Some more comments on the CU/UVM game from last Friday night.  Lateness
due to being out of town, and then my phone went dead for all of yesterday.
 
This was defineitely one of the most exciting hockey games I've had the
pleasure to witness.  Excellent play by the Big Red and interesting
hockey the whole night long.
 
The game satrted with a questionable penatly called just 6 seconds into
the game.  A Vermont player went down (I honestly didn't see how, so I
guess questionable is unwarranted, but 6 seconds in ...) crossing the
Cornell blue line in the middle of the surface, and Noeth blew his
whistle.  So, we had to open this early season big game down a man.  The
question was which penalty kill would show, the one that had trouble with
Brown the previous Fri, or the one that played excellently against Harvard.
 
To Gilligan's credit, Perrin & St. Louis play on the same PP line now,
unlike for much of last year.  To his detriment they play way too much,
and end up spent for much of the game.  They were out there almost the
entire two minutes, but Cornell managed to kill of the penalty.  After
the last dump, as UVM brought up the puck Steve Wilson leveled a UVM
player with a gorgeous puck.  Unfortunately, he did so, practicly at the
Red line, a bad place for a defensemen to be taking out a player who no
longer has the puck.  As a result UVM #21 (Killbourne) took the puck into
the zone and beat goaltender Elliott to give the Cats a 1-0 lead.  The
rest of the period was played with no scoring, with Tim Thomas making
some excellent saves to keep it that way.  An interesting situation
occurred on a wraparound late int the period where Thomas appeared beaten
as the puck crossed the goal, and may or amy not have crossed the line at
the shooters far post (I forget who took the shot).  A UVM player then
covered the puck inside the crease with his glove before coming to the
conclusion that could be potentially dangerous for his team, and then
shoved it out of harms way.  Very frustrating.  The period ended with
Jamie Papp destroying a UVM ion the near corner and the leveling another
good check on the second player to touch the puck.  After that mayhem
ensued, and was resolved with Tony Bergin taking on all comers, namely 4
UVM players at one.  The result was a initiativeless coincidental minor
call by Noeth.
 
The second period was another game.  The first period might as well have
been played last year for all that it resembled the rest of the game.
Perrin & St. Louis started to become ornery.  In my opinion they've
become snitty little brats this year, taking a large number of penalties,
and jabbing at players with their fists and sticks a whole lot more than
you'd expect disciplined players to do.  Frustrated by Cornell's huge &
skilled checking line?  Perhaps, but I thought the stars of a team should
play a little more disciplined.
 
The second period was a wide open hockey game.  In a span of seven
minutes or so, five goals were scored.  The game went back and forth, the
crowd taken on a roller coaster ride of emotion.  I personally didn't see
the delay call on Thomas, I'd like to know what happenned.  He was
visibly upset by the call, and Gilligan spent several minutes jawing with
Noeth on it.  In fact Gilligna was at the refs most of the game,
attemoting to slide in extra line changes after Cornell had sent their
players onto the ice, and having his players make several formation moves
before every face-off.  It was very annoying, and took away from the flow
of the game.  But, I guess that's their strategy.
 
        Bergin appears to have finally found the scoring touch.  On one
of his goals he mad a nice move to get out in front of Thomas by himeslef
and then shoved the puck home.  The second goal, he was left the puck in
the slot and lay every bit of his 6-4 225 pound frame into a slap shot
that rocketed over Thomas' shoulder.  Two goals in this game was double
his total from last year, and the checking line is going to be a tough
line for other teams to stop.  4 goals from them, aided in part by Perrin
& St. Louis' inability to play any sort of defense.  In fact, Vermont
seemed to have a problem playing any kind of defense at all.  The ice was
wide open, the excellent defensive system from last year a ghost lost
somewhere in the summer, nowhere to be found.  And Tim Thomas was heavily
rattled.  He bowed to the crowed as the serenaded him during pregame
warmups, 6 goals later he gestured his feelings to them a little more
graphically.  At the end of the game he threw his stick across the ice in
a display of digust.  Whether that was a result of frustration at
himself, his team's shoddy defensive play, or the crowd, I don't know, I
suspect mostly the first.  All American goaltenders can't enjoy giving up
6 goals.  Especially the last, an amazing breakaway as Kovac, who,
standing at the UVM blueline, received a pass from Dailey standing
somewhere in his own slot then took it in and beat Thomas five-hole for
the clincher.  It was very nice to see a breakaway finally put away,
especially by the Freshman center of the checking line.  The Slovakian
menace can put the puck and the net.  Nice to see.
 
        I was thoughrally impressed by the team, and by everything about
the game, from a Cornell perspective.  On the UVM side, they're in
trouble.  No team defense, Thomas looks penetrable, and more importantly,
appears to get frustrated and deteriorate when he or his team plays
badly.  And Perrin & St. Louis, on the ice almost every other shift,
cannot play defense, and take too many penalties.  If they come up
against more checking lines that can handle the puck, Vermont is going to
lose every one of those games.  And they get penalized a lot, for chippy,
snitty play.  Are they trying to look tough for the pros?  or are they
just frustrated?  I don't know, but it's going to be a problem for the
Cats if Gilligan doesn't control this.
 
        Lastly, Cornell won this game without two senior stars:  Vinnie
Auger & Chad Wilson, both of whom were late unexplained scratches.  I've
heard rumors as to why they were scratched, but I won't repeat them in
this forum unless they're substantiated.  So, if anyone does know for
sure, or if it was reported in todays Daily Sun, please post.  And please
post the reason Thomas was hit with the penalty.  I'm guessing he pushed
the net off its morings, no one else was in front.  That might incur a
penaly, but I've never see it called before.
 
Larry Weintraub '98
Let's Go Red
 
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