Making History: March 18-21, 2010

Making makingHistory history women’s wrestling men’s men’sbasketball basketball women’siceicehockey hockey men’s men’s ice hockey wrestling march 18-21, 2010

the greatest cornell sports weekend ever

MAKING HISTORY: March 18-21, 2010, the greatest cornell sports weekend ever Published by myTEAMBOOK, a division of MomentumMedia/MAG, Inc., in conjunction with Cornell University Athletic Department.

All rights reserved Š2010 by myTEAMBOOK/MAG, Inc. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without the permission in writing from the publisher.

For more information, address: myTEAMBOOK, a division of MAG, Inc. 31 Dutch Mill Rd. Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 257-6970 www.myteambook.net www.MomentumMedia.com

table of contents acknowledgements 2 photo credits 3 introduction 4-5 a perspective 6-7

men’s ice hockey 8

prologue 10 friday 15 saturday 18 a perspective 26

women’s ice hockey 28 prologue friday saturday sunday a perspective

30 34 40 43 48

wrestling 50 prologue thursday friday saturday a perspective

52 55 58 66 72

men’s basketball 74

prologue 76 friday 81 saturday 86 sunday 89 a perspective 94

men’s ice hockey roster, schedule, & results 96 women’s ice hockey roster, schedule, & results 98 wrestling roster, schedule, & results 100 basketball roster, schedule, & results 102

MAKING HISTORY 1

acknowledgements If thousands of Cornellians and Big Red fans around the country were a little bleary-eyed on Monday, March 22, 2010, from excessive television viewing during the weekend, you could hardly fault them.

The opportunity to watch live Cornell sports action on major sports television networks was unprecedented: • Cornell basketball on CBS Sports, both Friday and Sunday afternoon • Cornell women’s hockey on the CBS College Sports Network Sunday afternoon

• Cornell men’s hockey on the NHL Network Friday evening • Cornell men’s hockey on Fox Sports Saturday evening • Cornell wrestling on ESPN Saturday evening All told, there were more than 12 hours of Cornell championship action on major sports networks in a three-day span. And the tally for this one amazing weekend: two NCAA Championship second-place team finishes earned, one NCAA Sweet Sixteen ticket punched, and one major conference champion crowned.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a college sports program at any level that had received this much TV airtime—and this much success in championship competition—over one weekend.

The national media attention on Cornell and Big Red sports continued into the following week. There were feature articles in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and USA Today, as well as countless other newspapers and Web sites. From March 18-21, 2010, Cornell was at the top of the college sports world.

We are pleased to detail this historic weekend in Making History. Indeed, it is the greatest Cornell sports weekend ever.

Editors at MomentumMedia worked with athletes from each of the four Big Red teams featured in Making History to detail the triumphs of this special weekend and capture the emotion that led to, and resulted from, these historic victories. Kyle Garratt and Dave Wohlhueter—former Cornell Sports Information Director—combined to write the men’s hockey section with input from seniors Colin Greening and Ben Scrivens. Greening, a forward, was named first-team All-Ivy League and second-team All-ECAC and was selected the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award winner for men’s ice hockey. Scrivens, a goalie, was named a Division I first team All-American by the American Hockey Coaches Association, and received the Ken Dryden Award as the top goaltender in the ECAC. Mike Phelps wrote the women’s hockey section with the insight of Liz Zorn, a senior co-captain who was named the squad’s Player of the Year. Kenny Berkowitz sat down with Troy Nickerson to write the wrestling section.

Nickerson earned All-America and first-team All-Ivy honors all four years of his Cornell wrestling career. And we were fortunate to receive first-hand reporting on men’s basketball from Jon Jaques, a senior tri-captain on the squad who wrote the basketball section. Jaques is now pursuing a career in journalism while he plays professional basketball in Israel.

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The book includes “perspective” columns from four prominent Cornellians and a legendary Cornell athletic administrator, including three members of the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame. All of these columnists have contributed a great deal to the legacy of Cornell athletics. Thanks to Jeremy Schaap ’91, Dave Wohlhueter, Bill Duthie ’71, and Steve Friedman ’59, and Garry Munson ’66 for their insights and contributions to the book.

Natalie Couch beautifully designed this book, and we are grateful for her efforts to make this a special commemorative item for Cornell sports fans and supporters. Thanks to Andy Noel for writing the introduction, and for all of his support of the book. Cornell Director of Athletic Communications Jeremy Hartigan and Assistant Director Kevin Zeise collected many of the materials for this book, and their efforts helped make the content so strong.

The book includes dozens of terrific photos, including many images supplied by local Cornell sports photographers Patrick Shanahan, Tim McKinney, and Dave Burbank. And thanks to Ned Dykes for supplying the photos from the NCAA Women’s Hockey Frozen Four in Minneapolis, and Lindsey Mechalik for supplying the photos from the NCAA wrestling championships in Omaha.

I hope you enjoy the book and the memories contained in the articles and pictures. As Cornell fans, we will remember March 18-21, 2010, forever.

Mark Goldberg ’81 Publisher of Making History Former Cornell Sports Information Director

photo credits Front Cover....... Women’s Ice Hockey: Ned Dykes, Wrestling: Lindsey Mechalik, Men’s Ice Hockey: Tim McKinney, Basketball: US Presswire/Kim Klement pg.2-3................. (Table of Contents) Women’s Ice Hockey: Ned Dykes, Wrestling: Lindsey Mechalik, Men’s Ice Hockey: Tim McKinney, Basketball: US Presswire/Kim Klement Men’s Ice Hockey pg.8.................... Tim McKinney pg.9.................... Dave Burbank pg.11.................. Dave Burbank pg.13.................. Dave Burbank pg.14.................. Ned Dykes pg.17.................. Dave Burbank pg.18-19............. Tim McKinney pg.19-20............. Tim McKinney pg.23.................. Tim McKinney pg.24-25............. Tim McKinney Women’s Ice Hockey pg.28-47............. All photos: Ned Dykes Wrestling pg.50.................. Lindsey Mechalik pg.51.................. Dave Burbank pg.52.................. Lindsey Mechalik pg.53.................. Dave Burbank pg.54-65............. Lindsey Mechalik pg.68-73............. Lindsey Mechalik Men’s Basketball pg.74.................. AP Photo/Steve Helber pg.75.................. Patrick Shanahan pg.77.................. Patrick Shanahan pg.78-87............. Patrick Shanahan pg.88-91............. Patrick Shanahan pg.92 & 93.......... US Presswire/Kim Klement pg.96-103........... All Team Photos: Patrick Shanahan

MAKING HISTORY 3

introduction

By Andy Noel

It is late in the evening in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday, March 20. This is a day, and a weekend, I will remember forever.

The past five days in Omaha have been a whirlwind of NCAA Wrestling Committee meetings, morning weigh-ins, fierce competition, protest deliberations, triumph for many, and heartbreak for many more.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of miles to the southeast in Jacksonville, Florida, our Big Red basketball team prepared for its collision with Wisconsin, having stunned the nation and the 12th-ranked Temple Owls yesterday with a flawless game plan executed to perfection in a 78-65 Cornell victory in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. This exhilarating milestone, Cornell’s first-ever NCAA tournament victory, and the almost unbelievable success of our women’s ice hockey team, which defeated top-ranked Mercyhurst 3-2 in overtime yesterday in the NCAA semifinal in Minneapolis, set the stage for continued heroics today and Sunday. While the Cornell wrestlers battle to a second-place finish in the NCAA wrestling championship tonight, our Big Red men’s skaters earn head coach Mike Schafer’s fifth ECAC Hockey tournament crown with a 3-0 drubbing of Union College in Albany and secure a trip to the NCAA men’s ice hockey tournament.

My mind is not able to process the significance of the moment because my thoughts keep turning to the Big Red student-athletes competing tomorrow for an even more significant place in Cornell athletics lore. I wonder whether I can get from Omaha to Minneapolis for the women’s ice hockey championship game, or to Jacksonville to support the men’s basketball team in its bid to defeat Wisconsin and earn a berth in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. I promised head coach Steve Donahue and myself that I would make it to Jacksonville come hell or high water, having missed last year’s NCAA first round match-up with Missouri due to the same NCAA committee obligations. So, Jacksonville it is! However, I soon learn that the earliest flight departing Omaha tomorrow morning will not land in Jacksonville until approximately halftime of the Cornell-Wisconsin game. None of the scheduled flights will get me there in time to see the game.

Yesterday I was devastated to miss the majority of the Cornell-Temple game, catching only a few minutes on the TV monitors in our NCAA headquarters. I cannot fathom missing tomorrow’s game as well, the most important game in Cornell basketball history! Deep disappointment consumes me as I realize that sharing the experience of a second-round NCAA basketball game with our team, coaching staff, loyal alumni, and fans seems impossible.

But wait! To my amazement, disappointment transforms into unadulterated joy when I receive word from our Director of Athletics Alumni Affairs and Development, John Webster, that our friend and University trustee, Rich Booth ‘82, has arranged for a private jet to fly several Cornellians from Omaha to Jacksonville early tomorrow morning. Is this really happening?

With a trip to Jacksonville set, my adrenaline level remains at its peak from the excitement of our Big Red wrestlers placing second to Iowa and the exhilarating performance of our newly-crowned national champion, freshman Kyle Dake.

4 MAKING HISTORY

I am thrilled for sophomore Cam Simaz, who blazes to a third-place finish having upset a senior from Maryland who had handily defeated him twice earlier in the season. My heart aches for junior Mack Lewnes, who is beaten for the first time all season in the NCAA final, and for our defending NCAA champion, Troy Nickerson, who was tormented by an injured shoulder that dislocated numerous times during the tournament, relegating him to a fourthplace finish when he is clearly the class of his weight category. Other wrestlers narrowly miss earning All-America honors but do record major wins over top competition.

The traditional Cornell post-NCAA wrestling championship party is always hosted by alumni and/or parents. As you may imagine, tonight the crowd celebrates the positive result of a historic season. The atmosphere, tempered somewhat out of respect for the wrestlers who did not finish as high as they aspired, is still electric and the individual speeches are poignant. I am making it an early night because I need to be on time for the departure to Jacksonville.

Now it is Sunday morning. We depart early from Omaha and arrive in Jacksonville approximately two hours prior to tip off, having enjoyed a perfect flight. At the arena, after bear-hugging Rich for his incredibly thoughtful and generous gesture, I fixate on the formidable challenge at hand. Hundreds of us cheer wildly for coach Donahue, his terrific staff and the team as they begin to dismantle the 16th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. While the action continues on the court, Big Red fans are receiving timely updates via cell phones from the NCAA women’s ice hockey championship game vs. second-ranked MinnesotaDuluth. The Big Red has battled the four-time national champions to a 2-2 tie in regulation! In Jacksonville, the Cornell crowd buzzes with excitement as word arrives every few minutes that the game remains deadlocked. Incredibly, the game continues deep into a third 20-minute overtime period!

When the final buzzer sounds on the court, Cornell’s momentous 87-69 victory over Wisconsin seals the Big Red’s trip to the Sweet Sixteen and a date with Kentucky. Tears of joy wash over many eyes, not just mine, as the team celebrates and the coaching staff hugs players, family, and friends. Thanks to a dear and loyal alumnus, I share one of the most magical moments of my life with our Big Red family. As the press conference concludes, I receive word that our courageous Cornell women’s ice hockey team has been denied victory with 33.6 seconds remaining in the third overtime – the longest championship game in NCAA tournament history. The accomplishments of our women’s ice hockey team are difficult to fully appreciate – they are staggering. Picked to finish only seventh in its own league, the team won the Ivy League title, the ECAC Hockey championship, upset top-ranked and NCAA tournament favorite Mercyhurst in the semifinals and battled toe-to-toe with the now five-time NCAA champions from Minnesota-Duluth. Incredible!

Doug Derraugh, Rob Koll, and Steve Donahue all received National Coach of the Year awards, while three-time ECAC Coach of the Year Mike Schafer earned praise for winning another league championship, and many athletes from these four sports earned All-America honors. This magical weekend in late March 2010 will serve as a motivation for current and future Big Red student-athletes, teams, and coaching staffs. I am proud to have been part of this glorious chapter in Cornell Athletics history.

Andy Noel Meakem*Smith Director of Athletics & Physical Education

MAKING HISTORY 5

a perspective

By Jeremy Schapp ’91

Like most sports fans, I suppose, occasionally I like to take inventory of some of the remarkable things I have witnessed sitting in arenas watching other people play games. When I replay them in my mind, I see Reggie Jackson slugging three home runs in game six of the 1977 World Series, little Bucky Dent muscling a three-run home run over the Green Monster to sink Red Sox in October 1978, Bill Buckner misjudging a Mookie Wilson grounder when the Mets were one strike away from losing the 1986 World Series, and Scott Norwood slicing a 46-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds of Super Bowl XXV. Not bad, I think, those are some of the biggest moments in sports in my lifetime. Those things I watched through the eyes of a fan. As a sports reporter for the last 20 years, I have another list of memorable moments, of stunning goals, impossible Hail Marys, unlikely champions, from World Cups, to Super Bowls, to Olympics, to Tours de France. These are things I have seen, not done, but still feel possessive of, because I was there.

There are a couple of Cornell moments on my lists. First, I remember as a freshman in 1987 sitting in the Schoellkopf Stadium student section as Dave Dase, a junior quarterback, completed a perfect pass on fourth-and-10 to Shaun Hawkins, a very fast receiver (for some reason, a reporter’s fetish, I remember even now the unusual spelling of Hawkins’s given name) for a 50-yard, fourthquarter touchdown to stun Harvard. I think the game was played at night. Can that be right? I remember a few months later being in the gym at Dartmouth when Cornell defeated its only serious rival for that season’s Ivy League men’s basketball championship. And the next year, as a reporter for the Cornell Daily Sun, it was again Cornell and Harvard in football, for another ridiculous comeback.

But this time the events turned even more improbable, as Cornell, in a driving, icy rain, losing by 17 points in the fourth quarter, turned to Chris Cochrane, a sophomore quarterback (this is when freshmen were still ineligible), and, taking advantage of some bad Harvard snaps, mounted a furious comeback and win.

All this is a long way of saying that my sports memory bank is fairly flush. But when I got a call this past March from the chief of reporters at ESPN, asking if I was available to go to Ithaca the following morning to do a story on the Cornell men’s basketball team, I said, “Sure, why not?” A 500-mile late winter roundtrip to Ithaca? No problem. Never mind that my wife and I had just had our first child about five weeks earlier. They would be fine without me. No, for all I thought I had already seen and covered, I had never seen or covered this: A Cornell basketball team on its way to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA basketball tournament. I asked myself if I would ever get this chance again. I had to go see this team, if only for a day—granted, it would be a long day—to speak to real, live Cornell basketball players who were the talk of the universe of sports.

Interestingly enough, there were other big Cornell sports stories brewing simultaneously. As the men’s basketball team was competing in Florida, the Cornell wrestling team was finishing second at the NCAA championships in Omaha—its best finish ever. The women’s hockey team reached the Frozen Four for the first time, reached the championship by defeating the top seed and then lost in triple overtime to Minnesota-Duluth in the final. And, not to be outdone, the men’s hockey team won its first ECAC championship since 2005.

Just after that weekend ended, I was heading back to my alma mater, with a satellite truck parked in the lot of the basketball arena that had opened when I was a junior (most of my Cornell basketball memories live in the old court, Barton

6 MAKING HISTORY

Hall, which in World War One had been an airplane hangar, no joke, and never lost its aeronautical ambience). Seventeen years at ESPN and I had never been on assignment to Cornell. It was a pleasure to be traveling to Ithaca following a weekend of such magnitude.

Just a few days before I got the call to go to Ithaca, I was sitting in a sleek conference room in the offices of Siegel Gale, on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, with Alan Siegel, who had played basketball at Cornell in the 1950s and gone on, among other significant cultural touchstones, to design the NBA’s iconic dribbling man logo; and Simon Lincoln, a 1991 classmate of mine who had once scorched Bucknell for 20 points at Barton Hall. The son of a famous rabbi, Lincoln, a sixfoot, eight-inch lawyer, embodies all the qualities we like to associate with Ivy League athletes.

We had gathered in Alan’s conference room to watch Cornell play Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA tournament. As hopeful as we were, none of us thought it was possible that the game would be a laugher before we had time to finish off our first sandwiches of the afternoon. Well, maybe Wisconsin would be laughing, but not Cornell. In fact, the Big Red chopped up the Badgers, possession by possession, until nothing was left of them except for a few familiarlooking scraps of red and white.

Now, the weekend had passed, reporters and fans everywhere were captivated by the Cornell wrecking crew, and I was driving into Ithaca. No Ivy League team in 31 years—none of those skilled champions from Penn or Princeton—had done what these Cornellians had done; none had won two games in the NCAA tournament.

The Cornell team I had cheered as a freshman reached the NCAA tournament, but lost in the first round, by 40 points, to an Arizona team led by future NBA stars Sean Elliott and Steve Kerr. The only other Cornell team ever in the NCAA tournament, the 1953-54 team that my father, Dick Schaap, had covered for the Cornell Daily Sun, lost its first-round game, too. This team was something altogether different, and I was eager to meet the young men who had come so far and might be going even further.

The Cornell players did not disappoint. I spoke to them only for a few minutes— their time was limited, they were in demand—but it was clear they were smart and funny and thoughtful. Some were scholars and some simply Ivy League students, as most of us were. I was glad I had the chance to report one short, simple story about them. And as silly as it may sound, I felt proud to be linked in some small way to the basketball players, and then to the wrestlers and men’s and women’s hockey team members who also distinguished themselves in that most memorable March for Cornell athletics, just as I am proud to be linked with the Nobel laureates and captains of industry and distinguished journalists who attended Cornell.

Even as my rental car slipped and slid in a torrent for 240 of the 250 miles on the ride home—the universal Cornell winter driving experience—I said to myself, “This was worth it, as long as I survive,” a substantial deposit for the memory bank.

A reporter and host at ESPN since 1996, Jeremy Schaap ’91 has won six Emmy Awards for his work on E:60, Outside the Lines and SportsCenter. He’s the author of Cinderella Man, a New York Times best-seller, and Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Time, Parade, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

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In 2007-08, the Cornell men’s hockey team made a valiant run in the ECAC tournament, but lost to Harvard in the semifinals and finished with a 19-14-3 record. The Big Red improved the following year, finishing 22-10-4, beat Princeton in the ECAC tournament semifinals, but lost to Yale in the championship game.

The seniors on the 2009-10 team, who had helped the team progress in ECAC postseason play, vowed that their final year would end with a league title…

2009-2010

men’s 8 MAKING HISTORY

ice hockey

MAKING HISTORY 9

prologue men’s ice hockey

Since 1900, the Cornell men’s hockey teams have competed in 1,720 games with an outstanding winning percentage of .603. Is it any wonder that the 200910 team set the goal of bringing home the school’s 12th ECAC Hockey Championship, which is more than any other team in the league?

Of course, setting goals and accomplishing them are two different things. The Cornell men’s hockey senior class of 2010 began its journey for the 2009-10 season with the same mission of winning an ECAC Championship. The senior class had been building toward this goal during each of the previous three years, ending one step closer each year than the previous campaign. In 2006-07, the team finished 14-13-4 and was ousted in the ECAC Hockey quarterfinals by visiting Quinnipiac, and the ’07-08 squad wound up 19-14-3 and f­ell to arch rival Harvard in the conference semifinals in Albany. The 2008-09 team fell just short of the mark, losing in the conference final to Yale. The senior leaders vowed that their final year wouldn’t end without a title. Or as one player put it: “We’ve put on all of the gear to play hockey, we might as well go out and win.”

The team began preparing itself in the fall of 2009 with team-building exercises like preseason paintball outings and rowing, to foster chemistry and confidence. That confidence got a big test in the season’s fifth game, at home against Harvard, the Big Red’s fiercest rival. Trailing 3-2 heading into the third period, the Red filed into the locker room.

But, one thing it didn’t bring in was panic. The team learned how to win that night, scoring four unanswered goals in the final stanza to prevail, 6-3. For the rest of the season, the players knew that kind of finish was within their capabilities.

Another lesson in winning came during the always-tough road trip to the North Country. The seniors had never won a game at either Clarkson or St. Lawrence, and ending that frustration was made even more daunting when 17 team members came down with stomach flu just days before the Clarkson game. The sick players were quarantined throughout the trip, and everyone used hand sanitizer as if it also dispensed a $50 bill with each slather. The Big Red wasn’t sure it would even have enough skaters, yet came away with a 3-1 win over Clarkson and a tie with St. Lawrence. The result was an accomplishment from which the team drew confidence and strength throughout the season.

The self-assured Big Red received a wakeup call in a tough 4-2 loss to Colorado College in the opening round of the brutal Florida College Classic tournament in late December, then was shocked the next day

by Princeton, 3-2, in the third-place game. But as all good teams do, Cornell kept bouncing back with great performances, including a 1-0

10 MAKING HISTORY

MAKING HISTORY 11

win over national power North Dakota a month later at Lynah Rink.

The Big Red finished the regular season 17-8-4 overall, and second in the ECAC standings.

men’s ice hockey

As the ECAC Hockey tournament began, the Big Red focused on completing its mission. The senior class – including Colin Greening, an ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American and ECAC Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year; All-America goaltender Ben Scrivens; forwards Joe Scali and Blake Gallagher; and defensemen Justin Krueger and All-America Brendon Nash – had been building toward this historic moment for four years. The progress was earned by spending summers training on campus, sacrificing time back home with family and friends.

Despite entering the conference quarterfinals seeded No. 2, Cornell was confident it was the best team playing the best hockey at the most important time of the year. The dressing room and practices had a different feel the week leading up to the tournament. The way the players conducted themselves before and during games radiated supreme confidence.

“It’s hard to describe, but sometimes you just get these gut feelings where you think, ‘This is going to be a tough game . . . I’m not sure we’re going to pull this one out,’” left wing and captain Greening said. “But this year we thought, ‘I know we can win this game.’ It’s those subtle changes that can be the difference between winning a championship and losing in the finals.”

The opponent in the quarterfinals was the Big Red’s archival, the Harvard Crimson. When motivating the team during the week prior to the quarterfinals, head coach Mike Schafer wrote three words on the board: Poise, Poise, Poise. “We talked about just having a methodical approach in the offensive zone and it paid off both nights.” Schafer said.

Championship teams consist of front-line players and role players, and both must make key contributions. In Game one on Friday night, a 5-1 domination of the Crimson, junior center Riley Nash, an NHL firstround draft choice, scored two goals and one assist while freshman defenseman Nick D’Agostino did his part with a pair of tallies and one helper.

The play of the night occured early in the third period when Nash stole the puck from a Harvard player attempting to clear the puck out of the Crimson zone. Nash avoided a defender and sent a wrist shot over the shoulder of Crimson goaltender Kyle Richter at the 5:44 mark to make it 4-1. The Lynah Faithful was in a frenzy.

The excitement rose to astronomical heights the second evening, as both goaltenders put on a show. Going into the third period, Cornell held a 1-0 lead, but with five minutes remaining, Greening sent a beautiful backhand pass in front to sophomore center Sean Collins,

12 MAKING HISTORY

who aimed for the far post and roofed the puck into the back of the net. The goal had to be reviewed, but it stood tall for a 2-0 Cornell lead. Greening scored a power-play tally with 34 ticks remaining on the clock to make the final score 3-0, and Lynah Rink exploded with thunderous cheers.

The victory was the fourth of ’09-10 against Harvard, the first time a Cornell team had beaten its arch rival four times in one season.

The entire team savored the accomplishment as it took a victory lap around the rink. Each section seemed to cheer a little louder, and by the time the players reached the student section, the applause was off the charts. Players took turns skating toward and crashing into the boards. During games, players have to tune out the crowd and focus on the game – this was their chance to revel in the adulation.

“I remember that I thought to myself, this has been the best four years of hockey I’ve ever had,” Greening said. “To play in front of the Lynah Faithful was an absolute pleasure. I was finally able to show my appreciation to them for everything they have done for me.”

Now, it was on to Albany and the championship round.

MAKING HISTORY 13

men’s ice hockey

14 MAKING HISTORY

friday With the success in the quarterfinals behind them, the players clearly focused on their mission: win the ECAC Hockey championship in Albany. It would have been easy for the team to enjoy its pair of wins over their archrival, but not this year. Work still remained, and the team had to balance confidence with caution, as it would be facing Brown, a team that had nothing to lose and was playing like it in the post-season. The Bears finished the ECAC regular season in next-to-last place, but knocked off Rensselaer in the opening round of the playoffs, then shocked the league by ousting regular-season champion Yale on the road in the quarterfinals to earn a trip to Albany’s Times Union Center.

With Brown shutting down Yale, which boasted the nation’s top offense, the Cornell seniors knew that their work was cut out for them, and this set the tone for a week of intense practice. The Big Red could have easily been overconfident, having never lost in postseason play to any of the ECAC tournament teams that had earned their way to Albany.

Coach Schafer reminded the seniors that they deserved the conference title, but that no one was going to hand it to them. Luckily, Cornell had the best goalie on the ice for both games, and he made sure his team followed his lead.

Goaltender Ben Scrivens completed a fantastic Cornell career, capped by a sensational senior campaign. He started every game and posted a 1.87 goals-against average, tied for No. 1 in the NCAA, and his save percentage of .934 was the best in the nation. Scrivens earned the Ken Dryden Award as the top goalie in the ECAC, was All-Ivy first team and received All-America first-team accolades.

It’s often said that a hot goaltender can carry a team a long way in the playoffs, and while it sounds cliché, it is true. Opponents have little recourse if the goalie is playing like a brick wall. And, it’s not an overstatement to say Scrivens did more than just stop every puck.

“All week, my house(mates) and classmates talked about how much we wanted to win the ECAC championship,” he said, reflecting on the days leading up to the championship round. “Very few classes come through the Cornell hockey pipeline without experiencing a championship season. The previous senior class was one of those, and we were determined not to follow suit.”

The drive of the senior class continued throughout the week leading up to the games, and it really got serious on Thursday night when the team arrived at the rink in Albany for its first practice. “It was only the seniors in the room,” said Scrivens, “and I remember us all looking around and then agreeing that we wouldn’t leave anything to chance, that we would make sure that we accomplished our goal by leading the other guys from the hard lessons we had learned in past years.”

MAKING HISTORY 15

men’s ice hockey

Cornell’s hockey program has earned national notoriety since winning NCAA titles in 1967 and ’70, with the latter team still being the only unbeaten and untied (29-0) team in Division I hockey history. But this particular winter, there was special media and fan attention given to several Big Red winter teams—in particular, the men’s basketball team. Head coach Steve Donahue’s team was in the middle of its own storybook season and was earning national headlines in the process.

The achievements of that championship squad inspired Schafer’s skaters.

“The afternoon before the Brown game in the ECAC semifinals, the basketball team was playing Temple on ESPN,” said Scrivens. “There were eight to 10 guys sitting in the room, stretching out and preparing for our game while we got to watch the guys we see on campus. We got to see them win on national television, and it was a cool experience.

And it personally got me excited to be a Cornellian, as I had a chance to play for my school in the same fashion that I had just watched on TV.” And Scrivens was clearly inspired by watching his fellow Cornell athletes on television.

With Scrivens playing about as well as a goaltender can play, it allowed the rest of the team to relax.

“If someone was on a breakaway, you could tell everyone on our bench knew that Ben was going to stop it,” said Greening. “If it was a 2-on-1 against him, he would stonewall it.”

Knowing they had the security net of Scrivens behind them to prevent a back-breaking error, the rest of the players were willing to make the difficult plays and utilize their full complement of skills. The results speak for themselves.

Upstart Brown, which entered the game with a 12-19-4 record, did a good job of throwing the Big Red off its game during the first 20 minutes. There was no scoring in the period, despite three powerplay opportunities combined.

The Big Red finally got on the board in the second period, as sophomore right wing Locke Jillson snapped a wrist shot over the right shoulder of Brown goaltender Mike Clemente. The puck went in and out of the goal so fast, video review was necessary. The goal stood, and the Red was batting 1.000 on video replays in the ECAC tournament.

At 6:40 of the final period, freshman right wing John Esposito put the Red up 2-0 in a 4-on-4 situation. An assist was credited to senior defenseman Justin Krueger, who the night before was named the ECAC Defensive Defenseman of the Year. A minute later, Brown had a breakaway, but Scrivens stonewalled the potential scorer with a

16 MAKING HISTORY

butterfly save. Victory was all but assured when Riley Nash converted a screened shot from the right circle over Clemente’s far shoulder with 6:20 left. Scrivens finished with 23 saves as the shutout streak continued.

Nash’s goal was his 100th career point, joining Greening and Gallagher in becoming the first Big Red trio to eclipse 100 career points on the same team since 1975-76, when Dave Groulx, John Harper and Jim Vaughan accomplished it. It was also achieved in 1970-71 by Larry Fullan, Brian McCutcheon and Kevin Pettit; and in 1969-70 by John Hughes, Dan Lodboa and Garth Ryan.

“

If someone was on a breakaway, you could tell everyone on our bench knew that Ben was going to stop it,” said Greening. “If it was a 2-on-1 against him, he would stonewall it.

”

saturday men’s ice hockey

In the championship game the following night, Cornell faced a scrappy Union team, which had eliminated St. Lawrence in its semifinal. The Dutchmen were a disciplined team, and Cornell wanted to rattle them.

“What we had to do to make them draw penalties was to lean on their players down-low and bring them to the net,” Coach Schafer said. The strategy worked as Cornell converted two of the eight man-up chances it generated.

As it had all season, Cornell received key contributions from all its players, not just its front-line stars. The Big Red opened the scoring with five minutes remaining in the first period on its second power-play attempt. Junior defenseman Mike Devin’s shot from the point caromed off the backside of the net where junior forward Tyler Roeszler picked it up. Tyler wheeled around behind the net and found junior forward Joe Devin in front of the cage. Devin flipped the puck over the glove of Union goaltender Keith Kinkaid, making it 1-0.

A power play also gave Cornell its second goal, late in the second period. All-America senior defenseman Brendon Nash fired the puck from the point, resulting in a four-man scrum in front of the net. The puck squirted out a few feet to sophomore Sean Whitney, who backhanded it over the glove of Kinkaid. Whitney, a defenseman when in 5-on-5, was the big screen man in front of the net on the power play and used size to his advantage in notching just his third goal of the season.

With its goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker, Union applied more pressure on the Big Red during the final two minutes of the game. A mad scramble with 38 seconds remaining resulted in an apparent Union goal, which survived video review as the net had been knocked off its pegs during the scrum. Once again, the review went Cornell’s way, and the Dutchmen remained scoreless.

Junior wing Patrick Kennedy left no doubt in the outcome, with 17 seconds remaining. He scored what has to be one of the longest goals in Cornell history. Picking up the loose puck in the right corner of the Cornell zone, Kennedy turned and fired the puck the length of the ice into the middle of the empty Union net.

Final score: Cornell 3, Union 0, giving Scrivens his school-record 19th career shutout.

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Following the script, the seniors went out on most meaningful of the ECAC, knowing they performed their best on one of Cornell’s top stages. When the final seconds ticked off the clock, the celebration erupted.

men’s ice hockey

As the players swarmed each other behind the far goal, they became part happy mob and part blockade. They gathered on the ice where the boards open for the Zamboni to enter, which was also where the photographers entered the ice to capture the celebration and the awards ceremony. Had the rink attendant allowed the photographers in, he would have bulldozed the newly crowned champions. Instead, he kept the boards closed and photographers began shouting at the attendant and each other, with some nearly coming to blows. The players were oblivious to the commotion, and those on the other side of the glass had to wait out the joyous mosh pit.

“Everyone was just yelling at each other, and all the fans in the background were going nuts,” Greening said. “That is the thing I will always remember—just hugging the guys and knowing we finally won it. My friends say they saw me on TV, and they have never seen me smile that much.”

“Getting an ECAC ring means so much to me because it’s something we earned as a team,” Greening continued. “It’s a culmination of four years of hard work and everything we’ve sacrificed.”

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The excitement of winning the championship continued for a long time. Pictures were taken with the trophy, then the team saluted its faithful fans and made its way to the dressing room. While most players were getting ready to meet their parents in the lobby of the Times Union Center, Schafer, Greening, and Scrivens hustled off to the postgame press conference. Little did they realize, they and the rest of the team were missing a key item: the championship trophy.

After the press conference, Greening and Scrivens returned to an empty locker room, and hurriedly packed up their gear and rushed to meet the team at the hotel. Upon arriving at their destination and after signing autographs and accepting many congratulations, the two players realized that there were no other players in the hotel lobby.

“We found out we beat everyone back to the hotel because they were still in the rink lobby with their families,” Scrivens said. “So Colin and I rushed back to the TUC, only to meet both of our families along the way with the Scotty Whitelaw Trophy in hand. Everyone had expected Colin and I to bring the trophy back since we were the last ones out, but we had actually left first, leaving no one to take the trophy.”

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“Thanks to our families for saving a potentially embarrassing situation by carrying the trophy back for us, all the while laughing at us and acting as if the trophy now belonged to them.”

men’s ice hockey

Riley Nash, Greening and Krueger were named to the all-tournament team along with Scrivens, who was named the tournament’s outstanding player.

Learning how to finish off games was a key in the Big Red’s capturing the ECAC tournament title. Despite owning the nation’s secondbest defense (1.97 goals per game) during the season, the Red lost big games in the late-going to both Boston University and Yale. The team was determined not to let that happen at the most important time of the year. When Cornell took leads into the third period both nights in Albany, a nagging caution in the back of their minds urged them to dominate the final 20 minutes.

The trainers play a crucial role in a team’s success, but Cornell’s staff went above and beyond in Albany. Scrivens recalled how the dressing room was unbearably hot during practices and intermissions. “The training staff brought huge blocks of ice into the room and set up fans to circulate the cool air coming off the blocks,” he said. “It worked well, as guys would crouch down around the blocks to catch some of the mist and cool air. It was a very interesting sight to see in the middle of a hockey game.”

Color the ECAC tournament championship trophy Red for a league-record 12th time, and Cornell earned an automatic berth to the NCAA tourney.

A week later, the season came to an abrupt end following a 6-2 loss to New Hampshire, a team the Big Red had beaten during the regular season. Not only did the team’s magical run come crashing to a halt in the first round of the NCAA tournament, so did Ben Scrivens shutout streak. After allowing a second-period goal to Harvard in the first game of the ECAC quarterfinals, he blanked the opposition for the rest of the tournament. When his shutout streak finally came to an end against New Hampshire, it stood at 267 minutes, 11 seconds, good for the third-longest in NCAA history and the best in the ECAC record book. His old school record streak was 206:44. His previous Cornell record streak was 206.44.

It took a few days for the players to process the disappointment of the NCAA loss, a game in which everything went wrong for the Red. But the team won the ECAC tournament championship and the seniors achieved an important goal. And, no loss could dampen that feeling. Cornell finished the season with a 21-9-4 record and the #9 national ranking.

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men’s ice hockey

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“

Everyone was just yelling at each other, and all the fans in the background were going nuts,” Greening said. “That is the thing I will always remember— just hugging the guys and knowing we finally won it.

My friends say they saw me on TV, and they have never seen me smile that much.”

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a perspective men’s ice hockey

By Dave Wohlhueter

For many reasons, winning the ECAC Hockey Tournament in Albany in March was extremely important to the 200910 Cornell men’s hockey team. Mark Anbinder, Cornell Class

of 1989, still an avid Big Red hockey supporter, says, “The Lynah Faithful expects stellar seasons and ECAC championships, but this year’s Whitelaw Cup title game was an especially big deal.

“It gave the Big Red ‘Albany bookends,’ with ECAC championships in the first and last tournaments held in Albany. It was also head coach Mike Schafer’s record-tying fifth title in his 15 years behind the bench.”

Maybe we’re spoiled, but as Cornell hockey fans, we expect championships. After all, the school can boast of 12 league banners, more than any of the other participants in the current group, and more than those dissenters who left for greener pastures. All one needs to do is attend a game at Lynah Rink and view the proud banners hanging from the rafters. There are many, and that’s what makes Cornell hockey special.

The players also feel this support and will to win. That’s why this year’s group of seniors vowed that their final campaign would end with an ECAC title.

Tradition? Lynah Rink reeks of tradition during any given Friday or Saturday night during the winter. A season ticket is high in demand.

The Big Red Pep Band eggs on the crowd, and the Lynah Faithful revels in the exploits of its team. It doesn’t get any better than this.

When Cornell blanked Harvard 2-0 on the second night of the ECAC quarterfinals at Lynah Rink to move on to Albany, the roof nearly came off. Harvard, Cornell’s most heated hockey rival, was beaten four times by the Red in 2009-10, a first for the East Hill skaters.

Moving on to Albany for the final tournament at the Times Union Center was the continuation of reaching the goal for the seniors, and of course us followers.

“While all members of the Cornell community were delighted with the exceptional performances of so many of our student-athletes and teams during the magic weekend, not much attention was given to

26 MAKING HISTORY

the accomplishment of the men’s hockey team,” says Jack Muckstadt, the Acheson-Laibe professor in the College of Engineering.

“This squad performs at a high level year after year so we, the so-called Lynah Faithful, have come to expect the team’s success. But to maintain this level of success is a remarkable achievement. I suspect that over the past decade no other ECAC men’s hockey program can match this program’s success. Hence we should recognize this significant accomplishment while enjoying the unprecedented performances of so many other teams.”

The drive of the senior class continued throughout the week leading up to the games, and it really got serious on Thursday night when the team arrived in Albany for its first practice. “It was only the seniors in the room,” said Scrivens, “and I remember us all looking around and then agreeing that we wouldn’t leave anything to chance, that we would make sure that we accomplished our goal by leading the other guys from the hard lessons we had learned in past years.”

Lessons are what you learn in the classroom, and during those grueling practices on the ice. Being a student-athlete isn’t an easy trick, but Cornell hockey players know they must excel in both arenas.

Those lessons paid off in Albany, as the Big Red blanked Brown 3-0 in the semifinals, and then went on to shut out Union by the same score.

More details of meeting the season’s goal can be found further on in the book. Although expected by many, winning the ECAC Hockey championship was a great accomplishment, and the 2010-11 squad will look to make it a Baker’s Dozen.

Dave Wohlhueter began a 33-year career of publicizing college athletes as the first full-time sports information director at his alma mater, Ithaca College, in 1965. He was the SID at Bucknell University (1967-77), and Cornell University until he retired in 1998. He is a writer for MAG, Inc., and is treasurer of CoSIDA. Wohlhueter is in the CoSIDA Hall of Fame, and both Athletic Halls of Fame at Ithaca College and Cornell.

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ice hockey

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prologue women’s ice hockey

It’s Feb. 17, 2007, and the Cornell women’s hockey team is preparing for its final game of the season — an eventual 3-0 loss at perennial power Princeton that mercifully ends a 4-23-2 season.

At the end of a difficult year, the freshman class doesn’t like the feeling of knowing that, no matter what, it will all come to a close after this game. So they make a promise to each other: “When we’re seniors, let’s make sure we don’t know it’s our last game, because we want to be in the playoffs, and if we’re in the playoffs, you never know when it’s going to end.”

Many might have thought these players were crazy for even thinking about the playoffs, but the Big Red didn’t care. The members of this class believed in each other and stayed focused on the task at hand — shedding that feeling of impending finality they felt as freshmen. Of course, there’s one playoff game you know will be your last in a season: the national championship game. But on the heels of a four-win campaign, it’s understandable if that wasn’t yet on radar for the class of 2010.

Fast forward to the 2009-10 season: Cornell entered the year coming off back-to-back 12-win seasons, and the tide of the program was starting to turn. Winning was no longer a pipe dream, it was a reality. In the offseason, the team discussed its goals: Win the Ivy League.

Win the ECAC championship and earn the automatic berth to the NCAA tournament that comes with it.

And if you’re going to make it to the NCAA tournament, why not just win the whole thing?

“All along, that’s what our coaches said: ‘NCAA champs, that’s why you’re here,’” said Liz Zorn, a senior forward and team captain for the 2009-10 season. “That’s what we have been training for. I’m sure nobody thought we could do it, but the team just had this inner drive that it wanted to be there, and that it would be there at the end of the year.”

When all was said and done, the Big Red was there. Fresh off a 4-3 overtime victory versus Clarkson in the ECAC championship game and a 6-2 win over archrival Harvard in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Cornell touched down in Minneapolis on Wednesday, March 17, to compete in the program’s first NCAA Frozen Four. From the get-go, the experience was completely new for the Big Red. It was a much longer trip than they were used to and the team flew in a chartered plane, attended press conferences, and dined at banquets.

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women’s ice hockey

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After the obligatory visit to Mall of America on Wednesday, Cornell practiced on Thursday, and that’s when it all began to sink in. “Once we arrived at the rink, we were able to drop off our equipment and we saw Frozen Four painted on the ice, with our school name on the boards,” Zorn said. “It was just…wow.”

All along, that’s what our coaches said: ‘NCAA champs, that’s why you’re here,’” said Liz Zorn, a senior forward and team captain for the 2009-10 season. “That’s what we have been training for. I’m sure nobody thought we could do it, but the team just had this inner drive that it wanted to be there, and that it would be there at the end of the year.”

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friday women’s ice hockey

The Big Red’s semifinal opponent was top-seeded Mercyhurst College, the same team that beat Cornell on back-to-back nights in October at Lynah Rink to open the season. While the pair of 4-1 defeats against the No. 1 team in the nation weren’t the ideal result for the Big Red, they still served a purpose.

“Even though we lost, we thought we kept up with them and that gave us confidence,” Zorn said. “Having that experience showed us that they’re not hockey gods. They get lucky and get good bounces just like everyone else.”

It also helped that Cornell had undergone a complete transformation in the nearly five months between the opening contest and the Frozen Four. In the first game of the season, the players were still feeling each other out and trying to earn their place on the team. But by the Frozen Four, the squad was focused on winning and not on which line each player was skating with.

“We were just getting to know each other when we played Mercyhurst the first time, but as the year went on, we got extremely tight,” Zorn said. “Our team chemistry was crazy this year. In my opinion, you gain so much chemistry from winning, and we had just won the Ivy League and the ECAC. If you want to bring a team together, there’s no better way to do it.

“I think it also helped that we didn’t have superstars,” she continued.

“It might not seem like it now because we had a first-team All-American (defender Laura Fortino), two second-team All-Americans (forward Catherine White and defender Lauriane Rougeau), players of the year, and stuff like that. They were our superstars, but they didn’t act that way or put on that face or take on that role. Everybody was pretty equal.”

Cornell’s players were nervous, yet confident, as the semifinal game drew near. The pregame routines for the players were kept largely the same as any other contest, which, for the fun-loving Big Red, meant a good deal of goofing around. “Our team’s really laid back before games, probably more than anybody would expect,” Zorn said. “Singing, joking around, listening to music. There’s a group of five girls who have a dance party before every game and blast music. Hopefully, the video of that is never released.”

Once the dance party concluded and the volume on the Lady Gaga song was turned down, Head Coach Doug Derraugh — a former Big Red men’s player and the last Cornell skater to register 30 goals in a season (1990-91) — gave his usual pregame speech. To say it was the same speech he always gives is an understatement. The talk is so simi-

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lar from game to game that Zorn was able to do a spot-on impersonation during a Frozen Four banquet.

Then, it was off to the rink. Because Cornell was the lowest seed in the semifinals, it got the locker room furthest from the arena. The Big Red were sequestered near the men’s rink at the University of Minnesota’s state-of-the-art facility — Mariucci Arena — while the other three teams had spaces closer to Ridder Arena, the women’s team’s rink where the Frozen Four competition took place. The result was a secluded Big Red team that had to walk through an underground tunnel to reach the playing surface.

When the players emerged from the tunnel on Friday, moments before the national semifinal against Mercyhurst, the enormity of the moment finally hit them.

“We lined up for the national anthem, and the atmosphere was just crazy,” Zorn said. “There was a pretty good crowd, and there were big screens set up in the corners of the arena. Cameras were scanning the team lines during the anthem, and it was wild to see your face up on the big screen. That was something that we don’t usually experience, and definitely weren’t used to.”

There was no question that Cornell was the underdog in this matchup. The Big Red were the new kids on the block, while Mercyhurst was a perennial power in women’s college hockey and, of course, had already beaten Cornell twice earlier in the season. But despite having the underdog role thrust upon them, the Big Red wasn’t willing to play along. This wasn’t a Cinderella story; it was the story of a talented, skilled team determined to accomplish its goals.

“A lot of people said that we must feel so happy to be here, but they said it in a way that sounded more like, ‘You must feel so lucky to be here,’” Zorn said. “We didn’t want people to think we had that mentality. This wasn’t just a vacation for us. We weren’t along for the ride. We were there to win it all just like the other three teams. We wanted to show everyone that we deserved to be there because we earned it, just like the other three teams.”

And they did. With less than five minutes gone in the first period, Cornell’s Kendice Ogilvie was whistled for charging the goalie, giving Mercyhurst its first power play opportunity of the game. This, as it turned out, was just what the Big Red needed.

A minute and a half later, Karlee Overguard forced a turnover in the neutral zone, skated toward the goal and ripped a shot on Mercyhurst’s Hillary Pattenden. The goaltender made the save, but All-American

MAKING HISTORY 35

Fortino was there for the rebound, backhanding the puck into a wideopen net for a shorthanded goal to give Cornell a 1-0 lead.

women’s ice hockey

Mercyhurst bounced back in the second period, scoring twice to take a 2-1 lead into what looked like might be the final period of Cornell’s season. But seven minutes into the third, Jess Martino sent a pass across the front of the crease for Overguard, who was wide open on the post for an easy goal, tying the game at 2. Both teams had chances to win in the closing minutes of regulation, but neither could find the back of the net.

As overtime began, the tension in the arena mounted.

“The whole game was really exciting,” Zorn said. “I felt like my adrenaline was going the entire game, as opposed to getting the nervousness out in the first shift, like other games. This one was a constant adrenaline rush. As the game went on, you could sense everyone on both teams getting more and more tight.”

Adding to the atmosphere, fans of the other two Frozen Four participants — the University of Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth — had begun to filter into the arena. By the end of overtime, the stands were packed and the late-game fans were decidedly leaning Cornell’s way.

“It was the biggest and loudest crowd I’ve ever played in front of,” Zorn said. “It felt good. Especially in women’s sports, even if the fans aren’t there specifically for you, having fans is such a motivator.”

Those in attendance received quite the treat, courtesy of Cornell AllAmerican White. Thirteen minutes into the extra session, Amber Overguard — Karlee’s twin sister — stole a pass in the Mercyhurst end, skated in on Pattenden, and unleashed a shot. The goalie made the save, but the rebound went to White, who jammed the puck toward the goal. Pattenden again made the stop, but as the puck lay on edge in the crease, White popped it over the goalie’s leg just before the net came off its moorings.

What came next was largely a blur of sticks and gloves flying into the air and a pile of red jerseys forming on the ice.

“I was so tired, it’s hard to remember exactly what was going on,” Zorn said. “You go from cheering to all of a sudden being on the ice celebrating.”

The celebration was halted, temporarily, while officials reviewed the goal. The goal eventually stood, giving Cornell reason to celebrate all over again.

“It actually ended up being fun,” Zorn said, “because we had our goal celebration, then we had to come back to the bench, then we had a second celebration when we knew for sure we had won.”

The Big Red had also secured a spot in the ultimate game.

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women’s ice hockey

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saturday women’s ice hockey

With a day off to recover before the national championship, the Big Red skated through a light practice, then attended a banquet announcing the winner of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given annually to the top female college hockey player in the nation. The winner, junior forward Vicki Bendus from Mercyhurst, spoke about how much of an honor it was to win the award — and then broke down crying in disappointment because her team had lost the previous day. Watching the speech was a poignant reminder to the Cornell players not to be complacent or lose focus.

“We knew we didn’t want to feel like that on Sunday,” Zorn said. “It was really sad to watch, but it motivated us.”

The remainder of the off day was fairly low key. The team met to discuss the itinerary for Sunday, relaxed in the hotel, and prepared for the biggest game of the season — and perhaps their lives. As the day progressed, the nervousness grew.

“I had so many friends texting me to wish me luck, relatives calling, and teachers emailing, that I eventually had to just put my phone away,” Zorn said. “With all of that combined, it was like, ‘Oh my God. There are going to be so many people watching this.’ It was a crazy feeling lying in bed that night knowing that when I woke up, I was playing the biggest game of my life.”

“ 40 MAKING HISTORY

It was a crazy feeling lying in bed that night knowing that when I woke up, I was playing the biggest game of my life,” Zorn said.

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women’s ice hockey

42 MAKING HISTORY

sunday When the team received its 8 a.m. wakeup call, the national championship game was only four hours away. After a team breakfast, the Big Red

made its way to the pregame locker room. It was there that the senior class flashed back to that day in 2007 when, as freshmen, they vowed to be unsure of when they would be playing their last game. The irony was not lost on the team’s veterans.

“We looked at each other in the locker room, realized it was our last game and we knew it,” Zorn said. “We started cracking up. There was no better last game to have than this.”

As Cornell stood in the tunnel and prepared to make the underground journey to the arena to face the University of Minnesota-Duluth for the right to be called the best women’s college hockey team in the nation, it noticed a group of eight-year-olds preparing to skate on the men’s rink with their parents. One child, perhaps the only girl on the team, looked up at the Big Red and excitedly watched them walk by.

“You look at the kids and think, ‘That’s why we play,’” Zorn said. “We love hockey just like these little kids. That moment kind of put us in our place. Being at the Frozen Four is special and cool, but at the same time these kids are going out for the same reason we are, to go play hockey.

That was a cool moment and kept us even.”

Cornell hadn’t played Duluth before, but knew its opponent had more Frozen Four experience than any team competing in the championships.

This marked UMD’s sixth championship game appearance since 2001.

While the Big Red showed up 2 hours and 15 minutes before faceoff, Duluth arrived a mere hour and a half before the game.

“They acted like it was just another practice for them,” Zorn said. “We felt like they didn’t really see us as a threat. Once we got on the ice and proved we could skate with them, it was a big boost.”

After a scoreless first period, Zorn had an interview with CBS College Sports’ Angela Ruggiero, a four-time Olympian with the U.S. and a Kazmaier Award winner during her time at Harvard. The interview was a thrill, even if it was mostly a blur.

“I got to meet her the day before the game and she asked me if I wanted to know the questions she’d be asking me ahead of time,” Zorn said. “I said no because I didn’t think I’d remember anyway.”

Thirteen minutes into the second period, Cornell took a 1-0 lead on Melanie Jue’s eighth goal of the season. With the Big Red on the power play, All-American Rougeau took a shot from the point that found its way through traffic to the front of the net, where Jue tipped it home. Suddenly,

MAKING HISTORY 43

Duluth realized it wasn’t going to have a cakewalk to the national title.

women’s ice hockey

“You could see them getting frustrated with each other,” Zorn said. “They were yelling at each other on the ice, which was fun for us. They expected to just run their tic-tac-toe plays and score goals. There was a point in the second period where we had a bunch of chances in a row that we didn’t capitalize on, but we really gained a lot of momentum and put them on their heels a little bit.”

But Cornell’s momentum didn’t last long. Duluth knotted the score just 18 seconds into the third period, and took its first lead 14 minutes later.

With perhaps only five minutes remaining in its season, it was time for Cornell to dig deep. Of course, finding something extra during a tough time was nothing new for the Big Red. One of those times was from Jan. 5 to Feb. 5, when Cornell endured a difficult 10-game stretch in which it won just twice. In that span, three members of the squad were absent to play for Team Canada in international competition. Also, starting goalie Amanda Mazzotta missed one game with a concussion, another skater was out with an injury, and one more was out due to illness. Cornell’s ranks were so depleted that for a pair of road games at Providence College, the Big Red had just 11 skaters.

That list of missing players doesn’t even include 2009 All-American Rebecca Johnston, who took the entire year off to secure a spot on the Canadian Olympic team. The Big Red was dealt a pretty tough hand during that midseason stretch, but got through it and learned from it.

“It was a building process,” Zorn said. “That stretch helped us come together and realize that we needed every person on this roster to be successful. It made us appreciate each other that much more and accept our roles, which can be tough to do.”

In the end, Cornell emerged stronger. The team broke through with a 6-0 win over Princeton on Feb. 6, which started an 11-game win streak that led the Big Red to the challenge they now faced: trailing 2-1 with five minutes to go in the national championship game.

As the clock wound down, Cornell turned up the pressure. Finally, with 3:30 to play in regulation, Jue got her stick on a loose puck in front of the net and chipped it past Duluth keeper Jennifer Harss for her second goal of the game and, perhaps, the biggest goal in Cornell women’s ice hockey history. Neither team found the back of the net in the final minutes of regulation, meaning the national title would be won in overtime. Cornell went from knowing this would be its last game, to not knowing exactly when the game would end.

Duluth held a slight edge in shots, 12-11, in the first 20-minute overtime period, then increased its advantage to 10-4 in the second. But the only statistic that mattered — the score — remained 2-2. With each passing minute, the tension of the game grew, and a reality began to dawn on the Cornell players.

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“We knew the later in the game we got, the uglier the winning goal was going to be,” Zorn said. “It’s never going to be pretty when you’ve been playing (the equivalent of) two full games. We just tried to do whatever we could to get the puck at the net.

“That was kind of our style of play anyway,” she added. “Throw it on net whenever you get a chance. If you don’t have anything, take a shot or dump it in deep because it’s going to be a play like that that ends it.”

In the third extra session, Duluth turned up the heat even more, holding a 14-6 advantage in shots. Every time the puck left a Duluth player’s stick, the Cornell bench held its collective breath. The team was in desperation mode.

“It was nerve-wracking, and every time they got a shot it was more intense,” Zorn said. “We had a ridiculous amount of blocked shots, which really showed we were desperate. We were diving in front of any puck, off the helmet, off anything. Just get the block. It was hard because we had to keep going full steam ahead and it got harder and harder to do as the game went on.”

MAKING HISTORY 45

women’s ice hockey

And then, finally, it happened — though not the way the Big Red and its faithful fans dreamed it would. With 2:40 to play in the third overtime, Rougeau was called for tripping, giving Duluth its eighth power play of the game. Cornell killed the penalty, but as Rougeau came out of the box, she raced into the defensive zone to try to stick-check a shot from the point. The puck fluttered into the slot and onto the stick of Duluth right wing Jessica Wong, who promptly deposited it into the net with just 34 seconds left in the third overtime.

The goal light flashed, giving Duluth the national championship and ending the longest title game in tournament history. As the shot hit the back of the net, all the tension that had been building over the previous 119 minutes of hockey was released, and Cornell players’ heads sunk into their hands.

“It’s one of those things you can see in slow motion,” Zorn said. “I’ll probably always be able to see it. When the shot went off, I thought, ‘Oh no, here it comes.’ Then I buried my head not only out of disappointment, but exhaustion.

“The saddest part wasn’t even that we lost,” she continued. “It was looking around at everyone after the game and realizing it was over. All the buildup that started last year was to this point. It was so much fun and we loved it, but that was it. We looked around the locker room and realized this group would probably never all be in the same room again.”

Over the next few months, the initial sting of the loss faded, and the 200910 Big Red — who finished the season with a record of 21-9-6 — were able to put their many accomplishments in perspective. This team earned the most single-season wins in program history, won the program’s first playoff game, won its first ECAC regular season and tournament titles, and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament for the first time. This season also marked the first time Cornell beat Ivy League rivals Harvard and Dartmouth in the same season.

“At first we were disappointed with the loss and thought about all the little details, the what-ifs,” Zorn said. “But now, I remember the locker room, or lining up for the national anthem. I remember how the last goal went in, but little things aren’t as important. I think more about our experiences over the entire weekend and how fun it was.

“Looking back,” she added, “I can think when I was a freshman, what would I have traded to have that weekend? And I would have traded anything.”

The success in 2009-10 should also pay off for future Cornell squads.

Toward the end of the season, the team was already beginning to attract more fans to home games, a trend everyone in the program hopes will continue.

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“We had more fans than I ever would have imagined coming to a women’s game here,” Zorn said. “The program should definitely have a boost in recruiting, too. Cornell can now draw attention from people on the national scale. Minnesota has kind of dominated collegiate hockey for women for a while, so it would be great to step up into that role.”

To do that, the Big Red will need to ensure that this run wasn’t a oncein-a-lifetime or even a once-in-a-decade event. While expectations for future classes of players are now high, the Class of 2010’s legacy has been cemented.

“I wish I never had to go through that four-win season, but being part of the transition was really special,” Zorn said. “Even though we lost the last game, overall, it was an incredible accomplishment. It was a great feeling and I would not change that.”

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a perspective women’s ice hockey

By Bill Duthie ’71

In the early 1970s, a group of women from very diverse backgrounds decided, after watching the Big Red men’s hockey program flourish, that they wanted to share in the game through competition on the ice. After all, the men’s team had recorded the greatest season in the history of the NCAA (29-0) to win the national championship in 1970, and I was a proud member of that team. Now, four decades later, the Cornell women’s hockey team is contending for its own national title.

During the last few years, Cornell has risen to new heights. Since Doug Derraugh, a former Big Red men’s hockey player who played professionally in Europe for 13 years was named head coach in 2005, Cornell has ascended to its current status as one of the nation’s top programs.

Derraugh has brought elite players to the program. Heading into the 2010-11 season, there are eight Cornell women on Canada’s U22 roster. One member of this group is Rebecca Johnston, who was not part of the 2009-10 Big Red team because she played for Canada in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and helped the squad to a gold medal. Other team members include Catherine White, who earned the ECAC Hockey Player of the Year award and received a second-team All-America honors. Defenseman Lauriane Rougeau was also named second team All-America, and fellow blueliner Laura Fortino became the first player in program history to earn first-team All-America honors.

What the 2009-10 team accomplished is an unbelievable feat. As a former player and coach, I believe being the top team in the country is the ultimate goal. Winning the Ivy League and the ECAC crown are stepping stones to reaching the top, and the Big Red is laying the foundation to be a national championship contender on a consistent basis.

Cheering on the 2009-10 Big Red women’s hockey team was extremely satisfying for me. Watching that triple-overtime game for the championship had me, and every fan, on the edge of our seats. It was a long way from our humble beginnings.

The members of the first Cornell women’s hockey team were from Long Island, California, New Jersey, and Valley Forge, Pa., places that were not considered hotbeds for hockey in general and the women’s game in particular. Not looking for grandeur or accolades, these women realized quickly that the road would be rocky.

With a $500 budget for everything, the team was born in 1972. That first season saw us play Brown, Colby College, and several Canadian schools. As a first-year coach, I had the pleasure of coaching a team

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that went 4-4 in its first season. We followed that up with 6-4 the following year, and had a spectacular 12-2 record in 1974-75.

During this time, women’s ice hockey programs began to emerge, especially in the East. Within a couple of years, Dartmouth, UNH, Providence, Northeastern, Princeton, St. Lawrence, and Clarkson all began fielding teams.

The latter part of the 1970s saw us enjoy much success. We won six consecutive Ivy League championship tournaments from 197681, which is a league record. During that time, we recorded three consecutive 17-win seasons. Our best campaign was in 1979-80 when we won our fifth straight Ivy crown, finished second at both the Granite State Tournament and the Concordia Invitational, and recorded a third-place finish at the first-ever AIAW championship that in later years became the NCAAs. During 1980s and ‘90s, Cornell women’s hockey began to experience the same challenges that any Ivy League team encounters in its development. UNH, Providence, and Northeastern became the powerhouse teams of women’s hockey. However, over the last decade, the Cornell program expanded with bigger budgets, full-time coaching, and the rise of a new potential market for players: Canada.

The investment was being made so that the program could realize the type of success it enjoyed in 2009-10.

Unfortunately, other women’s college programs discovered the same thing. And during this period of time and into the next century, the caliber of play continued to improve. In addition, Western schools started programs and were able to offer full scholarships.

More than 30 years after its inception, the Cornell women’s ice hockey program has achieved the elusive goal of competing with the top teams for an NCAA championship. The players and coaches deserve a tremendous amount of credit for what they have accomplished. Coach Derraugh and his women have set the bar high, and now the sky is the limit.

Bill Duthie ’71 was Cornell’s first women’s hockey head coach, and his teams compiled a 135-85-5 record. The Big Red, under his tutelage, won six consecutive Ivy League championships. He is a member of the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame. A wing for the Cornell men’s hockey team, Duthie was a member of the 1969-70 undefeated (29-0) squad that won the ‘70 national championship. He tri-captained the team the following season.

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In 2008, the Cornell wrestling team crowned an individual NCAA champion, Jordan Leen at 149 pounds en route to its sixth straight Ivy League title and a ninth-place finish at NCAAs. The Big Red also won its second straight EIWA championship with Mack Lewnes capturing an individual title.

A year ago, the Big Red finished fifth at the NCAA tournament, highlighted by Troy Nickerson’s national title at 125 pounds and capped off a fantastic dual season with a 12-2 record. With a 5-0 conference mark, Cornell won its seventh-straight Ivy League title.

The team entered the 2010 campaign looking to not only continue its dominance of the Ivy League, but also make a larger impact on the national scene. With a seasoned group of veterans returning, plus a talented crop of newcomers, the Big Red had the potential to do just that ‌

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wrestling

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prologue wrestling

Flying into Omaha for the NCAA wrestling championships, the nation’s third-ranked Cornell had every reason to feel confident. The Big Red was coming off an eighth straight Ivy League title and had qualified eight wrestlers to the tournament, including five seeded in the top seven in their respective weight class, and four returning All-Americans.

After a hard-fought season, Head Coach Rob Koll kept final instructions to his athletes brief and crystal clear. This was their time to put themselves first, focus on performing to the best of their ability, and take the championship one match at a time — because ultimately, the success of the whole season would be determined by this one tournament.

“We were clearly one of the best teams in the country,” said senior co-captain Troy Nickerson. “We were ready to make history, and if everything fell the right way, we might have even knocked off (top-ranked) Iowa.”

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wrestling

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thursday It didn’t take long for Cornell’s championship plans to hit a snag. Coming in as the defending NCAA champion at 125 pounds, Nickerson dislocated his shoulder twice in his opening-round match, lost in the closing seconds of his second-round match suffering an additional dislocation and began the long, uphill climb through wrestlebacks. He defeated five opponents to compete for third place.

Nickerson wasn’t alone in his travails. Senior co-captain Josh Arnone, who had struggled with injuries his entire Cornell career, narrowly lost a pigtail match Thursday just to get into the first full round at 285. Freshman Steve Bosak, who scored two quick takedowns in his first-round match against the tournament’s No. 3 seed, ended Thursday morning with a one-point loss and a ticket to the consolation bracket at 184.

Dropping a weight class from his 2009 tournament appearance — and coming back from knee surgery on Halloween — 165-pound junior Justin Kerber dominated his opponent on the opening morning. But in the second round, he lost to Wisconsin’s Andrew Howe, who entered the competition undefeated and ended his run six matches later as NCAA champion. At 133 pounds, No. 7 seed Mike Grey soundly defeated his first opponent with three takedowns and a reversal. Then, after a short rest, he faced Iowa State’s Nick Fanthorpe, who’d upset him three months earlier.

Fanthorpe got the better of Grey again, coming from behind with two escapes, a takedown, and 1:33 of riding time to send Grey to the consolation bracket.

By the end of competition on that Thursday, the first day of the Championships, the Big Red wrestlers found themselves in seventh place, 12.5 points behind Iowa, which had come out victorious in 17 of its first 19 matches. Far from everything falling their way, Cornell’s best-case scenario was to spend the next two days climbing through the ranks, just as they had since the start of the season.

In the first team meeting of the year, Coach Koll emphasized the importance of regarding every member of the team as family. Over the course of the season, they might encounter a tragedy — the loss of a parent, a relative, a friend — but if they met the crisis together, they could overcome it.

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wrestling

Sure enough, three days before defending their team title in the Southern Scuffle in late December in Greensboro, N.C., the Red learned that teammate Adam Frey, who’d come to represent the heart of Cornell wrestling, had lost his two-year battle with cancer. As a freshman, Frey made a big splash on the national scene, posting a 17-4 overall record, winning an individual title at the Southern Scuffle, and being named Ivy League Rookie of the Year. But through his sophomore year, he struggled to make weight even as he qualified for the nationals, and at the end of the season, a routine CAT scan revealed inoperable tumors in his lung, liver, and kidney.

With little chance of recovery, Frey was determined to live and return to the team. He created his own cancer research foundation, attended Big Red wrestling matches, coached at his own benefit tournament, and blogged about the ups and downs of battling cancer. Two years of chemotherapy did nothing to dampen his competitive nature, and as they headed to North Carolina, his teammates carried his spirit with them, remembering his fun-loving nature off the mat, and his tenacity on it.

For Nickerson, whose father had succumbed to cancer eight months earlier, the loss was doubly painful, and served as an important lesson for the whole team.

“Knowing Adam, and being able to see how mightily he struggled, taught us about humility,” says Nickerson. “Seeing what he was going through helped us put our own struggles with classes or practices or meets into perspective. Adam was always there for us, showing how we could push ourselves harder, and even after he passed away, we never stopped feeling his presence.”

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In the first team meeting of the year, Coach Koll emphasized the importance of regarding every member of the team as family. Over the course of the season, they might encounter a tragedy — the loss of a parent, a relative, a friend — but if they met the crisis together, they could overcome it.

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friday wrestling

In an emotional reunion, Frey’s mother rejoined the team in Omaha, and as the sun rose on Friday, March 19, there were four Cornellians in wrestlebacks and three — Kyle Dake, Mack Lewnes, and Cam Simaz — still in the running for individual championships. Dake, a true freshman from nearby Lansing, arrived in Omaha as the No. 1 seed at 141 pounds, riding a 19-match win streak, and was known by his teammates as “Kid Dynamite,” or simply “The Kid.” He brought a swagger to every practice, stepping onto the mat as Roy Jones Jr.’s “Can’t Be Touched” would blast over the Friedman Wrestling Center’s sound system.

Even in his first year of collegiate wrestling, Dake was confident he could wrestle hard enough to beat anyone, anywhere, any time.

“Kyle looks like he’s 10 years old,” Koll said, “but he wrestles like he’s got 30 years of experience.”

Not normally vocal, Dake voiced a few simple words on the flight from Ithaca that were all the team needed to hear: “Whatever you do,” he said, “don’t lose.”

Kyle opened the Friday morning quarterfinals with an 11-0 blanking of the No. 9 seed, Boise State’s Levi Jones. He converted an early shot for the match’s first takedown, then compounded the score with a two-point near fall, a three-point near fall, an escape, and a second takedown. Kyle completely dominated the rest of the way, riding Jones for 2:09 to secure the victory and a semifinal date with Ohio State’s senior Reece Humphrey, who had decisioned Kyle at the Las Vegas Invitational in early December, 4-2 in overtime.

Looking for revenge, Kyle continued his long win streak in the semifinals — but just barely. The action started as he fought off the first single, answered one headsnap with another, and scrambled unsuccessfully to avoid a takedown with 21 seconds left in the first period. Falling behind for the first time in the tournament, Dake escaped once in the second and once in the third to tie the match, 2-2, at the end of regulation. By then, both Dake and Humphrey were exhausted, cautiously circling each other until Dake regained his wind in the second tiebreaker. He kept Humphrey down with a series of heavy mat returns to win, 3-2, qualifying for the finals.

Wrestling at 165 pounds during the 2008-09 season, Lewnes struggled constantly to make weight. The following summer, he easily made the transition to 174 pounds, coming closer to his natural weight, and it made all the difference.

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“Mack’s technique is flawless, and until the national finals (in 2010), he hadn’t had an offensive point scored on him all year,” says Nickerson. “That’s unheard of. The way he stays composed on and off the mat is absolutely incredible, and when we’re wrestling in practice, we have to send three guys in to rotate against him, because he’s so freaking good.”

wrestling

Lewnes prefers high-scoring matches with lots of action — like his 131, second-round victory over Ohio’s Jacob Ison — but his quarterfinal match against Oregon State’s Colby Covington wasn’t one of them.

Neither wrestler scored in the first period, and before the end of the second, Lewnes was caught deep in a bear hug with his arm trapped and his back headed straight for the mat. It’s a move that should have been impossible to stop, but Lewnes wasn’t about to let his team or himself down.

Somehow, he gathered the strength to escape, nearly picking up a takedown before the action went out of bounds. Choosing to start the third in the down position, Covington escaped to tie the match at 2. In overtime, Covington caught Lewnes in a front headlock, nearly throwing him by for a takedown before Lewnes scrambled to safety.

After trading escapes, Lewnes scored a clutch single-leg takedown to win the match, 4-2, and reach the semifinals.

Once again, the semifinal match with Nebraska’s Stephen Dwyer wasn’t the kind of match Lewnes liked. As in the Covington match, neither Lewnes nor Dwyer collected a point in the first period.

Choosing down to start the second, Lewnes earned an early escape — the first point Dwyer had given up all tournament and also the lone point of the period. In the third, Dwyer escaped to tie the score, then drove Lewnes out of bounds with 54 seconds to go and again with 35 seconds left. Coming back in, Lewnes shrugged off another Dwyer drive before taking him down to the mat to win, 3-2. Only one more opponent stood between Lewnes and the title.

At 197 pounds, sophomore Simaz is the team’s comedian, whether he’s entering the mat to Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer,” cracking jokes on the way to a meet, or leading team backflips during warmups. He’s the embodiment of Coach Koll’s approach: Wrestling season is seven months of hell, so you need to make it as much fun as possible. Simaz is lighthearted until the competition starts, when he is transformed into ”The Caminator.”

“He’s like a machine on the mat,” says Nickerson. “His conditioning is unbelievable — he just tires out his opponents until they go completely broke.”

In his quarterfinal against Wisconsin’s Trevor Brandvold, Simaz found himself behind by the middle of the first period. A double-leg brought Simaz down to the mat, and Brandvold rode him for the last 1:12 before the whistle. But by the second period, Simaz recovered with two takedowns and enough riding time to erase the gap. After a quick

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escape to start the third, Simaz flattened his opponent with a takedown with one minute remaining, making it look easy, and remained on top to win, 8-5.

Meanwhile, Nickerson was having more injury issues. When he woke up Friday morning, he couldn’t lift his arm above his shoulder. The pain was tremendous, and after losing the chance to defend his title, he wasn’t sure he’d even be able to continue wrestling.

“After that second round, a lot of people expected me to cut my losses and drop out,” Nickerson said. “I won’t lie — I was in a lot of pain, my shoulder was hurting immensely, and the thought (of withdrawing) certainly went through my head. But I knew how hard we’d worked to get to there, and even though I didn’t have a lot of faith in myself, I never doubted we could do something special as a team. I had already made weight, so I was determined to wrestle no matter what, just to see what happened.”

What happened would set the stage for the remainder of the wrestlebacks. The match against Stanford’s Ryan Mango opened with a quick takedown by Nickerson, who rode Mango for over a minute. Nickerson notched a three-point near fall just before the end of the period to extend his lead.

“I was able to turn him, even with my arm feeling the way it did,” Nickerson said. “But I realized my usual strategy wasn’t going to work. It would be hard to score from my feet, and though I might still have some success on bottom, if I really wanted to win, I needed to get on top of guys and turn them. That’s an unusual choice, because more than 99 percent of wrestlers choose either bottom or neutral, but that was the only option I had.”

It worked. Nickerson chose top to start the second period and immediately turned Mango and pinned him at the 3:13 mark.

Two hours later, Nickerson was back on the mat to face Virginia’s Ross Gitomer. Nickerson, who had won their last meeting 7-0, came out looking to preserve his shoulder with a quick takedown.

Instead, it took the full three periods to beat Gitomer 4-0, with an escape, a takedown, and 1:07 of riding time.

“It was a hard-fought match where I was able to score the points I needed without getting hurt,” Nickerson said. “My confidence was boosted, and I started to think I might be able to keep winning.

If I won my next match, I’d be a four-time All-American, which only a handful of guys have ever been able to do. And that gave me an added incentive to work even harder.”

Having competed at nationals three times, Nickerson was well aware of the fact that anything can happen at the NCAA tournament.

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“Seeds don’t really matter,” he said. “Everybody who makes the tournament is really good, and on a good day, anybody there can beat anybody else.”

wrestling

That morning, unseeded Cornell sophomore Steve Bosak was determined to get some payback when he went up against the No. 8 seed, Harvard’s Louis Caputo, who’d shut him out, 5-0, at the Friedman Wrestling Center when they met on February 20. This time, the two were at a stalemate through the first period, but Bosak quickly escaped to lead off the second. Using an inside trip, he slammed Caputo into the mat, captured him in a cradle, and pinned him at 3:34.

Next for Bosak was Stanford’s Zack Giesen, who barely knew what hit him. Bosak came out like an animal, converting a single shot into a takedown and his second pin of the day — in a stunning 31 seconds.

In his second wrestleback match, unseeded Justin Kerber drew the No. 3 seed, Missouri’s Nick Marable. After a hard-fought, scoreless first period, Kerber led off the second with a quick escape before taking his opponent to the mat for two points. Marable countered with a two-point near fall and an escape, but Kerber moved in again with a double-leg for a second takedown and a second two-point near fall.

Choosing down in the third, Marable scored an escape, but it was the last offensive point he earned as Kerber held on, 7-4.

Entering the All-American round (the top eight finishers in each weight class earn All-America honors), Kerber faced the No. 7 seed, Iowa’s Ryan Morningstar. Once again, Kerber competed far better than expected, escaping in the second to score the first points of the match. In the third, Kerber held on for 43 seconds before Morningstar escaped. Justin nearly scored a takedown before Morningstar went out of bounds. In overtime, Kerber escaped to take the lead, but with one second left in the 2nd overtime period, the judge awarded Morningstar a controversial reversal and sent Kerber back to the locker room.

“It was a bad call and a really tough loss,” says Nickerson. “But Justin nearly came away with a victory, and that’s going to give him the confidence he needs to win it all next year.”

That night in the All-American round, Nickerson faced Penn State’s Brad Pataky. They’d wrestled each other many times since starting in high school. Nickerson countered with a reversal and an escape, but going into the second period, Troy was behind 5-3 and knew he needed a game-changer. He was right. Pataky dominated the first period, with two takedowns, an escape, and 40 seconds of riding time.

It came in the form of a quick takedown and a three-point near fall, which shifted the momentum. Pataky didn’t score again, and with a third period escape and 58 seconds of riding time, Nickerson became an All-American for the fourth time.

“That was one of the hardest-fought matches I’ve ever wrestled,” says Nickerson. “After being down, hurt, and tired, I got a big emotional

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win to propel me into the round of six. It was a turning point, letting me know I could still win with one arm—and keep earning points for the team.”

Two hours later, Nickerson faced the tournament’s No. 4 seed at 125 pounds, Arizona State’s Anthony Robles, who was born with one leg.

Robles had enormous upper-body strength, and even though they’d never wrestled before, Nickerson had done his homework and felt confident he could win. wrestling

“Because of my hurt shoulder, a lot of people were nervous about me wrestling Anthony Robles,” Nickerson said. “But I had scouted him enough to know what I needed to do to win. I’d seen other guys beat him, so I mimicked their strategy. A lot of the credit goes to Matt Azevedo, our volunteer assistant coach, who’s taught me to diversify my style to succeed against anyone.”

With 20 seconds left in the first period, Nickerson took Robles to the mat, scoring the only two points he’d need to win. Neither wrestler was able to gain position in the second period, and even though Robles rode him for the third period, Nickerson knew it wouldn’t change the outcome.

“I maintained position for as long as I needed, and won the match 2-1,” Nickerson said. “At the beginning of that day, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to compete at all, and by the end of the day, I’d won four matches in a row. I was wearing a huge brace on my shoulder, but no matter how much I’d been beaten up, I could feel myself gaining momentum.”

Piling on wrestleback victories, the Big Red finished Friday with 75 team points, moving from seventh to second place in the tournament standings. As the team walked back to the hotel that night, they shared notes on upcoming opponents, unwound with a little college basketball on television, and turned in early to prepare for another long day.

“After that second round, a lot of people expected me to cut my losses and drop out,” Nickerson said. “I won’t lie — I was in a lot of pain, my shoulder was hurting immensely, and the thought (of withdrawing) certainly went through my head. But I knew how hard we’d worked to get there, and even though I didn’t have a lot of faith in myself, I never doubted we could do something special as a team. I had already made weight, so I was determined to wrestle no matter what, just to see what happened.”

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saturday wrestling

As they walked to the Qwest Center on Saturday morning, carrying their laptops to work on term papers in their free moments, Cornell’s wrestlers were as lighthearted as ever. With a narrow lead over third-place Iowa State, the team started warmups by telling jokes, as usual. There were the routine backflips and cartwheels, but as the first matches drew closer, the mood shifted back to business.

At a meet as large as the NCAAs, there are too many potential opponents to scout, and Nickerson knew nothing about his next matchup, Purdue’s unseeded Cashé Quiroga. “I’d never seen him wrestle before, and our coaches didn’t know anything about him,” says Nickerson. “So I just went in there and wrestled hard.”

Off the whistle, Quiroga took a quick shot, but Nickerson scrambled and came back around for the takedown. With Quiroga on the mat, Nickerson switched to a leg Turk, scoring three points for the near fall, and kept Quiroga on his back for over a minute to end the period.

Starting the second on top, Nickerson immediately turned Quiroga onto his back for a pin at 4:01, scoring another two points for the team, which was holding steady in second place.

Then, after an hour of rest, Nickerson faced Indiana’s Angel Escobedo, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, in a battle for third place. As the two topranked wrestlers in the country, they’d wrestled each other many times before—including December’s Southern Scuffle, when Nickerson’s season started with a match-ending injury.

“Early in the finals match, I came up to collar tie on his head, and when I did, my shoulder just came out,” he says. “In the past, it would have just gone back in, but not that time. I needed our athletic trainer to put me back together, and by then, I had to drop out before I hurt myself even more.”

Four months later, facing Escobedo in the final match of his collegiate career, Nickerson dislocated his shoulder again early in the first period.

It would require five minutes for the feeling to return to his arm, but Troy didn’t have that luxury. After a minute-and-a-half injury timeout, he returned to the mat, and when Escobedo countered with his best shot, Nickerson didn’t have the strength to avoid a takedown—the first in all his matches against Escobedo.

Going into the third period down by two points, Nickerson chose top in an all-out gamble to score back points but did not have the power to turn Escobedo, who won 2-0.

“I was really close to turning him, but I just wasn’t able to,” says Nickerson, who closed the tournament in fourth place and the season

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as a four-time All-American. “I have no regrets—I wrestled as hard as I could. Everybody in the arena had seen what I’d gone through, and it’s hard to feel too bad when 17,000 people give you a standing ovation.”

Cam Simaz started Saturday morning wrestlebacks with a 9-1 decision over Oklahoma’s Eric Lapotsky. This win led to the rematch he’d been waiting for all season: Hudson Taylor, the tournament’s No. 3 seed. In their first meeting of the year, when Cornell opened its dualmatch season against underdog Maryland — and lost — Taylor pinned Simaz in the second period. The next day, they faced off again in the Body Bar Invitational at CU, and even though Simaz improved his performance, he still came up short, losing a 7-2 decision.

After ending the regular season with a 37-5 record and added confidence, Simaz was ready to deliver payback. For three periods, Cam and Taylor wrestled fast and furious, with a wild scramble toward the end of regulation. The score was tied 2-2 heading into overtime.

Then, moments later, Simaz circled his opponent and took him down to win, 4-2, and claim third place, his second All-America finish in as many seasons at Cornell.

Only Dake and Lewnes remained to compete on Saturday night in the NCAA finals – the pinnacle of collegiate wrestling. Wrestling for the 174 championship, both Lewnes and Iowa’s Jay Borschel entered the match undefeated. Each started heavy on the head and executed a couple of quick shots without success. Midway through the first period, Borschel scored a takedown to grab the lead. Then, after an even second period, Borschel took Mack down again in the third, finishing the match with a 6-2 victory and the title. Lewnes’ runnerup finish was disappointing for him, but he emerged a two-time AllAmerican and a NCAA finalist.

“The way Mack was able to fight through that match was incredible,” Nickerson said. “It shows just how hard he was working to get those wins and do everything in his power to lead the team.”

After a string of four decisions in four matches, Kyle Dake entered the finals confident he could beat Iowa’s Montell Marion, the tournament’s No. 6 seed at 141. Dake battled throughout with an extraordinary counter takedown in the first period, two near fall points in the second, and an accumulated 2:34 of riding time before the start of the third. But by then, only two minutes away from the title Kyle was nearly out of gas. Marion took him down to the mat, but with his last ounce of strength, Dake scored a quick escape and battled on to win the national title, 7-3.

“Knowing how Kyle wrestles and how he prepares for matches, we all expected him to just crush that kid,” says Nickerson. “And even though Kyle didn’t wrestle his best, he got through the match by working hard and fighting through the fatigue. When he stepped off the mat, he was completely exhausted. You could see in his face that there was nothing left, but he’d done everything he needed to win the title.”

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With four top-four NCAA team finishers, Cornell’s remarkable season ended with a second-place NCAA team finish. The highest in its history. That called for a celebration. As they entered the tournamentending reception, they did it together, with every member of the team taking a turn carrying the NCAA runner-up trophy.

wrestling

From stars to non-starters, they’d spent the entire season working and playing together, enduring extra practice sessions, and cheering each other through each competition. One way or another, the squad made the trip to Omaha—even a wrestler, who spent the year as Redman, the team’s unofficial mascot. Every team member worked overtime scouting the opposition, stirring up the crowd, and helping teammates overcome the physical, mental, and emotional pressure of competing at the highest level of collegiate competition.

At the post-finals reception with athletes taking turns at the microphone, one teammate joked that when Superman goes to bed, he wears Kyle Dake pajamas. Another claimed that title or not, freshman Dake was still responsible for carrying the scales back onto the plane. There was a round of speeches, and then another, and another.

For Coach Koll, it was all about family. On the walk from the hotel that morning, he made a list of the ways his team had become a family: (1) Family is having Adam Frey’s mother with us at the NCAA Championships.

(2) Family is 500 Cornell fans wearing large “C’s” on their chest to support their team.

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(3) Family is a mascot wearing a red body suit, sweating his butt off, and doing everything in his power to help the team.

(4) Family is wrestling in spite of injury because you know your friends need you.

He’d tried that morning to come up with five ways, but the fifth didn’t come to him until he watched Lewnes compete earlier that night: (5) Family is caring about your wrestlers so much that when they lose, it feels as though you’ve lost, too, and you just can’t keep from tearing up.

“That’s what everybody felt tonight,” he said, “and that’s not just wins and losses. That’s family.”

For some, it was the end of their collegiate wrestling careers, and for others it was still the beginning. Then, as they flew out of Omaha the next day and watched the heroic Cornell men’s basketball team on television in their NCAA tournament, it all began to sink in.

“It’s a feeling that words can’t explain,” says Nickerson. “We’ve heard a million times that this was the greatest weekend in the history of Cornell athletics, and it really was — no doubt about it. Being a part of something this special, and knowing all we’d done to help this program attain its goals, was an experience I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.

“Twenty years from now,” he added, “we’ll all be able to look back on this night and remember the part we played in creating a Cornell dynasty.”

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a perspective wrestling

By Steve Friedman ’59

For fans of Big Red Wrestling, recent years have been a golden age. Starting with the overall leadership of Director of Athletics Andy Noel, and with the inspiration—and great hands-on and intensive recruiting and coaching— provided by head coach Rob Koll and his staff, Cornell’s wrestlers have taken a historically rich program to new heights. Rob always dreamed and aspired—and we ardent alumni and fans supported, and at times humored, his audacious goals—but it turns out he had the vision to see how far our dedicated staff and athletes could take the program. The 2009-10 season was the best in Cornell wrestling history!

• Second place finish at the NCAA championships, Cornell’s highest finish ever, and the best ever for an Ivy League team!

• Fourth straight EIWA championship.

• Eighth straight Ivy League championship.

• Crowned an NCAA champion (Kyle Dake) for the third straight year.

• Four wrestlers achieved All-America status for the sixth straight year.

• Eight wrestlers named first team All-Ivy. • Ivy Rookie of the Year for the sixth straight year.

• Dake was named EIWA Freshman of the Year, and Freshman of the Year by Intermat and Amateur Wrestling News.

• And best of all, it’s been achieved over the years with dedicated student-athletes who make us all proud with how they conduct themselves academically, athletically, and in every other way!

Three cheers for Big Red Wrestling!

Stephen Friedman is a retired Chairman of Goldman Sachs & Co. and currently serves as Chairman of Stone Point Capital, LLC. He served as Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and of the Intelligence Oversight Board from January 2006 to January 2009. From December 2002 to December 2004, he served as Assistant to President George W. Bush for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council. Friedman is a former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1959 and LL.B. from Columbia University Law School in 1962 (Law Review).

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In 2008, when the Cornell men’s basketball team won its third Ivy League title and first since 1988, the trip to Anaheim to play Stanford in the first round of the NCAAs felt more like a reward to a breakthrough season. In defending its Ivy crown the following season, the squad felt it could compete with its first-round opponent Missouri.

But this year in Jacksonville, the Cornell players entered the first round knowing they could win and make history in the process...

2009-2010

men’s 74 MAKING HISTORY

prologue men’s basketball

The routine for the Cornell men’s basketball team was the same, but the attitude was much different. After having experienced NCAA Tournament defeat the past two seasons in Anaheim and Boise, the Big Red climbed aboard their charter plane heading to Jacksonville on Wednesday with a swagger and confidence that was not present on the previous two Ivy Championship squads. Where as those teams thought they were good, the 2009-2010 titleholders knew they were ready and had the resumé to back it up.

During the regular season, Cornell had beaten the likes of Alabama, UMass, Drexel, St. John’s, St. Joseph’s, Davidson, La Salle, and nearly shocked top-ranked Kansas on the road, serving notice to the rest of the country—and themselves—that the Big Red would be one of the toughest outs in the NCAA Tournament field. So as the police escort efficiently whisked the team through downtown Jacksonville to their hotel, the team was visibly looser and more relaxed than it had been in the lead up to previous tournament games. Every single member of the team’s traveling party (players, coaches, and staff) didn’t doubt for a second that the team would be staying in Jacksonville for the entire weekend.

After they spent only an hour getting situated in their hotel, the Big Red players went to a local high school gym for their last “live” (fullcourt, 5-on-5 drills, etc.) practice before Friday’s game. Their legs were clearly tired from traveling, but considering what was at stake, both the players and coaches invested the necessary time to prepare for the Temple Owls.

After returning to the hotel via police escort from practice, the team gathered for dinner at the Dave & Buster’s, or “Chuck E. Cheese for adults” as junior guard and Floridian Max Groebe called it. The team enjoyed a giant, buffet-style Southern dinner, and then dispersed in the restaurant for a night of gaming. Some players were better at the games than others, but even those who were not “arcade inclined” had a great time. Two hours of playing the arcade games passed quickly, and when it was all over, guys on the team brought hundreds—and for some a few thousand—of winning tickets to the prize booth to claim their rewards. The team returned to the hotel for a brief film session on Temple personnel, which included a scouting report on the opposition and each player’s strengths and weaknesses. The game plan was refined and revisited during the team’s private workout the next day.

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men’s basketball

Thursday featured the open-media practice session. The team received their first glimpse of the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena—the site of the first- and second-round games. This event—the media and their questions, the glamorous and fully equipped locker rooms, and fans watching the team practice—was almost awe-inspiring. Many of the upperclassmen experienced this atmosphere in Anaheim two years earlier and then again in Boise last year. In Jacksonville, however, things were different since nearly every player in the team’s primary rotation had experienced an NCAA Tournament setting. It was as if there was an unspoken agreement among the squad members to relax and enjoy themselves this time around.

The national media and the public experienced a taste of this carefree attitude during the team’s first press conference of the tournament on Thursday. The first question for Jeff Foote was: “Explain the rigorous demands of Ivy League education and how that affects the basketball team.” Instead of answering the question directly, Foote, as a result of a lost bet in a practice shooting game to Louis Dale earlier in the week, had to purposely disregard the first question asked of him and reply with an absurd answer. Foote explained how much the team enjoyed the plane ride into Jacksonville and the police escorts they had received since arriving. The team burst into laughter in the locker

78 MAKING HISTORY

room, and Coach Donahue then explained to the national media that Foote was the victim of a lost bet and was not a complete nut as it seemed. That press conference was a harbinger of things to come, however, as the Big Red proved time and time again that they would not let the pressure of the NCAA Tournament stage unnerve them.

They conducted themselves like the most confident and relaxed team in the field the entire weekend.

On the eve of the Big Red’s showdown with Temple, the team set off to a dinner/pep rally organized by the region’s Cornell Alumni Association. After a meal overlooking the scenic Jacksonville Landing, alumni, family, and friends gathered at the restaurant to meet and greet the players and wish them well. The pep rally demonstrated that Cornell travels well and Cornell Athletics inspires uncommon spirit and passion in the school’s students, past and present.

MAKING HISTORY 79

men’s basketball

“

So much confidence was flowing amidst the jubilant teammates that nothing seemed impossible. The ride was just getting fun. There didn’t seem much point in stopping now.

”

friday The NCAA Tournament provides each team with a shoot-around time slot at the arena a few hours before tip-off. Because the Temple game was scheduled for a noon tip, Coach Donahue passed on the optional shooting session in favor of an extra hour of sleep for his players. When the squad woke up, everyone came together for a late breakfast and some final film study. The last seeds of preparation were planted into the minds of the Cornell players…who to double-team when, who are the main outside shooting threats, who are the weak ball handlers, who can be exposed on defense, etc. By Friday morning, the players knew Temple almost as well as Temple knew itself. It was time to earn the NCAA Tournament victory that the upperclassmen long desired.

Playing the earliest game of the day would seem to give the benefit of allowing for additional warm-up time. But, per NCAA regulations, participating teams can not warm up with a basketball until 27 minutes prior to tip off. While Temple heard this and solemnly waited on their bench for the clock to wind down, the Cornell players obeyed this rule by its exact words—the NCAA does not prohibit warming up without a ball. So some Big Red players began running lay-up lines with an imaginary basketball. It started with a couple players and soon the whole team joined in. Perhaps the Temple players were thinking that the scene was bizarre, or were jealous that they didn’t think of imaginary lay-up lines first. Either way, the Owls seemed to enjoy the show.

But then it was time to get ready for the game. Donahue later said he could tell his team was ready to play from the moment they stepped in the locker room. Prior to the Stanford and Missouri NCAA Tournament games, the faces of his players were filled with angst and nervous excitement. But for the Temple game, the players exhibited undeniable swagger and confidence. It was as if Cornell was the fifth seed and Temple was the underdog 12th seed. It was clear the Big Red was out to prove it was the better team.

MAKING HISTORY 81

men’s basketball

The fans watching the game may have felt the same way from the outset. Though the game was tight in the first half, Cornell was dictating the tempo and had the usually mistake-free Owls seemingly rattled. Cornell opened the game utilizing its blueprint for success against teams from major conferences: stay poised under defensive pressure (which it would face against Temple’s notoriously strong half-court defense), play unselfishly and make open shots, and change its own defense to stay one step ahead of the opponent. Early in the contest, the plan worked to perfection.

Donahue constantly flustered his mentor, Temple Head Coach Fran Dunphy, switching back and forth from a traditional manto-man defense to a 1-3-1 three-quarter court trapping defense to a 2-3 half court zone. The Red pressured the Owls, who were clearly expecting something else from the Big Red defense, into nine first half turnovers.

On the offensive end, despite cold outside shooting from its cavalry of players, Cornell, as veteran teams tend to do, found ways to put points on the board. Louis Dale, obliterating the ghosts of his previous two NCAA Tournament games, repeatedly tore the Owls’ perimeter defenders apart and got into the teeth of the defense, either finishing with a crafty lay-up, or dishing to Jeff Foote down low. Temple, afraid to double-team Foote for fear of leaving one of Cornell’s four surrounding shooters open, challenged the big man one-on-one time after time in the first half and made the Owls pay. The Big Red led at the half 37-29, behind 68-percent field goal shooting, despite being held to an uncharacteristically low two three-pointers.

Both teams picked up the offense to start the second half, which was not good news for the Owls, who could ill afford to trade baskets with the suddenly not Cornell perimeter shooters. An 18-6 run over less than five minutes of playing time pushed the Cornell lead to 18 points with nine minutes remaining. Ryan Wittman found the stroke that made him the Ivy League’s most deadly three-point shooter, burying three trifectas in a matter of minutes. Dale continued to slice Temple’s vaunted defense into pieces, and Foote, the two-time Ivy Defensive Player of the Year, was patrolling the paint as usual.

Though there was plenty of time left in the game, the Big Red was in complete control. The 10,000 fans in attendance—most of whom were either clad in Cornell red or were cheering for the underdog—could sense that there was going to be a Big Red victory. The Red, led by the usual trio of Louis Dale (21 points,

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seven assists), Ryan Wittman (20 points, five rebounds), and Jeff Foote (16 points, seven boards), finally reached its season-long goal of winning an NCAA Tournament game, 78-65. While the “Big 3” received most of the credit, the whole team contributed. Senior guard Geoff Reeves hounded Temple star point guard Juan Fernandez into a completely ineffective game. Senior forward Jon Jaques pitched in six points, four rebounds, and two first-half steals, and sophomore guard Chris Wroblewski poured in nine points.

After becoming the first Ivy League team to win an NCAA Tournament game since Princeton beat UNLV in 1998, the Cornell players were ecstatic heading into the locker room—but they were not satisfied. The team stayed an unusually long time in the locker room and arena watching the Wofford vs. Wisconsin game in order to savor their win and enjoy the moment with family and friends. So much confidence flowed amidst the jubilant teammates that nothing seemed impossible. The ride was becoming more and more fun.

There didn’t seem much point in stopping now.

That evening, the team dispersed for a couple of hours to eat dinner and continue soaking in the experience of the program’s first NCAA Tournament win. Once reunited in the hotel film room, preparations began for Sunday’s second round game against the fourth-seeded Wisconsin Badgers, which had defeated 13th-seeded Wofford, 53-49.

Unlike every other team remaining in the tournament field, Cornell was in a familiar element by playing two games in a three-day format.

The coaching staff and team were especially adept at designing and executing a winning game plan on such short notice. The squad— especially the experienced senior core—made a habit of sweeping games on consecutive nights in the Ivy League. The Big Red had made a living beating hungry competition on back-to-back nights, so beating two teams in three days (even if both were in the top 25) was not as daunting a task as it may have seemed to an outsider.

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men’s basketball

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saturday men’s basketball

With their first Wisconsin film session behind them, another busy day of preparation lay ahead on Saturday. Their second media practice of the weekend followed breakfast. This was the first time that any of the players had experienced a second media day in the NCAA Tournament, and this one was no different than the first. Even though Cornell was now an overnight Cinderella sensation, the team had grown accustomed to dealing with the sometimes cliché questions directed at Ivy League student-athletes. The team also continued to have fun with the media attention it found itself attracting.

The practice prior to the Wisconsin game did differ from the one before the Temple game in that it was not open to the public. Whereas the Temple practice at Veterans Memorial Arena was essentially for show (lay-up lines, shooting contests, etc.), the Wisconsin one was scouting and preparation oriented. In the hour that was allotted by the NCAA, the coaching staff began to put in place a game plan to crack Wisconsin’s notoriously stingy half-court man-to-man defense. Even though they were well aware of the Badgers’ defensive prowess, the Big Red players and coaches were confident that they would be able to succeed on the offensive end since they had just dismantled Temple, the team with the top field goal percentage defense in the country.

At the conclusion of the media session, the team proceeded to a private workout at the same local high school gym that they used before the Temple game. Though there were few full-court drills and little live action, the final touches of the game plan were put in place by Donahue. The Big Red coach and his assistants designed a strategy to defend Wisconsin star guard Trevon Hughes (who Donahue compared to Kansas guard Sherron Collins), to defend Wisconsin’s versatile big man Jon Leuer, and to utilize its strengths to score against Wisconsin’s air-tight defense. After a hard day and a quarter of preparation, the Big Red felt confident that if it fully executed this gameplan, the team would come out on top over the heavily favored Badgers.

The evening prior to the historic second round match-up, the team had another great opportunity to eat and enjoy time with proud alumni who had made it to Jacksonville to cheer on the Big Red. The team gathered at Sticky Fingers Smokehouse in Jacksonville for a delicious barbeque dinner. The team also had fun watching other NCAA Tournament games on TV, especially after winning a game in the tournament.

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The restaurant was showing Northern Iowa’s shocking upset of top seed Kansas. The room seemed split. Many, for obvious reasons, were rooting for the underdog Panthers. But a large number of the players wanted to see Kansas, a team that Cornell had come so close to defeating earlier in the season, advance in the tournament.

The players and alumni sitting in the patio area went crazy when Ali Farokhmanesh made his now infamous three-pointer from the wing to seal Northern Iowa’s stunning victory. Somehow, watching Northern Iowa pull off an even more improbable upset than their own seemed to make the players realize the significance of their NCAA Tournament victory over Temple.

After watching Farokhmanesh’s heroics, the alumni in attendance requested that the NCAA wrestling championships airing on ESPN were put on one of the TVs. Though the majority of the players had never watched wrestling on TV, they were glued to the screen and the sight of Cornell freshman Kyle Dake dominating older competition in his weight class to become an NCAA champion. The event served as another form of motivation for the Big Red basketball players.

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men’s basketball

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sunday If Cornell was nervous before its game versus Wisconsin, they didn’t let anyone, including the national television audience, know it. Television cameras caught the team again warming up before balls were allowed on the court, this time with a rolled up wad of sticky tape. The Red came out of the gates looking like the looser and more relaxed of the two teams.

The thought of losing never crossed the minds of the Cornell players, and they literally led the favored Badgers from start to finish.

In arguably their most dominating and complete game of basketball of the season, the Ivy League champs dictated every aspect of the game versus their Big Ten opponent. The Big Red jumped on the Badgers early, thanks to an 11-1 run to open the game. Two Wittman mid-range jumpers and a Jon Jaques steal and breakaway lay-up prompted an early timeout by Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. But the momentum only grew for the Big Red. Playing catch-up from the tip to a scorching hot, confident, and loose team is not a recipe for NCAA Tournament success, as Wisconsin quickly learned. Every time the Badgers attempted a comeback, a Dale pull-up jumper or a Wittman rainbow three-pointer moved the momentum back to Cornell.

The second half became an offensive clinic by Cornell. Pick and roll after pick and roll exploited Wisconsin’s now beleaguered defense and allowed Louis Dale to either waltz into the paint for an uncontested lay-up or toss up alley oops to Foote in the paint. Wisconsin failed to provide an answer for the poise and deception of Dale, and Cornell’s lead reached 24 points with seven minutes to play. The Red went on to win the game 87-69, claiming the Ivy League’s first trip to the Sweet Sixteen since Penn’s Final Four squad of 1979. On top of this, the victory earned Cornell a third-round game in Central New York to face overall No.1 seed Kentucky in the Carrier Dome.

Dale continued his torrid run and paced Cornell again, while longtime running mate Ryan Wittman wasn’t far behind. Dale scored a career high 26 points, Wittman chipped in 24 points (to become the fifth player in conference history to surpass 2,000 points), and Chris Wroblewski and Jeff Foote tallied 12 points each as Cornell shot an astounding 61 percent from the field and 53 percent from three-point range.

MAKING HISTORY 89

Coach Donahue was in awe watching his team dismantle one of the best defenses in the country, saying afterwards that it was the best performance by any team that he has coached. The celebration in the locker room was even more animated than the one after the first round victory. men’s basketball

And the team’s fun-loving attitude continued, as Dale was able to incorporate the team’s favorite quote from the television show “Friday Night Lights” at the Wisconsin post-game press conference. “We’ve got eight seniors on this team,” Dale said with a straight face, “and we want to take this ride as long as we can because after this it’s nothing but babies and memories, so we’ll just keep going.” The entire room, players and journalists alike, burst into laughter. All the Cornell players huddled in the locker room were aware that Dale would try to include the quote, and they erupted when it was recited perfectly.

By now, the media had learned to appreciate the humor of the Cornell players. As the lowest seed remaining in the NCAA Tournament, the team instantly became one of the “tournament darlings,” a response to cynics that the true scholar-athlete had disappeared. And of course, this unique collection of athletes, as well as those on the men’s and women’s hockey and wrestling teams, demonstrated that they are indeed special people and their amazing success during the weekend of March 19-21 was indeed no accident.

Playing catch-up from the tip to a scorching hot, wildly confident, and absurdly loose team is not a recipe for NCAA Tournament success, as Wisconsin quickly found out. Every time the Badgers even dared to come back, a Dale pull-up jumper or a Wittman rainbow three-pointer would swing the momentum back to Cornell.

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men’s basketball

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a perspective men’s basketball

By Garry Munson ’66

I’ve been following and supporting the Cornell men’s basketball since 1966 when I graduated from Cornell.

When I think about my years involved with the program, it’s been an amazing experience to have witnessed the transformation of Big Red Basketball from an up-and-down program to one that has captured three consecutive Ivy League championships and earned national prominence.

This transformation reached a new level during the weekend of March 1921 in Jacksonville, Fla. Ten years ago, when Steve Donahue was named head coach to lead the Big Red program, who would have imagined that Cornell basketball would win two games in the NCAA tournament—forget about winning one game—and that these NCAA victories would be wins against traditional major college powers.

Last season was the culmination of Coach Donahue’s efforts to build the program the right way—the recruitment of quality team members who are outstanding basketball players and citizens of the community, the infusion of hard work and discipline, and the adherence to principles that lead to success for student-athletes both on and off the basketball court.

The success of Cornell’s current three-year run in the NCAA tournament provides the best example of the team’s progression to its current status.

In 2008, when Cornell won its third Ivy League title and first since 1988, the trip to Anaheim to play Stanford in the first round of the NCAAs felt more like a reward to a breakthrough season.

In 2009, when the Big Red became the first program other than Pennsylvania or Princeton to win back-to-back league titles, the squad felt it could compete with its first-round opponent, the University of Missouri.

But this year in Jacksonville, the Cornell players entered the first round knowing they could defeat Temple—and knowing Cornell could become the first Ivy team to make it out of the first weekend of tournament action since Penn in 1979.

I had traveled and seen Cornell’s brief Big Dance appearances in Anaheim and Boise. When I arrived in Jacksonville for this year’s tournament games, I noticed this change in outlook, not only among the players but the coaches, support staff and fans as well.

The night before the Temple game the team, the traveling party, as well as many Cornell alums from both the Jacksonville area and around the country gathered for a well-organized pep rally at an outdoor restaurant on the river in downtown Jacksonville. The Big Red band also appeared. There had been no such event in Anaheim or Boise. The short three or four-day timeframe between the Sunday announcement of the Big Dance field/game location and the tip-off for first-round games usually prohibits organizing such an event.

But the university was excited about the team’s chances in the tournament

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and knew a pep really of this magnitude could give the players and staff an added boost that might help lead to victory.

When the team and Coach D spoke at the Jacksonville pep rally, you could tell by their words that they were ready to make history over the weekend.

Alumni questions were answered with responses such as “advancing” and looking forward to the opportunity to play “deep into the tournament.”

I saw another sign: how the players handled questions from the national media at the press conferences following the pre-game practices in Jacksonville. The players were loose—really loose—and to me it appeared certain that their goal of advancing in the Big Dance was going to happen.

I vividly remember two things related to Cornell’s convincing win over Wisconsin on the final day of this memorable weekend.

On Saturday, a chance meeting occurred between Coach D and Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan in the bowels of the Jacksonville Arena just after the Cornell practice and just before the start of the Wisconsin practice. It was just two basketball guys from Philly chatting it up, acting relaxed and all the time each of them knowing that one or the other was going to break the other’s heart in the next 24 hours.

During the second half of the game Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan had a look on his face of understanding and acceptance that Cornell, not his Wisconsin Badgers, was going to win that game.

The second memory is getting to the Jacksonville Arena early on Sunday and having a friendly pre-game conversation with Jacksonville Area resident Sam Jones, the NBA Hall of Fame guard who helped the Boston Celtics win 11 NBA championships in the 1950s and 1960s. During our chat, Sam said he didn’t know much about this Cornell team, but he knew Wisconsin was a powerful team that executed well. And Jones was suspect of my glowing review of the Big Red. Then after the game, Sam calmly mentioned to me that Cornell was really impressive and he was surprised that Cornell had taken Wisconsin “out of its game.”

Since I graduated from Cornell 44 years ago, I have changed a lot of travel plans and rebooked many flights. Quite often, it’s been a major hassle to do so. With Cornell knocking off Temple and Wisconsin and ruining the NCAA tournament brackets in the process, I had to move my Jacksonville departure from Saturday, March 20th to Monday, March 22nd and then book a flight for later that week to Syracuse. This was certainly not a burden. It was an absolute pleasure!

Garry Munson (Cornell ILR 1966) is a commercial real estate developer living in New York City with his wife, Lynn McMahon, and 12-year-old daughter, Samantha. Munson has an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Finance (1968). Munson was the leading rebounder on the 1964-65 and 1965-66 Cornell men’s basketball teams, and was named to the All Ivy League second team in 1965-66. Munson’s best memory at Cornell was the 1965 Cornell win over a Princeton team led by Bill Bradley at Barton Hall.

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men’s ice hockey

2009-2010 MEN’s ice hockey

ROSTER

No. Name

Pos. HT.

Wt.

YR.

HOMETOWN

LAST TEAM

2

Mike Devin

D

6-2

207

Jr.

Scituate, MA

Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL)

3

Jarred Seymour

D

6-1

193

Fr.

Toronto, ON

Stouffville Spirit (OJHL)

4

Keir Ross

D

5-11

185

So.

McKinney, TX

Omaha Lancers (USHL)

5

Justin Krueger

D

6-3

217

Sr.

Duesseldorf, Germany

Penticton Vees (BCHL)

6

Nick D’Agostino

D

6-2

181

Fr.

Bolton, ON

St. Michael’s Buzzers (OJHL)

7

Braden Birch

D

6-4

205

Fr.

Hamilton, ON

Oakville Blades (OJHL)

8

Locke Jillson

F

5-9

155

So.

Dallas, TX

Indiana Ice (USHL)

9

Tyler Roeszler

F

5-8

175

Jr.

Chatham, ON

Chatham Maroons (WOHL)

10

Patrick Kennedy

F

6-3

210

Jr.

Dorchester, ON

St. Thomas Stars (WOHL)

11

Vince Mihalek

F

5-11

185

Fr.

Willowick, OH

Westside Warriors (BCHL)

12

Sean Collins

F

6-2

186

So.

Saskatoon, SK

Waywayseecappo Wolverines (MJHL)

14

Riley Nash

F

6-1

179

Jr.

Kamloops, BC

Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)

15

Colin Greening

F

6-2

211

Sr.

St. John’s, Newfoundland

Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL)

16

Greg Miller

F

5-11

197

Fr.

Toronto, ON

St. Michael’s Buzzers (OJHL)

17

Jordan Kary

F

6-3

190

So.

Wetaskiwin, AB

Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL)

19

Sean Whitney

D

6-4

195

So.

Scituate, MA

Cushing Academy

21

Erik Axell

F

6-4

197

Fr.

Toronto, ON

St. Michael’s Buzzers (OJHL)

22

Joe Devin

F

6-1

206

Jr.

Scituate, MA

Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL)

23

Chris Moulson

F

5-11

190

Fr.

Mississauga, ON

Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL)

24

Brendon Nash

D

6-3

218

Sr.

Kamloops, BC

Salmon Arm Silverbacks (BCHL)

26

John Esposito

F

5-10

170

Fr.

Montreal, QC

Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL)

27

Blake Gallagher

F

5-7

175

Sr.

Dartmouth, NS

Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL)

28

Joe Scali

F

5-11

185

Sr.

Coquitlam, BC

Alberni Valley Bulldogs (BCHL)

29

Dan Nicholls

F

6-0

201

Jr.

Whitby, ON

Bowmanville Eagles (OPJHL)

30

Ben Scrivens

G

6-2

192

Sr.

Spruce Grove, AB

Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL)

31

Omar Kanji

G

5-11

165

Fr.

Thornhill, ON

Upper Canada College

35

Michael Garman

G

6-1

192

So.

Vail, CO

Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL)

Head Coach: Mike Schafer | Assistant Coaches: Casey Jones & Scott Garrow | Athletic Trainer: Ed Kelly | Equipment Manager: Pedro Trindade 96 MAKING HISTORY

2009-2010

Schedule & RESULTS

DATE OPPONENT

Location

Result

10/23/2009

University of Windsor (ON)

Ithaca, NY

W 7-0

10/24/2009

U.S. Under-18 Team

Ithaca, NY

L 2-3

10/30/2009

Niagara University

Ithaca, NY

W 3-2 OT

11/6/2009

*Dartmouth College

Ithaca, NY

W 5-1

11/7/2009

*Harvard University

Ithaca, NY

W 6-3

11/13/2009

*at Yale University

New Haven, CT

L 2-4

11/14/2009

*at Brown University

Providence, RI

W 6-0

11/20/2009

*Princeton University

Ithaca, NY

W 5-2

11/21/2009

*Quinnipiac University

Ithaca, NY

L 2-3

11/24/2009

*Colgate University

Ithaca, NY

W 4-2

11/28/2009

vs Boston University

New York, NY

T 3-3 OT

12/4/2009

*at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Troy, NY

W 2-1

12/5/2009

*at Union College

Schenectady, NY

T 2-2 OT

12/29/2009

**vs Colorado College

Estero, FL

L 2-4

12/30/2009

**vs Princeton University

Estero, FL

L 2-3

1/3/2010

at University of New Hampshire

Durham, NH

W 5-2

1/15/2010

*at Clarkson University

Potsdam, NY

W 3-1

1/16/2010

*at St. Lawrence University

Canton, NY

T 1-1 OT

1/22/2010

University of North Dakota

Ithaca, NY

W 1-0

1/23/2010

University of North Dakota

Ithaca, NY

L 1-3

1/29/2010

*St. Lawrence University

Ithaca, NY

W 2-1

1/30/2010

*Clarkson University

Ithaca, NY

W 5-3

2/5/2010

*at Quinnipiac University

Hamden, CT

W 2-0

2/6/2010

*at Princeton University

Princeton, NJ

L 3-5

2/12/2010

*Brown University

Ithaca, NY

W 5-3

2/13/2010

*Yale University

Ithaca, NY

L 1-2 OT

2/16/2010

*at Colgate University

Hamilton, NY

W 6-2

2/19/2010

*at Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

W 3-0

2/20/2010

*at Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH

L 4-5

2/26/2010

*Union College

Ithaca, NY

W 4-1

2/27/2010

*Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Ithaca, NY

T 1-1 OT

3/12/2010

***Harvard University

Ithaca, NY

W 5-1

3/13/2010

***Harvard University

Ithaca, NY

W 3-0

3/19/2010

***vs Brown University

Albany, NY

W 3-0

3/20/2010

***vs Union College

Albany, NY

W 3-0

3/26/2010

****vs University of New Hampshire

Albany, NY

L 2-6

*Conference Game **Florida College Classic **ECAC Hockey Tournament ***NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament

MAKING HISTORY 97

women’s ice hockey

2009-2010 women’s ice hockey

ROSTER

No. Name

Pos. HT. YR. Hometown

LAST TEAM

4

Kendice Ogilvie

F

5-7 So. Delburne, AB

Red Deer Chiefs / Team Alberta

6

Melanie Jue

F

5-5 Sr. Richmond, BC

Pacific Steelers

7

Lauriane Rougeau D

5-8 Fr. Beaconsfield, QC

Dawson College / Team Canada

9

Xandra Hompe

F

5-7 Fr. New Canaan, CT

Greenwich Academy

12 Kelly McGinty

F

5-2 Sr. Long Lake, MN

Minnesota Thoroughbreds

13 Amanda Young

D

5-6 So. Lacombe, AB

Red Deer Chiefs / Team Alberta

14 Laura Danforth

F

5-4 Sr. Grosse Pointe, MI Honeybaked U19 AA

15 Jess Martino

D

5-5 So. Winthrop, MA

East Coast Wizards

19 Hayley Hughes

F

5-6 Jr. Stouffville, ON

Toronto Aeros

20 Catherine White

F

5-9 So. Brampton, ON

Mississauga Chiefs / Team Ontario / Team Canada

21 Amber Overguard D/F

5-8 Jr. Sundre, AB

Warner Warriors / Team Alberta

23 Jenna Paulson

D

5-9 So. Toronto, ON

Toronto Aeros

24 Liz Zorn

F

5-6 Sr. Churchville, NY

Rochester Edge U19 AA

26 Chelsea Karpenko F

5-6 So. Winnipeg, MB

Notre Dame Hounds / Team Manitoba / Team Canada

27 Karlee Overguard F

5-8 Jr. Sundre, AB

Warner Warriors / Team Alberta

29 Amanda Mazzotta G

5-5 So. London, ON

London Devilettes / Team Ontario / Team Canada

35 Katie Wilson

G

5-6 Jr. Uxbridge, ON

Markham/Stouffville Stars

77 Laura Fortino

D

5-6 Fr. Hamilton, ON

Stoney Creek Jr. Sabres / Team Ontario / Team Canada

Head Coach: Doug Derraugh | Assistant Coach: Danielle Bilodeau | Assistant Coach: Edith Zimmering Athletic Trainer: Linda Hoisington | Equipment Manager: Bill Reynolds 98 MAKING HISTORY

2009-2010

Schedule & RESULTS

DATE OPPONENT

LocATion

Result

10/18/2009

Toronto Aeros

Ithaca, NY

T 5-5 OT

10/23/2009

Mercyhurst College

Ithaca, NY

L 1-4

10/24/2009

Mercyhurst College

Ithaca, NY

L 1-4

10/30/2009

Dartmouth College

Ithaca, NY

W 3-0

10/31/2009

Harvard University

Ithaca, NY

W 4-3

11/6/2009

Union College

Schenectady, NY

W 4-0

11/7/2009

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Troy, NY

W 3-1

11/13/2009

Clarkson University

Ithaca, NY

W 2-0

11/14/2009

St. Lawrence University

Ithaca, NY

L 2-3

11/20/2009

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ

W 1-0

11/21/2009

Quinnipiac University

Hamden, CT

T 3-3

11/28/2009

Niagara University

Ithaca, NY

W 2-1

11/29/2009

Niagara University

Ithaca, NY

L 1-2

12/4/2009

Yale University

Ithaca, NY

T 2-2

12/5/2009

Brown University

Ithaca, NY

W 5-0

1/5/2010

Syracuse University

Ithaca, NY

L 1-2 OT

1/9/2010

Providence College

Providence, RI

L 3-6

1/10/2010

Providence College

Providence, RI

L 0-3

1/15/2010

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

T 4-4 OT

1/16/2010

Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH

W 3-1

1/22/2010

Colge University

Hamilton, NY

T 3-3 OT

1/23/2010

Colgate University

Ithaca, NY

W 6-0

1/29/2010

St. Lawrence University

Canton, NY

T 2-2 OT

1/30/2010

Clarkson University

Potsdam, NY

L 1-2

2/5/2010

Quinnipiac University

Ithaca, NY

T 0-0 OT

2/6/2010

Princeton University

Ithaca, NY

W 6-0

2/12/2010

Brown University

Providence, RI

W 4-0

2/13/2010

Yale University

New Haven, CT

W 1-0

2/19/2010

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Ithaca, NY

W 2-1

2/20/2010

Union College

Ithaca, NY

W 6-1

2/26/2010

*Colgate University

Ithaca, NY

W 2-1

2/27/2010

*Colgate University

Ithaca, NY

W 5-0

3/5/2010

**Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Ithaca, NY

W 5-4

3/7/2010

***Clarkson University

Ithaca, NY

W 4-3 OT

3/12/2010

**** Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

W 6-2

3/19/2010

****vs Mercyhurst College

Minneapolis, MN

W 3-2 OT

3/21/2010

****vs University of Minnesota Duluth Minneapolis, MN

L 2-3 3OT

*ECAC Hockey Quarterfinals ** ECAC Hockey Semifinals *** ECAC Hockey Championship ****NCAA Tournament

MAKING HISTORY 99

wrestling

2009-2010 WRESTLING

ROSTER

Name

Wt.

Ht. Cl.

Home Town

High School

Albrecht, Scott Alves, Brian Arnone, Josh Basting, John Biscaha, Tyler Bosak, Steve Dailey, Colin Dake, Kyle Dale, Travis David, Conner Grey, Mike Holley, Nate Hutcheson, Cody Kelly, Cody Kerber, Justin Kocher, George Landers, Carl Lane, Stryker Leith, Quin Lewnes, Mack Manson, Corey McDonald, Colin Meagher, DJ Metzler, Matthew Moore, Michael Moore, Taylor Nickerson, Troy Panasevich, Matt Perrelli, Frank Phipps, Warner Schreiner, Derek Simaz, Cam Smith, Phillip Snyder, Oney Stala, Lukasz Stanzione, Joe Sullivan, Patrick Weiss, Peter Winckel, Jason

141 149 285 165 125 184 149 141 184 133 133 184 165 133 165 197 197 285 133 174 149 184 149 141 184 285 125 184 125 157 157 197 141 285 285 133 157 141 184

5-10 5-6 5-11 5-8 5-6 5-11 5-8 5-9 5-9 5-6 5-7 6-1 5-9 5-8 5-9 6-2 6-0 6-4 5-6 5-8 5-5 5-10 5-9 5-8 5-9 5-9 5-4 5-10 5-5 5-9 5-10 6-0 5-9 6-1 6-1 5-6 5-8 5-9 5-9

Montauk, NY Willows, CA Honesdale, PA Grand Forks, ND Jackson, NJ State College, PA Easton, PA Ithaca, NY Lafayette, IN Wrentham, MA Rockaway, NJ Naperville, IL Bath, NY Mercer, PA Emmetsburg, IA Ramsey, NJ Virginia Beach, VA Redvale, CO Creston, IA Annapolis, MD Lookout Mountain, TN Waverly, NY Bow, NH Salamanca, NY Kansas City, MO Kansas City, MO Chenango Forks, NY Kingsley, PA Hackettstown, NJ Kearney, NE Wayzata, MN Allegan, MI Spokane, WA Hillsboro, OH Elmwood Park, NJ Dingmans Ferry, PA Suffield, CT Washington, DC Bonne Terre, MO

Mahwah HS Willows High School Honesdale HS Red River High School Jackson Memorial HS State College Area HS Easton Area HS Lansing HS McCutcheon HS King Philip Reg. HS Delbarton School Neuqua Valley High School Bath HS Reynolds HS Emmetsburg High School Bergen Catholic/U. of NC Tallwood High School Norwood HS Creston HS Mt. St. Joes Prep Baylor School Waverly HS Bow HS Salamanca HS Oak Grove HS Oak Grove HS Chenango Forks HS Mountain View Delbarton School Kearney HS Wayzata HS Allegan Senior High Mead HS Hillsboro HS Don Bosco Preparatory HS Blair Academy Suffield, Academy Landon HS North St. Francois Country HS

Fr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Fr. So. So. Fr. Jr. Fr. Jr. Sr. Fr. Fr. Jr. So. Sr. Fr. So. Jr. Jr. Jr. Jr. Fr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Sr. Jr. So. So. So. So. So. Fr. Fr. Fr. Jr. Jr.

The David Dunlop ‘59 Head Coach of Wrestling: Rob Koll | Assistant Coach: Damion Hahn Assistant Coach: Jeremy Spates | Volunteer Assistant Coach: Matt Azevedo | Athletic Trainer: Chris Scarlata 100 MAKING HISTORY

2009-2010

Schedule & RESULTS

DATE OPPONENT

Location

Results

11/20/2009

Maryland

Ithaca, NY

L 17-18

11/21/2009

Body Bar Invitational

Ithaca, NY

2nd (109 pts)

12/4/2009

Las Vegas Invitational

Las Vegas, NV

All Day

12/5/2009

Las Vegas Invitational

Las Vegas, NV

2nd place (121.5 pts)

12/29/2009

Southern Scuffle

Greensboro, NC

2nd, 49 points

12/30/2009

Southern Scuffle

Greensboro, NC

W 1st, 164 points

1/9/2010

Wisconsin (National Duals)

Cedar Falls, IA

W 24-11

1/9/2010

Ohio State (National Duals)

Cedar Falls, IA

L 14-27

1/9/2010

Missouri (National Duals)

Cedar Falls, IA

W 23-15

1/10/2010

Boise State (National Duals)

Cedar Falls, IA

L 19-20

1/10/2010

Maryland (National Duals)

Cedar Falls, IA

W 19-15

1/22/2010

Lehigh

Ithaca, NY

T 15-15

1/23/2010

NYS Intercollegiates

Ithaca, NY

All Day

1/24/2010

NYS Intercollegiates

Ithaca, NY

All Day

1/31/2010

Iowa State

Ithaca, NY

L 13-24

2/6/2010

Columbia

Ithaca, NY

W 37-3

2/6/2010

Hofstra

Ithaca, NY

W 37-6

2/13/2010

Penn

Philadelphia, Pa.

W 31-3

2/13/2010

Princeton

Princeton, NJ

W 46-3

2/19/2010

Brown

Ithaca, NY

W 46-4

2/20/2010

Harvard

Ithaca, NY

W 44-6

3/6/2010

EIWA Championships

Bethlehem, PA

All Day

3/7/2010

EIWA Championships

Bethlehem, PA

1st Place

3/18/2010

NCAA Championships

Omaha, NE

All Day

3/19/2010

NCAA Championships

Omaha, NE

All Day

3/20/2010

NCAA Championships

Omaha, NE

2nd Place

MAKING HISTORY 101

men’s basketball

2009-2010 MEN’s BASKETBALL

ROSTER

No. Name

Pos. Cl.

Ht. Wt. School

Hometown

1

Jeff Foote

C

Sr.

7-0 245

St. Bonaventure Univ./ Spencer-Van Etten HS

Lockwood, N.Y.

3

Chris Wroblewski

G

So.

6-0 180

Highland Park HS

Highland Park, Ill.

4

Aaron Osgood

F

Jr.

6-9 230

The Hill School (Pa.)

Overlake, Wash.

5

Errick Peck

F

Fr.

6-6 210

Cathedral HS

Indianapolis, Ind.

11 Max Groebe

G

Jr.

6-4 200

Univ. of Mass./ Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior HS

North Miami Beach, Fla.

12 Louis Dale

G

Sr.

5-11 180

Altamont School

Birmingham, Ala.

13 Andre Wilkins

F

Sr.

6-5 198

Blinn College (Texas)/ Emery HS

Toronto, Ontario

15 Geoff Reeves

G

Sr.

6-4 180

Burlington HS

Burlington, Kan.

20 Ryan Wittman

F

Sr.

6-6 215

Eden Prairie HS

Eden Prairie, Minn.

21 Peter McMillan

F

Fr.

6-7 220

Northfield Mt. Hermon School

Brentwood, Calif.

22 Miles Asafo-Adjei

G

Fr.

6-1 175

The Ensworth School

Nashville, Tenn.

24 Adam Wire

F

Jr.

6-6 222

Pinecrest HS

Southern Pines, N.C.

25 Jon Jaques

F

Sr.

6-7 220

Harvard-Westlake School

Los Angeles, Calif.

33 Alex Tyler

F

Sr.

6-7 235

Mercersburg Academy (Pa.)

Clear Spring, Md.

34 Josh Figini

F

Fr.

6-9 200

Chisago Lakes HS

Chisago Lakes, Minn.

40 Pete Reynolds

F/C

Sr.

6-8 225

Blair HS

Blair, Neb.

42 Mark Coury

F/C

Sr.

6-9 240

Univ. of Kentucky/ Detroit Country Day School

West Bloomfield, Mich.

55 Eitan Chemerinski

F

Fr.

6-8 195

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School

Potomac, Md.

–

F

Jr.

6-8 180

Centenary College/ Pearland HS

Pearland, Texas

Anthony Gatlin

Head Coach: Steve Donahue | Assistants: Nat Graham, Woody Kampmann, & Kevin App Athletic Trainer: Marc Chamberlain | Strength & Conditioning Coach: Jay Andress

102 MAKING HISTORY

2009-2010

Schedule & RESULTS

DATE OPPONENT SCORE HIGH POINTS 11/14/09 at Alabama W 71-67 (23) Wittman, Ryan 11/18/09 at UMass W 74-61 (24) Dale, Louis 11/20/09. SETON HALL 79-89 L (24) Wittman, Ryan 11/24/09 at #9/10 Syracuse 73-88 L (20) Wroblewski, Chris 11/27/09 vs Toledo W 78-60 (20) Wittman, Ryan 11/28/09 vs Vermont W 67-59 (12) Foote, Jeff

(12) Dale, Louis

(12) Wittman, Ryan 11/29/09 at Drexel W 61-54 (18) Wittman, Ryan 12/02/09 at Bucknell W/OT 104-98 (28) Foote, Jeff 12/06/09 SAINT JOSEPH’S W 78-66 (17) Wittman, Ryan 12/20/09 vs Davidson W/OT 91-88 (29) Wittman, Ryan 12/21/09 at St. John’s W 71-66 (20) Jaques, Jon 12/29/09 at La Salle W 78-75 (34) Wittman, Ryan 12/31/09 PENN STATE BEHREND W 73-49 (22) Foote, Jeff 01/02/10 BRYANT W 75-49 (19) Wittman, Ryan 01/06/10 at #1/1 Kansas 66-71 L (24) Wittman, Ryan 01/08/10 at South Dakota W 71-65 (19) Dale, Louis 01/11/10 CLARKSON W 82-37 (15) Wittman, Ryan 01/16/10 *COLUMBIA W 74-53 (13) Wroblewski, Chris

(13) Wittman, Ryan 01/23/10 *at Columbia W 77-51 (16) Dale, Louis 01/29/10 *DARTMOUTH W 71-37 (15) Groebe, Max 01/30/10 *HARVARD W 86-50 (16) Foote, Jeff 02/05/10 *YALE W 90-71 (17) Jaques, Jon 02/06/10 *BROWN W 74-60 (17) Foote, Jeff 02/12/10 *at Penn 64-79 L (16) Wittman, Ryan

(16) Dale, Louis 02/13/10 *at Princeton W 48-45 (13) Wittman, Ryan 02/19/10 *at Harvard W 79-70 (27) Wittman, Ryan 02/20/10 *at Dartmouth W 88-70 (23) Wittman, Ryan 02/26/10 *PRINCETON W 50-47 (19) Foote, Jeff

02/27/10 *PENN W 68-48 (18) Wittman, Ryan 03/05/10 *at Brown W 95-76 (20) Jaques, Jon

03/06/10 *at Yale W 79-59 (20) Wittman, Ryan 03/19/10 vs No. 12/13 Temple W78-65 (21) Dale, Louis 03/21/10 vs No. 16/19 Wisconsin W 87-69 (26) Dale, Louis 03/25/10 vs No. 2/2 Kentucky 45-62 L (17) Dale, Louis * Conference game

HIGH REBOUNDS (7) Foote, Jeff (9) Foote, Jeff (10) Foote, Jeff (10) Foote, Jeff (12) Foote, Jeff (13) Wire, Adam

(6) Wittman, Ryan (18) Foote, Jeff (6) Coury, Mark (14) Foote, Jeff (11) Foote, Jeff (9) Wire, Adam (7) Foote, Jeff (8) Foote, Jeff (7) Coury, Mark (12) Foote, Jeff (8) Foote, Jeff (10) Foote, Jeff (8) Wittman, Ryan (5) Jaques, Jon (9) Foote, Jeff (13) Foote, Jeff (9) Foote, Jeff (11) Foote, Jeff (6) Dale, Louis (8) Wittman, Ryan (6) Jaques, Jon (5) Wittman, Ryan (5) Foote, Jeff (11) Foote, Jeff (7) Jaques, Jon (7) Wittman, Ryan (7) Foote, Jeff (7) Foote, Jeff (7) Foote, Jeff (6) Foote, Jeff

MAKING HISTORY 103

y, NY, Sat Men’s Ice Hockey, Alban

urday

March 20

Wrestling, Omaha, NE,

Saturday March 20

fan support:

helping to make history Women’s Ice

Hockey, Minneapolis, MN

, Sunday March 21

Men’s

Basketball, Jacksonville

, FL, Friday March 19

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