It was a real emotional roller-coaster of a weekend for the Cornell Big Red.
Friday night, Cornell controlled most of the first two periods against
Princeton and had a two-goal lead to show for it, then squandered it in the
third and wound up losing a heart-breaker in overtime. The next night
against Yale, the Big Red again took a two-goal lead into the third period,
then suffered some anxious moments as the Elis quickly cut the lead to one.
This time, however, Jake Karam scored a late goal to seal the win for the
Big Red, in the process completing his second hat trick of the season. Box
scores and more notes on the games below:
Princeton 4, Cornell 3 (OT)
Cornell 2 1 0 0 -- 3
Princeton 0 1 2 1 -- 4
First period -- Scoring:
C Mark Scollan (Jake Karam, Steve Wilson), 4:22 1-0
C Tony Bergin (Jamie Papp, Jason Dailey), 18:58 2-0
Penalties:
Somebody from Princeton got one at 13:25, and then Steve Wilson went
off at 13:35 (sorry, forgot to write down these two).
Second period -- Scoring:
P Jonathan Kelley (Tony Ranaldi, Ian Sharp), 14:04 2-1
C P.C. Drouin (Brad Chartrand, Tyler McManus), 19:07 3-1
Third period -- Scoring:
P Robbie Sinclair (Gavin Colquhoun, J.P. O'Connor), 9:04 3-2
P Jason Smith (O'Connor, Jean Verdon), 11:58 3-3
Penalties:
C Mike Sancimino (roughing?), 5:07; C Matt Cooney (hitting after
whistle), 9:04; P Colquhoun (hitting after whistle), 9:04
Overtime -- Scoring:
P Barrington Miller (Ethan Early, Smith), 1:20 3-4
Penalties:
C Chad Wilson (high-sticking), 0:16; P Kelley (roughing), 0:16
Shots on goal: Cornell 18-5-12-0 -- 35, Princeton 6-6-11-3 -- 26
Power plays: Cornell 0 of 1, Princeton 0 of 2
Goaltending:
C Eddy Skazyk (22 saves, 26 shots)
P James Konte (32 saves, 35 shots)
Notes:
Until the third period got under way, it looked like Cornell was not going
to have a lot of trouble with the Tigers, as the Big Red were all over
Princeton in the first twenty minutes and kept them pretty much in check
during the second period as well. But then this game became eerily remin-
iscent of the game between these two at Princeton two years ago, in which
Cornell also held a 3-1 lead before Princeton got a fluke goal, scored again
moments later to tie the game, then went on to win in OT.
Considering the rivalry between these two, this game was a surprisingly
cleanly played one, with only seven penalties called. As Arthur Mintz
mentioned in his role as color man on the radio broadcast, it seemed like
both teams recognized how important this game was. Cornell started out on
fire, as they outshot the hosts by an 18-6 margin in the first period, and
they lit the lamp 4:22 into the game. Steve Wilson found Jake Karam wide
open in front of the Princeton net; Tiger goalie James Konte stopped Karam's
shot, but Mark Scollan corralled the rebound and flipped it in over Konte's
shoulder. Konte actually had a pretty solid first period, denying Cornell
on several good scoring chances, but Tony Bergin finally broke through for
the game's second goal 1:02 before the intermission. Konte got a pad on
Bergin's blast from the left side, but the sophomore wing followed up his
own rebound.
Princeton tried to pick things up a bit in the second, but the Big Red was
doing a good job at keeping the speedy Tiger forwards under control. How-
ever, Princeton did get a decent scoring chance off a faceoff deep in the
Cornell zone, and they made the most of it. Ian Sharp dumped the puck
behind the Big Red net, where Tony Ranaldi got to it and fed Jonathan Kelley
in front. Defenseman Chad Wilson plowed into Kelley just as he got the shot
off, and the puck flew over goaltender Eddy Skazyk's blocker pad and into
the net at the 14:04 mark.
The Big Red got that one back with 53 seconds left in the period, on an
apparent momentum-killing goal. Brad Chartrand forced the puck loose in the
slot, and P.C. Drouin wristed a shot through Konte's pads from 20 feet out.
Drouin beat Konte again with under 20 seconds left, but this time the puck
hit the post. Still, things were looking good for Cornell, seemingly in
control of the game with a two-goal lead. However...
The first blow to Cornell occurred early in the third period, when Drouin
ran into the Princeton goalpost and injured his knee. He was helped off the
ice, did not see any more action the rest of the weekend, and is now listed
as day-to-day. Princeton was more successful in opening things up in the
third, generating a lot of pressure in the Cornell end, and it finally paid
off at the 9:04 mark on a fluke goal. (Sound familiar?) Skazyk made a
great save on a hard shot by J.P. O'Connor, kicking the rebound out into the
slot. A strange series of events ensued: Robbie Sinclair got his stick on
the puck; Jamie Papp went after Sinclair to try to get him out of the slot
but lost his footing and fell down; Sinclair's weak shot hit the post; Papp
slid into Skazyk and at the same time knocked the puck over the goal line.
Several of the Cornell players protested that the puck did NOT cross the
line, but the goal stood. Matt Cooney and Gavin Colquhoun got into a bit of
a skirmish, and they both were sent off for hitting after the whistle.
It took the Tigers less than three minutes to tie the score. O'Connor
skated down left wing and sent a beautiful cross-ice pass over to a
wide-open Jason Smith, who one-timed a shot from the right point that hit
Skazyk's blocker and deflected into the net at 11:58 of the third. Prince-
ton kept the pressure on and nearly scored again a minute later during a
wild scramble in front of the Cornell net. Cooney finally defused the
threat by clearing the puck away from the net just before it trickled over
the goal line.
With the teams skating 4-on-4 in the overtime, Skazyk made a brilliant save
on a breakaway attempt by Ethan Early. Barrington Miller held the rebound
in at the blue line, however, rifling one that went through a screen of four
or five players and caught the net inside the right post at the 1:20 mark.
The Princeton win ended two streaks: it was the first time all year the
Tigers had won a game in which they trailed after two periods, and it was
the first time that Cornell had lost a game which they led after two. Konte
stopped 32 shots for the Tigers, while Skazyk had 22 saves.
Cornell 4, Yale 2
Cornell 2 1 1 -- 4
Yale 0 1 1 -- 2
First period -- Scoring:
C Jake Karam (Geoff Lopatka, Mike Sancimino), 5:44 1-0
C Mark Scollan (Andre Doll), 7:50 2-0
Penalties:
C Steve Wilson (interference), 3:11; C Jason Weber (hitting from
behind), 12:05
Second period -- Scoring:
C Karam (S. Wilson, Brad Chartrand), 1:34 (PP) 3-0
Y Brad Dunlap (Jason Cipolla, Zoran Kozic), 4:31 3-1
Penalties:
Y John Emmons (interference), 1:19; C Chad Wilson (holding), 7:15;
Y Dan Brierley (high-sticking), 11:34; Y Dan Nyberg (hooking), 13:50;
C Lopatka (holding), 15:46
Third period -- Scoring:
Y Cipolla (Dunlap), 0:45 3-2
C Karam (Scollan, Jamie Papp), 16:17 4-2
Penalties:
C Jason Dailey (roughing), 2:31; C S. Wilson (slashing), 3:49; Y D.
Jones (interference), 6:09; C Bill Holowatiuk (holding), 14:00
Shots on goal: Cornell 15-9-7 -- 31, Yale 15-10-18 -- 43
Power plays: Cornell 1 of 4, Yale 0 of 7
Goaltending:
C Eddy Skazyk (41 saves, 43 shots)
Y Todd Sullivan (out at 18:50 of third period, 27 saves, 31 shots)
Officials: Richard Zanetti (R), Gerard Toner (R), Roger Haggerty (L)
Notes:
Cornell goaltender Eddy Skazyk was the hero in this one, as he stopped 17 of
18 shots in the final period and prevented the Elis from completing their
comeback from three goals down. Skazyk, in one of his best performances in
a Cornell uniform, made 41 saves overall. Jake Karam also starred, picking
up a hat trick.
The Big Red jumped on top at 5:44 of the opening period. Geoff Lopatka
skated up right wing, then snapped a shot from the right circle through a
clump of players near the net. The puck deflected toward Mike Sancimino,
who fired toward the goal; Yale goalie Todd Sullivan made a pad save but
wound up out of position, and Karam wristed the rebound home. Andre Doll
and Mark Scollan made it 2-0 two minutes and six seconds later. Doll
spotted Scollan all alone near the Yale blue line and sent a nice pass
through center ice for him; Scollan skated in and fired a high shot into the
corner of the net.
Karam made it 3-0 1:34 into the second period. On a Cornell power play,
Brad Chartrand got the puck off the boards and sent it over to Steve Wilson
at the right point; Wilson dished to Karam in the right circle, and Karam
one-timed a low shot past Sullivan. The Elis took advantage of a Cornell
defensive miscue to light the lamp at 4:31 of the second. The Big Red was
unable to clear the zone after a faceoff in their own end, and Jason Cipolla
rolled the puck toward the Cornell net. Cipolla's shot was redirected past
Skazyk by Brad Dunlap. Yale nearly got another one a couple of minutes
later, as the Cornell defense inexplicably left Chris Barbanti alone in the
slot. Skazyk robbed Barbanti with a brilliant glove save to keep the score
at 3-1. The Big Red's best chance at evening the score came at the 13:50
mark, when Jamie Papp raced across the blue line and got a good shot off as
Dan Nyberg was hooking him to the ice to prevent a breakaway. Sullivan just
managed to get his stick on the puck, deflecting it wide.
The second period ended with the score at 3-1, and was there a Cornell fan
anywhere who was NOT thinking, "Oh no, not again"? Especially when Yale
scored 45 seconds into the third period to cut the lead to one. Cipolla and
Dunlap caught the Big Red defense napping, as they skated in on a 2-on-1 and
Dunlap fired toward the net. Skazyk got a piece of the shot, but Cipolla
was there to tip home the rebound. As if that weren't enough, the Elis got
a 42-second 5-on-3 power play when Jason Dailey and Steve Wilson were sent
to the box, leaving Cornell to kill the penalty off short a couple of de-
fensemen. But they did it, stemming Yale's momentum at least temporarily.
Yale was getting to almost every loose puck in the third period, but Skazyk
was playing brilliantly. Zoran Kozic had what looked like a perfect oppor-
tunity to tie the game midway through the third, as he was all alone to the
left of the net and Skazyk was out of position, but the junior netminder
somehow was able to get back to pick off Kozic's shot. The Big Red finally
pulled together and got an insurance goal on the board with 3:43 left. Papp
got the puck at center ice and sent it over to Scollan, who was just coming
off the bench. Scollan skated into the Yale zone and sent a pass through a
defenseman's legs to set up Karam on a mini-break. Karam deked Sullivan to
the ice, then lifted a high shot over the goalie's shoulder. Yale kept
pressing, even pulling Sullivan for the last minute and ten seconds, but the
Elis could draw no closer. Sullivan finished with 27 saves.
Cornell's final weekend finds them taking on RPI and Union at Lynah with an
outside shot at hosting a preliminary round game -- but also facing the
possibility that they might miss the playoffs altogether. The Big Red needs
two points to guarantee a playoff spot, and if they defeat Union, they will
lock up ninth place, which is the best they can do without help.
--
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
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