Here, well ahead of schedule, is the list of incoming Cornell players for
next season:
Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Previous Team Hometown
Vincent Auger C 6-0 180 Hawkesbury Hawks (COJHL) Ste-Foy, Que.
Tony Bergin W 6-3 200 Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL) Fredericton, N.B.
Matthew Cooney W 6-0 180 Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL) Yorkton, Sask.
Jamie Papp W 6-0 185 St. Thomas (WOJHL) Lambeth, Ont.
Jason Kendall D 6-3 195 Winnipeg Blues (MJHL) Winnipeg, Man.
Chad Wilson D 6-0 185 Powell River (BCJHL) Terrace, B.C.
Steve Wilson D 5-10 187 Nepean (COJHL) Nepean, Ont.
Thoughts:
1. Quote from assistant coach Casey Jones: "We got some nasty boys, eh?"
True enough -- this class doesn't include any of the 5-9 160-pound
players that have become prevalent at Cornell over the past few years.
Part of the problem last season was that the Big Red got so beat up
that they became tentative in checking other players. This was
especially the case when the team's three biggest forwards (Tyler
McManus, Mike Sancimino, and the departing Jason Vogel) were all out of
the lineup at the same time. A stableful of big fellas who can dish
out some punishment of their own will help out a lot. If they can
score or at least shoot the puck, it will help out even more.
2. No goalie. This might be a cause for concern if you consider the per-
formance of the Andy Bandurski-Eddy Skazyk rotation last season --
especially Skazyk's half of it. I assume Eddy had some head-spinning
numbers before coming to Cornell, because the coaching staff worked
awful hard to get him here. But he just wasn't ready for collegiate
hockey, as his 0-8 record (including losses to Colgate, Princeton, and
Union) attests. I would hope he makes a dramatic improvement over the
summer, since I wouldn't be surprised to see head coach Brian McCut-
cheon try the rotation again next season. As for Bandurski, he played
well, all things considered, and I think he could handle the goal-
tending duties on his own next year. But that doesn't mean some hot-
shot couldn't come in and take the starting job away from him.
Which makes me wonder a bit. Cornell has had a reputation for solid
goaltending that stretches back to the days of Ken Dryden, and it would
seem to be an attractive place for an up-and-coming goalie to flash his
skills. It's not as if Casey and the other assistant, Mark Taylor,
weren't trying -- they go all over the place, as can be seen by the
list of recruits above (who come from a total of six Canadian prov-
inces, from British Columbia to New Brunswick).
3. Defenseman overload. This might be a good thing, since defense was the
weakest part of the Big Red last season. But it looks like there will
be at most two blue-line openings at the varsity level, and with three
guys coming in plus two current freshmen who have some varsity exper-
ience (Tim Shean and Alex Vershinin), there could be a nice little
battle developing here.
4. "Legacies." Almost all of the incoming freshmen are following in
current or former Cornellians' footsteps. Vincent Auger comes from the
Hawkesbury Hawks, the former team of defenseman Christian Felli and
former center Doug Derraugh. Steve Wilson hails from Nepean, the home-
town and previous team of defenseman extraordinaire Dan Ratushny
(hopefully, some of that will rub off on Steve). Prior to Jason Ken-
dall, the Winnipeg Blues gave us forward/defenseman Jim McPhee and
winger Geoff Bumstead. But the biggest pipeline in recent years has
been the one from Notre Dame in Saskatchewan. Tony Bergin and Matthew
Cooney are the latest in a line that includes current Cornellians Shaun
Hannah and Dan Dufresne, and former Big Red players Stephane Gauvin,
Jason Vogel, and Kent Manderville, among others.
--
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and probably '94
LET'S GO RED!!
"It's amazing that men and women get together at all, because we're total
opposites. A woman wants a man to satisfy her every need, while a man wants
every woman to satisfy his one need."
-- Jeff Stilson