Day's Trick Puts SLU in Title Game

A Cornell fan waved a sign that read, "Fight, Maim, Kill," at the Cornell-St. Lawrence ECAC semifinal game in the Boston Garden last night, but it was the Big Red which took the beating.

Joe Day exploded for a hat trick, Chris Consorte added two goals--including a short-handed tally--and Russ Mann netted the game-winner to lead the Saints (28-5) to a 6-1 triumph over Cornell (16-12-1) in front of 9387 spectators.

SLU will meet Vermont, a 3-2 overtime winner over Harvard, tonight at 8:30 p.m. in the championship game.

"We just wanted to use our experience from last year," said SLU Coach Joe Marsh, whose Saints captured the tourney last. year. "It was a game when we really put both aspects together--offense and defense."

Senior Mike Hurlbut rifled a slapshot through the middle and Mann tipped the deflection high into the net at the 13:29 mark of the second period to give St. Lawrence a 2-1 lead--all it needed for a ticket into the finals.

Cornell jumped on the scoreboard early when junior Ross Lemon tallied 2:34 into the first period. Saint goaltender Paul Cohen blocked Lemon's first shot with his pads, but let an identical Lemon shot slide between his legs on the rebound to give Cornell a 1-0 lead.

But Cohen showed signs later in the period of the play that earned him second-team All-ECAC honors this year. When Cornell's Chris Grenier intercepted a Mann clearing pass in the SLU zone, Cohen's quick reflexes saved the Saints.

"Cornell has a strong attack, but my defense gave me good coverage, and I was able to read the puck better," Cohen said.

Day capitalized on the power play 4:56 into the first period to knot the score before Mann tallied the game-winner.

"We thought after the first period that it was certainly still a hockey game," Cornell Coach Brian McCutcheon said. "We tried to get something going, but our special teams hurt us."

Cornell sophomore Corrie D'Alessio sent out invitations for a party in his goalie box during the second period and his defenseman stood him up. But the Saints were more than happy to play the role of gracious guests.

The Red goaltender came up big on a round-the-back-of-the-net attempt by Murray and stuffed three consecutive Dave Witherell shots on the power play, but the Saints still managed to slip two goals past him.

On the power-play 11:21 into the second period, Day celebrated with a shot into the short side of the net after Murray had drawn D'Alessio to the left of the box. And junior Chris Consorte spoiled D'Alessio's fun with a short-handed tally that gave the Saints a 4-1 lead at the 13:44 mark.

"We've been struggling in the past on the power play. At least I have," Day said. "My job on the power play is more to get in front of the net and get the rebounds."

D'Alessio did get one gift--a called-back SLU goal in the closing minutes of the period.

But the Saints more than made up for the missing tally with two more goals in the third period. Day completed his hat trick on a feed from sophomore Andy Pritchard at the 6:44 mark, and Consorte backhanded a Martyn Ball pass into the net with less than six minutes remaining in the game to close out the scoring.

"[The Saints] proved that they're the defending ECAC champions," McCutcheon said. "I have to give them a lot of credit for how they played."