Looking Back: The '66 BU-Cornell 2OT Tie

Thanks to Hurl82, we have the Ithaca Journal's account of the Dec. 1966 double-overtime tie with Cornell mentioned in the "Sister Kissers" post below.

"Who is number one in Eastern college hockey?

The question wasn't settled here Friday night, as unbeaten Cornell and Boston University battled through two overtime periods to a 3-3 tie before a capacity crowd of 5,450 in the climax of the Boston Arena Christmas Tournament.

Both teams were near exhaustion during the two extra 10-minute sessions. The teams, both now 11-0-1, battled evenly throughout. They probably won't meet again until the ECACchampionships at Boston Garden in March.

The goalkeeping by Cornell's Ken Dryden and Boston's Wayne Ryan, who shared the Most Valuable Player award, was superlative, with Dryden having 40 saves and Ryan 32.

Cornell shut out the East's top-scoring line of BU sophomores Mickey Gray, Serge Boiley and Herb Wakabayashi in a sterling defensive effort.

Defensemen had two goals for both teams. Cornell had two apparent first period goals disallowed, and hit the post several times, but BU held its own in all respects, particularly in the late going.

Cornell had a wide edge in territorial play in a penalty-marred first period, but the Terriers capitalized on their opportunities and thwarted theBig Red's power plays.Harry Orr, on a pass from Mike Doran, scored at 2:13 with BU two men down to put Cornell ahead, 1-0.The Big Red was a man down when Jim Quinn scored the equalizer at 6:35 on a feed from Fred Bassi.

TheTerriers went ahead, 2-1, at 19:29 with Cornell two men down, on Brian Gilmour's slapshot. In the first period Cornell was two men up for 3:22and one man up for 1:56, but managed just one goal. BU was two men up for 28 seconds and one man up for 1:19, but scored two goals. Cornell's two disallowed goals were by Mike Doran, on a deflection of a Bruce Pattison slapshot, and by Pete Tufford, but officials ruled that Cornell players near the cage had raised their sticks higher than the allowed limit. Cornell exploded early in the second period with two quick goals on slapshots by Bob Ferguson from 20 feet at 1:14 and Skip Stanowski from 35 feet at 2:15. Ryan got a glove on both shots but they trickled into thenet and Cornell went ahead, 3-2.

Dryden's brilliant goaltending kept Cornell ahead in the second period and well into the third as both teams, playing their third game in as many days, tired visibly in the late stages. BU tied the score at 15:22, with the Terriers down one man, when defenseman Darrel Abbott drove in on a solo rush to beat Dryden and make it 3-3. Seconds earlier, Bob Ferguson and Stanowski had hit the pipe with 15-footers.

Cornell blitzed the Terrier goal in the last minute ofthe third period but couldn't score.Cornell had the edge in the first three minutes of the first overtime with Ryan making a sensational save on Doran from in close, but BU outskated the Big Red over the last seven minutes. Dryden had brilliant saves on Boiley and Bill Hinch late in the period. In the second overtime, both teams struggled to mount an attack and failed to threaten seriously.

The two head coaches, BU's Jack Kelley and Cornell's Ned Harkness, agreed to play the unprecedented secondovertime period and agreed that would be all.

"I thought we played excellently and that we shouldhave won," Harkness said in a silent Cornell dressing room. "You bet your life we still think we're No. 1,"he added.

Harvard won the first game over Northeastern, 5-4,also in overtime.

Note: The officials were Giles Threadgold and Bill Cleary(yes, THAT Bill Cleary)
Trivia: What distinction does Darryl Abbott have among all BU hockey players?