After a long Ithaca vacation and after watching OSU defeat Clarkson and Cornell
 defeat Union and RPI, I have returned to Columbus, read the 70 plus messages on
 my computer, and now want to add my thoughts on some of what I saw.
 
 
First, the OSU win in the SIT over Clarkson.  This was definitely the best game
 OSU played all year.  Before I saw it, I felt OSU had to do a number of thisngs
 to have a chance.  They had to play disciplined defse for the first time all y
 year, they had to come up big on special teams, and Mike Bales had to have a
 great game.  Additionally, Clarkson had to play poorly.  All of those things
 happened as OSU limited CU's power-play, scored three power-play goals of their
 own   and Mike Bales stopped CU forwards on the doorstep all night.
Bales had over 30 saves I think, and the defense kept the floor balanced most of
 the night instead of getting caught all bunched up in one area of the ice as
 they often do.
 
Cornell-Union. Cornell's 8-1 win was a nice, comfortable win.  The kind Cornell
 fans rarely see no matter who we play.  The Union rink is beautiful and the
 large contingent of Cornell fans at the game really made the place ring.  The
 "Kick the Puppy While It's Down Award" for crowd cheers goes to the Cornell
 group that started the "Bring back Army!" cheer Just so the normal pep band
 doesn't get blamed for it, the band that showed up was a spur-of-the-moment
 alumni band
I mean, I was playing snare drum and I don't know how to play drums, but, we
 were desparate and was the only one who could come close to playing a roll-off.
 
Cornell-RPI.  Cornell' defense played a terrible game and once again, goalie
 Parris Duffus kept us in the game.  If not for him, RPI would have sent the
 game into overtime and probably would have won.  It's nice though, that on a
 weekend where we were missing one of our better scorers to Canada's junior
 team, our woeful offense came up with 12 goals over two games (4-3 was the RPI
 final).  Also,  Cornell was playing without defenseman Paul Dukovac (out for
 seasong with broken leg), his replacement Blair Ettles (sprained ankle), and
 bruising forward Alex Nikolec (wrist).  The loss of these good, hard-checking
 defensive players probably was a big reasong for the defensive problems on the
 night.  Overall, we were short 4 players for the RPI game so I suppose we
 should consider ourselves lucky to come out og Houston with a win. The Cornell
 fans were out in force again, and thanks to the winter break, were able to do
 something very rare for Houston Field house, out-cheer the home fans.  I met
 Greg, Bill F., Tom T
seng, and Art Mintz over the weekend.  Wish I could see more Cornell games, and
 I am hoping to be there for RPI-Union in February (tickets anyone?).
 
 
--
Dave [log in to unmask]
Cornell '91 OSU Med '95
Let's Go Red!
"If I have seen further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of
giants."
               --Sir Isaac Newton