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Well, if San Diego can make it to the Super Bowl, I suppose Cornell can score six special-team goals (four power-play markers plus two short- handers) in a single game. The Big Red ran roughshod over Army in the second period, scoring six times (including a power-play hat trick by Tyler McManus), and then coasted to the easy win. Arthur has already posted the box score, so I'll just add my usual vomuminous notes :-) Cornell 8, Army 2 This is the first time these two have played since Army left the ECAC back in 1991 -- and, well, the Cadets' victory over RPI earlier in the season seems light-years away. Though Army showed some decent puck movement at times, it was the Big Red taking control of the game virtually from the opening faceoff. The Cornell power play, a unit that had previously sput- tered along at an under 14% conversion rate (eight of 58), had a stellar game, going four of four. Cornell served notice that this was not going to be Army's afternoon 38 seconds into the game, when Andre Doll made a very nice move on a Cadet defender, poking the puck through his legs and quickly skating past him to retrieve it near the Army blue line. Doll's shot would be blocked by a sliding Cadet, but the Big Red was just getting started. A minute later, Doll had a short-handed breakaway, skating up the ice with an Army player in hot pursuit, and Doll's high shot was just a few inches to the left of the net. As expected, the game was very physical, and the rough stuff got started at 2:58 of the first, when Cornell's Dan Dufresne and Army's Mark Stachelski tangled with each other. After the whistle blew, Dufresne flipped Stachel- ski to the ice, and I was a bit surprised he didn't get the extra minor. (There was no linesman in this game. Gerald Toner was scheduled to be the second referee, but he didn't make it, so linesman Mike Emanatian was ele- vated to ref status for the game. He didn't do too badly -- if the ECAC plans to replace any referees after this season, they might want to consider moving him up.) At any rate, the Big Red wound up with their first power play half a minute later, and they lost little time in converting it. Brad Chartrand skated the puck up the left side, then left it near the slot for P.C. Drouin, whose wrister beat Cadet goalie Daryl Chamberlain over the right shoulder. The Big Red flirted with disaster at about 8:45 of the first period, when Steve Wilson and Geoff Lopatka broke out of the zone short-handed and got caught up ice when Wilson's pass to Lopatka went awry. All of a sudden, Army was skating back the other way on a 3-on-1, and had they scored on this one, the game might have turned out differently. But with two linemates to his left and the pass wide open, the Cadet with the puck (I didn't catch the number) elected to shoot instead, and the puck sailed over the net. End of threat. Doll, who was all over the ice in the first half of the game, had another breakaway with 7:40 remaining in the first, firing a shot that hit Chamber- lain's throat protector. (Thank goodness for that piece of equipment!) Moments later, however, Doll helped set up Cornell's second goal, leaving the puck at center ice for Geoff Lopatka, who skated into the Army zone. Lopatka found one Cadet defender in front of him and slowed, apparently looking for help, but there was no other Cornell player in the zone. "Lopy" then snapped off an "oh, what the hell" shot that caught the left corner of the net at the 12:47 mark. Though Cornell had had things pretty much their own way in the first period, they were only ahead 2-0, but it took just over a minute of the second period to double that score. Fourteen seconds in, in the waning moments of the Big Red's second power play, Steve Wilson came out of the Cornell zone and sent a long cross-ice pass to Tyler McManus at the Army blue line; McManus skated to the left circle and fired a low shot under Chamberlain's glove. Cornell made it 4-0 at the 1:07 mark on a short-hander by Lopatka, who skated the puck in from center ice, worked past a defender, and lifted one past Chamberlain on the stick side. Goaltender Eddy Skazyk got an assist on the play for the first point of his Cornell career. Army was handed a 26-second 5-on-3 moments later, but they did nothing with it, despite having Skazyk down and out twice. Stachelski and Dufresne renewed acquaintances at the 6:45 mark (yes, there is a pattern developing here -- actually, Dufresne was taking on two guys at once), and both were sent to the box again. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Chartrand and Steve Wilson skated up the ice on a 2-on-1 break, and Chartrand bounced a shot off Chamberlain's pad and into the net at the 8:12 mark. Army pulled Chamber- lain and called their timeout, using the time to warm up replacement goalie Brian Bolio. By the way, no matter what the program says, Bolio is NOT 5-11, unless he's in skates and standing on a chair. Two of his teammates who were listed at 5-10 were significantly taller than him. Well anyway, the new goalie didn't help matters much, as McManus struck again at the 10:07 mark to make it 6-0. In fact, this goal was partly the result of a Bolio misplay: he stopped a Chartrand shot but kicked the puck right back to him. Chartrand flubbed the rebound try but was able to roll the puck over to McManus at the left edge of the crease, and the winger shoveled it into the open net. Another Bolio miscue led to Matt Cooney's short-handed goal at the 12:56 mark. Cornell cleared the zone, and Cooney and an Army player chased the clearing pass down the ice. Bolio came out to the right circle to tip the puck to his teammate but wound up giving it to Cooney instead. As Bolio dove back to the crease, Cooney got control of the puck, then casually flipped it over the prone goalie. Army broke up Skazyk's shutout bid at the 13:21 mark with a goal by Chris Perron off a scramble in front of the Cornell net. The puck appeared to go in off Perron's left skate, and there was some question as to whether he had kicked it, but referee John Melanson allowed the goal to stand, and the Big Red didn't protest. McManus completed his power-play hat trick with 2:49 left in the period. Bolio made a nice pad save on a drive by Drouin, but he left the puck loose in the crease and McManus tapped it home. As far as I can tell, McManus is the first Cornell player ever to get three power-play goals in one period. With an 8-1 lead, Cornell came out and played lackadaisically in the third period, took some silly penalties, and were outshot by the Cadets 12-6. Even so, the Big Red had a couple of big scoring chances, the first coming at the two-minute mark, when Chartrand had a short-handed breakaway. He looked to have a sure goal, but Bolio made a great pad save, and Drouin, who was trailing the play, couldn't pry the puck loose for a follow-up attempt. Drouin had a short-handed breakaway of his own a few minutes after that, and he came very close, but Bolio just managed to get a skate on the backhander. The Cadets scored the only goal of the period at the 6:17 mark. Skazyk had a nice save on Joe Sharrock's first shot, but Sharrock got to the rebound and flipped a tough-angle shot over Skazyk's shoulder. The rest of the period was chippy and sloppy, highlighted (low-lighted?) by three sets of coincidental minors for various skirmishes. Army did look like they had the physical advantage in the third, but it may have been more a case of Cornell losing interest, and the Cadets didn't do much with that advantage anyway. Sunday, by the way, was Army head coach Rob Riley's 40th birthday. Skazyk was steady in the Cornell net, stopping 25 shots to pick up his first win of the season. Chamberlain had 13 saves, and Bolio recorded nine in relief. Up next for the Big Red is a home-and-home series with travel partner Colgate. Cornell will make the trip to Hamilton this Thursday, and the Red Raiders will make the return trip on Saturday. -- Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are strictly those of: Bill Fenwick | Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to: Cornell '86 and '94.5 | [log in to unmask] LET'S GO RED!! DJF 5/27/94 "I used to think the brain was the most important organ in the body, 'til I realized, yeah, look what's telling me that." -- Emo Phillips