Nine years ago, Mike Schafer “86 did exactly what Ted Donato will do tonight. He came home to coach his alma mater for the first time in this most intense of ECAC rivalries. Schafer, coaching only the third game in for the Red in his career, beat Harvard, adding a new chapter to the historic series.
Tonight, Harvard alum Ted Donato will coach against Cornell in only the second game of his coaching life.
It will be the conference opener for the Red (2-0-0, 0-0-0 ECACHL).
Cornell enters tonight”s game after a dominating performance last weekend, beating both Army and Sacred Heart by 7-1 scores. Harvard, on the other hand will be in search of its first victory, after it tied travel-partner Brown, 2-2, last Friday night.
The Crimson (0-0-1, 0-0-1 ECACHL) starts anew this season in more ways than one. After former head coach Mark Mazzeloni left following last season to take a job in his native Wisconsin, Havard brought in former captain and NHL player Donato to take the reins. In addition to an entirely new coaching staff — which includes Schafer”s former teammate Bruce Irving “85 — the Crimson also lost a lot of talent to graduation, including Kenny Smith,Tom Walsh and Tim Pettit. The team is led by seniors forward Tom Cavanagh and defenseman Noah Welch. Classmate Dov Grumet-Morris again backstops the Crimson.
Tomorrow night, Brown (0-0-1, 0-0-1, ECACHL) will pay its annual visit to Ithaca. The Bears have also played only one game so far this season — last Friday”s tie against Harvard. Cornell failed to beat Brown last season, as the teams skated to a 3-3 tie on Dec. 5 at Lynah Rink before the Bears grabbed a 2-1 overtime victory on Jan. 10 in Providence, R.I.
Paul Baier and Sean Dersch provided the scoring last week for the Bears. Senior goalie Scott Rowan, who took over the starting job this year following the graduation of Yann Danis, made 22 saves.
Though considered by many to be an afterthought in the weekend series, Brown has always been among the top teams in the ECACHL, as evidenced by last year”s third-place finish. Cornell, meanwhile, will enter tonight”s game following a stellar offensive performance last weekend that saw 16 different players notch points. Juniors Chris Abbott and Matt Moulson each scored twice and added two assists for personal four-point weekends. Senior assistant captain Mike Iggulden and junior Shane Hynes also recorded four points apeice last weekend, as each scored a goal and recorded three assists.
Sophomore goaltender David McKee recorded 30 saves for a .938 save percentage.
The puck will drop at 7 p.m. both tonight and tomorrow.
Archived article by Owen Bochner
Sun Sports Editor