Cornell Icemen Upset Crimson With 5-2 Victory

Devout Harvard hockey fans waited in line last Thursday for up to three hours to buy the few precious tickets available for Saturday's Cornell game. With their appetites whetted by the tie with Czechoslovakia, they eagerly poured into Watson Rink anticipating a sweet victory over the Big Red from Ithaca--only to be stunned by a 5-2 Cornell upset.

Harvard pressed throughout all three periods, outshooting Cornell, 37-27, but Big Red Goalie Dave Elenbaas thwarted the Crimson's efforts by making 35 saves, including a key breakaway stop on Harvard's Bill Corkery.

However, Crimson coach Bill Cleary did not appear to be discouraged after Harvard's first defeat of the season, a defeat sure to tarnish its number one ranking. "Harvard will win in Ithaca," Cleary said confidently after the game.

"We controlled the puck, but we couldn't get that many good opportunities to score," Cleary explained. "One of our problems was shooting the park much too high."

In a hard-checking battle which Harvard's Doug Eliot missed because of an ankle injury, referee Giles Threadgold called nine penalties on Cornell compared to the Crimson's five, but Harvard's power play was successful only once during a man-up situation.

The Crimson held a man advantage four times in the opening period, but Cornell killed each penalty and managed to tally once to make the score 1-0 after the first twenty minutes. Harvard went into the locker room behind its opponent for the first time this season in a college game.

During the first two minutes of the second period the Crimson again failed to capitalize on the power play, and at 6:00 the Big Red's Gordy McCormick scored a short-side goal with a shot from the right corner to extend Cornell's lead to 2-0.

'Local Line'

Harvard came back with its first tally three minutes later on a beautiful setup by the "Local Line." Dave Hynes passed to Bob McManama, who carried the puck down the left side and then passed it by the one remaining defenseman to linemate Corkery. Corkery flipped a shot past Elenbaas into the right corner.

Cornell soon widened its lead to 3-1, however, when junior Doug Marrett scored at 13-05. In the remaining seven minutes seven penalties were called, but neither team notched a goal.

Harvard fans in notorious section 18 showed their displeasure at one of Threadgold's calls late in the period by throwing a live chicken onto the ice in front of the Cornell net, to Elenbaas' surprise.

The Crimson missed two scoring opportunities in the first ten minutes of the final period, once when Bob Goodenow and Randy Roth had a two-on one break but never got off a shot, and once when Elenbaas blocked Corkery's shot on a shorthanded breakaway.

Soon after Corkery's breakaway, Hynes checked and decked-Cornell's Dave Street, a 190-pound defenseman who tried to knock down anyone who neared the Cornell nets throughout the game. Street teamed with Gunar Skillins, a sophomore who received three penalites from Threadgold and numerous insults from the stands.

Cornell's Gary Young notched a goal with 5-35 remaining to give him team a 4-1 lead, and less than two minute later his teammater Dave Peace scored on a 25-foot slapshot into the right corner, making a Cornell win a certainty.

McManattis sarrowed Cornell's victory margin to three goal with a power play score at 18:49