Providence Upsets Big Red, Captures ECAC Laurels, 8-4

The Providence College hockey team, still flying from Friday night's comeback victory over top-seeded Clarkson, quieted defending conference champion Cornell and its illustrious cowbell, 8-4, Saturday night at Boston Garden to win the ECAC Championship for the first time since 1964.

Dick Betrand's fourth-seeded Big Red had come from behind to nip Colgate in Friday night's semifinal, and then watched tournament favorite Clarkson blow a 3-1 lead in the final '57 seconds of the second game and lose to the seventh-seeded Friars, 4-3, in overtime. With some 3000 of their inimitable fans bused in for the contest--including one toting the shrill cowbell that has fired dozens of Cornell squads to victory through the years--the Ivy Division winners seemed ready to restake their claim as the best in the East.

But cowbell or no, the Big Red was never in the game.

Machine-gunning two goals home in half a minute midway through the first period, the Friars bolted to a 2-0 lead they never relinquished. Tournament MVP Kurt Kleinendorst slapped a loose puck past Cornell's Brian Hayward for a power-play tally at 9:34, and Steve Evangelista doubled the lead exactly 20 seconds later with a flip past Hayward's left side.

Roy Kerling narrowed the margin to 2-1 later in the stanza, but Providence pulled the two-goals-in-a-minute act again ten minutes into the second when Gates Orlando and John Sullivan lit the red light 13 seconds apart. Then it was Kleinendorst again at 16:31 and again at 18:59 to complete the hat trick and give the Friars a 6-1 lead.

Darren Here

After Friday's hero Darren Eliot replaced Hayward in the Cornell nets, a Brock Tredway marker pulled Cornell within four, and the cowbell started up again. But Dan Miele slammed the door at 12:06, beating Eliot to make it 7-2 and squelch Big Red comeback hopes. Kerling and Jeff Baikie made the score respectable later on, before a Sullivan empty-netter with four seconds left officially ended a contest that had been over for 40 minutes. The Friars--who had lost to Cornell in the tournament each of the last two years--had the title.

And so a team that opened its ECAC season in turmoil with 11 players missing a home-ice, 8-1 disaster against B.U. because of curfew violations; a team that at one point played eight games without a win and owned a 3-7-1 record at the new year, closed its campaign as the finest sextet in the region.

The Friars will be seeded number two in the East for the eight-team NCAA tournament, which gets underway next week, joining Cornell, Clarkson and Colgate as ECAC representatives.

Despite Providence's victory, the ECAC seeding committee last night awarded Clarkson the number-one seed in the tournament on the basis of its superior overall record. The Friars were seeded second, Cornell third and Colgate fourth. The western seeds in order are Minnesota, Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech and Wisconsin.

The quarterfinal round will consist of a home-and-home series, with the final decided on total goals. PROVIDENCE 8. CORNELL 4 at Boston Garden Providence (17-13-1)  2  4  2--8 Cornell (18-10-1)  1  0  3--4

Scoring: P. Kurt Kleinendorst (Dan Miele, Gates Oriando) 9:34; P. Steve Evangelista (Jim Rushin) 9:54; C. Roy Kerling (Bill Cole, Brock Tredway) 11:22;, P. Oriando (Randy Velischek) 10:44; P. John Sullivan (Paul Stasiuk, Oriando) 10:57; P. Kurt Kleinendorst (Dan Miele, Jim Coluocl) 16:31; P. Kurt Kleinendorst (Steve Anderson, Scott Kleinendorst) 18:59; C. Tredway (Kerling) 9:20; P. Miele (Mike Gouin, Jon Hogberg) 12:06; C. Kerling (Geoff Roeszier) 12:50; C. Jeff Baikie (Tredway, Roeszler) 15:29; P. Sullivan (Steve Taylor) 19:56.

Saves: P. Martio Proulx 33; C. Brian Hayward 20 and Darren Ellot 4.

Attendance 10,362

Scoring: P. Kurt Kleinendorst (Dan Miele, Gates Oriando) 9:34; P. Steve Evangelista (Jim Rushin) 9:54; C. Roy Kerling (Bill Cole, Brock Tredway) 11:22;, P. Oriando (Randy Velischek) 10:44; P. John Sullivan (Paul Stasiuk, Oriando) 10:57; P. Kurt Kleinendorst (Dan Miele, Jim Coluocl) 16:31; P. Kurt Kleinendorst (Steve Anderson, Scott Kleinendorst) 18:59; C. Tredway (Kerling) 9:20; P. Miele (Mike Gouin, Jon Hogberg) 12:06; C. Kerling (Geoff Roeszier) 12:50; C. Jeff Baikie (Tredway, Roeszler) 15:29; P. Sullivan (Steve Taylor) 19:56.

Saves: P. Martio Proulx 33; C. Brian Hayward 20 and Darren Ellot 4.

Attendance 10,362