When Mike Schafer became Cornell's head coach prior to the 1996 season, he inherited a team with a few brilliant stars and some gaping holes. As his next two squads rode the goaltending of Jason Elliott, the leadership of Brad Chartrand, and sheer guts and emotion to consecutive ECAC championships and NCAA bids, Schafer and his assistant coaches quietly went about the difficult task of restructuring the team philosophy.
Even as the banners were raised, veteran observers of the team saw Schafer gradually preparing for the loss of his stars by significantly shifting recruiting priorities and playing style. Growing pains were inevitable, and perhaps the best standard of Mike's coaching ability is that over the period of "rebuilding years", the Big Red visited Lake Placid as one of the league's elite in 1998, then came within a bounce of returning in 1999.
As Schafer enters his sixth season behind the bench, the transformation is complete. The result is a strong, aggressive Cornell team that scares the hell out of every league opponent with their combination of skill and attitude. After returning to Lake Placid, blitzing Clarkson in the play-in, and wrestling eventually NCAA semifinalist St. Lawrence into overtime in the ECAC semi, Cornell is now positioned to build on that success and mount their first serious challenge for the ECAC title since 1997.
Graduated are the troika of Doug Stienstra, Mike Rutter, and Ryan Moynihan, which produced 86 points between them, as well as tough center Frank Kovac. Still, Cornell returns a fairly solid attack for 2001.
Junior Denis Ladouceur (10-15-25) has been a streaky performer, but hopefully this may be his break out season. Another man with an unlimited ceiling is his former junior B linemate and classmate David Kozier (1-2-3), who returns after an injury severely limited his action last year. Sophomore Matt McRae (8-16-24, NHL pick) was nothing short of incredible in his first season, and fellow sophomore Stephen Baby (4-10-14, NHL pick) was a tough, grinding presence along the boards and in the corners. Stephen is one of those huge, enthusiastic performers who in years passed we would grudgingly admit we wished were ours. Thanks to Cornell's course change, he is ours...
Among the other returnees, junior Kryzysztof Wieckowski (5-6-11) is enigmatic, sometimes amazing, but frequently fading into the background. Senior David Hovey (0-11-11) has settled into a solid defensive forward role, while fellow senior Andrew McNiven (6-4-10) continues to give the impression that a goal scoring explosion is just around the corner. Sophomore Shane Palahicky (0-9-9), a virtual unknown at the beginning of last season, had a solid year, and senior Dan Svoboda (5-2-7) will have one more year to terrorize opponents with his trademark wrister. Junior David Francis (2-3-5) and sophomore Sam Paolini (1-4-5) may have to fight to retain their jobs, because the incoming class is rich in forwards.
Freshman forwards Kelly Hughes (Calgary, Alb.) and Jason Kuczmanski (Cheektowaga, N.Y.) lead the incoming freshmen, scoring a combined 155 points with their junior teams last year. Greg Hornby (Nanaimo, B.C.), Ryan Vesce (Lloyd Harbor, N.Y.) and Scott Krahn (Kelowna, B.C.) are also expected to make an impact with the Big Red.
With sixteen forwards competing for twelve starting spots, the Big Red should have depth and flexibility. The absence of a proven scorer is a concern, but just as the defense was colonized by last season's freshmen, so may this year's forward line be dominated by new blood. The points will come from somewhere.
The core of Cornell's recent success has been the defense. Not surprising, since Schafer was a legendary tough, hard-hitting defenseman, the Big Red display the same ethic. Stalwarts David Adler and Rick Sacchetti have graduated, but return most of the defense returns intact.
We cannot say enough about sophomores Mark McRae (5-16-21, NHL pick) and Doug Murray (3-6-9, NHL pick) except to impress upon you the need to see them in person. The best recent news for Cornell has been these twin defensive keystones. Senior Danny Powell (2-7-9), provides mature leadership, and adds to the punishing checking style that has become the team's hallmark, doing Schafer's legacy proud.
Meanwhile, sharp-shooting senior Larry Pierce (6-6-12) bounces between the wing and the blueline, and junior Brian McMeekin (0-1-1, NHL pick) provides additional size and strength. The blueline is filled out with sophomore Travis Bell (0-1-1) and junior Alex Gregory (0-0-0), each of who hopes to battle the incoming freshmen for playing time.
Ben Wallace (London, Ont.) is a highly thought-of incoming prospect, as is David Hughes (Great Neck, N.Y.), the son of John Hughes, captain of Cornell's 1970 perfect national championship team, and older brother of Sarah Hughes, the next great American figure skater.
There's more competition here, with 9 defensemen going for 6 slots. This looks like the most solid group of Cornell blueliners since the early 90's, and they should add an unusually high amount of offensive pressure.
Depth is not a word usually applied to the net, but Cornell does have depth in goal, with three nearly equal netminders contending for the starting job.
Junior Matt Underhill (8-7-1 2.90 .894, NHL pick) and senior Ian Burt (8-6-1 2.35 .913) have emerged as a solid goaltending duo -- despite the difference in their stats, they appear to be similarly solid backstops, with Schafer going with the hot hand on any given night. The darkhorse candidate is sophomore Chris Gartman (0-1-0 2.44 .909) whose only start was in the consolation game at Lake Placid.
There doesn't appear to be anything particularly wrong with Cornell's goaltending, nor anything all that spectacular. This is not the stuff of Dryden, Dadswell, Duffus, nor Eliot (nor Elliott) legend, but neither is it the dog days. The Big Red net is ably enough manned that with a solid defense and a good attack, they will win their share of games. And when the playoffs come around, hopefully one of these men will have obviously won the battle to carry the team.
You could not ask for a better year for Cornell to regain their form. St. Lawrence's runaway defending championship team may have been crippled with the defection of Derek Gustafson and Brandon Dietrich. Second place Colgate lost frightening forward Andy McDonald and goalie Shep Harder. Third place RPI was decimated, losing virtually their entire team. Fifth place Clarkson lost their remaining sniper, Eric Cole. The remaining league challenger, Harvard, lost all-everything goalie J.R. Prestifillippo.
The transformation of Cornell into a CCHA-style challenger under Mike Schafer is complete. They play very physical hockey, wear down their opponents, and threaten to score as much from the blueline and from the slot. With a lineup peppered liberally with NHL draft picks for the first time in a decade, this could be Cornell's year.
Where are the question marks? They have been alluded to above: lack of a damaging sniper and lack of a truly dominant goaltender. The 2001 edition of the Big Red may at times look like a fantastic supporting cast in search of a star.
Of course, stars can emerge seemingly from nowhere, and the suspects include Ladouceur, Kozier, McNiven and the McRae twins. In any case, it looks like we are in store for an exciting season, with Cornell right in the heart of the regular season title hunt, and right on the cusp of Schafer's third NCAA appearance in six seasons.