Yale Finally Breaks the Ice...and More Stuff I Think

Don't expect Yale hockey Coach Tim Taylor to repeat as ECAC Coach of the Year.

Taylor will always be in the running for Mr. Nice Guy, but his Elis are running on empty.

Sunday, Yale picked up its first victory--league or otherwise--by besting Army, 6-0, in West Point, N.Y. Until that point, the boys in blue had gone 0-7 in the ECAC, 0-11 overall.

Yale has the league's premier goal-tender, Mike O'Neill (a first-team All-ECAC selection last year). But O'Neill can't stop every puck that comes his way. In the meantime, his offense has been camped out in the neutral zone, singing songs and toasting marshmallows.

Rumors have it that opposing goaltenders bring out a pack of cards and play solitaire as the Yale offense struts its stuff between the blue lines.

Yale's downfall, horrendous now, actually began two years ago. In the preseason, the Elis were ranked in the national top 10 and did nothing to dispell their critical acclaim by besting Harvard, 7-5, in the 1985-'86 season opener.

The Elis finished second behind Harvard in the ECAC that year, and made it to the semifinals of the league tournament. They were favored to reach the finals and--given the fact that they preferred a small rink with slow ice, which the Boston Garden provides--win it.

But Yale met up with a goalie named Doug Dadswell and an impressive group from Cornell. Dads well made 54 saves and Cornell beat Yale, 5-4, in double-overtime. The Big Red went on to win the championship. Yale lost to Harvard in the consolation game.

Yale is one of seven teams in the 12-team ECAC which has never won a league title. Cornell, on the other hand, has won seven.

You'd have thought that the Big Red could have spared one, just once, for the grand ol' Elis.

Dadswell, incidently, is now the second goalie on the NHL's leading team, the Calgary Flames. He recently posted an 8-2 victory over the Washington Capitals, in which he stopped 28 of 30 shots.

Joe Nieuwendyk, a forward for Cornell's 1986 ECAC championship team, scored a pair of goals and added an assist for Calgary. He is the Flames' chief power play expert and has over 30 goals on the season, more than Wayne Gretzky.

No wonder Yale had trouble with Cornell that year.

The shot was deathly, but not deadly...

Sunday, Cornell women's hockey forward Barbara Death scored the Big Red's lone goal against Harvard in a 6-1 Crimson victory.

Afterward, she met the media and thanked them for not sticking her with the obvious nickname "The Grim Reaper."

"I'll stick with my old nickname--Six Feet Under," she told the assembled press. "I got it when I fell into a manhole playing sixth-grade street hockey," she said.

Actually, Barbara Death pronounces her last name to rhyme with teeth. Her heads-up play on a delayed penalty spoiled Harvard goalie Jennifer White's shutout. And that was something to be proud of...

I grew up in Cleveland and then moved to Washington, D.C., 14 years ago so naturally I am hoping for a Browns-Redskins match-up in the Super Bowl.

The possibility existed last year, of course, but neither team managed to win in the conference finals.

Growing up in Cleveland is synonimous with growing up a pessimist. My picks:

Denver 23, Cleveland 20.

Minnesota 27, Washington 20.

Look for me at the Super Bowl consolation game.