The Big Red won their first game ever at Clarkson's Cheel Arena Friday night, riding a spectacular performance by surprise starting goaltender Eddy Skazyk to a 2-1 upset victory over the #5-ranked Golden Knights. It appeared that Cornell had the inside track to picking up their first North Country road sweep in nine years, but the next night, an aroused St. Lawrence team gained revenge for a pummeling at Lynah three weeks ago by putting the Big Red away, 5-2. Cornell thus winds up in a ninth-place tie with Yale in the standings. Box scores and more notes below: Cornell 2, Clarkson 1 [ Bri Farenell has already posted a box for this one ] Cornell goaltender Eddy Skazyk, making his first start in three games and only his sixth of the season, was the star in this one, backstopping the Big Red to the win with a 27-save performance. Fifteen of those came in the first period, as a high-flying Clarkson team dominated the opening stanza and threw everything they had at the Big Red net. Cornell couldn't get much of anything going, as almost every loose puck wound up on a Golden Knight stick. But despite the almost constant pressure, Skazyk was a wall, coming up with a number of outstanding saves. A minute and a half in, Skazyk quickly shot out a pad to rob Claude Morin on a drive from the slot. Patrice Robitaille had a chance to bury the rebound, but he flipped it over the net. At about the eleven-minute mark, Skazyk had a similar effort against Steve Palmer, denying him from point-blank range. (Actually, if this one had gone in, it would have been an outright gift, since the puck had hit the screen above the Cornell net seconds before and should have been blown dead) The Big Red regrouped during the intermission, and the second period was much more evenly played. Cornell spent most of the first five minutes of the period in the Clarkson zone, and although the Big Red didn't manage a shot on goal during that time, the momentum seemed to be turning. The Golden Knights, perhaps sensing this, were pinching in a lot, trying to generate some scoring chances. Clarkson had a 22-7 edge in shots on goal midway through the second period and had pretty well controlled the play, but the Big Red wound up with the last six shots of the second, and one of them finally found the back of the net. Mike Sancimino stole a pass and skated to the right circle, firing one that Clarkson goalie Dan Murphy blocked. Geoff Lopatka crashed the net and tried to poke home the rebound, but Murphy stuffed that one as well. The puck floated out high in the slot, where Bill Holowatiuk blasted it home through a crowd at the 16:29 mark. Clarkson would tie the game at 3:15 of the third on a beautiful play by Robitaille and Marko Tuomainen. Tuomainen held the puck near the left point, waited for Robitaille to sneak past the Cornell defense to the right post, then slid a nice cross-ice pass to him. Before Skazyk could react, Robitaille had flipped the puck home. (Aside to Clarkson fans: has Cheel always had that train whistle? This is the first time I can remember hearing it -- and I have a hard time believing I could forget something THAT annoying :-) The Big Red, however, would regain the lead just over nine minutes later. Jake Karam dumped the puck into the Clarkson zone, and Mark Scollan, just off the bench, outraced defenseman Nicholas Windsor and corraled it behind the net. With Brian Mueller heading behind the net to cut Scollan off, the Cornell winger dumped the puck out in front, where a wide-open Karam stuffed it in past the left post. Clarkson's best chance at the equalizer came with 5:35 left, when Chris de Ruiter came free in the slot and appeared to have Skazyk down and out. de Ruiter fired toward the net, but Skazyk somehow was able to kick out the right pad and deflect the shot wide. The Knights took their timeout with 1:04 left, and Murphy was off for the extra skater when play resumed. P.C. Drouin had a chance for the empty- netter with about 45 seconds remaining, but his slapper went over the net. This gave Clarkson a chance to get a rush going the other way, but it was broken up at the Cornell blue line. Murphy was overshadowed by Skazyk in this one, but the Knights' freshman goaltender had a great game of his own, stopping 21 of 23 shots. St. Lawrence 5, Cornell 2 Cornell 1 1 0 -- 2 St. Lawrence 3 2 0 -- 5 First period -- Scoring: S Tom Perry (Ryan Cassidy, Troy Creurer), 2:19 (PP) 0-1 S Perry (Paul DiFrancesco, Creurer), 10:36 (PP) 0-2 C Brad Chartrand (P.C. Drouin), 14:30 (SH) 1-2 S Derek McLaughlin (Cassidy, Thomas Cullen), 16:37 (PP) 1-3 Penalties: C Bill Holowatiuk (roughing), 0:48; C Jason Kendall (roughing, roughing), 5:54; C Jason Dailey (roughing, roughing), 5:54; S Cassidy (roughing, roughing), 5:54; S Creurer (roughing, roughing), 5:54; S Cullen (interference), 7:06; C Matt Cooney (roughing), 10:07; S Ken Ruddock (cross-checking), 11:18; S Chris Dashney (tripping), 12:25; C Steve Wilson (elbowing), 12:35; C Drouin (hooking), 15:14 Second period -- Scoring: S Dan Skene (Brian Kapeller, Cullen), 4:15 1-4 S Scott Murphy (Cassidy, Mark McGrath), 11:35 1-5 C Mark Scollan (Jake Karam, Andre Doll), 15:57 2-5 Penalties: S DiFrancesco (hooking), 2:02; S Creurer (hooking), 5:55 Third period -- Penalties: C Tony Bergin (hitting after whistle), 6:00; S S. Murphy (hitting after whistle), 6:00; C Geoff Lopatka (roughing), 9:07; S Skene (hooking), 15:35; S Kapeller (tripping), 17:12; C Cooney (roughing), 20:00; S Kapeller (roughing), 20:00; S Joel Prpic (roughing), 20:00 Shots on goal: Cornell 8-17-13 -- 38, St. Lawrence 9-18-6 -- 33 Power plays: Cornell 0 of 7, St. Lawrence 3 of 5 Goaltending: C Jason Elliott (out at beginning of second period, 6 saves, 9 shots), Eddy Skazyk (in at beginning of second period, 22 saves, 24 shots) S Jon Bracco (36 saves, 38 shots) Officials: Bill Stewart (R), John Murphy (R), Larry Legault (L) Notes: Special teams told the tale in this one, as St. Lawrence scored three power-play goals -- all in the first period -- and kept the Big Red off the board in seven man-up situations. The Saints were flying from the start, and they lit the lamp just 2:19 into the first period. Tom Perry wound up and fired from the point, and the low shot eluded goaltender Jason Elliott to the glove side. The Appleton Arena scorekeepers were apparently using a modified basketball scoring system, as the scoreboard actually read 2-0 for a little while -- either that or they were indulging in a little fore- shadowing. At 5:54 of the first came a marvelous case of penalties (*eight* of them) that probably should not have happened. With the Saints tying up the puck along the board and the Big Red trying to dig it away, referees Bill Stewart and John Murphy elected to let the players continue hacking at each other rather than call for a faceoff. Tempers flared, and with a clot of three players from each side trying to get at the puck, the pushing and shoving started. St. Lawrence's Ryan Cassidy hauled off and belted Jason Dailey, who responded in kind, and those two went at it. When order (?) was finally restored, those two headed to the box, along with the Saints' Troy Creurer and Cornell's Jason Kendall, all receiving double roughing minors. This did not sit well with either coach, and it would not be the last time that the officials would be hearing it from the team benches. Anyway, St. Lawrence picked up its second power play when Matt Cooney took a foolish roughing penalty midway through the period, and once again it was Perry converting it. This time, Paul DiFrancesco sent a nice pass over to the right circle, and Perry one-timed a shot over Elliott's right pad at the 10:36 mark. The Saints had a brief ten-second power play later in the period, but it was Cornell striking for the short-handed goal, their fourth of the year. P.C. Drouin intercepted a pass at center ice, and he and Brad Chartrand headed into the St. Lawrence zone on a 2-on-1. Drouin feathered a pass over to Chartrand, who snapped a high shot just behind the crossbar with 5:30 remaining in the first period. However, the Saints were not through, and they managed to score yet another power-play goal less than two minutes later. Elliott stopped a wrap-around try by Cassidy, but the rebound came loose in the slot, and Derek McLaughlin tipped it through Elliott's pads. Elliott had looked shaky on all three goals, and he was replaced by Eddy Skazyk at the start of the second period, but that didn't make a lot of difference to the Saints. Dailey tried to cut off a long outlet pass from the St. Lawrence end by Brian Kapeller, but he wound up tipping it to Dan Skene, who charged up right wing and let fly with one from just inside the blue line that went under Skazyk's right arm and found the back of the net at the 4:15 mark. St. Lawrence made it 5-1 at 11:35 of the second. Cassidy dumped the puck in front of the Cornell net, and when Skazyk went down to block a shot, the puck hit the shaft of his stick and bounced out to Scott Murphy, who flipped it into the net. The Big Red was doing reasonably well controlling the puck in the corners, but the Saints were not allowing them to work it out to the front of the net -- that is, until a defensive breakdown led to Cornell's second goal with 4:03 left in the middle period. Mark Scollan left the puck behind the net for Jake Karam, who dug it off the boards and waited for Scollan to break free in front. Scollan jammed Karam's quick pass through goalie Jon Bracco's pads. McLaughlin nearly extended the Saints' lead three minutes before the inter- mission when he fired point-blank at the Cornell net, but Skazyk was able to kick the shot aside. St. Lawrence pretty much coasted through the third period, and Cornell had a little more room to operate than they had had in the first two periods, but they could not generate much sustained pressure on Bracco. Play got a little chippy later in the period, as the teams exchanged cheap shots, and the game ended with a skirmish when the Saints' Joel Prpic speared Cooney after the whistle. Cooney went after him, and Kapeller joined the fray, as did a couple other Cornellians. It could have gotten ugly, but fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Elliott stopped six shots in the first period, while Skazyk made 22 saves in relief. Bracco had a fine night for the Saints, finishing with 36 saves. Cornell will hit the road again next weekend, as they take on Princeton and Yale. -- 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 "Come to think of it, there are already a million monkeys on a million type- writers, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare." -- Blair Houghton