Dec. 30, 1966— Boston Arena—BU played two three-game tournaments in December 1966. A week after sweeping Princeton, Minnesota and Clarkson at the Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden, the Terriers skated on their home ice, Boston Arena, in the Arena Christmas Tournament.
They had beaten Harvard and Northeastern to improve to a 12-0 record and a #1 ranking. Meanwhile, Cornell dispatched the same two teams and was also undefeated at 11-0 and ranked #2, setting up what is considered one of the greatest college hockey games ever played.
Both squads were far from fresh as they were about to play for the third time in as many days before a capacity crowd of 5,450. The officials for the game were Giles Threadgold and Bill Clearly, later coach and athletic director at Harvard.
According to the Ithaca Journal, “Cornell had a wide edge in territorial play in a penalty-marred first period, but the Terriers capitalized on their opportunities and thwarted the Big Red''s power plays.”
All three first-period goals came on power plays. Cornell drew first blood just 2:13 into the game. With two Terriers in the penalty box, Harry Orr took a pass from Mike Doran and beat goalie Wayne Ryan.
BU senior Jim Quinn scored the equalizer four minutes later, converting a feed from Fred Bassi. Then, with half a minute left in the period and BU up two men, a Brian Gilmour slapper whizzed past Cornell goalie Ken Dryden for a 2-1 Terrier lead.
Cornell regained the lead early in the second on a pair of goals by Bob Ferguson and Skip Stanowski. Ryan got a glove both shots but couldn’t keep them out of the net. Play raged up and down the ice throughout the period with 33 shots taken, but no further goals.
The pattern continued well into the third period with Dryden keeping BU’s high-scoring ”Pinball Line” of Herb Wakabayashi, Mickey Gray and Serge Boily off the scoresheet. Finally, in the latter part of the period, BU got the tying goal from an unlikely source, sophomore defenseman Darrell Abbott.
“I think there were about 3 or 4 minutes left in the third period and we were losing 3-2 when either Pete McLachlan or Brian Gilmour—our two veteran, all-star defensemen—got a penalty, and the other, shortly before that penalty, had been injured,” Abbott recalls. “Coach [Jack]Kelley had no choice but to put the two rookies—Billy Hinch and me--out together. It was the first time Billy and I had played together as a pair so I'm sure Coach was more than a little concerned.
“Cornell dumped the puck into our end in the process of making a slow line change. Billy set up in front, while I picked up the puck behind our net, fully expecting to look up and ice it, seeing as how we were a man short.
“But when I looked up there was only one Cornell player standing at center ice and the others were just coming over the boards. With no pressure I began to skate up ice only to realize that I could beat this guy. At this point everything happened so fast. There I was, going in on a partial breakaway and, contrary to all logic, I roofed a backhander into the net over Dryden’s shoulder on the short side to tie the game.”
The game went to a 10-minute overtime and, the Ithaca Journal reported, “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 during the last seven minutes. Dryden had brilliant saves on Boily and Bill Hinch late in the period.”
The two coaches agreed to play one more overtime period, but neither of the weary teams mounted much of an attack in the second overtime and the teams were declared tournament co-champions. Goalies Ryan (32 saves) and Dryden (40 saves) shared the MVP award.
Abbott added that “It was the first game that my Father had attended at BU so it was even more special for me. He was sitting in the first row balcony, right above our bench. Of course having seen the success that Ken had subsequent to his days at Cornell, I feel I was very fortunate to have scored at all, but it is amazing how many people remember that goal even to this day. I was especially honored by the fact that Ken still remembered me years later, even after all the Stanley Cups and the Russian experiences. His comment to me was ‘I always remember the big ones’.”
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3 comments:
This was the greatest game in the history of BU hockey. It was a battle of two talented and undefeated heavyweights battling for supremacy. It was a game that had everything one would expect in a great hockey game - brilliant scoring bids, hard hits, intensity and stellar goaltending all orchestrated by two of the best coaches ever to stand behind the bench. To say it lived up to its advance billing would be a gross understatement. For the preceding two nights they had each showcased their considerable talents and skills against Northeastern and Harvard respectively which further whetted the appetite and sense of anticipation of those in attendance for the marquee match up of the Boston Arena Christmas Tournament. This game also marked the beginning of an intense and storied rivalry between these two programs which grew through the 60s and 70s and resulted in many outstanding and memorable games in both the regular season and the ECAC and NCAA tournaments.
I have to concur with JJM although after last April I often want to rank the game and the goal as tied for #1.
I remember the game vividly as I was with my uncle who took me to the Cafe Amalfi for dinner during the 6:30 p.m. game between NU and Harvard. We arrived at the Boston Arena where our tickets were on the Cornell side in the stadium (lower level).
I remember that a Cornell goal was disallowed for a high stick. It was an easy call for the refs to make as Cornell pained the lower part of the shafts of their sticks red (as in Big Red). Later at the end of the game Bob Ferguson of Cornell gave me his stick.
I also remember another reason the game was ended after two overtimes was that at some point in 2nd overtime Frank McCauley the PA announcer advised the last trolley was leaving Park Street at 12:30 A.M.(that would have created issues for those who relied on the trolley to get back and forth to the game).
As I recall, Darrell's backhand goal beat Dryden high to the near side at the lobby end of the rink. There is a great picture in the next day's Globe of Darrell wheeling behind the net following the goal with Dryden down on the ice.
The teams would meet again at Boston Garden in the ECAC Final. There Dryden would perform brilliantly especially in the final moments when Fred "The Bear" Bassi took matters into his own hands for a dramatic "last rush" which Dryden foiled.
The teams met again in Syracuse in the 1967 NCAA Final and Cornell won the title with a 4-1 decision.
We returned the favor 5 years later in the Boston Garden shutting them out 4-0 behind 40 saves from MVP Tim Regan. Goal scorers were Ron Anderson (2) and the late Ric Jordan (2). If you look closely at the Hockey History video at Agganis this year you will see one of Ric's goals along with John Danby skating the trophy around Garden ice.
Until last year's miracle against Miami for all the marbles, it was my favorite. It also ranks with the BU vs Clarkson ECAC semi in 1977 when Ricky Meagher, Mikey Eruzione and Dave Silk scored 3 in the last 4 minutes to stun top-ranked Clarkson 7-6.
I was sitting with my brother in the 1st row in the balcony in the end zone directly above Dryden. Dryden had this interesting habit after a flurry in front of him when the play went the other way of resting on the knob of this stick, looking so relaxed. We hated him because he was so good. It was also his Sophomore year so it was everyone's first look at the legend.
That tieing goal by Abbott was amazing because he started slowly from his behind his net waiting for the fore-check pressure from Cornell, but it never came. Since Cornell was on the power play they were very non-chalant during the line change. Abbott picked up speed as he crossed through center ice and then he realized he had only one d-man to beat. The d-man looked quickly to his right to see if his counterpart was there and to see if another BU player was streaking through the center. He stumbled slightly and Abbott went right around and roofed the shot just under the cross-bar. The Arena exploded and Abbott seemed amazed as he was mobbed.
I will always remember that goal and that rush as it unfolded right in front of us from above and behind Dryden.
Another tid-bit that has not been mentioned. This was the first time the teams had played after the prior year's slaughter in the ECAC semis. That game was also played at the old Arena and Cornell killed BU 8-1. My brother and I were also at that game - very depressing. Clarkson was the best team that year and beat Cornell the next night, however, Cornell was ruled ineligible (some sort of Ivy League rules issue) for the NCAAs and BU went in their place. Michigan Tech with Tony Esposito in net won it all.
Nice to see the write-up of this historic game and the comments from others who were at that game. One last memory of games at the old Arena was the peanut guy - "Peanuts a dime, 3 for quarter, 20 cents int he arena."
(Bantam75 on USCHO.com)
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