A Rivalry Renewed
BIG RED HOCKEY TO FACE BU AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

tHESE DAYS, IF YOU ASK A CORNELL HOCKEY FAN TO name the Big Red's most important rival, the answer will be "Harvard." But thirty-five years ago, there might have been a different response. In the late Sixties and Seventies, it seemed that whenever a league or tournament title was on the line, the opponent wore the scarlet and white of Boston University. "They were as good as there was," says legendary Cornell hockey coach Ned Harkness, who led the Big Red to NCAA championships in 1967 and 1970. "They were always wellschooled, and their coach, Jack Kelley, was the best coach that we played against."

The rivalry has faded--Cornell stopped playing Boston University regularly after 1983, when BU and five other New England teams left the ECAC to form Hockey East--but a special event this fall promises to rekindle memories of those great old battles on ice. On Saturday, November 24 (two days after Thanksgiving), Cornell will face BU at New York's Madison Square Garden, in a game sure to bring national attention to college hockey.

The idea was hatched a couple of years ago, when BU athletic director Mike Lynch approached Cornell Athletics about scheduling a "showcase" game. "We have thousands of alumni in the New York City area, as does Cornell," says Lynch, "so it seemed like a great idea for both schools."Discussions with Cornell's Anita Brenner '87, associate athletic director, and Jeff Hall, sports marketing director, ensued. Cornell head coach Mike Schafer '86 also talked with his counterpart at BU, Jack Parker. The details were worked out early this year, and tickets went on sale in late April.

Cornell first faced Boston University in 1924, in a game played on Beebe Lake; BU won, 7-2. They met again a year later (another BU victory), but that was it until 1965, after Harkness had come to the Hill and the Big Red had joined the ECAC. During the Harkness era (1963–70), his teams enjoyed the upper hand against the Terriers, posting a 9-0-1 record, securing four straight ECAC championships, and defeating BU 4-1 in the 1967 national title game. (Jack Parker was a player on that BU team; he became the head coach there in 1973 and has gone on to record 742 wins.)

Harkness was succeeded as Cornell's head coach by Dick Bertrand '70, who had been a tri-captain on the Big Red's undefeated NCAA championship team in 1970. (Bertrand had entered Cornell at the age of twenty-five; four years later, he found himself in the unusual position of going from player one year to head coach the next.) During Bertrand's twelve years at the helm, Cornell faced BU eighteen times, winning half the games. "BU was our stiffest rival," he says. "You want to win the league? You've got to beat BU.Harvard wasn't as big back then, probably because we beat them pretty regularly. But the games against BU were always tough."

The Terriers finally came out victorious in 1972, defeating Cornell in the ECAC tournament and downing the Big Red again, 4-0, in the NCAA championship game. It was the first time Cornell had been shut out in 225 games. The rivalry grew even more intense the following year. BU had come to Lynah and stunned the Cornell icers by thrashing them 9-0, but the Terriers had to forfeit the game. They had used an ineligible player--and Cornell turned them in.

A Big Red hockey player, Peter Titanic '75, had been declared ineligible because of a technicality regarding his amateur status when he was a member of a Junior A team in Canada, before coming to Cornell. Titanic's father asked why his son was ineligible when Dick Decloe, one of his Junior A teammates, was playing for BU, and Cornell's athletic director contacted the ECAC. Rather than restoring Titanic's eligibility, the league declared Decloe ineligible, too, and made BU forfeit the games he had played in. "It was an unfortunate situation," recalls Bertrand, "and there was blood in the water for quite a few years."

Bitterness over that incident eventually faded, but Cornell and BU have played each other only sporadically during the past twenty years. The most recent games were in 2001 and 2002, when the teams met twice each year. In 2001, they split two contests in Boston; the following year, the Big Red swept the Terriers at Lynah. And that was it--until this year (and maybe beyond; games at Lynah and BU's Agganis Arena are promised for the next two years). "Great history, great tradition, great rivalry," says Bertrand. "I hope they can keep it going." So do a lot of hockey fans.

-- Jim Roberts '71

Tickets for the November 24 game are available through the Cornell Athletic Ticket Office in Bartels Hall (607-255-4247), at Ticket- Master.com, and at the Madison Square Garden box office. For more information, go to http://cornellbigred.cstv.com.

Sports Shorts

NEAR-PERFECT Despite a bitter ending, the best word to describe the 2007 men's lacrosse season is "magical." Not only did the Big Red sit atop the national polls for the first time since 1978, post their first undefeated regular season since 1987, and win the Ivy League title for the fifth straight year, they reached the national semifinals for the first time in 19 years.

The NCAA semifinal game against Duke, played in Baltimore on May 26, wasn't decided until the final seconds. After Cornell had battled back from a 10-3 deficit to even the score 11-11 on a goal by Brian Clayton '07 with only 17 seconds on the clock, it looked as if the contest was headed for overtime. But the Blue Devils' Zach Greer fired in the game winner with just three seconds remaining, sending the Big Red to their only defeat of the year. (Two days later, Johns Hopkins defeated Duke to win the national title.)

Not surprisingly, Cornell players garnered numerous post-season awards, including three who won spots on the USILA All-America first team: midfielder Max Seibald '09, defenseman Mitch Belisle '07, and goalie Matt McMonagle '07. Seibald was one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy, awarded to the top lax player in the nation. Belisle led the Cornell defense--ranked third-best in the nation--and was named the Outstanding Defenseman in Division I by the USILA. McMonagle was honored as both the Outstanding Goaltender in Division I and the unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year; he is the all-time winningest lacrosse goalie in Cornell history. Four Big Red players won second-team All-America honors: attackmen David Mitchell '07 and Eric Pittard '07, midfielder John Glynn '08, and defenseman Matt Moyer '09. In addition, Seven Cornell lax men were named first-team All-Ivy: Seibald, Belisle, McMonagle, Mitchell, Pittard, Glynn, and defenseman Ethan Vedder '07; two more--Clayton and Moyer--were named to the second team.

SPRING SUCCESS Once again, the men's and women's track teams both captured Heptagonal outdoor championships, extending the women's winning streak to six years and the men's to five. Cornell relied on a balanced effort in the women's meet, taking first place in 10 of the 23 events and scoring in 19. Jeomi Maduka '09 was named the outstanding performer; she won both the triple jump and the long jump, finished second in the 100 meters, and joined Janie Nsor '09, Cameron Washington '07, and Jessica Retelny '09 to win the 4x100 relay. Morgan Uceny '07 won the 800 meters for the third straight season and anchored the winning 4x400 relay team. Other individual winners were Toni Salucci '07 in the 5,000 meters, Stephanie King '07 in the 100-meter hurdles, Robin Ellerbrock '07 in steeplechase, Maria Matos '09 in the discus, and Danielle Dufresne '07 in the hammer throw. The women have won 10 Heps outdoor titles and a total of 12 straight indoor and outdoor crowns, both records. The men faced little threat from competitors in winning their 11th Heps title with 180 points, the third highest total in Heps history. Muhammad Halim '08 led the way with two wins, taking the triple jump with a school record of 53 feet, 7 inches, and the long jump. Other individual winners were Adam Seabrook '08 in the 400-meter hurdles, Aaron Arlinghaus '07 in the steeplechase, and Evan Whitehall '07 in the pole vault.

BEST BOAT On June 2, Cornell's lightweight varsity crew won the IRA National Championship in Philadelphia, finishing more than a second ahead of second-place Harvard in the Grand Final. The Big Red's second varsity eight took third in the race. After the IRA win, the varsity lightweights were invited to compete in the Henley Regatta in England on July 4–8. It will be the lightweight crew's third consecutive trip to Henley, where they were the runner-up last year.

TOP EXEC For the second time in three years, Bryan Colangelo '87 was named the NBA Executive of the Year, after the Toronto Raptors won their first division title since joining the league in 1995. Colangelo joined the Raptors as president and general manager in February 2006 as the team was stumbling to a 27-55 record; this year, the team matched the franchise record with 47 wins and entered the NBA playoffs as the third seed in the East. Colangelo previously won the award with Phoenix in 2005 after the Suns went 62-20 and reached the Western Conference finals for the second straight season.