Where Sam doesn't play anymore ...Rick's Cafe Americain

Harvard tried to change the environment at Bright by refusing to sell single-game tickets to Cornell students and alumni.  The strategy was apparently moderately successful in limiting the numer of Cornellians at the game, but the Cornell fans still shouted them down.  Cornell took the lead early, allowed Harvard to get back into the game and then slammed the door shut.  Good win.  Harvard was supposed to be an excellent team this year, but something has gone horribly wrong.

The game against Brown did not go as well.  I listened to the game, so I can only comment vicariously. Cornell appeared to have plenty of chances to score, but one of the top goalies in the country made save after spectacular sounding save and held the Red to one goal. Of course, it is difficult to tell just how spectacular the saves were on account of the Brown broadcasting team.  These guys ceased being believable the fifteenth time in the first period that they accused Cornell of “interference.” For all I know, every time Brown’s goalie touched the puck behind the net, the guys yelled “another sprawling save by Denis.”

Cornell has decided to turn all sports programming over to a paid service.  This is a pity, because the Cornell hockey broadcast crew is damn good - but I’d rather listen to the opponent’s broadcast for free.  The Brown crew is a treat.  Homerism in local broadcasts is no surprise, but it isn’t pleasant.  Even though I root for the Yankees so that I have a reason to watch the playoffs, John Sterling’s pathetic closing line makes my ears ache.  Brown’s guys, however, established a new standard for home team whining and yesterday’s game was no exception.

According to the refs, Cornell committed 3 penalties and Brown committed 6.  According to the Brownies? Cornell committed a penalty every time Brown touched the puck and Brown was screwed on ALL SIX CALLS.  The high point came when Mike Meetch was called for a penalty during the overtime.  Overtime penalties are rare, so it is typically a grievous infraction that draws a whistle.  The Brownies were apoplectic.  As part of their rant, one of the guys called out “Even the Cornell broadcaster is laughing!” Apparently Adam yelled back “I’m laughing at you.” Of course Meetch got the last laugh; he scored the game winning goal 45 seconds after getting out of the penalty box. 

Brown scored with 1:30 left on a 3-on-2 breakaway that I could see as if I were sitting in the rink.  The call was perfect - the players on the ice, the direction of the passes, the positioning of the goalie, the exultation at a game-ending goal over a favored opponent.  That’s when I realized the tragedy: these guys can really call a hockey game.  They have a sense of drama an ability to vividly describe the action and instead choose to turn the broadcast into a littany of perceived injustices and petty gripes.  They referred to a conspiracy to send calls Cornell’s way so often, I was tempted to send them tinfoil hats so they could rest easy, knowing that the ECAC Commissioner would not be sending messages to their brains.  Maybe then they could just call the game.

Next week @Union and @Rennselaer.  If the hockey teams still exist.

After a long, bad stretch against out-of-conference opponents (0-2-3), Cornell finally got off the schneid this weekend.  The Big Red beat Notre Dame 4-0 in the opening round of the tournament and capped off the tournament with a 4-3 win over Ohio State.  No hosnnahs for i2sports this week because they only show Cornell’s home games - but the games were on CSTV!  Huge props to CSTV, even if their camerawork still needs a lot of improvement.

Dave McKee played a great game for the Red against Notre Dame, notching his second straight shutout.  I take back everything I ever said about him.  He is coming along quite nicely.  The Irish outshot Cornell, but quality shots were few and far between.  I caught this game on replay, so I don’t really have any comments.  I could break it down, but once you know the outcome it is hard to watch a game with enough attention to comment intelligently.  Mostly when you watch a game on tape, you just sit around waiting for the goals.  On to tOSU.

Cornell may have stolen one today.  First, tOSU’s best player, Dave Steckel, was out of the game with an injury.  But the first period was still almost all tOSU. The Buckeyes were able to move the puck very well and came out hitting hard. Actually, both teams were really banging today.  It made for a very exciting, if choppy, game.  Cornell’s passing was sloppy, but the AHA (Abbott-Hornby-Abbott) line was the exception.  They created a lot of near opportunities, but never a big one. Cornell had two good scoring chances in the period, but didn’t cash in on either. Ryan Vesce couldn’t squeeze one inside the post after sweeping in from the tOSU goalie’s right side on a very nice move and Betz got the best of Bitz when it looked like Bitz had a shot at an essentially empty net.  tOSU took a lead on the power play.

McKee didn’t have a chance on the first tOSU goal. Everyone was watching the puck while Kenny Bernard, a freshman playing in place of the injured Steckelskated right down the slot and put home a perfect pass from behind the net. Otherwise, didn’t generate many chances in the period despite outplaying Cornell and the period ended with tOSU up 1-0.

Cornell really controlled play in the 2d, scoring 3 goals. All three goals were the result of hard work around the net.  Mike Iggulden scored the first goal off of a pass from behind the net by Mark McCutcheon.  Iggulden’s second goal (of the game and the season) was a putback of a rebound off of a blistering shot from the point by Charlie Cook. Betz couldn’t control the rebound, and even though Iggulden didn’t get much of the puck, Betz was too far out of position to stop the dribbler from crossing the line to give Cornell a 2-1 lead. After tOSU tied the game at 2, Matt Moulson knocked in his own rebound (I think).

tOSU is at their best when they have a little space. They have had some very good 2-on-1 chances in the 2d that they didn’t convert on they keep missing the net - but the passing was crisp and confident. tOSU tied it at 2 on a spectacular goal by Paul Caponegri.  He carried the puck through the neutral zone, and straight through the Cornell defense.  He came across McKee’s left, held off his defender and just flat beat McKee top-shelf.  A real goal-scorer’s goal.  Cornell left the period up 3-2 and looking very good.  It was an illusion.

The third period was just dominated by tOSU. Cornell was content to just casually clear the puck, but they did a very poor job of it. They started the period by giving the puck away right in front of McKee three times, but managed to hold on to the lead.  McKee made a great save and tOSU flat missed the net twice. 12 minutes into the period, CU had only one shot.  It wasn’t a particularly good shot.  All that Cornell mediocrity finally caught up to them.  After a needless icing penalty, tOSU tied it up after winning the offensive zone draw.

Five minutes later, however, Caponegri committed the boner of the tournament. He apparently mouthed off to the ref after getting called for icing with 5:02 (he thought he was close enough to the red line for government work) and was given a 10 minute misconduct penalty - which effectively sidelined him the rest of the game and all of OT.  This appeared to take some of the wind out of the Buckeyes for a while, but Cornell couldn’t really do anything with it, and tOSU almost won the game, hitting the inside of the post and getting a very unlucky bounce.  And despite playing a terrible 20 minutes of hockey, Cornell still almost made it out of the game without going to OT.  Cam Abbott was all alone in front, but Betz made a spectacular save with 2:14 left to keep his team in the game.  As the clock ran out, Cornell did all it could to give away the game, but a level head by McKee and some good fortune sent the game to OT.  It was, without a doubt, the worst period I’ve seen this team play all year. But then ...

The OT started badly as Ryan O’Byrne handed the puck to Rod Pelley in the slot just 10 seconds into the period, but McKee saved O’Byrne’s bacon.

Finally, halfway through the OT, the Red got the puck in deep on tOSU.  Cam tapped it to Chris who fed it to a charging Hornby; Hornby beat Betz to the short side. A great finish by Hornby, and a great play by the AHA line.

As important, I bought a game-worn Cornell jersey on my trip to Ithaca earlier this year to watch the first game against tOSU.  It is the gear of choice for the serious Cornell hockey dork.  It is a white, #2 jersey formerly worn by Travis Bell. Yes, I wear it when watching the games in my apartment.  Like I said, serious Cornell hockey dork.  Since buying the jersey, Cornell had not won a game while I was wearing the jersey. By beating the Buckeyes - the team that first gave the jersey its bad vibe, the mojo has been restored.