Cornell took on its second nationally-ranked opponent in five days when they
played Boston University last night, and while they gave the Terriers a
tough fight, the Big Red couldn't quite pull out the victory. This was BU's
first trip to Lynah since the formation of Hockey East nine years ago.
More notes from the game:
BU 4, Cornell 3
A bigger, faster Terrier team was flying right from the opening faceoff
in this one, as they dominated the Big Red early. BU actually put the
puck behind Cornell goaltender Eddy Skazyk just a minute and six
seconds into the game, but referee Jim Cerbo called BU for a man in the
crease and disallowed the goal. The Terriers were, of course, not
pleased with the call, and they took out their anger on the Cornell net
just 14 seconds later. Mike Pomichter, BU's leading scorer, and
Jacques Joubert came into the Big Red zone on a 2-on-1 break, and as
defenseman Christian Felli moved over to cut Pomichter off, Pomichter
skated right by him and fired from the right circle. Skazyk got a pad
on the shot, but the puck rolled off and across the goal line. Joubert
got a goal of his own at the 5:13 mark, when he chipped in Doug Fried-
man's rebound. About a minute later, BU had a golden opportunity on
another 2-on-1 break, but whoever it was that had the puck elected to
pass rather than take what looked like an easy shot, and the puck
rolled out of the reach of his linemate. Nevertheless, with the
Terriers already in possession of a 2-0 lead and playing circles around
the Big Red, it looked like it was going to be a long night.
But no, Cornell was able to tighten things up later in the period, and
they got a HUGE goal, probably their most important of this young
season, with 3:58 left in the first. Senior forward Geoff Bumstead
took a feed from Blair Ettles in the left circle and whacked one just
inside the right post past BU goalie "John" (in the program -- J.P. to
you and me) McKersie. Not only did this goal give the Big Red some
badly-needed momentum, but it was also a power-play goal -- the first
of the season for Cornell, putting an end to a horrendous 0-of-23
streak. The Big Red came very close to tying the game a minute later,
when Geoff Lopatka worked the puck to the slot, but he was unable to
lift his shot, and McKersie swallowed the puck up in his pads.
BU responded with another score just 1:16 into the second period, and
this one was set up by a Cornell turnover right in front of their own
net. One of the forwards (I think it was Andre Doll) fell down as he
was coming out from behind the net, and the puck popped loose. BU
pounced on it, and this led to Jay Pandolfo slapping it over a prone
Skazyk from in close. This for sure looked like it had put the Big Red
away, but Skazyk fired his team up a couple of minutes later with a
terrific pad save on another BU breakaway. (Cornell goaltenders have
seen entirely too many of those this year -- a disturbing carryover
from last season)
One of the main differences between BU's style and Cornell's, and
indeed it may have ultimately been the deciding factor in the game, is
the way they treat opponents who skate into their zone with the puck,
especially along the boards. BU tends to whack these guys, while
Cornell does not, electing instead to retreat and try to cut down the
angles or passing opportunities. The Terriers' style works quite well
for them, with one minor flaw -- if the defender misses the check and
there's nobody backing him up, the opponent has a clear path to the
net. That's exactly what set up Cornell's second goal at 9:46 of the
second. Lopatka skated across the puck with the blue line, and the de-
fenseman tried to put a hip-check on him and completely missed,
allowing Lopatka to skate unmolested to the slot. McKersie got a piece
of Lopatka's wrister, but the puck rolled behind him and trickled
across the goal line. This goal started a flurry in the BU end during
which Cornell had the Terriers back on their heels for about half a
minute, but BU was able to recover.
At 13:34 of the second, the Big Red's Jason Kendall took a foolish
roughing penalty, and the Cornell penalty-killers went out to try to
keep BU from teeing off on Skazyk. But suddenly, Brad Chartrand had
latched onto a Christian Felli clearing pass and was cruising into the
BU zone one-on-one with a defender. He rolled the puck through the
defenseman's legs, skated around him to retrieve it, and, with another
Terrier about to jump on him, got off a wobbly shot. McKersie blocked
it, but Shaun Hannah was trailing the play and fired the rebound into
the open left side of the net for the Big Red's first short-hander of
the year, tying the score at the 14:11 mark. Skazyk preserved the tie
a couple minutes later with yet another great save off yet another BU
breakaway, sliding to snuff a shot from near the left post.
The Terriers were fired up after the third period (presumably head
coach Jack Parker spent some time blistering the paint off the walls
during the intermission), but Cornell continued to play them tough.
They received a bit of a setback when Bumstead was sent off at the 6:32
mark for slashing, but in spite of some intense pressure by the Terrier
power-play unit, the Big Red was still able to keep BU off the board,
thanks in part to two or three big saves by Skazyk. With six seconds
left in Bumstead's penalty, however, three things happened: 1) Skazyk
slid into the right post, moving the net off its moorings; 2) a BU for-
ward showed up in the crease; and 3) Pomichter somehow got his stick on
the puck through a scramble, stuffing it across the goal line. Now,
I'd be willing to swear that was the order in which they happened, but
referee Joe Kelly (who as Arthur noted was ten feet away) apparently
determined that they happened in the reverse order and signalled a BU
goal. A huge argument ensued, but the controversial goal stood, much
to the dismay of the Big Red and the Lynah Faithful.
Well, Cornell still didn't die, but the Terriers stepped things up and
denied the Big Red many scoring chances, and those shots that did get
through were turned aside by McKersie. The BU goalie played a so-so
game for the first two periods, but he was a wall in the third.
Cornell got Skazyk out with about thirty seconds left, but the Terriers
intercepted a pass and sent it down the ice, forcing the Big Red to
regroup, and time ran out on them before they could set up another
shot.
McKersie finished with 18 saves, while Skazyk made 32. Despite a
career record of 1-11, Skazyk is fast becoming a fan favorite, and his
confidence seems to be growing just as quickly. It doesn't hurt that
he is playing much better than he did last year, when he was prac-
tically booed out of the building near the end of the season. Anyway,
the Big Red's next games are at Yale and Princeton December 3rd and
4th. If Cornell can keep up the level of play they demonstrated for
most of the Harvard, Brown, and BU games, they should have a successful
road trip.
Injury update: Goaltender Andy Bandurski's injury in the Brown game
occurred when the net was knocked over on top of him and the crossbar hit
him in the head. He dressed for Tuesday's game but did not play; he may see
action against either Yale or Princeton. Freshman forward Jamie Papp was
not in the lineup against either Brown or BU, having severely injured his
hand, and his status is uncertain. I don't quite know what "severely
injured" means, but I would guess a broken bone or some such.
Last, and not least, hope you all have/had a happy Thanksgiving!
--
Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and probably '94 | [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"Last night I had a premonition that tonight I would have deja vu."
-- Bruce Morton
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