ECAC scores from last weekend:
Friday, 2/1:
Brown 4, VERMONT 3
CORNELL 4, Clarkson 2
HARVARD 12, Army 2
Princeton 5, DARTMOUTH 2
RPI 8, Yale 5
St. Lawrence 7, COLGATE 4
Saturday, 2/2:
Army 4, DARTMOUTH 3 (OT)
Clarkson 4, COLGATE 3
CORNELL 3, St. Lawrence 1
HARVARD 7, Princeton 0
RPI 4, Brown 2
Yale 3, VERMONT 3 (OT)
ECAC Standings as of 2/4/91:
League Overall
Team W L T Pts GF GA W L T Pts GF GA
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$ Cornell 12 2 2 26 76 51 13 5 2 28 93 66
$ Clarkson 11 4 1 23 78 61 17 6 1 35 131 92
$ St. Lawrence 10 5 1 21 68 60 13 10 1 27 96 89
$ RPI 10 6 0 20 84 67 15 9 0 30 131 104
$ Harvard 10 6 0 20 107 57 10 8 0 20 108 63
Yale 8 6 2 18 68 62 9 9 2 20 81 85
Vermont 7 7 2 16 61 64 11 11 2 24 96 101
Brown 7 7 2 16 58 70 7 10 3 17 73 96
Princeton 6 9 1 13 65 72 7 12 1 15 76 90
Colgate 4 9 3 11 57 65 10 10 3 23 93 89
Army 2 12 2 6 42 77 7 13 3 17 90 92
Dartmouth 0 14 2 2 34 92 1 19 2 4 50 131
$ - Clinched playoff spot
@ - Clinched qualifying round bye
# - Clinched home ice
Division III scores from the weekend:
Friday, 2/1:
Brockport State 8, Binghamton State 4
Elmira 7, Oswego State 0
Geneseo State 6, Potsdam State 2
Mercyhurst 5, Cortland State 2
Norwich 3, Bowdoin 1
RIT 5, Hamilton 2
Saturday, 2/2:
Hamilton 7, Cortland State 4
Muskeegan 6, Albany State 3
Oswego State 8, Binghamton State 0
SE Massachusetts 7, Bentley 2
And one club score: Penn State 5, Villanova 5 in OT.
Notes on a few of the games:
Elmira 7, Oswego State 0
This game was scoreless until the 18:31 mark of the second period, and
Oswego was able to stay close until late in the third, but the Soaring
Eagles put it away with four goals in a 1:22 span. Bobby Holmes' 20th
of the season gave Elmira the 1-0 lead, and Peter Romeo scored on the
power play at 8:46 of the third to make it 2-0. With seven minutes
left in the game, Elmira's Scott Doherty started the scoring barrage,
taking a feed from Joe Caswell and slapping the puck past Oswego goalie
Rob Moore. Twenty-four seconds later, Bernie Cassell put the Soaring
Eagles up 4-0, and at 13:47, Caswell scored Elmira's fifth goal. Mike
McNamara then punched the puck behind Moore at the 14:22 mark. El-
mira's leading scorer, Joey Spinelli, who had been held without a point
in the Soaring Eagles' last two games, tallied his 28th goal of the
season just over two minutes later to round out the scoring. With 33
saves, Elmira goalie Tom O'Brien recorded his first career shutout;
Moore stopped 24 shots. This was Elmira's 11th straight victory over
Oswego.
Yale 3, Vermont 3 (OT)
After coming within one point of first place back in mid-January, Yale
went into a four-game slide and dropped down to sixth. Things did not
begin well for the Elis in this game either, as Vermont's Scott Jagod
put the Catamounts up 1-0 at 10:23 of the first period. However, Yale
scored twice to take the lead, first on Chris Gruber's wrist shot from
in close at 14:11 of the first, and later on Jeff Blaeser's blast for
the only goal of the second period. John LeClair tied the game again
for Vermont with a goal on the breakaway early in the third, but Yale's
Yannick Chiasson scored to give his team the lead again. With 47
seconds left in regulation, Vermont's Brandon Creagh fired a slapshot
from the left point that caught the top left corner of the net to tie
the game at three apiece.
Army 4, Dartmouth 3 (OT)
Dartmouth freshman Tony DelCarmine picked up his first career hat
trick, but it was not enough to give the Big Green the victory. Army's
Bob Mansell opened the scoring, slapping a cross-ice feed past Dart-
mouth goalie Mike Bracco, and the 1-0 lead held up until the third
period, when DelCarmine scored twice to put Dartmouth up 2-1. After
the Cadets' John Alissi had tied the game up, Dartmouth's Nat Collins
fired a slapshot from the point that Army goalie Brandon Hayes got a
piece of, but DelCarmine corralled the rebound and flipped it over
Hayes. Alissi made it 3-3 with 4:11 left in regulation, and Chad
Sundem got the game-winner with 55 seconds left in overtime, beating
Bracco on the stick side.
RPI 4, Brown 2
One follow-up to Al Popp's posting: this loss put an end to Brown's
seven-game unbeaten streak, their longest in 15 years.
St. Lawrence 7, Colgate 4
The Saints' attack was paced by left wing Andy Pritchard, who scored
five goals.
Clarkson 4, Colgate 3
After a scoreless first period, Clarkson's Dave Trombley put his team
on the board at 5:29 of the second, and Mark Green's power-play goal a
minute and a half later put the Golden Knights up 2-0. At 14:04 of the
second, Colgate's Steve Poapst cut the deficit in half, but Trombley's
second goal early in the third made it 3-1. After the Red Raiders'
Craig Woodcroft lit the lamp at the 8:47 mark of the third, Steve
Dubinsky notched what would turn out to be the game-winner with 8:26
left. Dale Band brought the Red Raiders back to within one at 17:38,
but that was as close as Colgate would get.
Cornell 4, Clarkson 2
A tying streak doesn't exactly stir the pulse the way a winning or
losing streak does, so I guess we can be thankful that this one is
over. After two periods, however, it looked for all the world like the
Big Red and the Golden Knights were going to wind up even on the score-
board for the fifth straight time. This game featured plenty of end-
to-end action and quite a bit of hard hitting -- in other words, a
typical Cornell-Clarkson matchup. Referee John Gallagher did miss a
few things, but he called a fairly good game and didn't try to take
over the action, unlike what's-his-name up at Walker a couple months
ago. And yes, the famed Clarkson pep band was present, and they were
their usual loud and rowdy selves. (Hi, Ken! :-)
The first period saw Clarkson play a little sloppily while Cornell put
together a pretty good forechecking game, but it also saw the Golden
Knights outscore the Big Red. Clarkson got on the board at the 3:38
mark when Craig Conroy brought the puck down the ice from his own blue
line, setting up a 2-on-1 break with Scott Thomas. Conroy fed a wide-
open Thomas on the right side, and Thomas slapped the puck into the
open net. A crucial misplay by Kent Manderville had enabled the
Knights to spring the 2-on-1, but Manderville made up for that with a
goal at 6:02 of the first, deflecting Jason Vogel's blast from the
right point past Clarkson goalie Chris Rogles.
Clarkson threatened several times later in the first, but they were
consistently unable to get off the one pass to set up a scoring oppor-
tunity. Their power play, which came into the game leading the ECAC
with a 42.9% conversion rate, was also having some trouble getting
organized. On their first power play of the game, they applied some
offensive pressure but did not manage a shot on goal, and on their
second power-play opportunity, they got off only one shot. Of course,
they scored on that one, an Ed Henrich blast from the right point that
went through a clump of players and past goalie Corrie D'Alessio with
2:02 left in the first period.
In the second period, it was the Golden Knights' turn to come up with
the heavy forecheck, and they forced a number of sloppy passes by the
Cornell players. Riding on their aggressive play, Clarkson was able to
set up numerous scoring opportunities, but they could not beat a phe-
nominal D'Alessio, and this would come back to haunt them later. Gall-
agher got hit in the face midway through the period, but he was able to
continue. The momentum turned solidly in Cornell's favor in the last
minute and a half of the second period, on two very big plays. The
first was the game-tying goal, scored by Stephane Gauvin. All night
long, the Big Red had been setting up behind the Clarkson net and
trying to pass to someone in front, and this time it worked, with Phil
Nobel feeding Karl Williams. Rogles went down to block Williams' shot,
but Gauvin was there to chip the rebound over the prone goalie. The
second big play occurred at the other end of the ice with 58 seconds
left in the period, as D'Alessio made a great sliding save on a 2-on-1
attempt by the Golden Knights.
Cornell came out fired up in the third period, while Clarkson was
playing a little slow. Increased forechecking by the Big Red set up
the game-winning goal, at 9:41 of the third. Bruce Frauley fired the
puck from the right circle, and Joe Dragon circled from behind the net
and tapped the puck by Rogles. Clarkson did not die easily, however,
as Rogles robbed Doug Derraugh on a great glove save with about four
minutes left. But the Big Red's top line of Ryan Hughes, Trent
Andison, and Derraugh (nicknamed the "HAD" line for their initials and
because they've HAD at least one goal in every game this season -- hey,
that wasn't my idea) salted the game away for Cornell with 2:06 left.
Hughes stole the puck from a Clarkson defender behind the net and
centered it to Derraugh, who took a shot from the edge of the left
circle. Rogles blocked it, but Andison was camped out on the doorstep
and poked home the rebound. The Golden Knights pulled Rogles with 1:20
left, but they were unable to score.
Despite the Clarkson loss, Rogles played very well between the pipes,
stopping 25 shots. As for D'Alessio, he had his usual fine performance
against the Golden Knights, with 27 saves. I suspect that Clarkson
fans will be happy to hear that he graduates this year.
Cornell 3, St. Lawrence 1
It was pretty clear from the start that this game would belong to the
Cornell defense, as they put together their most aggressive fore-
checking effort of the season and physically dominated St. Lawrence all
over the ice. The Saints had a tough time all night handling the puck,
constantly having it poke-checked away from them by Cornell. And on
those occasions when St. Lawrence was able to mount an offensive
threat, they could not figure out Corrie D'Alessio. The Big Red goalie
had another superb game, stopping 28 of 29 shots, including some point-
blank opportunities.
It was only fitting on this night that the Big Red's first two goals
would both be scored by defensemen. Dan Ratushny put Cornell on the
board 5:01 into the game, taking a backhand pass from a spinning Doug
Derraugh and blasting a shot from a tough angle past the outstretched
glove of St. Lawrence goaltender Les Kuntar. Ten seconds later, St.
Lawrence appeared to have tied the score up, but referee James Cerbo
had whistled Saints center Greg Carvel for slashing before the puck was
shot into the net, and the goal was disallowed. (Considering how rough
this game was, Cerbo had a surprisingly quiet night, calling only nine
penalties. He definitely let a lot of borderline stuff go.) The
Saints had another goal waved off at 13:11 of the first period when the
net came off during a goal-mouth scramble.
St. Lawrence came out moving a little faster in the second, but
Cornell's continued forechecking slowed them down in a hurry. Dave
Burke put the Big Red up by two at the 10:34 mark, beating Kuntar with
a blast from the left point. Cornell's heavy hitting continued into
the third period, and a scary moment occurred with 10:54 left in the
game. St. Lawrence center Teddy Dent was ridden into the boards and
collapsed onto the ice. After several minutes, he was able to get up
and was helped into the locker room.
Doug Derraugh scored the Big Red's third goal at 10:10 of the third
period, picking up a loose puck, deking Saints defender Daniel
LaPerriere, and wristing a shot over Kuntar's leg. With 5:59 left, St.
Lawrence broke up D'Alessio's shutout bid, as LaPerriere intercepted a
clearing pass and fed Martin Lacroix, who was alone on the edge of the
left circle.
Kuntar made 24 saves and almost singlehandedly kept his team in this
game. And I hope the list will pardon me for gushing once again about
D'Alessio's performance, but he has been playing spectacularly of late.
Someone sitting near me remarked that "he's no Doug Dadswell", and that
may be true, but hey, Cornell fans -- he ain't that far back. He put
his name in the Cornell record book again late in the first period,
eclipsing Ken Dryden's mark for career minutes played.
Upcoming games:
Feb. 8
Brown at St. Lawrence
Dartmouth at Cornell
Harvard at Colgate
RPI at Army
Vermont at Princeton
Yale at Clarkson
Feb. 9
Brown at Clarkson
Dartmouth at Colgate
Harvard at Cornell
RPI at Princeton
Vermont at Army
Yale at St. Lawrence
Feb. 11
Beanpot Tournament:
Consolation and Finals
Despite Cornell's win on Friday night, the race for first place is by no
means over. With six games left, both Cornell and Clarkson still have to
face Brown, Yale, Dartmouth, and Harvard. Clarkson has a slight schedule
advantage (as does St. Lawrence), as they will play Army and Princeton while
the Big Red will have to battle Vermont and RPI.
If it's at all important to anyone (and I suppose it is), if Harvard beats
Cornell next Saturday, they will clinch at least a share of the Ivy League
title, and I will also be very upset. Harvard has won or shared the title
for nine straight seasons.
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86
LET'S GO RED!!
"You realize that we're a chicken bone away from President Rainman."
-- Will Durst, on Dan Quayle
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