The Cornell Big Red defeated Colgate 3-2 tonight in Hamilton, NY. Cornell played its usual strong defense and had just enough offense to get the win. Jason Elliot had another solid outing in goal, stopping 36 of 38 shots including 17 in the third. The Big Red played much better hockey than they did last weekend against Army and came away with their first win in Hamilton since January of '91. The win is Cornell's first ECAC victory since they beat Colgate at Lynah back on December 1st. Now for my first attempt at a game recap... I'm posting an unofficial box score to INFO-HOCKEY-L. First period - It was evident early on that Cornell was going to play a better game tonight than their last outing. The skating was a little quicker, the passing was better and the overall offensive pressure was better. One problem I've seen so far this season was the tendency for players to not receive passes cleanly. Tonight, when a pass was on target it was taken cleanly. Cornell scored the first goal of the game at 10:28 as a result of some good passing. Tony Bergin, Jamie Papp and Steve Wilson came up ice on teh power play. After a series of quick, crisp passes, Bergin put it in the net from short range. The improved offensive together with solid defense kept Colgate from having many good scoring chances in the period. Second period - Colgate seemed to step it up a little but still couldn't get much done against the Big Red defense. Elliot left a couple of rebounds right in front of the cage but the defense was there to clear the puck. Cornell got their second goal at 7:06 on a Ryan Moynihan goal. The play was on the other end of the ice from my seat (yes I sat through the game) so I didn't see the details. After the goal Cornell seemed to slow down a bit. The skating was a little slower and the passing began to get a little sloppy. This went for a few minutes before they began to step it up again - fortunately it didn't come back to hurt them. Many of the shots Colgate managed to get off were weak wristers from far out which Elliot handled. Colgate wasted a good opportuniy to get on the scoreboard at 12:57. A Colgate player went down behind the Cornell net and it looked like Jeff Oates decided take a few whacks at him while he was down. Oates was sent to the box for slashing and Colgate had their first power play in nearly twenty minutes. On the ensuing faceoff however, the Cornell wing (I didn't catch who it was) managed to bait Tim Loftsgard into delivering a blatant slash. Loftsgard headed to the box and the power play was wasted and the teams remained skating four on four. At this point the Colgate pep band began playing "Three Blind Mice", which drew a laugh considering how obvious the call was. (An aside - does this count as a power play? I would guess not, but I almost want to charge Colgate with one for blowing the chance.) Third period - Cornell came out in the third period and almost immediately started playing defensive hockey. They often held three man back on the rush and didn't seem to be very concerned with generating any offense. Colgate, on the other hand, came out looking like they really intended to make a run at the game. They seemed to be a little bit quicker than in the previous periods and more eager to put the puck on the net. But Cornell's defense continued to hold up well against the pressure. Elliot's save total began to rise quickly but there weren't that many excellent scoring opportunities. The Red Raiders finally did get a goal at 11:46 when Mark Holdridge managed to stuff the puck in the net after a flurry in front of the Cornell goal. It was his first collegiate point - interesting that the first goal would come from a freshman defender with no points rather than Mike Harder or Rob Mara. With the lead cut to one, the Big Red continued to play like they were just protecting the lead. But after a few minutes it seemed like they started to give more of an offensive push, carrying the puck into the offensive zone rather than dumping it at the blue line. (Or maybe it just seemed that way - I'd just finished telling a friend that we needed to play a good offense in order to play good defense). This finally paid off with under two minutes to go (18:10) as Doug Stienstra put Cornell back up by two. Stienstra skated up the left wing on a two on one rush (I seem to remember the other player being Knopp). He skated into the zone and with the defender playing the pass was able to approach the net uncontested. For once a Cornell forward didn't appear to be looking to pass - he seemed to be intent on the net. He waited until goalie Dan Brenzavich committed low before going top shelf for the goal. Down two goals again, Coach Vaughan pulled Brenzavich with 1:23 remaining. Shortly after coincidental penalties were called and the sides were down to five on four (including the extra skater). The next forty seconds or so were played mostly in the Cornell zone. The defense continued to hold against the pressure but with 0:30 seconds left Darren Tymchyshyn was called for slashing giving Colgate a two man advantage. Even stranger than seeing a penalty called that late in the game was the fact that it looked like it was called by one of the Assistamt Referees. I could be wrong but wouldn't that be something - an AR calling a penalty late in a tight game. Anyone, the Raiders would finally cash in on the advantage with four seconds to play. They won a faceoff in the Cornell zone and passed it out to Tim Loftsgard at the point who put it in the net. But it was too little too late. Although they won the ensuing faceoff, a last second shot from the blue line went wide. As a final note - a few comments about the atmosphere at Starr Rink. I expected more enthusiasm from a school with a pretty good hockey program. For most of the game it seemed like the fans were sitting on their hands. I'm pretty sure there were Colgate students there but you wouldn't know it from listening. It's not like the game was a blowout or anything. The student section even cleared out after Cornell scored their third goal. I'm used to locals leaving early to beat the traffic, but students? (Besides, what traffic?) I guess I've just been spoiled by the rowdy folks at Lynah Rink (who haven't even been that rowdy lately). Keith Kannenberg [log in to unmask] Cornell '93 '96 '9? HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.