST. LAWRENCE 6, Lowell 3
 
Saturday, 11/3:
     CLARKSON 9, Lowell 4
     Colgate 9, BOSTON UNIVERSITY 6
     ST. LAWRENCE 9, Northeastern 2
     CORNELL 5, Waterloo 4 (OT) (exhibition)
 
I don't have the results of the US Air tournament at Providence, which RPI
participated in.  Also, I believe Western Ontario played an exhibition at
Harvard this weekend, and I haven't heard a score for that one either.
 
Here are some other scores from the weekend -- I believe these are all
Division III contests:
 
Friday, 11/2:
     Brockport State 13, Rochester 1
     Potsdam State 8, SUNY-Binghamton 4
     RIT 4, Fredonia State 1
 
Saturday, 11/3:
     Cortland State 7, Potsdam State 2
     Iona 7, RIT 3
 
Notes on a couple games:
 
Potsdam State 8, SUNY-Binghamton 4
     Potsdam jumped out to a 6-2 lead by the middle of the second period,
     then pretty much coasted to victory, outshooting Binghamton by a 37-23
     margin.  For Binghamton, this loss was their 53rd in a row.
 
Cornell 5, Waterloo 4 (OT)
     I'll add a few (okay, MORE than a few) notes to Andy's posting.  This
     was "just" an exhibition game, and both coaches were certainly treating
     it that way, with Cornell's Brian McCutcheon giving both his goalies
     some playing time and juggling a few line combinations and Waterloo's
     Don McKee letting each of his three goaltenders play for a period.
     Nevertheless, the game was pretty intense, and there was a lot of
     physical play, accompanied by the usual host of penalties.
 
     The Big Red got on the scoreboard quickly when, on a 5-on-3 power play,
     Kent Manderville let loose a quick shot from just over the blue line
     that beat Waterloo goalie Mark McCue with less than two minutes gone in
     the first period.  "Mandy" scored again at the 10:47 mark of the first,
     poking the puck into the left corner of the net just as a penalty to
     Cornell's Dan Hughes ended.  However, Waterloo's clutch-and-grab
     tactics were beginning to bother the Big Red, and the Warriors were
     able to control the ice and knock Cornell off their high-tempo game in
     the second period.  In addition, James Organ came in to play goal for
     Waterloo at the beginning of the second, and he stymied Cornell several
     times.  Cornell's power play began to look a little sluggish also.
 
     Cory Keenan scored a power play goal for Waterloo at the 11-minute
     mark, and as Andy mentioned, Jim Crozier replaced Corrie D'Alessio at
     that point.  Despite the score, Cornell's shorthanded unit was pretty
     impressive, as they rushed the Warrior net and almost scored a goal of
     their own.  Later on, Cornell killed off a 50-second 5-on-3, but
     Waterloo wound up knotting the score with 2:46 left in the second, as
     Dave Lorentz knocked home a rebound off a scramble in front of the
     Cornell net.  The second period ended with the teams tied at 2.
 
     Steve Udvari went between the pipes for Waterloo at the start of the
     third, and Cornell's Trent Andison greeted him rather rudely with a
     power play goal just 1:39 into the period.  On the play, there was a
     delayed penalty call, and Waterloo defenseman Jeff Ballantyne was hit
     with a 10-minute misconduct.  About a minute later, after Joe Dragon
     was called for roughing, a fight broke out between Manderville and
     Waterloo's Rod Thacker, and they were both given roughing majors and
     high-sticking minors.  The big loser in the fight, however, was the
     Warriors' Ian Pound, who tried to join the fight and was hit with a
     five-minute major and a game misconduct for being the third man in (an
     excellent rule, by the way).  In an effort to remind us that this is an
     exhibition game for the officials as well, referee Dan Murphy took a
     few minutes to straighten this all out and was hollered at repeatedly
     by both coaches.  I think the cause of the confusion was that while
     both teams each had two men in the penalty box, one of the Waterloo
     guys was Ballantyne, who was still serving his misconduct -- there
     wasn't anyone in there serving Pound's major.  At any rate, on the
     ensuing 3-on-3, Steve Schaefer tied the game up for the Warriors by
     tapping in a loose puck.  Later, after Waterloo had killed off a three
     minute Cornell power play, Lorentz scored his second goal off a 2-on-1
     break to give the Warriors the lead.
 
     Cornell had several good scoring opportunities in the third, out-
     shooting the Warriors by a 14-4 margin, but the Big Red could not get
     the equalizer until very late in the game.  Cornell defenseman Todd
     Chambers was hit with a high-sticking minor on a VERY late call with
     about two and a half minutes left, but even though they were
     shorthanded, Cornell continued to press on the attack.  With about
     thirty seconds left, Crozier was pulled for the extra attacker as
     Chambers came out of the box.  (Are you in suspense yet?)  With the
     sellout crowd going wild, Dan Ratushny blasted a shot at Udvari, who
     blocked it, but the rebound came to Andison, who tied the game with
     just 16 seconds remaining in regulation.  Lynah Rink literally shook,
     and the place exploded again when Dragon's deflection of a Ratushny
     shot ended the game in OT.
 
     Whew!  It wasn't exactly a great game, but it offered plenty of
     excitement and most likely gives the Big Red a huge emotional lift as
     they begin the regular season next weekend.  I agree with Andy that
     D'Alessio will likely be the starting goaltender for Cornell.  The
     power play looked a little shaky, and the passes were a little off the
     mark at times, but the penalty-killers performed very well despite
     allowing two Waterloo power-play goals.
 
A human interest note on the Waterloo team:  On their roster is winger
Darren Snyder, who played for Cornell in the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons.
Also, I think Ian Pound played in the ECAC a couple of seasons ago.
 
Next week's ECAC games:
 
Nov. 9
     Army at Cornell
     Brown at Harvard
     Clarkson at RPI
     Princeton at Colgate
     St. Lawrence at Vermont
     Yale at Dartmouth
 
Nov. 10
     Army at Colgate
     Brown at Dartmouth
     Clarkson at Vermont
     Princeton at Cornell
     St. Lawrence at RPI
     Yale at Harvard
 
The games to watch on the ECAC's first weekend of league play include:
 
Clarkson at RPI
     If these two teams' early games are any indication, this one is likely
     to be a shootout, as Mike Zak mentioned.  Clarkson has shown flashes of
     a high-powered offense ("flashes"? How about 28 goals in three games!),
     and RPI's defense is even more suspect than they were last year.  The
     Golden Knights handled RPI's offense reasonably well last season in
     their 6-5 and 5-3 wins.  The difference in this one may be whose goalie
     ends up less shell-shocked.
 
Brown at Harvard
     Two teams with some questions to answer.  Are the Bruins really as
     improved as they appeared to be last year?  And what happened to the
     perennially-contending Crimson down the stretch?  Brown won't be able
     to sneak up on anyone this season, and although their defense is
     considerably better than in years past, Chris Harvey's graduation was
     perhaps the second-biggest loss of a single player in the ECAC (behind
     only Colgate's losing All-American goalie Dave Gagnon).  As for
     Harvard, there really isn't any good explanation for their closing last
     season on a 1-7 skid, but shed no tears for new Crimson head coach Ronn
     Tomassoni -- Harvard's got plenty of talent, as usual.  If the
     goaltending comes around, and if defenseman Steve Flomenhoft stops
     trying to be the next Kevan "Watch for me in the new Friday the 13th
     movie!" Melrose, Harvard will be a force in the ECAC.
 
Army at Cornell
     Why on earth should anyone be interested in a game between perhaps one
     of the best teams in the country and a team that is constantly one of
     the league's weakest?  Well, Army seems to cause a lot of problems for
     Cornell.  Since the Cadets started playing the full slate of ECAC games
     back in 1986, they have split the two-game season series with the Big
     Red in three out of four years.  Army plays a very physical game, and
     as the exhibition against Waterloo indicated, physical teams give
     Cornell a fair amount of trouble.  Another factor for the Cadets is the
     play of Brooks Chretien, the best goalie you've never heard of.  This
     looks to be a tougher one than people think.
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86
LET'S GO RED!!
 
"I love driving.  My dad gave me a car when I was 16 years old.  What a nice
 guy, huh?  Although I recently found out it was a rental car and I owe 1.5
 million dollars."
-- Peter Gaulke