Cornell - Providence Flashback

Seeing the highlights of the Stars / Oilers game last night brought back fond memories of the Cornell / Providence ECAC quarterfinal in 1979. It is still the most exciting sporting event I've ever attended.

Same here, and I was only there for the third period and OT.

Highlights from that Cornell/Providence game are at around the 4 minute mark here -- [lynahrink.com]

Avash '05
Highlights from that Cornell/Providence game are at around the 4 minute mark here -- [lynahrink.com]

The $10 million in fundraising the video asks for pales in comparison to the Far Above campaign.

Thanks for bringing up the game and linking the video. I had never seen those highlights before.

I still remember the Cornell-Providence quarterfinal in 1978. We were all counting on another trip to Boston for the ECAC semfinals when Lou Lamoriello's Providence team came into Lynah Rink and thumped us. Back then the quarterfinals were one game elimination series, so we were one and done.

I was in the band at the 1979 game. After the tying goal, there was a two minute delay before we all settled down and played Davy.

A few of us still celebrate Randy Wilson Day every March.

It is without question the most exciting sporting event I ever attended.

Karl

I recently came across the Ithaca Journal article and pictures of the game in a pile of old treasures. I set it aside as a high school senior, knowing I'd never see a more exciting game -- and I haven't!

Here it is, for anyone who doesn't know what all the fuss is about.

lhayes
I recently came across the Ithaca Journal article and pictures of the game in a pile of old treasures. I set it aside as a high school senior, knowing I'd never see a more exciting game -- and I haven't!

Here it is, for anyone who doesn't know what all the fuss is about.

Thanks for sharing the newspaper articles. I had not seen them.

That was absolutely the most exciting sporting event that I've ever seen! When I watch the video of Lance's & Robbie's goals, I still get goose bumps.

Great articles. I only know about this game from you guys, so it made me feel more a part of it to be able to read the detailed game description.

You rule, Louise.

heykb
A few of us still celebrate Randy Wilson Day every March.

It is without question the most exciting sporting event I ever attended.

Karl

Amen to that. It was so exciting that I always forget that I too missed the first two periods due to a Chem 101 prelim (as did many freshmen).

In the Alumni in the Pros thread, someone asked why Shark coach Ron Wison doesn't play Doug Murray more. Ron Wilson, a former Friar star hmself, is Randy's older brother. Hmmmmm.

Awesome links.

Though for my generation it'll always be the 2003 ECAC final. Though it was less of a comeback and their season would have continued anyways, one could argue that it was a bigger rival, bigger game, and bigger season.

French Rage
Awesome links.

Though for my generation it'll always be the 2003 ECAC final. Though it was less of a comeback and their season would have continued anyways, one could argue that it was a bigger rival, bigger game, and bigger season.

Good point....But that Final wasn't in Lynah. Lynah was really rocking that night! We've all seen wild moments in Lynah. But nothing matches March 6, 1979.

The upset in the 1978 quarter final added to the emotion of the comeback in 1979.

Mentioned in Long Island Newsday's blurb about the Stars-Oilers game

[www.newsday.com]

French Rage
Awesome links.

Though for my generation it'll always be the 2003 ECAC final. Though it was less of a comeback and their season would have continued anyways, one could argue that it was a bigger rival, bigger game, and bigger season.

For those of us Tweeners (too young for the Providence game, careworn and jaded by the time of the '03 final) I would say the two most memorable games are the 1986 2ot SF win over Yale at the Garden and, for Lynah moments, the comeback from being down 4-0 in the first 7 minutes of the December 83 Fish N Fowl.

My list of landmark Cornell box scores includes all of the above.

Neat picture in the article.

Unfortunately, I'm being blocked by the referee.

Roy 82

In the Alumni in the Pros thread, someone asked why Shark coach Ron Wison doesn't play Doug Murray more. Ron Wilson, a former Friar star hmself, is Randy's older brother. Hmmmmm.

Similarly, another opponent, Sharks' VP and Asst. GM Wayne Thomas, was the goalie against us in the '70 NCAA semi-final, where we came back from down 1-0 after two periods to win 2-1.
On the other hand, Ron Wilson's uncle, Johnny Wilson, coached the Red Wings for two seasons working for GM Ned Harkness.

Jeff Hopkins '82
Neat picture in the article.

Unfortunately, I'm being blocked by the referee.

Two minutes...interference.

Trotsky
My list of landmark Cornell box scores ...

Missing from the list is the other great vs. Providence comeback, a 6-5 win after being down 5-2 in the 3rd in the 1980 ECAC semi-finals.

No doubt, this was certainly the most exciting Cornell Hockey game to date, and one of the greatest comebacks in all of sport. I worked the penalty box for that game, so I had a great view of everything. I remember seeing, after one of the many unbelievable saves by Bill Milner, someone above section M, in frustration, punch the circuit breaker box on the wall. This caused the lights to go out, and the time period while the lights were warming back up created an unofficial time-out, giving us a chance to re-group. I'll never forget Lance Nethery hanging his head in resignation when Randy Wilson skated free with the puck and headed into our zone towards the empty net. Steve Hennessy followed Wilson, and when Wilson's shot hit a water puddle and went wide, Hennessy said, "Holy f**k, he missed the net!" This got Lance's attention; he took the pass from Steve who had retrieved the puck; and, you know the rest.... When the fans came onto the ice, it was just complete bedlam. I tossed the contents of the puck bucket onto the ice; I wonder if any of those pucks are still around? Thanks for posting the video clip and newspaper articles. I used to have the Ithaca Journal clippings and a cassette tape of the third period and the overtime, but they are long lost, much as the days of my mispent youth.... Speaking of which, as Arthur Mintz and I reflected upon before the Sacred Heart game, this is my 50th. season of watching the Big Red in Lynah. My Dad took me to the first game played in Lynah, the N.Y. Rangers vs. the Rochester Amerks in 1957--unbelievable--what a long, strange trip it's been!! Thanks Again, "Mr. Timekeeper"

I'm in the French Rage generation of the '03 ECAC final. If we hadn't had to miss the second day of Providence the next weekend, the BC game might have been on my list, too.

Please post more often, georget.

I love (re: hate) how espn tried to compare the flubbed EN attempt with '86 WS game 6 on their teaser ad for SportsCenter the following day. You know what Stars/Oilers had in common with that? Nothing. But the brains in Bristol have to reach for a Buckner reference with every gaffe. It's must be a blue law in CT. Thank goodness Newsday got it right.

Keith Olbermann has referenced the '79 playoff game a few times. In the book "The Big Show" he penned with Dan Patrick, he listed the top 10 games he's ever witnessed in person, and that game ranked #2, I believe (only behind the '78 AL East playoff game). The funny thing was how he had to explain to the college-hockey blind public about how he could possibly list such a sporting event. Another mention came in a recent Sun interview:

[cornellsun.com]

Keith Olbermann
"There was nothing like that game, and I covered the 1980 Olympics. I was at the Russia game,"

Personally, I have temporarily banned myself from watching that video...everytime I do, I waste over a half-hour watching it over and over and over again. I had no idea the footage from that game exsisted...just gold, especially when coupled with the radio call.

Greg has a nice list of memorable games by decade. For my era (1993-1996), Schafer's first win vs. Harvard tops my list. Not many regular season games IN NOVEMBER trigger students jumping the glass and rushing the ice to celebrate. Greg didn't list the OT playoff win vs. Princeton in '94...as Lopatka skated the length of the ice after his game winner, I think I was sprinting the length of the concourse randomly tackling other celebrating fans. The only meaningful win in my first two years.

George et al:

Great post from that fabulous game. That evening I actually had to leave the game after the beginning of the 2nd period to develop and transmit a photo of the game for the Associated Press. I didn't think much about the outcome of the game until I was finished at the paper and turned the radio on in my car. It was the middle of the 3rd period and Cornell had just scored its third goal. I went back to Lynah with my cameras and was in the press box right next to radio box where Roy Ives was announcing. Lynah was as loud as I ever heard it and Roy was just screaming in the mike when Lance scored the tying goal. Definitely the most exciting college hockey game I've ever witnessed.

Larry '72

RichH
Greg has a nice list of memorable games by decade. For my era (1993-1996), Schafer's first win vs. Harvard tops my list. Not many regular season games IN NOVEMBER trigger students jumping the glass and rushing the ice to celebrate. Greg didn't list the OT playoff win vs. Princeton in '94...as Lopatka skated the length of the ice after his game winner, I think I was sprinting the length of the concourse randomly tackling other celebrating fans. The only meaningful win in my first two years.

I would have to nominate Cornell vs. Brown, Nov. 8, 1997 as a serious omission from any list of memorable games at Lynah - that's the comeback victory memorialized on the first "Live at Lynah" Pep Band CD. Down 3-1 with 6:20 to go, and we won 4-3 without need of overtime. It's the only time I've ever been aware, in my twenty years of following college hockey, of both teams pulling their goalies in the same game (*). (IIRC, Arthur told me the only other instance he knew of was Cornell vs. Brown sometime in the 1970s, with Brown the victor in that earlier contest.) And we had only four defensemen that night.

(*)EDIT: ...with the last-ditch purpose of attempting to make up a deficit at the end of the game, anyway. Obviously, plenty of games feature delayed penalties for both sides. Go 'way, pedants.

jkahn

Trotsky
My list of landmark Cornell box scores ...

Missing from the list is the other great vs. Providence comeback, a 6-5 win after being down 5-2 in the 3rd in the 1980 ECAC semi-finals.

And you are just the man to send me the box score.

RichH
IGreg didn't list the OT playoff win vs. Princeton in '94...as Lopatka skated the length of the ice after his game winner, I think I was sprinting the length of the concourse randomly tackling other celebrating fans. The only meaningful win in my first two years.

IIRC, that completed a hat trick for Lopey. If you can find the box, I will duly enshrine it.

BTW, I am *very* gradually building a library of box scores for every Cornell game in history, both as static pages and, eventually, as dynamic reports generated from a fully-populated DB. Anybody who wants to hang around the SID's office or Olin Library making copies of Ithaca Journals can email me privately about which seasons I need.

A hint for people who want to overachieve: everything prior to 1957 (which is actually a surprisingly few games).

The site topic index includes season-by-season indices which link to schedules which are linked when a box is present.

Trotsky
BTW, I am *very* gradually building a library of box scores for every Cornell game in history, both as static pages and, eventually, as dynamic reports generated from a fully-populated DB. Anybody who wants to hang around the SID's office or Olin Library making copies of Ithaca Journals can email me privately about which seasons I need.

Doesn't this kind of duplicate the ELynah DB that's been in progress, at least a little?

Larry72
George et al:

Great post from that fabulous game. That evening I actually had to leave the game after the beginning of the 2nd period to develop and transmit a photo of the game for the Associated Press. I didn't think much about the outcome of the game until I was finished at the paper and turned the radio on in my car. It was the middle of the 3rd period and Cornell had just scored its third goal. I went back to Lynah with my cameras and was in the press box right next to radio box where Roy Ives was announcing. Lynah was as loud as I ever heard it and Roy was just screaming in the mike when Lance scored the tying goal. Definitely the most exciting college hockey game I've ever witnessed.

Larry '72

I missed the first and second periods because of a Chem 208 prelim (we tried to get it moved but the asshole prof refused). At the exam, I let the TA's know that I was upset I was missing the game. Turns out they were as pissed as I was. As they passed out the exams, I hummed "O Canada!" for luck, which got a chuckle from those who recognized it. I finished the exam quickly, got an "enjoy the game" from the TA, and ran up to Lynah to get in before the third period.

I got there during the outage while they fixed the lights, so it was still in the middle of the second. I had to wait outside until the second period was finished and the ushers let me in. When I got down to my seat, my friends said "You shouldn't have bothered coming" because at that point the score was already 3-1 PC.

You know the rest.

And in case you're wondering, I aced the exam.

First, I'd like to say hello and thanks to all of the '70s era lurkers that have come out and joined the thread. It is always great to hear about pre-Schafer Cornell hockey that is more than a passing reference to Dryden's undefeated season.

Second, I was in Ithaca from '90 - '93 so I don't have an epic win to remember. I saw some very good teams that won a lot of games that they were expected to win and some brutal, brutal losses (RPI in '90, SLU in '91, BC beating Ryan Hughes 5-4), but no epic wins (at home). The only game that stands out as an inspiring comeback was the February 9, 1991 tie against Harvard, to break a regular season losing streak against them that dated back to at least 1985 (so sayeth TBRW).

That said, my alumni years have seen enough great wins that I'm not surprised that I am still obsessed.

Trotsky
My list of landmark Cornell box scores

No 1990 playoff series vs Harvard?