Well, if San Diego can make it to the Super Bowl, I suppose Cornell can
score six special-team goals (four power-play markers plus two short-
handers) in a single game. The Big Red ran roughshod over Army in the
second period, scoring six times (including a power-play hat trick by Tyler
McManus), and then coasted to the easy win. Arthur has already posted the
box score, so I'll just add my usual vomuminous notes :-)
Cornell 8, Army 2
This is the first time these two have played since Army left the ECAC back
in 1991 -- and, well, the Cadets' victory over RPI earlier in the season
seems light-years away. Though Army showed some decent puck movement at
times, it was the Big Red taking control of the game virtually from the
opening faceoff. The Cornell power play, a unit that had previously sput-
tered along at an under 14% conversion rate (eight of 58), had a stellar
game, going four of four.
Cornell served notice that this was not going to be Army's afternoon 38
seconds into the game, when Andre Doll made a very nice move on a Cadet
defender, poking the puck through his legs and quickly skating past him to
retrieve it near the Army blue line. Doll's shot would be blocked by a
sliding Cadet, but the Big Red was just getting started. A minute later,
Doll had a short-handed breakaway, skating up the ice with an Army player in
hot pursuit, and Doll's high shot was just a few inches to the left of the
net.
As expected, the game was very physical, and the rough stuff got started at
2:58 of the first, when Cornell's Dan Dufresne and Army's Mark Stachelski
tangled with each other. After the whistle blew, Dufresne flipped Stachel-
ski to the ice, and I was a bit surprised he didn't get the extra minor.
(There was no linesman in this game. Gerald Toner was scheduled to be the
second referee, but he didn't make it, so linesman Mike Emanatian was ele-
vated to ref status for the game. He didn't do too badly -- if the ECAC
plans to replace any referees after this season, they might want to consider
moving him up.) At any rate, the Big Red wound up with their first power
play half a minute later, and they lost little time in converting it. Brad
Chartrand skated the puck up the left side, then left it near the slot for
P.C. Drouin, whose wrister beat Cadet goalie Daryl Chamberlain over the
right shoulder.
The Big Red flirted with disaster at about 8:45 of the first period, when
Steve Wilson and Geoff Lopatka broke out of the zone short-handed and got
caught up ice when Wilson's pass to Lopatka went awry. All of a sudden,
Army was skating back the other way on a 3-on-1, and had they scored on this
one, the game might have turned out differently. But with two linemates to
his left and the pass wide open, the Cadet with the puck (I didn't catch the
number) elected to shoot instead, and the puck sailed over the net. End of
threat.
Doll, who was all over the ice in the first half of the game, had another
breakaway with 7:40 remaining in the first, firing a shot that hit Chamber-
lain's throat protector. (Thank goodness for that piece of equipment!)
Moments later, however, Doll helped set up Cornell's second goal, leaving
the puck at center ice for Geoff Lopatka, who skated into the Army zone.
Lopatka found one Cadet defender in front of him and slowed, apparently
looking for help, but there was no other Cornell player in the zone. "Lopy"
then snapped off an "oh, what the hell" shot that caught the left corner of
the net at the 12:47 mark.
Though Cornell had had things pretty much their own way in the first period,
they were only ahead 2-0, but it took just over a minute of the second
period to double that score. Fourteen seconds in, in the waning moments of
the Big Red's second power play, Steve Wilson came out of the Cornell zone
and sent a long cross-ice pass to Tyler McManus at the Army blue line;
McManus skated to the left circle and fired a low shot under Chamberlain's
glove. Cornell made it 4-0 at the 1:07 mark on a short-hander by Lopatka,
who skated the puck in from center ice, worked past a defender, and lifted
one past Chamberlain on the stick side. Goaltender Eddy Skazyk got an
assist on the play for the first point of his Cornell career.
Army was handed a 26-second 5-on-3 moments later, but they did nothing with
it, despite having Skazyk down and out twice. Stachelski and Dufresne
renewed acquaintances at the 6:45 mark (yes, there is a pattern developing
here -- actually, Dufresne was taking on two guys at once), and both were
sent to the box again. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Chartrand and Steve
Wilson skated up the ice on a 2-on-1 break, and Chartrand bounced a shot off
Chamberlain's pad and into the net at the 8:12 mark. Army pulled Chamber-
lain and called their timeout, using the time to warm up replacement goalie
Brian Bolio. By the way, no matter what the program says, Bolio is NOT
5-11, unless he's in skates and standing on a chair. Two of his teammates
who were listed at 5-10 were significantly taller than him.
Well anyway, the new goalie didn't help matters much, as McManus struck
again at the 10:07 mark to make it 6-0. In fact, this goal was partly the
result of a Bolio misplay: he stopped a Chartrand shot but kicked the puck
right back to him. Chartrand flubbed the rebound try but was able to roll
the puck over to McManus at the left edge of the crease, and the winger
shoveled it into the open net. Another Bolio miscue led to Matt Cooney's
short-handed goal at the 12:56 mark. Cornell cleared the zone, and Cooney
and an Army player chased the clearing pass down the ice. Bolio came out to
the right circle to tip the puck to his teammate but wound up giving it to
Cooney instead. As Bolio dove back to the crease, Cooney got control of the
puck, then casually flipped it over the prone goalie.
Army broke up Skazyk's shutout bid at the 13:21 mark with a goal by Chris
Perron off a scramble in front of the Cornell net. The puck appeared to go
in off Perron's left skate, and there was some question as to whether he had
kicked it, but referee John Melanson allowed the goal to stand, and the Big
Red didn't protest. McManus completed his power-play hat trick with 2:49
left in the period. Bolio made a nice pad save on a drive by Drouin, but he
left the puck loose in the crease and McManus tapped it home. As far as I
can tell, McManus is the first Cornell player ever to get three power-play
goals in one period.
With an 8-1 lead, Cornell came out and played lackadaisically in the third
period, took some silly penalties, and were outshot by the Cadets 12-6.
Even so, the Big Red had a couple of big scoring chances, the first coming
at the two-minute mark, when Chartrand had a short-handed breakaway. He
looked to have a sure goal, but Bolio made a great pad save, and Drouin, who
was trailing the play, couldn't pry the puck loose for a follow-up attempt.
Drouin had a short-handed breakaway of his own a few minutes after that, and
he came very close, but Bolio just managed to get a skate on the backhander.
The Cadets scored the only goal of the period at the 6:17 mark. Skazyk had
a nice save on Joe Sharrock's first shot, but Sharrock got to the rebound
and flipped a tough-angle shot over Skazyk's shoulder. The rest of the
period was chippy and sloppy, highlighted (low-lighted?) by three sets of
coincidental minors for various skirmishes. Army did look like they had the
physical advantage in the third, but it may have been more a case of Cornell
losing interest, and the Cadets didn't do much with that advantage anyway.
Sunday, by the way, was Army head coach Rob Riley's 40th birthday.
Skazyk was steady in the Cornell net, stopping 25 shots to pick up his first
win of the season. Chamberlain had 13 saves, and Bolio recorded nine in
relief. Up next for the Big Red is a home-and-home series with travel
partner Colgate. Cornell will make the trip to Hamilton this Thursday, and
the Red Raiders will make the return trip on Saturday.
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
strictly those of:
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and '94.5 | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!! DJF 5/27/94
"I used to think the brain was the most important organ in the body, 'til I
realized, yeah, look what's telling me that."
-- Emo Phillips
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