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The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2000/12/01/wrestling-team-gambles-luck-in-las-vegas-invite/)

December 1, 2000

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Wrestling Team Gambles Luck in Las Vegas Invite

By ryan | December 1, 2000

The Cornell wrestling team heads into a busy winter break slate of matches today as it heads westward to compete in the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational at Stateline, Nevada. Adding to the challenge of an already difficult tournament is the recent tragedy of freshman Graham Morin’s death, which will be in the minds of all the wrestlers as they take to the mat this weekend.

The tournament will be held today and tomorrow, and will feature some difficult competition such as Central Washington, Wyoming, Michigan, Buffalo, Cal State Fullerton, Illinois, Cal State Bakersfield, Ohio State, Arizona State, San Diego State, Pittsburgh, North Idaho, Southern Colorado, George Mason, and head coach Rob Koll?s alma mater, North Carolina.

The Red has faced the Tarheels once already this season, in the Cornell Invitational. In that tourney, the opening one of the year and the only action the Big Red has seen so far this year, Cornell beat UNC to take a first place finish.

After the Las Vegas meet, Cornell will take a four-week hiatus for finals and Christmas and will return to action on December 29-30 for the Midlands Tournament, another highly competitive meet which will be held at Northwestern, in Evanston, Illinois. The Red finished in 22nd at Midlands last winter.

Cornell will return to home action on January 5, where it will take on Virginia in its first dual meet of the year.

The Red then will reciprocate by traveling south to Virginia for a weekend of dual meets on January 12-13.

Finally, Cornell will wrap up its winter break schedule with the New York State Championships on January 20-21. The tournament will be held at Nassau Community College.

The Red will have to wrestle not only their opponents, but with the difficulty of dealing with Morin?s death, caused by cardiac arrest during a practice on Saturday. Morin played an important role in the team win over North Carolina at the Cornell Invitational, chipping in with a second-place finish in his first collegiate meet. The squad will feel his absence, both in terms of points as well as spiritually.

Archived article by Alex Fineman

Related

Editorial & Business Training: Compet

By ryan January 1, 2001

Late in the fall semester of each year, Sun staff members are offered the opportunity to compete for a spot on the next editorial board of The Sun, either as one of The Sun’s editors or as a Sun manager working in the business department. After the sign-ups are collected at the end of the semester, The Sun takes a break from publication while the university recesses for the winter break. When students return in January, the formal training process for potential editors and managers known as the “compet” process begins. As one can infer, the word “compet” comes from the word “compete” — and for the next six weeks, that’s exactly what potential Sun editors and managers will do. Editors and managers will rotate through a variety of positions here at the paper, learning the proverbial ins and outs of the business. At times, compet is terrifically demanding of both the trainees who are vying for a spot on the next editorial board and of those veteran editors and managers who are busy training a new crop of Sun leaders. For the duration of the compet process, editors-in-training will receive credit for their hard work on page 4 of our print edition, under a heading that (appropriately) reads “Today’s Editors-in-Training.” The Sun’s elections take place in March, after a full six weeks of late nights and long hours. Following the elections, readers will see new names on the Sun’s mast, and those past editors who have served their time will, once again, become avid readers and dedicated staff members of the paper. Compet is a process that has served the paper well for decades, allowing us to simultaneously build upon the knowledge and experience of our outgoing editors while utilizing the enthusiasm and ingenuity of our up-and-coming successors.Archived article by Sun Staff
Hockey Uses Defense to Defeat Princeton 3-0

By ryan December 3, 2000

ITHACA, NY – One of the best offenses in the ECAC met one of the best defenses in the ECAC Saturday night at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y. The defense won. Cornell (5-3-2, 4-1-1 ECAC) used physical play and great special teams play to subdue the Tigers of Princeton (4-3-3, 3-3-2) by a 3-0 score before a raucous, sellout Lynah crowd. The win gave the Red a four-point weekend and moved it atop the ECAC standings for the first time this year. The shutout was the first for senior goaltender Ian Burt and the first by an ECAC team against the Tigers in 118 ECAC contests. Princeton, which had scored seven goals the night before against Colgate, could get nothing going offensively for the majority of the game. The Tigers only mustered four first period shots, none taken in the slot. Meanwhile, Cornell heaped the pressure upon junior goaltender Dave Stathos of Princeton, who played a solid first period to keep the Red off the scoreboard, despite numerous good chances right in front of his net. Cornell finally cracked Stathos at the 14:54 mark of the second period when Cornell went on its first power play of the evening. Sophomore defenseman Doug Murray unloaded a slapshot from the blue line that missed the net, but bounced off the boards to freshman Ryan Vesce, who slammed it home past a diving Stathos. Meanwhile, senior goaltender Burt was having a relatively easy evening. Princeton managed only six second period shots, as it continued to have trouble carrying the puck into the zone and around the stifling Red defense. “Princeton is very good offensively, they’re very dangerous,” said Cornell head coach Mike Schafer ’86. “I thought we did a good job of containing them. Burt agreed. “I thought the whole team played awesome tonight,” the netminder commented. “They gave [Princeton] nothing all night.” Despite the relative dominance of Cornell the first two periods, they remained only one goal up after the first 40 minutes. That changed quickly at the 1:24 mark of the third, when sophomore Matt McRae was on the end of hard work in the corners from his linemates, Vesce and sophomore Steven Baby. Vesce and Baby won the battle for a puck in the corner, then found McRae in the slot, who skated around Stathos and put the puck in the back of the net. Princeton had a chance to get back in the game when Cornell’s Greg Hornby and Shane Palahicky took back-to-back penalties, giving Princeton 1:40 of five-on-three power play time at the 3:53 mark of the third. Princeton saw some of its best chances on the evening during this stretch, and while Cornell was unable to clear the zone, the Tigers were unable to put it home thanks to some brilliant goaltending from Burt and some tight defense. “I thought Ian [Burt] did a tremendous job during the five on three,” said Schafer. “[The kill] was the turning point of the game.” With the Red again on the power play at the 12:05 mark in the third, Murray got the goal that had barely eluded him in the second when he took a nearly identical slap shot from the blue line that beat Stathos high glove side. From that point, Cornell simply ran time off the clock and kept the Tigers’ big scorers at bay. Burt described the win as the most complete the team had posted all year. “Every game we’ve played this year we’ve played like that for a bit of the game, but we’ve never put a full game together,” the senior said. “Tonight we just came out and put everything together.” Princeton has only two victories at Cornell since the 1980-81 season. Archived article by Charles Persons