Walter "Skip" Stanowski is a retired

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ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

player. He helped

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teac ...

win their first

National Title A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establ ...

, receiving the Tournament MOP and captaining the team the following season.

Career

Stanowski began his career at Cornell in 1964 on the freshman team before joining the varsity squad for the 1965–66 season. Stanowski was part of the defensive corps that cut the team's goals against by nearly a full goal per game from the season before (2.88 to 2.00) and brought the Big Red their best finish with a 22–5 record. In the postseason Cornell won their first playoff game and ended up as the ECAC runner-up. Ordinarily that would have allowed the Big Red to receive the second eastern bid into the NCAA tournament; however, due to an ongoing dispute between the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schoo ...

and the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

over player eligibility Cornell was not allowed to participate and their season was over. The next year Stanowski led the Big Red defense in points, pushing the team even higher in the ECAC standings. With sophomore

Ken Dryden Kenneth Wayne Dryden (born August 8, 1947) is a Canadian politician, lawyer, businessman, author, and former National Hockey League (NHL) goaltender. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was a Libe ...

around to clean up any defensive mistakes, Cornell reduced their goals allowed even further, surrendering 46 goals in 29 games (1.59 goals per game) and again set a team record for wins with 27. Because the eligibility issue had been resolved Stanowski was able to continue his offensive pace in the 1967 NCAA Tournament, Cornell's first ever appearance, scoring the only goal in the team's 1–0 semifinal win over

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, S ...

then recorded three points, including the game-winner, in their 4–1 triumph in the National title game. Stanowski was named the Tournament Most Outstanding Player for contributing on four of his team's five goals, only the second

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

to win the award. In his senior season Stanowski served as

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

and led the Big Red to a second ECAC title but the team was unable to get past the Fighting Sioux in the semifinal a second time and finished third in

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

. Stanowski finished with 24 goals and 73 points in his three seasons with the Big Red. After graduating from Cornell Stanowski briefly played for the

Muskegon Mohawks The Muskegon Mohawks were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the International Hockey League from 1965 to 1984. Muskegon were Turner Cup champions in 1968. This team was originally named the Muskegon Zephyrs The Muskegon Zephyrs wer ...

before retiring as a player in 1970. In 2001 Skip Stanowski was inducted into the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Skip's father

Wally Wally may refer to: Music * Wally (band), British prog rock band ** ''Wally'' (album), a 1974 album by Wally * ''La Wally'', an opera by Alfredo Catalani Other uses *Wally (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * WALLY, a propos ...

played 12 seasons in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

, winning four Stanley Cups with

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Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stanowski, Skip 1944 births Living people Canadian ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Winnipeg Cornell Big Red men's ice hockey players Muskegon Mohawks players NCAA men's ice hockey national champions AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans