This past weekend, Cornell honored the 1969-70 undefeated national cham-
pionship team, presenting them with championship rings during the first
intermission of the Clarkson game Saturday night. Every member of that
team, along with legendary coach Ned Harkness, was present for the ceremony.
In a way, it was the perfect weekend to honor the 25th anniversary of the
undefeated team: Cornell's last game at Lynah that season was a 6-1 win
over St. Lawrence in the ECAC quarterfinals, and their last game of the
season was a 6-4 win over Clarkson for the national championship.
Fast forward to the present, and apparently some of the magic from that team
rubbed off on the current edition of the Big Red. Cornell played two
terrific games and came away with three of a possible four points on the
weekend. The weekend also witnessed the arrival of freshman center Ryan
"damn well better be ECAC Rookie of the Week, if not Player of the Week"
Smart, who scored five times and added an assist. More notes on the games
below:
Cornell 8, St. Lawrence 1
It was not a pretty week for the Big Red leading up to this game. After
collapsing against Colgate in back-to-back games, words like "somber" and
"frustrated" and "attitude adjustment" were being used to describe the
Cornell squad. On top of that, the Big Red was facing a St. Lawrence team
that appeared to be turning their season around, having won three of their
last four ECAC games to climb from the cellar into eighth place. It looked
like Cornell was going to have a rough time of it, especially when they had
to kill off two penalties in the early minutes of the game.
But all of a sudden, the Big Red had put a bunch of goals on the board, and
the rout was on. The festivities started at 8:45 of the first period, when
Jason Dailey fired a shot from the point that Saints goalie Clint Owen
blocked. The rebound came right out to Smart, who backhanded it into the
net over the fallen goalie. A few minutes later, Chad Wilson sent a long
pass out of the Cornell end for Smart, springing him on a breakaway, and the
freshman skated in and beat Owen with a wrister through the pads, making it
2-0 at the 11:21 mark. Moments later, linemate Geoff Lopatka had a break-
away of his own (the Big Red had several of them on the night), but Owen was
just able to get a piece of his shot.
It made little difference, however, because Cornell's recently-constructed
all-sophomore fourth line, which had a terrific weekend, lit the lamp at the
15:44 mark. Jamie Papp worked the puck loose behind the St. Lawrence net,
and he rolled it over to Tony Bergin, who started to head toward the crease
and spotted Matt Cooney alone in front. Cooney one-timed Bergin's quick
pass into the net. Lopatka then took advantage of a screen in front of the
Saints net with 2:06 left in the first, blasting one from the left point
that Owen never saw.
Saints coach Joe Marsh replaced Owen with Jon Bracco to start the second
period, but it made little difference. As if to show just how right things
were going for Cornell that evening, the Big Red got their annual Zamboni-
door goal at the 1:38 mark. Actually, the door involved was at the other
end of the rink, but the principle was the same. P.C. Drouin dumped the
puck in along the side boards, and Bracco headed behind the goal to stop
it... but the puck hit the door and bounced out right in front of the empty
net, where Jake Karam flipped it home. St. Lawrence was hit with another
penalty moments later, and Drouin came close to converting this one himself,
with a drive from the point that rang off the right post. Smart would wind
up converting it, finishing up his hat trick in the process. Lopatka fed
him in the left circle, and Smart snapped a shot through the five-hole at
3:48 of the second as Bracco was dropping to the ice.
St. Lawrence had a potential 2-on-1 at 8:40 of the second, but Lopatka broke
it up by catching up to one of the Saints at the Cornell blue line and
laying a thunderous hit on him. "Lopy" came close to his third short-handed
goal of the year with 4:10 left in the period, catching up to a clearing
pass at center ice and streaking in on Bracco, but the goalie made a nice
pad save off Lopatka's forehander.
The Saints had five consecutive power plays after Cornell's sixth goal, as
their only penalty the rest of the way was a coincidental minor late in the
third, but they managed to convert just one of them for their only goal. It
came with 3:15 left in the second, when Ryan Cassidy was left alone near the
Cornell net and chipped Kris Laamanen's pass from the right side over goal-
tender Eddy Skazyk's pads. The Saints had another opportunity less than two
minutes into the third, as a Cornell penalty was expiring. Bracco caught
the Big Red napping on a line change with a long pass out of the Saints zone
that Laamanen corralled near the Cornell blue line. However, he couldn't
control the puck and wound up shooting wide of the net.
Cornell made it 7-1 at the 2:57 mark. Drouin got the puck near the left
post and bounced a shot off Bracco's pad; the puck rolled through the crease
to Karam, who tapped it across the goal line from the right side. The Big
Red had a golden opportunity to pad their lead with about 5:15 left, as Brad
Chartrand and Andre Doll broke into the St. Lawrence zone on a 2-on-1.
Chartrand was able to fake the defender to the ice to set up a 2-on-0, but
his pass in front of the net to Doll was broken up when Bracco shoved his
stick in the way. The Big Red did get their eighth goal with 2:39 left, as
Papp streaked out of the Cornell end, worked his way past a Saints player at
center ice, and skated toward the St. Lawrence goal with the defender in hot
pursuit. Once again, Bracco left the five-hole open as he was going down,
and that's where Papp fired the shot.
Skazyk had a great night in only his third start of the year for the Big
Red, stopping 26 of 27 shots. However, credit must also be given to Cor-
nell's play in their own end, as they did a terrific job getting to and
clearing rebounds. This has been a problem area all year for the Big Red,
but thanks to the solid defensive play, Skazyk faced maybe three second
shots in the whole game. As for St. Lawrence, Owen made nine saves and
Bracco stopped 16 in relief.
Clarkson 4, Cornell 4 (OT)
Cornell came into this one riding a lot of momentum after their shellacking
of the Saints the night before, while Clarkson was gunning for first place
in the ECAC after beating Colgate in OT. The game began ominously for the
Big Red, as they found themselves behind just ten seconds after the opening
faceoff. Chris de Ruiter cut off a bad clearing pass and fired toward goal-
tender Jason Elliott, who made a nice pad save; however, Marko Tuomainen was
there to flip home the rebound.
But the Big Red, who had found themselves behind in games in the past and
had gone on to fall apart, regrouped in this one, and they tied the game at
the 6:57 mark. P.C. Drouin blasted a shot from the right point that was
deflected in front by Brad Chartrand and sailed through Clarkson goalie Dan
Murphy's pads. Cornell was hustling nicely, and they appeared to have
scored their second goal at the 9:38 mark, but in a bit of a controversy, it
was waved off. Mark Scollan was sprung on a breakaway, and he fired a shot
that bounced off Murphy. The puck came back out in front of the net, and
Jake Karam brought it to the right side and wristed it through the goalie's
pads. Referee John Murphy waved it off immediately, apparently ruling that
the puck had landed on top of the net prior to Karam's shot -- which it
actually had (the puck landed on the net and bounced off in front after
Scollan's drive hit the goalie), but play was allowed to continue for at
least eight seconds afterward.
Back-to-back tripping calls on Clarkson's Patrice Robitaille and Todd White
set up Cornell on a 91-second 5-on-3 which spilled over into the second
period, but the Big Red were unable to do anything with it. Killing that
one off gave the Golden Knights a boost, but the Big Red were able to regain
the advantage by snuffing a Clarkson threat and scoring one of their own
seconds later. At the two-minute mark, Kevin Murphy caught Elliott out of
position and had an open net to shoot at from point-blank range, but the
goaltender dived back to smother the shot. This started a Cornell rush back
the other way, and off a scramble in front of the Clarkson net, Ryan Smart
was able to bat the puck past a prone Murphy at 2:16 of the second period.
Smart struck again at the 6:47 mark, as he got his stick on Steve Wilson's
bullet from the right point and redirected the shot over Murphy's shoulder.
Things got a little chippy after that, culminating in a big shoving match
near the Cornell goal at the 11:23 mark. A pair of skaters from each team
headed toward the box, and on the way, de Ruiter took out his frustration on
the back of Jamie Papp's head, earning himself a trip to the locker room
with a misconduct. Cornell took a couple of silly penalties after that,
giving Clarkson an opportunity, and the Golden Knights took full advantage
by converting both power plays to tie the game. With Jason Dailey off for
tripping, Brian Mueller held the puck high in the slot, then spotted Robi-
taille to the left of the net waving his stick in the air (somehow, this
escaped notice by the Cornell penalty-killers). Mueller sent a soft pass
over to Robitaille, who simply had to put his stick on the ice to redirect
it behind Elliott at the 12:51 mark.
Less than three minutes later, Chad Wilson pushed a Clarkson player into the
Cornell net and then punched him right in the face (mask), earning himself a
roughing minor. Claude Morin then sent the puck to Robitaille from the back
boards, and, after Elliott had made the initial save, the senior forward
poked home the rebound to tie the game with 3:20 left in the second period.
Wilson's penalty, by the way, was the last one called in the game. Both
teams had opportunities to extend their leads in the second period. Tuo-
mainen and Morin combined on a 2-on-1 with 2:45 left, but Tuomainen's shot
sailed over the net. At the other end, Chartrand and Geoff Lopatka had a
2-on-1 of their own with a minute and a half remaining. Murphy stopped
Chartrand's shot, and the rebound floated out to Lopatka in the slot, but he
whiffed on it.
Cornell took the lead again at 3:06 of the third period, when a beautiful
pass by Smart sprung linemate Mike Sancimino down left wing. With a defen-
der literally on his back, Sancimino wristed a shot from the edge of the
left circle that beat Murphy to the glove side. Clarkson kept pressing,
however, and they finally got the equalizer past Elliott with 4:35 left in
regulation. After a big scramble in front of the Big Red net, including two
or three saves by Elliott, Tuomainen got the puck on the back boards, skated
to the left post, and stuffed it over the line.
The overtime was uneventful, except for another 2-on-1 break by Cornell.
But Murphy stopped Chartrand's initial shot, and the rebound try (by another
Cornellian whose name and number I didn't catch) went an inch or two over
the net. Both goaltenders had solid performances, with Elliott stopping 34
of 38 shots and Murphy making 26 saves.
The award ceremony for the 1969-70 undefeated team took place during the
first intermission of this game, and predictably, the loudest cheers were
for the first and last men introduced: goaltender Brian Cropper and head
coach Ned Harkness. About half the fans in attendance weren't even alive
when this team had its legendary run, and yet they easily got into the
spirit of things, serenading the former Cornellians with chants of "29 and
0!" (much like what happened the night that team won the national champion-
ship) I do have to wonder why, with the current team coming off a big win
the night before, with this celebration well-publicized in the previous
weeks and a chance to see a group of men who accomplished a feat that will
in all likelihood never be duplicated, Lynah Rink was STILL 50-some short of
a sellout!
Anyway, Cornell hits the road for six of its next eight games, starting with
a trip to Vermont and Dartmouth this coming weekend. The Vermont game may
be especially interesting; Gutterson Fieldhouse has historically been
extremely tough on opposing teams, but the Big Red has not lost there since
the end of the 1989-90 season.
--
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