Last night Cornell skated into the Houston Fieldhouse with a mission: prove that they, and not the upstart Engineers, were the team destined for post-season success. And Cornell succeeded totally, even to the point of dominating the decibel competition inside the Fieldhouse, which these days isn't much to write about. As a result of their efforts Cornell returns to Ithaca with second place in the ECAC all but locked up, and with a slim chance to grab first place and the automatic bid to the NC$$'s. I'm sure the Cornell crowd will be crowing about their success, as they have a right to, so I'll keep my comments to a minimum. In fact, from an RPI perspective, the only period worth talking about is the first. RPI came out of the locker room ready to play, and got off the first shot 45 seconds into the contest. Their first power play at the 2:00 mark saw a return to the futility of the previous five games. Cornell does such a good job on the kill that the Engineers don't even get a shot on goal. But the Engineers turn up their pressure as the power play expires, and the Engineer defenseman accelerate through the center zone to start several scoring rushes. The Engineers seem to have so much confidence on offense that goaltender Joel Laing feels secure enough to jump into the play. At 7:06 Laing controls the puck, skates out to his left and makes a long pass to Murphy at the blue line. Murphy skates the puck on into the Cornell zone, holds it, and finds Pete Gardiner standing alone directly in front of Cornell's Jason Elliot. Gardiner gets off a beautiful rising shot that finds the top shelf of the goal. That would conclude the scoring for the first period, with the only other action consisting of a series of penalties to Cornell's Dailey, including a humorous "delay of game" to him and Mauro DiPaolo as they wrestled in back of the net., and two to RPI's Brian Pothier, who will tally eight minutes in penalties for the night. During the first intermission Mike Shafer evidently proved why he and Stan Moore of Union should be considered the leading candidates for Coach of the Year. Shafer definitely made an adjustment, although I'm not sure exactly what (different forecheck, moving the forwards closer together in the center zone?) From the opening face-off Cornell skated like a different team. Cornell's forwards nearly forechecked the Engineers through the sideboards as almost the entire period was played in the Engineer end. That the period ended a tie was seemingly a gift from God. Soon after a pair of matching minors to Battaglia and Dailey, Cornell takes a face-off in the RPI zone. The puck goes to the front of the net where Moynihan gets off a shot to pull Laing out of position. Kyle Knopp buries the rebound into the open goal with Wilson getting the third assist, at 2:27. Cornell's tying goal allows the Big Red to turn up the pressure another notch, and their second goal was the inevitable result of the suffocating control they exerted over the Engineers. After Brian Pothier gets whistled for hooking, Cornell gets its second power play of the period. Near the end of the two minutes Burgoyne skates the puck into the offensive zone and passes off to Dailey. Dailey sends it across the goalmouth to Stienstra, standing unattended to the right of Laing, who quickly deposits it into the open net. RPI will continue to play on its heals for the remainder of the period, but gains a power play at the 17:32 mark. With 6 seconds left on the man advantage the Engineers finally get the puck down low in the Cornell zone. Battaglia simply sends the puck to the front where a scrum erupts. Dan Riva pushes the puck home through the pile of bodies in front of Elliot, Gardiner getting the third assist, for something. RPI and Cornell end the period tied at two, but Engineer fans wonder whether their team will have the strength to play the third period the way they had until recently. The Engineers didn't, and the game was over before half the period expired. At 5:01 Cornell scores the winning goal on a fluky play with Kendall sending a slow backhander at the goal, which riccochets off an RPI leg and straight into the open goal. Brian Pothier's fourth penalty of the night gives Cornell a power play at 5:56, and Cornell goes to work immediately. After the face-off in the RPI end the puck goes to the point, where Dailey whistles a slap shot off the post and into the goal. Stienstra and Burgoyne receive assists, at 6:00. And Cornell isn't finished as they score a fifth goal a minute and a half later. At 7:31 RPI's Steve Caley coughed up the puck deep in the RPI zone. Knopp gains the puck and sends a quick shot from the slot past a confused Laing, Rudder getting an assist for being on the ice. An obviously irritated Laing takes the puck out of the net and sends it to the blue line, after being wearied from 20 Cornell shots in the second, 13 in the third, and abuse heaped on him from the Cornell visitors camped in the stands behind him. Tonight the RPI fans deserved to be censured for non-support, as a season lon g decline in attendance and emotion left the Fieldhouse an easy target for the boisterous/obnoxious Cornell fan contingent. That's it for the recap. Next week the Engineers will need at least two points to secure home ice, and may need to defeat Princeton in the final game of the season regardless of their success against Yale. Instead of cruising off a sweep on their home ice in the penultimate week of the season, the Engineers instead must struggle for a sweep on the road next week. *************************************************************** Brian Morris RPI Engineers--Big and Nasty [log in to unmask] HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.