{It seems there were a number of messages over the weekend that didn't make
it here -- apologies in advance if there are a bunch of repetitions in this.
Hope this makes it!}
Last year, the ECAC's first weekend featured a rash of upsets. This year,
however, there were very few surprises, most notably RPI getting off to an
0-2 start and Army forging a tie with defending league champion Colgate.
Before I forget -- I've been asked by some people who sat near me at last
weekend's games to post a question to the list. We were talking about
hockey fundraisers (bake sales, shoot-the-puck-through-the-tiny-hole, and so
forth), and somebody came up with the idea of Zamboni rides. So what do
people think? Would you buy a raffle ticket for a Zamboni ride? Or has
this been done, and if so, how successful was it? Just curious. Me, I'd be
interested in DRIVING the thing, but I imagine you need a Zamboni license or
some such...
ECAC scores from last weekend (home team in CAPS):
Friday, 11/9:
Clarkson 5, RPI 4 (OT)
COLGATE 6, Princeton 5
CORNELL 5, Army 0
HARVARD 11, Brown 2
St. Lawrence 1, VERMONT 0
Yale 3, DARTMOUTH 2
Saturday, 11/10:
Army 3, COLGATE 3 (OT)
Brown 3, DARTMOUTH 3 (OT)
Clarkson 7, VERMONT 4
CORNELL 4, Princeton 3
HARVARD 7, Yale 1
St. Lawrence 5, RPI 3
ECAC Standings as of 11/12/90:
League Overall
Team W L T Pts GF GA W L T Pts GF GA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Harvard 2 0 0 4 18 3 2 0 0 4 18 3
Cornell 2 0 0 4 9 3 2 0 0 4 9 3
Clarkson 2 0 0 4 12 8 5 0 0 10 40 18
St. Lawrence 2 0 0 4 6 3 4 1 0 8 23 12
Colgate 1 0 1 3 9 8 4 0 1 9 28 20
Yale 1 1 0 2 4 9 1 1 0 2 4 9
Dartmouth 0 1 1 1 5 6 0 1 1 1 5 6
Army 0 1 1 1 3 8 0 2 2 2 8 16
Brown 0 1 1 1 5 14 0 1 1 1 5 14
Princeton 0 2 0 0 8 10 0 2 0 0 8 10
RPI 0 2 0 0 7 10 1 4 0 2 25 28
Vermont 0 2 0 0 4 8 0 5 0 0 12 25
Division III scores from the weekend:
Friday, 11/9:
Cortland State 6, St. Bonaventure 1
Oswego State 10, SUNY-Binghamton 3
Saturday, 11/10:
Connecticut 3, New England College 0
Curry 8, Framingham State 4
Elmira 13, Oswego State 1
Hobart 7, St. Bonaventure 0
Union NY 5, Babson 1
Some notes on last weekend's games:
Oswego State 10, SUNY-Binghamton 3
Consecutive loss number 55 for the Colonials. Binghamton stayed close
for the first two periods -- the score was 2-2 after one and 5-3 Oswego
after the second. However, the Lakers blew the game open with five
goals in the third.
Elmira 13, Oswego State 1
Elmira has beaten the Lakers ten straight times, and the Soaring Eagles
put this game away with the help of *seven* power-play goals. Elmira
was led by freshman winger Pete Romeo's four goals. The Soaring Eagles
started the scoring barrage just 17 seconds into the game and led 4-0
after ten minutes. They didn't let up, scoring seven times in the
third, and outshot the Lakers by a 55-22 margin.
Clarkson 5, RPI 4 (OT)
This one was apparently as wide open as expected, and I wish I had more
details on it. The Golden Knights were paced by ECAC Player of the
Week Dave Trombley's three goals and one assist, while Hugo Belanger
came up with five assists of his own. For RPI, unheralded Derek
DeCosty had a hat trick, while Joe Juneau, last year's ECAC scoring
leader, contributed three assists. Freshman goaltender Neil Little had
36 saves for the Engineers in a losing cause. Little was in net for
RPI's Sean Kennedy, who sat out the weekend with a strained ankle.
Yale 3, Dartmouth 2
Yale's Martin Leroux scored what proved to be the game-winner midway
through the second period, and the Bulldogs allowed Dartmouth only four
shots on goal in the third period. Dartmouth threatened with a late
breakaway, but Yale goalie Ray LeTourneau smothered the shot.
Brown 3, Dartmouth 3 (OT)
Quite a finish to this one. Dartmouth led 2-1 late in the third
period, but Brown tied it 2-2 on Steve King's goal with 2:02 left in
regulation. With 45 seconds remaining, the Bruins' Mike Ross scored to
put Brown ahead. But Dartmouth sent the game into overtime with only
three seconds left in regulation on Tony DelCarmine's goal.
Colgate 6, Princeton 5
The Princeton Tigers threw a scare into the Red Raiders, nearly coming
back from a four-goal deficit. Princeton drew first blood in this game
with an early goal, but Colgate's Steve Poapst tied the score at 1 with
5:25 gone in the first. Ten minutes later, Jamie Cooke scored the
first of his two goals when he skated down the left side of the rink
and flipped the puck over goalie Ron High and into the upper corner of
the net. Cooke then scored a power-play goal from in front of the net
at 1:47 of the second. Highly touted freshman winger Clayton Fahey
blasted a shot that deflected in off High for his first collegiate goal
to give the Red Raiders a 4-1 lead. Only 19 seconds later, Princeton's
Brian Bigelow cut the deficit to two when he beat Colgate goalie Ken
Baker. Bigelow's goal was the first even-strength goal that Baker had
allowed this season, although his only other action was in the North-
eastern game back on October 27.
Dale Band put one into the right side of the net halfway through the
second period, and 46 seconds later, Fahey beat High again for his
second goal. With a 6-2 lead, Colgate seemed all set to cruise to the
victory, but Princeton exploded for three goals in the first 4:17 of
the third period to close the gap. However, although the Tigers kept
the pressure on, Baker made several key saves later in the third, and
the Red Raiders escaped with the victory.
Army 3, Colgate 3 (OT)
The physical Army team has recently been giving Colgate a lot of
trouble. Last season, Colgate won the first game 2-0 on a late empty-
net goal, then later played the Cadets to a 2-2 tie. In this game,
Army forced the tie on the strength of their power play, which scored
twice. Eric Kindgren gave the Cadets a 1-0 lead early in the first,
but Colgate struck back with two goals 30 seconds apart. Marc Dupere
converted on a scramble in front of the net, and then Jamie Cooke came
in on a breakaway and beat Army goalie Brooks Chretien to the glove
side. The Cadets tied the score with just five seconds left in the
first on the power play, when Dupere fanned on an attempt to clear the
puck and Brad Hamacher picked it up and scored unassisted. Colgate's
Sam Raffoul put the Red Raiders ahead 3-2 in the second period on a
fluke goal, when his shot hit the crossbar and bounced off Chretien
into the net. However, with 7:13 remaining in regulation, Army's Todd
Tamburino knotted the score again with a power-play goal. Center Rick
Randazzo fed Tamburino with a perfect pass, and he beat Colgate goalie
Greg Menges with a shot inside the post.
Cornell 5, Army 0
Though Cornell dominated the action on the ice, the game was tight
through the first two periods before the Big Red broke away with a
three-goal outburst in the third. Army's offense, frankly, was dismal
(no surprise, considering they were shut out). The Cornell players
were consistently able to take the puck away fron the Army forwards,
and the Cadets never really mounted much of a threat. They played
their usual physical game, though, which was a big factor in keeping
the score close and keeping referee Mike St. Louis's whistle busy.
There were 24 penalties called in the game, and several were alternated
between teams one right after another. If I didn't know better, I'd
swear St. Louis was trying hard to keep the teams skating four-on-four.
Actually, that benefitted Cornell's high-tempo game. Still, this guy
fell for some obvious Army dives, and he missed a spearing call on the
Cadets' Paul Haggerty at the end of the second period.
The Big Red had a lot of trouble solving Army goalie Brooks Chretien,
and it wasn't until there were 51 seconds left in the first period that
Cornell finally got on the board -- a shorthanded goal, no less. With
Army on the power play, Cornell's Dan Ratushny picked up a loose puck
and cleared it out of the Cornell zone. Kent Manderville raced down
the ice, beat the Army players to the puck, and wristed it past
Chretien on a mini-breakaway. Cornell goalie Jim Crozier was credited
with an assist on the play -- his first career point.
Chretien came up big in the net several times for Army in the second
period, denying Cornell on several scoring chances. However, Karl
Williams was able to convert off a goalmouth scramble at the 16:25
mark, and Cornell took control of the game early in the third. On a
very nice give-and-go with Jason Vogel, Bruce Frauley put the Big Red
up 3-0. Less than two minutes later, Cornell's Alex Nikolic knocked
down an Army pass at center ice, bulled his way into the Cadet zone
(Nikolic has been described as "aggressive", which is something like
referring to a tornado as "windy"), and put a slapshot between
Chretien's legs for an unassisted goal. Doug Derraugh closed the
scoring with 3:20 left in the game, as he wristed the puck in from the
slot just as a penalty to Cornell's Paul Dukovac expired.
Chretien finished with 32 saves for the Cadets. Crozier stopped 20
shots in earning his second career shutout, but even he admitted his
toughest challenge during the game was staying alert, since Army didn't
test him with very many quality shots. The Big Red's balanced attack
produced eleven players who each had one point in the game. Both teams
went 0 for 9 in man-up situations -- a misleading statistic, since many
of the power plays were of the 15-second variety. In a scary moment
for Cornell, Manderville was hit in the face with the puck while on the
bench early in the third period, but he was okay after taking a few
stitches.
Cornell 4, Princeton 3
It appeared that Cornell was going to have an easy time of it when Doug
Derraugh scored just eight seconds into the game, but Princeton
recovered and gave the Big Red a tough fight the rest of the way. The
officiating crew, led by referee Tim MacConaghy, seemed bound and
determined to set some sort of record for longest faceoff, and I think
they got it.
Cornell could not add to their lead in the first, and in the second
period, the Tigers struck for two goals in less than a minute.
Princeton freshman Rob LaFerriere was knocked down in the Cornell zone,
and while he was sliding along the ice, he swatted the puck toward the
Cornell goal, and it bounced in at the 1:42 mark. Then Tom Shimabukuro
took a centering pass from Sverre Sears and one-timed a shot over
goalie Corrie D'Alessio's glove. Midway through the period, though,
Cornell tied the score on Trent Andison's power-play goal off a
scramble in front of the net. With just over six minutes left in the
second, the Big Red took a 3-2 lead when Dan Ratushny blasted one that
got by Princeton goalie Ron High, who was screened on the play.
D'Alessio was playing the puck in this game a lot more than he usually
does, and eight minutes into the third period, it cost him. With
Cornell on the power play, the Tigers' Sean Murphy cleared the puck,
and Andre Faust chased it down the ice. D'Alessio came way out of the
net to sweep the puck away, but Faust caught up to it first, skated
around the Cornell goalie, and flipped the puck into the empty net.
The game-winning goal came with less than five minutes remaining in the
third. High blocked a shot from Bruce Frauley and tried to cover up,
but Andison poked the puck free. It rolled behind the Princeton
goalie, and Alex Nikolic was able to tap it into the net. After the
red light went on, High corraled the referee and apparently argued that
he had stopped the puck long enough for a faceoff to be called, but the
goal stood. The final few minutes of the game were hectic, as
Princeton threw everything they had at the Big Red in an effort to tie
the game up, but the Tigers were unable to get any good scoring
chances. High's 34 saves were what kept Princeton in the game;
D'Alessio faced only 21 shots, stopping 18 of them.
Next week's ECAC games:
Nov. 16
Colgate at Clarkson
Cornell at St. Lawrence
Dartmouth at Army
Harvard at Princeton
RPI at Brown
Vermont at Yale
Nov. 17
Colgate at St. Lawrence
Cornell at Clarkson
Dartmouth at Princeton
Harvard at Army
RPI at Yale
Vermont at Brown
Games to watch include:
RPI at Yale
The red lightbulb salesmen will probably love this one if these two put
together games like they did last year. In 1989-90, RPI was the worst
defensive team in the league, and Yale was the second-worst. As you
might expect, both games between these two were shootouts, with RPI
winning 9-7 and 8-6. Now that I've said that, let's watch as the game
ends in a scoreless tie.
Colgate at Clarkson
Cornell at Clarkson
Clarkson's Walker Arena has traditionally been one of the toughest
rinks in the country for an opposing team to get a victory in. In
fact, over the last three seasons, Clarkson has beaten every other ECAC
team at least once at Walker -- except for two. Would you believe
Colgate and Cornell? Yup, Colgate is 2-0-2 at Clarkson since 1986, and
Cornell is 3-0-2 since 1987, including the 1989 ECAC quarterfinals.
This season, the Colgate-Clarkson matchup pits two teams with similar
strengths and problems against each other. Both the Red Raiders and
the Golden Knights appear to be pretty strong on offense (despite
Colgate's loss of seven forwards), while both lost "franchise" goalies
from last season (Gagnon and Fletcher). Both teams are undefeated in
five games, so the replacement goalies haven't done too badly.
Clarkson's defense may be the difference in this one.
As for Cornell-Clarkson, this is probably the marquee matchup of the
ECAC's first half-season, and not just because both teams are being
pushed as possible league champions. This rivalry is one of the best
in college hockey and should be much bigger and more well-known than it
is. You want close? Well, as Mike Zak has pointed out, these two have
tied the last three times they have played each other.
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