March
18, 2005
ECACHL Semifinals
A
Typical Performance
By
Joe Gladziszewski
| Cornell
3, Vermont 0 |
| Team |
Goal |
Str |
| Time |
Assists |
| First
Period |
| 1-C |
Topher
Scott (5) |
EV |
| 13:22 |
D.
Pegoraro, Cam Abbott |
| Second
Period |
| 2-C |
Matt
Moulson (22) |
PP |
| 9:56 |
C.
Cook |
| Third
Period |
| 3-C |
Chris
Abbott (6) |
EN |
| 18:42 |
Unassisted |
| Goaltending |
| V:
Joe Fallon, 59:57, 19 saves, 2 GA (1 EN) |
| C:
David McKee, 60:00, 25 saves, 0 GA |
| Penalties:
V 6/12; C 5/10 |
| Power
Plays: V 0-4; C 1-5 |
| Attendance:
7,580 |
ALBANY, N.Y.
– Cornell won the first game of the night and if you're
familiar with the Big Red's season, and its current 17-game unbeaten
streak, you didn't even have to watch the game to know how that
win transpired.
Dave McKee
was steady throughout and spectacular in a couple of instances.
Cornell grabbed a first period lead and limited Vermont's opportunities
for the rest of the game. The Big Red's special teams play was
excellent. Matt Moulson fired a shot through traffic for a power-play
goal. It's no wonder that the word "typical" was used
by Cornell representatives several times during the post-game
press conference.
"Getting
a lead is the strength of our team. Getting up by one or two goals
and wearing teams down," Moulson said. "When you've
got Dave back there making saves like he does, being ahead gives
us a ton of confidence."
"We got
the first goal and the guys shut them down. Our PK did an incredible
job. They only had a couple of shots on their power plays,"
McKee said.
These days,
it seems that every shutout by McKee and the Big Red breaks another
record. This time, his 10th of the season was a new ECACHL record,
and broke the record held by Dave LeNeveu, who manned the nets
at Lynah Rink prior to McKee's arrival in Ithaca.
"It was
similar to a lot of games we've won this year. We did a good job.
This first goal was a big one by Topher to put us up 1-0, and
our power play like it has all year long responded and got one
for us in the second period," Big Red coach Mike Schafer
said.
Cornell rarely
surprises anyone. They know what they need to do, execute, and
it typically results in a win.
| Harvard
4, Colgate 3 2OT |
| Team |
Goal |
Str |
| Time |
Assists |
| First
Period |
| No
Scoring |
| Second
Period |
| 1-H |
Dan
Murphy (5) |
PP |
| 6:38 |
T.
Walsh, T. Cavanagh |
| Third
Period |
| 1-C |
Jon
Smyth (15) |
EV |
| 0:27 |
D.
McKinnon |
| 2-H |
Charlie
Johnson (9) |
EV |
| 16:01 |
J.
Pelle, R. Lannon |
| 2-C |
Joey
Mormina (6) |
EV |
| 16:46 |
A.
Mitchell |
| 3-H |
Tom
Cavanagh (10) |
EV |
| 18:03 |
Unassisted |
| 3-C |
Joey
Mormina (7) |
EV |
| 18:39 |
D.
McKinnon |
| First
Overtime |
| No
Scoring |
| Second
Overtime |
| 4-H |
Kevin
Du (9) |
EV |
| 16:01 |
R.
Lannon |
| Goaltending |
| C:
Steve Silverthorn, 96:01, 47 saves, 4 GA |
| H:
Dov Grumet-Morris, 96:01, 46 saves, 3 GA |
| Penalties:
C 11/22; H 11/22 |
| Power
Plays: C 0-6; H 1-6 |
| Attendance:
7,580 |
LITTLE
CONSOLATION
The disappointment
of a double-overtime loss and sting from realizing that an ECACHL
trophy won't be headed to Hamilton this year was evident by the
looks on the faces and dejected tone in the voices of Colgate
goalie Steve Silverthorn and defenseman Joey Mormina. They were
speaking in the post-game press conference around midnight, and
the 4-3 loss to Harvard was fresh on their minds.
And while
the loss to Harvard erased hopes for league honors, the Raiders
had to come to a quick realization that Saturday is the most important
game of the season. A win could get Colgate into the NCAA Tournament.
"We're
going to have to be ready to regroup and play a tough Vermont
team. From what I've been told, if we win, we're in," coach
Don Vaughan said.
"You
just have to let it go. Like coach said, our season is tomorrow.
We're not going to win the ECAC playoff championship but we can
make the tournament with a win so that's all that matters right
now," goalie Steve Silverthorn said.
Colgate can
draw on a superb effort, as they rallied three times to tie the
game, including twice in the last four minutes of the third period.
Players were cramping and injured, but the senior-laden team called
on its reservoir of energy to compete for 36 minutes of OT.
They'll need
to draw on that again Saturday in a quest to continue the season
for at least one more week.
|
INCH's Three Stars of the Night
|
|
3.
Tom Cavanagh, Harvard
Had
the prettiest goal of the night when he turned Colgate defenseman
Matt Torti around twice, got a low shot off on Silverthorn,
and chipped in the rebound. With that goal, he became Harvard's
first 10-goal scorer this season.
2.
Matt Moulson, Cornell
Scored his 22nd goal of the season and 12th power-play
goal to give Cornell a 2-0 lead with 10:04 remaining in
the second period. With that goal, you could sense that
Vermont had little chance to win.
1.
Joey Mormina, Colgate
Standout defenseman was only an Honorable Mention
selection in all-league voting, but his two goals and excellent
performance at both ends proved to everyone that he's one
of the best blueliners in the ECACHL.
|
 |
SEEN
AND HEARD AT THE PEPSI
• Kevin
Du on his double-overtime winner: "Ryan (Lannon) just made
a beautiful pass and I snuck behind the defenseman. It was a great
pass by him. Earlier in the game, Silverthorn made a real nice
save on me when I went to the backhand, so this time I went to
the forehand."
• Several
members of the Lynah Faithful stuck around for the second semifinal
and taunted both Harvard and Colgate with chants of "grade
inflation" and "safety school." They also asked
in unison, "Where are your fans?" which was a good question
considering an attendance of 7,594 at Pepsi Arena. It was the
best-attended semifinal game at the Pepsi Arena, and was the most
for a semifinal since 1991, when 9,034 showed up at the Boston
Garden.
• Dave
McKee made the best save of the first semifinal when he quickly
raised his catching glove to snag a redirection in front by Matt
Syroczynski. In the second semifinal, Steve Silverthorn stuck
out his right pad to deny Kevin Du's breakaway deke, and Dov Grumet-Morris
reached back while on his side to push a rebound effort wide.
• Count
Union coach Nate Leaman among those who are excited about Minnesota
recruit Phil Kessel. Leaman was recently named as an assistant
coach for the United States at the upcoming Under-18 World Championships
next month at the Czech Republic. "It'll be fun to coach
a guy like Phil Kessel," Leaman said.
• Colgate's
top line of Darryl McKinnon, Adam Mitchell, and Jon Smyth set
the tone with speed and physical play on the first shift of the
third period and it resulted in Smyth's game-tying goal. Their
second shift was even better as they created several scoring opportunities,
including Mitchell's shot off the outside of the post. That line
was also responsible for setting up the second and third goals.
• Tim
Kotyra was the referee for the first game and Alex Dell refereed
the second game.
• Among
those in attendance, Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference commissioner
Phil Buttafuoco, who is no longer involved with the Division I
ECAC Hockey League.
• Cornell
freshman defenseman Sasha Pokulok returned to the lineup after
missing the last six games of the regular season and the Clarkson
quarterfinal series with a broken collarbone. Schafer was pleased
with Pokulok's effort in his first game back, especially considering
that Pokulok didn't skate for a span of four weeks.
• Colgate's
players stayed in touch with Harvard goalie Dov Grumet-Morris
throughout the game. Four times in the first two periods, Grumet-Morris
ended up on his back after contact with Raider forwards. The fourth
occurrence, a bump by Dustin Gillanders, was met with the most
retaliation from Harvard players, specifically Ryan Lannon.
• Tricycle
and shooting contests were staged for intermission entertainment,
but the event that captured most of the attention was the overtime
period of the Vermont-Syracuse basketball game. Fans crowded around
televisions in the luxury suites to take that in during the second
intermission of the late semifinal. Vermont won 60-57.
WHAT'S
NEXT
One of college
hockey's great rivalries will be staged in Saturday night's championship
game when Cornell faces Harvard. The teams split their regular-season
meetings, with each winning on home ice. It's a rubber match for
this year, and also a tiebreaker of sorts in the ECACHL title
game. Harvard won the 2002 title over Cornell in double-overtime
on Tyler Kolarik's goal. One year later, Cornell's Sam Paolini
scored an overtime goal to give the Big Red the title.
As mentioned
earlier, Colgate and Vermont came to Albany to win the playoff
title, but will play in the third-place game at 5 p.m. It won't
be a consolation effort, as Colgate harbors hopes of an at-large
bid to the NCAA Tournament, and a win on Saturday can go a long
way toward securing that tourney berth.
