By Brandon Thomas
Cornell Athletic Communications

ITHACA, N.Y. – There were 8 minutes, 43 seconds left in the first period of the Cornell men's hockey team's game at Yale on Friday night, and the Bulldogs' Tyler Welsh crossed the blue line into the Cornell zone. While the bulk of the sold-out crowd at Ingalls Rink sat idly by and watched Yale set up shop on the power play in the offensive zone, this seemingly mundane moment actually started a daisy chain of events that led to one of the biggest moments of the game. After all, hockey is based in speed — but slowing down the picture of this particular moment shows just how much can happen in all facets of the game.
 
•  Fourteen seconds later, Yale's Jack St. Ivany uncorked a one-timer from inside the center point that sailed through traffic and into the net over the catching glove of heavily-screened Cornell goaltender Matthew Galajda. The goal would pull the Bulldogs back to within one after the Big Red jumped out to a quick two-goal lead, and it breathed life back into the hosts with more than 50 minutes left to play.
 
Before the puck even hit the net, Cornell was already scrutinizing any would-be goal. There were suspicions of Yale entering the zone offsides, which means the Big Red could conceivably challenge the legality of the play if it resulted in a Yale goal.
 
On the bench, the two forwards closest to the play were senior Noah Bauld and freshman Jack Malone. Mike Schafer '86, the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey, would go on to say after the game that Bauld was the first player on the bench to say anything about the play possibly being offsides.
 
"Actually, it was Jack Malone," Bauld said with a smile. "He said it pretty quietly – I just said it louder. So he gets full credit for that."
 
As the Bulldogs were celebrating the goal, Schafer was still gathering information as he started to communicate his suspicions with referee Chris Pitoscia.
 

•  Forty-four seconds later, Pitoscia skated away from Cornell's bench and huddled with the other three officials on the ice – probably to confirm that this was, indeed, a reviewable play. The lone caveat to the whole scenario was if Cornell gained possession at any point between Yale's entry into the offensive zone and when the goal was scored, the play could not be subject to review. But that wasn't the case, so the Big Red's request to review was granted.
 
While Schafer was getting input from players on the bench, assistant coach Sean Flanagan was standing to his left and getting even more feedback. About 15 rows behind the Cornell bench was a trio of off-ice staff stationed in the press box — volunteer assistant coach Mitch Stephens, director of hockey operations Shane Talarico and the student manager, senior Ben Russell. While the trio has other responsibilities during games, they are also regularly scanning the ice for plays that could warrant video review. If they see something, they relay their thoughts down to the bench through the microphone and earpieces donned by Flanagan and Stephens.
 
The naked eye is always where it starts, but rarely where it ends. The most important factor is if a play is definitive enough on video so the officials can see it on review.

 
"One of our biggest struggles is getting the right camera angle," Stephens said. "Everywhere we go, it's different."
 
This is particularly true in ECAC Hockey, where most of the rinks are relatively old and have their fair share of quirks. Ingalls Rink is no exception, and it was a factor on Friday.

Yale actually has two press boxes – one on the west side of the rink and one on the east. The perch for Cornell's off-ice staff was in the east box, which was the side of the ice where Welsh entered the offensive zone. Because the play was so close to the boards, there was no way to tell from that angle if the play was onsides or not – the puck wasn't visible when it crossed the blue line. It was the same thing on the ESPN broadcast's program feed, which was why the broadcasters were befuddled by what the Big Red was protesting.
 
•  Fifteen seconds later, Pitoscia motioned to off-ice officials and the team benches that a video review was about to take place by pointing to the iconic roof at The Whale. Cornell had forged ahead with challenging the play – which does not come without repercussions. If the call was upheld, the Big Red would lose its one and only timeout for the game. That would also mean it wouldn't be able to challenge any other questionable plays the rest of the way.
 
By this point, the Big Red felt comfortable with the decision based on something Talarico had on the computer in front of him. While the Big Red staff was sitting in the east press box, the video feed sent to the team's coaches came from a camera stationed in the west press box. From the players, to the on-ice coaches to the off-ice coaches, Cornell had the evidence it needed.
 
"We checked with Mitch Stephens, and he said it definitely was (offsides)," Schafer said after the game. "When they froze the video, it was clearly offsides."
 
•  Thirty-one seconds later, Pitoscia and one of the linesmen left the ice to go to Yale's replay room under the west stands. One minute, 54 seconds after that, Pitoscia stepped back onto the ice and waved off the goal.

It took a total of 3:24 from the moment St. Ivany's shot hit the net to the moment the play was negated – even though a second never ticked off the clock. With that, a one-goal lead turned into a two-goal lead. A little less than five minutes later, it became a three-goal lead after Joe Leahy's strike.

The video challenge won't be seen in the box score, but it was a team effort that completely altered the game.

Off The Crossbar is a weekly-ish notebook about the Cornell men's hockey team written by assistant director of athletic communications Brandon Thomas, who is in his ninth season as his office's primary contact for the team following a stint of a few years as the team's beat writer at The Ithaca Journal and a few years as an observer from Section D. But he wrote a lot this week, so the second part of this week's Off The Crossbar will be published Friday, Feb. 28. He can be reached at brandon@cornell.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @BT_unassisted.