Cornell Takes ECAC Title, 3-2

Deja vu--that funny feeling you get that what is happening has all happened before.

Cornell's 3-2 overtime victory over Clarkson Saturday night at Boston Garden gave the Big Red its record seventh ECAC tournament championship, and also gave many of the assembled throng that funny feeling....

In Cornell's thrilling semifinal triumph over Yale Friday night, the teams entered the third period locked at 2-2. Saturday's score also stood tied at two after two.

The Bulldogs and Red battled through an exciting but scoreless third period Friday as Cornell goalie Doug Dadswell put on an amazing show (on his way to a total of 57 saves, a tourney record), single-handedly keeping his team in the game while his forwards struggled to put anything together offensively.

Ditto Saturday (except that Dadswell stopped only 35 shots against Clarkson).

Friday night, Cornell won 1:14 into the second overtime period when Duanne Moeser hit paydirt immediately after the Red killed a near-fatal power play.

Saturday night, Cornell won with 1:34 left in the first overtime period when Chris Grenier nailed a 30-footer a minute after the Red killed a near-fatal power play.

Deja vu...

Cornell jumped out to an 2-0 lead Saturday night. Peter Marcov gave Cornell its first goal at 8:37 of the first period and Dave Hunter steered in Mike Schafer's shot at 3:45 of the second.

But the Golden Knights jumped back into the game late in the second period with a pair of power-play goals.

Brad James scored first, in a 5-on-3 situation at 12:13. The Cornell penalties that set up the two-man advantage overlapped for less than a dozen seconds, but Clarkson still found time to cut the deficit to a single goal.

Mike Harvey then beat Dadswell, and the clock as well, with a shot from the left that snuck into the Red goal with just one second left on the clock.

Cornell appeared to have scored a monumental go-ahead tally in the third period when Dave Crombeen slammed home the puck, but the officials ruled that he had gotten the puck with an illegal hand pass, and nullified the score.

This set the stage for Grenier's dramatic goal, which set off a frenzied celebration in the Cornell fans' sections and on the ice.