The Curious Case of Sean Whitney

The Cornell mens hockey team started the 2008-2009 season with 8 defensemen on the roster.  Five of them were fairly regular starters.  The sixth spot rotated between Taylor Davenport and Jordan Berk.  Sean Whitney, the eighth defenseman, saw almost no ice time in the first half of the season.  Midway through, Berk left the team, leaving only 7 defensemen.  Even so, Whitney did not see much ice time until the postseason, when injuries forced Schafer to put him into the lineup.  He ended the season appearing in only 5 regular-season league games and 9 more nonconference.

This season, Whitney has already played 5 ECAC games, and 6 total, and there is no reason to believe Schafer is going to sit him any time soon.  He has been on the game-starting pair with senior Brendan Nash for most games, and has seen powerplay, penalty kill, and 3-on-5 penalty kill ice time.  Keir Ross, who played 32-of-36 games last season as one of the top-5 defensemen, has been in his suit instead of his skates every game this year.

The question is, why the change?  Ross, a freshman last year, showed fairly consistent improvement in his play over the course of the year.   He was not a flashy defenseman, but he was solid, and more than reliable in his own end.  So reliable, in fact, that some considered him to be one of our team’s top-3 defensive defensemen.  He was poised to become one of the anchors of our blueline.

Whitney plays a different role than Ross.  In our first significant look at him in Albany last season, he looked like he had the potential to be a very creative, smooth-skating offensive-minded defenseman.  He has been called on to fill in this role this season as well, quarterbacking the first powerplay unit.  However, he has also been used in a top defensive role, a choice that is just baffling.  Justin Kreuger, Brendan Nash, and Mike Devin are all better defensive players than Whitney.  The freshmen Birch and D’Agostino, both NHL draftees, have not shown enough with our team to know how they compare to Whitney defensively, but have shown nothing to indicate they are any worse.  Despite this, Schafer continues to go to Whitney in all situations, including crucial defensive ones.  While it is reasonable to keep an offensive-minded player on the roster, playing your worst defensive player on the 5-on-3 penalty kill unit is simply inexplicable.

Meanwhile, the 2009-2010 season has been a very atypical one for the Cornell team.  The team is racking up the goals, but is struggling defensively, very seriously struggling.  Cornell’s offense is coming from the first line, from the 4th line, from the freshmen defensemen…basically everywhere except from Sean Whitney.  In the mean time, he has struggled.  In Saturday’s 3-2 loss to Quinnipiac, Whitney took a needless penalty to give Q the early momentum, singlehandedly killed off a Cornell powerplay by trying to dance through the neutral zone and repeatedly giving up the puck, and turned over the puck directly in front of Scrivens by trying to clear his own zone in front of the net instead of two the sides, leading to a Quinnipiac scoring chance.  And this was all in the first 10 minutes of the game, before the entire team’s play deteriorated.

To be fair, Sean Whitney brings an element to our powerplay that it has not seen in years.  He is a creative and mobile defenseman, and has the offensive vision to “quarterback” the powerplay like many NHL powerplay specialists do.  However, he is still getting used to this role, and occasionally tries to do too much, resulting in a turnover or a missed opportunity.

In the mean time, Cornell is doing fine in the goals department without Whitney, and is struggling defensively because of him.  A solid defensive defenseman in Ross is riding the bench in order to give Whitney his chance.  Perhaps Ross is injured, or there is some other reason to keep him out of the game, but as far as we know, he is good to go.  We have the goal scoring to get far in the NCAA postseason this spring, but we will not be able to compete unless our defense tightens up.   With that in mind, maybe it is time to stop forcing Whitney to be a player that he’s not, and to put Ross back in the lineup.

RPI Series Recap

Clinched the series during our weakest game

It took 3 games, but the team eventually earned their ticket to Albany, after what became a thriller Sunday night in Lynah.

Friday night's game featured only one goal, and it came off of the other team's stick, late in the 3rd. It was not a great shot from what I hear, though I could not see it well [the goal was on the section-G end of the ice, I sit on the other side]. Otherwise, the name of the game was York. Or, I suppose, York-plus-posts-plus-why-cant-we-bury-the-darn-puck.
We played really strong in the 1st. The 2nd was kind of weak. The 3rd, our offense started buzzing, and our defense...looked as though they got excited by our offense, and started being more interested in trying to help generate chances than they were in trying to stop RPI chances.
Take-away messages from that game: Our defense needs to settle down and get the job done. Our offense needs to capitalize when given an opportunity [or 10].

Another result of Friday's game was the famous Schaefer suspension. If you have not yet, check out CHN's blogger's take on the suspension. Its interesting. I personally did not think friday's officiating was any worse than a standard ECAC game, but then again I do not particularly think any ECAC game is called well. Anyway, whether this was the cause or not, saturday saw 2 new refs. And they were whistle-happy.
59 minutes of penalties later, Cornell walked off the ice with a win. 2-for-18 on the powerplay, that basically says it all. To be fair, though, we earned a number of those powerplays. Not all, some were really weak calls. But a number of them were a direct result of our players outskating, outpositioning, and outsmarting the RPI guys. The [Puckmen/Engineers/red?]s only defense was to take penalties. Working hard and drawing penalties is an excellent way to win hockey games. 2/3 of the game in the box may be a bit absurd, but the guys played the way they needed to to win. Plus, they solved York, and got the offense rolling a bit, both good things. And in all honestly, Scrivens didn't even have enough action to determine whether he was having a good game or not. He must've been so bored.

Game 3. Schaefer back behind the bench, and the league goes with 1 Friday ref and 1 brand new one (Feola, who I think does a very solid job regularly). I don't know if the teams got a talking-to after saturday's game, I don't know if they realized the season was on the line and they needed to shape up, I don't know if they were just too plain exhausted to play the same style, but Sunday's game was much cleaner. Not as many penalties, not as many missed calls. What it came down to though, York looked very mortal. Cornell took a quick lead on a not-very-strong shot. Traffic in front, but it was slow and along the ice. RPI tied it at 1 in the 2nd, but Cornell responded with 3 quick goals, putting the game away. The team looked tired by the end; maybe that contributed to RPI's comeback to make the game close on the scoreboard. Ben Scrivens had a solid game, better than he's had in 3 weeks. Michael Kennedy had some huge faceoff wins, including one with 30 seconds left deep in RPI territory that kept York on the ice, effectively for the rest of the game.

Next weekend's ECAC final-four matchup will be interesting. Princeton, like Cornell, limped through the spring, and needed 3 games to move on to Albany. Like Cornell, Princeton's strength starts from the net, with ECAC goalie of the year Zane Kalemba. During the regular season, each team only netted 2 against the other over 2 games. Opening night of the season, we shut them out 1-o in NJ, and then in the Spring the tigers came to Lynah, and put away 2 in the final minute of regulation to win 2-1. This is playoffs though, both teams will be playing for their season's future. And unlike this past weekend, we only get one shot at it this week.

The defense needs to show patience. The offense needs to show intensity. They are not gonna get many chances, they need to capitalize on the ones they do get. And Ben Scrivens needs to show what he had in November and December.

See you in Albany.

LETS GO RED!

Quarterfinal Matchups and Predictions

First the other 3 matchups. I'll post about our series later.

#12 Brown at #1 Yale
Mike Clemente carried Brown through the Crimson last week...only to earn a trip to the Whale this weekend. From my view, the two teams are exact opposites: Brown plays a slow, grinding game, and will rely heavily on Clemente if they expect to win. Yale hockey is incredibly fast-paced and skilled. From what I've seen this year, I have not been particularly impressed with any of their goaltenders. I expect Yales forwards to (literally) skate circles around the Brown defense. While it would be a nice Cinderella story, I don't think Brown is going to repeat their performance of last week. Yale is just too fast. Clemente faced 86 shots last weekend. If the games are even close, you can expect Yale to break 100. Speed and skill vs a hot goalie, no defense, and minimal offense; Yale wins.

#8 Union at #3 Princeton
Princeton ended the season with losses to now-eliminated Harvard and Dartmouth. They will be playing in front of their home crowd and looking to redeem themselves. They will come out of the gate flying. UC is coming off of their first-ever playoff series win, and will be hoping to ride that momentum. The tigers were nearly flawless in ECAC play in the last months of '08. The beginning of '09 has been one of inconsistency for them however, going only 7-7 in league play, including big losses to Union, and other weak team RPI. If I were to predict an upset, this is where I would pick it. Dutchmen in 3.

#7 Quinnipiac at #4 St Lawrence
The Saints have been monstrous at home this season. Since '09 started, they've scored 5 or more 4 times in their own rink (6, 5, 8, and 7). Add to that a 6-1 win in Providence, and they look like a high-scoring machine. Q is vastly improved with the return of center Brendan Wong from injury, but they are still the only team that needed 3 games to get to this point. After struggling at home against Colgate, I find it hard to believe that they will travel to St. Lawrence and put together 2 wins. The Saints will march to Albany with a sweep, outscoring Q at least 10-4 over the weekend.

What?!

We are guaranteed RPI next weekend.

Harvard was shut out twice at home. Last-place Brown became the first 12-seed in ECAC history [during this format of playoffs] to win a series. They play Yale next weekend in the Whale
Renssellaer also beat Dartmouth. Technically an upset, but really not as shocking as Brown's victory.

Union beat clarkson big tonight, earning their first playoff series victory in a resounding fashion. They await game 3 of Quinnipiac / Colgate, which so far has gone to overtime both games, to determine their opponent next weekend.

Brown and Playoffs

Not much to say about the Brown game. It was a poorly-played event from both sides. We "put in the scrubs", so to speak. No Scali, no Barlow, still no 22 Devin. In was Kary, 7 Davenport moved to forward, in was Whitney. I'm sure our team assumed that Brown would be a pushover. I assume they were tired from playing hard against a much faster team the night before. I assume some combination of these 3 facts combined for our slow start, but I wasn't worried.

PLAYOFFS

The ECAC regular season has finally reached an end. Next week will see Yale, Cornell, Princeton, and St Lawrence resting, courtesy of their top-4 standings and the corresponding bye. The rest of the league will look like this (with my predictions)

(12) Brown at (5) Harvard. This matchup is a no-brainer. Brown has had only 3 wins on the entire year. Harvard has come up with upset wins over both us and Princeton at Lynah East. I would bet the house on a 2-game sweep.

(11) RPI at (6) Dartmouth. Also pretty obvious. Dartmouth spent most of the season in the top-4, and also managed to upset both us and Princeton at home. RPI is pretty hapless. Big Green in 2.

(10) Colgate at (7) Quinnipiac. This is where things begin to get interesting. Colgate this season has had some surprising wins against some talented teams, notably Mass-Lowell, Maine [to reach us in the finals of the Estero classic], and an overtime winner in the Whale today. Yet they haven't done so excellently otherwise. This matchup could go either way, but I'm going to call it for Q in 3 games.

(9) Clarkson at (8) Union. This series is full of intrigue. The two teams ended the regular season tied for points, with the tiebreaker decideing home ice for the playoff bouts. In fact, the two teams ended the season against each other, with Union pulling out a 2-1 win on home ice. Yet the Dutchmen still have never won a postseason game, and Clarkson has been improving since starting league play with 6 straight losses. I know its easy to call the 8-9 game an upset, but I'm going with the Golden Nights in 2.

ROUND 2

The league re-seeds teams after the first round, making it impossible to predict who we will play the following weekend. For example Yale will play the winner of the Clarkson/Union matchup...UNLESS Colgate beats Q. In that case, Colgate goes to New Haven, and we see the winner of CCT/UC. As my predictions have it, we will be seeing Quinnipiac in the 2nd round.

The only thing worth pointing out are the teams that it is impossible for us to see. We will not see Harvard or Dartmouth [if either or both of them win, they will play SLU and Princeton]. We cannot see Brown, and [assuming Brown loses], we will not see RPI. We can see Colgate, only if either Brown or RPI also wins

My prediction: 60% chance of seeing Quinnipiac here for round 2, and then 15% for each of Union/Clarkson.

Yale 4 Cornell 2

Yale is a FAST team. A fast team that's actually pretty good at checking.

To be honest, I don't really understand their strategy. They were using a 1-2-2 trap through their offensive zone and the neutral zone. But a high-speed, uptempo trap. And in the defensive zone, they forechecked very aggressively. At one point on the penalty kill, all 4 guys went to the puck. Its definitely a unique strategy, and apparently it works against us.

There were a LOT of penalties, especially in the 2nd. It made generating any flow difficult. However, we did respond well. After about 15 minutes, our team adjusted to Yale's speed and style, but then the 2nd period had so many penalties that not much got going. Give credit to our guys for stepping up their game in the 3rd and making a contest out of it.

Our team played hard. Yale played better. Its no fluke that they will end the regular season 1st in the ECAC.

Thank You Seniors

Four Point Weekend, continued Line Shakeup success, and Dan DiLeo

**Edit: I started writing this Tuesday. This week got really hectic. The game commentaries at the bottom are a bit shortened. Sorry about that, I'll do better next week**

It was a great weekend to celebrate the 8 guys in my graduating year. They've accomplished a lot in their four years. It was really classy of Schafer to start 5 seniors, and it made everyone happy to see Dan DiLeo get into the game, and even make a quality save. Schafer always says he thinks the world of Dan's work ethic, and it must be tough to be a member of the team for four years, putting in all the time, and then to see only 5 minutes of game time over the whole four years. It was great to see Lynah give him a roar and a standing ovation, and a lot of fun to see him make a quaity save.

Some random thoughts first and then, since I did not get a chance over the weekend, some comments on each game

In 4 games prior to the line shakeup, our offense was getting average 1 goal per game (2, 1, 1, 0). In 4 games since, we've averaged 3.75 goals per game (4,2,4,5). It clearly has not been long enough to draw conclusions, but those numbers appear astounding. My favorite part about it is the distribution of scoring. Opponents now need to cover 3 quality scoring lines, and it shows. In Harvard and Dartmouth, the Greening was on fire. This weekend the Greening line couldn't get going as well, but that's fine, because one night the Michael Kennedy line picks up the slack, another night the Nash line does. Its easier to get out of a scoring slump when you are not relying on one line to generate all of the offense.

One of the biggest teamwide improvements over past years is (in my opinion) the start of games. Scoring a quick goal really changes the tone of the game. Everyone remembers the big games last season where we would let up 3 in the first 10 minutes, and spend the next 50 trying to claw our way back up. Its much better this way.

FRIDAY, RPI
See what happens when you give Tyler Mugford some time and space to shoot? I really like this line. and I don't think its a coincidence that the first game that Mugford has more ice time, he pots 2.
Overall, we played a great 1st period. I thought we sat back a little bit after that, but hey, when you have a 3-0 lead vs RPI, i guess you can afford to do that

SATURDAY, UNION
Just think if Riley decided to score every night.
A 6 point weekend for Riley Nash, who finally decided to show some of the potential that we've all heard about. Overall, the team played a much more complete game, in my mind. They put a good game together for the seniors.

[Sorry again for the brevity. Back in full force next week]

I forgot something

One thing I forgot to mention.

Cornell's players are afflicted by a particular bad habit, one that makes me scream in anger and frustration every time I see it.

LAZY LINE CHANGES

Especially on the powerplay. The first powerplay unit could have a pretty solid shift, controlling the puck for a minute and getting 2 or 3 shots. But when the other team finally clears it down the ice...NOBODY skates to the bench, everybody glides. The cost: 5-10 seconds of powerplay time, loss of opportunity to take advantage of an off-balance, changing defense, increased difficulty in breaking out of their own zone [seriously. the other team has one less guy, it should not be so difficult to get the puck into the offensive zone].

Its the same theory as playing till the buzzer. While a player is on the ice, he should be giving 100%. Even if that is towards getting off the ice.

3 game losing streak

Because I am superstitious, I will now avoid writing anything about standings, RPI, or any upcoming games. I will avoid even thinking about any of those things. Instead, I'm going to write about the team, and where things stand now.

Lets start with the negatives

• Penalty Kill: The penalty kill let up 5 goals over this weekend [including the empty netter]. That is devastating for a low-scoring team. Hard to say about the wacky game in Dartmouth, but no doubt about it, if our penalty kill is tighter, we win that game. Fixing the penalty kill is all about simplifying it. Harvard's 3rd goal, Mugford had the puck on his stick. Instead of trying to get the puck deep, he tried to softly play the puck around Harvard's pointman. True, if successful, he's on a breakaway. But instead, Harvard puts the puck back behind the net, and then passes it into the slot. One-timer goal that Scrivens had no chance at. Simplify the penalty kill. Get that puck out of the zone, worry about scoring 5-on-5.
• Speed: We have a slow team. To be fair, it didn't actually hurt us much this weekend. A slow team compensates with positioning and hockey sense. The players just need to be aware when they are playing a faster team.
• Our bottom two lines: They kill all of our momentum. It was most evident when both Kennedy brothers and Scali were out, but even in Harvard with 2 of those players back, it was still noticeable. When games get tight in the 3rd period (look both games this weekend, both games last weekend), we would consistently have two shifts where we controlled the puck in the offensive zone, generated chances, and kept the opponents on their heels. Unfailingly, these two shifts were followed by two shifts where we were pinned in our own zone, and the opposition was generating all the chances. It was not coincidence. The 7-12 forwards either need to step up their play, or warm the bench when the games get tight. The second option is not so great, it will wear out the top players, but its better than giving up the momentum.
• Goaltending: Scrivens has fallen from his perch atop the universe, which he held for the first few months of the season. I don't know if he just needs to refocus himself, or if he needs a rest, or what. That own-goal...he tries that play every single game. Maybe it was bound to happen eventually, maybe he just got lazy, i don't know. That was not the only time that he missed one that he would have had in late november.

So yes, there is a lot wrong with this team, as evidenced by their record for the past 3 weekends. But strangely, they've been playing (in my opinion) some of their best bits of hockey lately. Not for full 60 minutes (see above comment about the 4th line), but they've shown flashes of brilliance. Here are some of the positives.

• Colin Greening: Every time he steps on the ice, Greening shows everybody why he is the captain of this team. His line scored 4 of the team's 6 goals this weekend. He personally put in 3, and assisted on the other. He plays at 100% intensity, no matter what the scoreboard says, no matter what the game clock says. His play is consistently the best on the team. His late-game penalty at Harvard is the first and only negative thing to say about him in the past few weeks.
• Defense: The team's play is beginning to tighten up in the defensive zone. Its not perfect yet, its not 60 minutes yet. Hell, its probably not even 20 minutes yet. But its getting there. Early in the season, there were a bunch of games where they forced Scrivens to make upwards of 40 saves a night. 26 saves in Hanover, 20 in Boston. This is a good sign. Kreuger is incredibly strong on the puck, M Devin is making incredible progress, B Nash is incredible when he doesn't have the puck or need to skate too fast...its a good start.
  

• New Lines: For the first time in over 2 years, Greening and Nash were split up. The results have been astounding. After scoring 4 goals in 4 games over the course of SLU through Princeton, The team put in 6 over the past 2. The best part about it is the distributed threat. In the past, although the M Kennedy line was always capable of scoring, it generally was not as much of a game-changer as the Nash-Greening line. Now, either Nash or Greening can dominate the play, and the opponents need to find a way to cover both lines. Once Michael Kennedy comes back, I hope he gets put on the "third" line. Opponents will be forced to triple-shift their top defensemen, or else expose their goalie to one of three dangerous lines. and that is really powerful. The "top" line of Nash and Barlow is still trying to find the correct winger to fill in, but still has Barlow's tenacity and Nash's skill (although rarely his effort). Jillson did not impress me much in that spot, but Collins impressed me even less. The"second" line of Gallagher Greening Devin is incredible. Putting 27 and 15 together instantly makes it the fastest line on the team. Devin is not afraid to get himself in front of the net, Greening does everything, and Gallagher is a speed demon (and a faceoff wizard). The third line of P Kennedy, Punches, Mugford...well, it will be dangerous once M Kennedy is back to replace either his brother or Punches. It gives Mugford more ice time though, and I'm all for that. Last line of Scali, Kary, Nicholls...Nicholls has been impressing me recently by trying harder to play hockey instead of just checking. Kary needs to step up his game. Or else put P Kennedy in instead once M is back.
• Control of Play: 42 saves by Harvard Sieve Caroll, while a little generous on the part of the Harvard Stats guy, is still very telling. Go back to the Princeton game, where we outshot them 15-6 in the first. Again, this ties into the first-two-lines thing, but our team is getting better at moving the puck around in the offensive zone and generating chances.

There is a lot wrong with this team right now, but also a lot right. I will stand by my position that the team has played its best hockey of the season the past two weekends. Why the best hockey of the season results in a 1-3-o record, I cannot say. Some better bounces gives us the win in Dartmouth, better penalty killing gives us the win in Harvard, 30 more seconds of effort give us the win vs Princeton. Two of those things are pretty straightforward to work on and to fix. We can only wait and see how the team responds this weekend against the Albany teams.

So excited to see [Mugford, Nicholls, Greening, etc] vs the RPI goon who injured Davenport this year and Scali last year. So long as none of our players get suspended, miss the following weekend. That would be bad.

Green 5, Red 4 in OT

Some bad bounces and some bad luck cost us this game, but sometimes you got to make your own luck.

New lines again tonight. Probably caused by the injuries to Michael Kennedy and Joe Scali, and the need to distribute scoring more effectively.

Barlow-Nash-Jillson
Greening-Gallagher-Devin
P Kennedy - Mugford -Collins
Kary-Punches-Nicholls

On the bright side, it generated scoring. On the down side, our defense suffered. The lines themselves, nothing particularly exciting. Except for greening+gallagher. so much speed!

Just a strange game. There were times when we were flying. There were times when our offense was clicking, when our defense was tight, when our passes were crisp. There were also times when we were flat.

We could have had more goals. R Nash had two separate 1-on-0 chances, just him vs O'Neill, and he did not get a good shot on either chance. We had a few odd-man-rushes that did not even generate a scoring chance.

Yale, Princeton both won, moving us into 3rd. 1 point behind princeton, 1 ahead of dartmouth. St Lawrence won. They have 17 points in 5th place, we have 23 in 3rd. With 5 games left in the season, their maximum point total is 27. If we get 4 more points, or if they fail to get 4 points (or any combination of the two), 5th place is unable to pass us, and we clinch a first-round bye. Knock on Wood. Oddly, 9th place Clarkson is only 2 points behind 5th SLU(t). Their max is 25...they could still pass us. Odd how we are potentially 1 night away from clinching a first round bye [knock on wood], but we could still mathematically end outside of the top-8 and not have a home playoff round at all [I think...i'm too tired to figure out if teams 5-8 play each other during this time. If so...we are ok].

2 teams with 15. 2 with 16. 1 with 17. A win tomorrow in Lynah East clinches 6th or better. Combined with Clarkson and Yale wins, clinches 4th or better.

KNOCK ON WOOD.

LGR

Its Identity Time

This is the most crucial time of the season for Cornell Hockey.

There are 4 weekends of regular season play left. We are in the home stretch. This weekend will define the season. Are we a team that had gotten lucky for a few months, but now the luck has run out? Or are we a strong team that has run into adversity, but has the character and determination to overcome it? This weekend, the team will make a statement. One way or another, by the end of Saturday's game, we will know what kind of team we are.

In Clarkson, Scrivens responded. He came back from one of his worst games and had one of his best. The rest of the team needs to respond to the worst two consecutive weekends of the season. They need to play with skill, with intensity, with desperation. And they need to do it as a team. Scrivens could have a good game, so what, Clarkson proved that means nothing. Greening can have a good game, so what. The team needs to have a stellar weekend, as a team.

This is not about standings, this is not about rankings. This is about character. Teams with character win championships. Teams without it cannot, no matter how talented they are on paper.

We Need a Shakeup

Quick rant after an embarassing 8-1 outing

After a dominating, overachieving first semester, our team has fallen to earth the past few weeks. And that is putting it lightly. Last week, Yale outskated us. It was a good hockey game, for the most part, from both sides. Our guys did not lay down and die. But Scrivens let in a few weak ones, and it cost us the game. Brown was a big win on the scoreboard, but their team is awful. I still think 1-for-9 on the powerplay against the single worst penalty kill I have ever seen in my life is embarassing. But I thought, embarassed by yale, and then carrying momentum from the 3rd period vs brown, we would have a good game tonight

That brings us to tonight. I won't even comment on how awful the officiating was. It was awful. I won't comment on how Petizan is an actor, lying "unmoving" for 5 minutes and then getting up, taking a sip of water, and making his best saves of the night. I won't comment on the SLU fans, heckling and jeering when their own goalie was on the ice injured.

Our team was slow. We were sloppy with our passing, we were holding onto the puck for too long in the offensive zone, we were not connecting on breakout passes, we were not skating. The yale game was a good game to watch; both teams were playing well, and at an equal level. This game was not. St. Lawrence was not playing particularly well. Scrivens was shaken up. He was left out to dry by his defense, but he was also shaken up. The first goal was one he would have gotten earlier this year. After that, he wasn't controlling rebounds as well, he wasn't as calm and composed as he's recently been. True, the team in front of him left him out to dry. True, the referees were not helping us at all. But...Scrivens was mortal, has been for a few games in a row, and the team played sloppy in front of him.

5-on-5, SLU outskated us. Our breakout passes were sloppy. Countless of their goals [literally countless, I stopped keeping track, didn't want to count it] were off of turnovers in our own zone, where we were just unable to even clear the puck, let alone transition into an offensive attack. Our powerplay is slow. Not just with skating, but with passing and decision-making. This goes back to the brown game, goes back a few games before tat. The score vs brown could easily have been 8-1, 9-1, but the PP has a tendency to hold on too long, to wait instead of taking the shot. I understand setting up the PP, but part of that is recognizing when you do have that shooting lane. The pp is intended to set up something, not just to set up and prove that you can pass the puck for 2 minutes. Especially not when you are losing. That aside, the power play unit regularly turns over the puck in the offensive zone because they just didn't give a pass enough "oomph". Lazy lazy passes that don't reach their target. Usually Riley Nash is a culprit of this; tonight I saw it a lot from Gallagher, which surprised me. Brendan Nash always has 1 or 2 per game, and his [lack of] speed means that it ends up a shorthanded breakaway for the other guys. Play like this, forget about the NCAA, a trip to Albany isn't even in the cards for us.

Our team had 2 particularr bursts of effort. Once when Garman first entered the game. As if the guys were like "oh crap, this is serious now, we better play". The second was at the start of the 3rd, when they were late getting back to the ice from the locker room. they must have been hearing it from Schaefer. Things got better when Coach shook things up.

WE NEED A SHAKE-UP IN A MAJOR WAY

If I were the coach of this team, Tomorrow night at Clarkson would feature a shuffled lineup. Garman gets the start. Riley Nash centers M. Kennedy and Collins. Greening plays with Barlow and Mugford. M. Devin, Jillson, and Roeszler are the 3rd line. P. Kennedy, Punches and Scali on the 4th line. That's just if it were me, I know coach will probably not do that, but something needs to be done. The team responded when Scrivens was pulled tonight, they will respond to a major shake-up.

The only good thing I can say about this team is that it made them mad. They got fired up, they got their blood flowing, they got frustrated. Good. They should be frustrated. Its good to see Riley getting into shoving matches, even if he was coasting through the 1st when we still could have come back. Good to see Greening playing like a real captain, leading by example, and putting everything he has into it, even when we are down by 6 in the 3rd. Good to see M. Kennedy get kicked out for driving to the net and trying to start something. Hell, it was great to see Schaefer on the edge of the boards giving the refs an earful (he got a too many men penalty completely wiped out and forgotten about, I didn't even know that's possible). Emotion is good, its what drives a hockey team.

We need a shakeup. We need something. Because all of a sudden, Yale beat Princeton tonight and is only 1 point back on us. We are sliding nationally, we are sliding in the ECAC, and Coach needs to do something about it.

Rough 'Em Up, Rough 'Em Up, go CU

Weekend Preview, and my thoughts on Tyler Mugford

This weekend, Cornell returns to Lynah for its first game in front of the Faithful in 2009. Tonight brings the Bulldogs of Yale, and tomorrow the Brown Bears come to visit.

Yale has spent this season sneaking their way towards the top of the league. They've had a number of short winning streaks, broken up by (sometimes drastic) losses. Their worst outing of the season so far was an 8-3 loss to Nebraska-Omaha, but following that they went on a 4-game winning streak where they beat some strong opponents, both in-conference (Dartmouth) and out (Air Force). That weekend drove the bulldogs into TUC consideration nationally, and within reach of a top-4 ECAC spot. This past weekend, however, saw them falling out of the top-25 courtesy of two blown leads at the Whale in New Haven, losing to lowly Clarkson and then tying SLU. They are currently sitting at 5th in the ECAC, and tonight's game is a HUGE one for the Bulldogs. A Yale victory would keep them in contention for the coveted first-round bye in the ECAC, and would prove that their wins were the real deal. A loss would hurt them in the standings, would hurt them in the RPI, and would take away some of the legitimacy they've been trying to build this year. They will be showing up with jump and determination, trying to redeem their losses at home from last weekend. Recent history is actually on their side; Yale has not lost in Lynah in 3 years. Each game has ended in a 2-2 tie.

It is a bit of a mystery who will be starting between the pipes for Yale. Senior Alec Richards has gotten just over half of the starts this year, and has a pretty solid save% and GAA in ECAC games (0.910, 2.18). Richards started the first game last weekend, a loss against Clarkson, and then was replaced by junior Billy Blase for Saturday's game. Statistically, Blase has been playing at about the same level as Richards this year, with a 0.911, 2.71. Yale's strength this year is offence. Two players are above a point-per-game, and four others are close to it. Their top scorer, Broc Little, is also dangerous on the PK, with five shorthanded goals on the season. The keys of the game for Cornell will be to stay out of the box, and to not sit back and let the Yale offense work. If such a high-scoring team is given 15-20 quality scoring chances in the 3rd, they will put at least one in. With Yale's revolving door at goalie and no true starter, we should not have trouble scoring enough to win; the game will be decided by our ability to shut down their offense late in the game. Cornell needs to come out strong in the 1st, take an early lead if possible, and then maintian offensive pressure.

Saturday's game against Brown will be a much different story. The Bears have only had one win all season, league or otherwise (5-4 over Union). Dan Rosen has been getting the starts between the pipes, and has let in more than 3 a game on average. Nationally they are sitting 57th in a field of 58, and in the ECAC they are 12th out of 12. As a team, they average 2 goals per game in league play, and even less overall. Cornell cannot afford to sit back, however. This is an opportunity for us to show that we can beat the teams we are supposed to, that we can play our level of hockey at any time, without being pushed to it by a strong opponent. A loss would be embarassing, and would be a huge blow to us nationally, both in the polls and in the RPI. Expect this to be a game where our offense takes over. I expect a score near 5-0, with a shots-on-goal tally somewhere around 30-15. In my mind, a closer victory than this speaks almost as badly as a loss would. [knock on wood].

Lineup: Last I heard, the news on Taylor Davenport was not great. He suffered a big hit into the boards in the closing seconds of the game at RPI last weekend. Schaefer's best hope is for him to be back by the Brown game, but even that is not a guarantee. With Davenport injured and Berk gone from the team, we have only 6 defensemen to chose from. Both Brendan Nash and Sean Whitney will be in. Regarding the 4th line carousel; I have no insider information on this, but my hunch would be that Nicholls and Scali are in against Yale. Their role will be primarily as a shut-down line, grinding down Yale's top scorers and keeping them off the board. I would then predict that, barring a brilliant game by either of those two, Jillson and Kary will be in on Saturday. Just like in RPI, it is predicted to be a game that Cornell can win handily, and they would both benefit from some experience and a chance to put the puck in the net. In Troy, Punches was in for Kary, but he did nothing special to particularly impress me, so I would not be surprised if Kary was the choice.

Mugford: My Opinion: Before his injury, Tyler Mugford was Cornell's top scorer this season. Granted, it was only a handful of games, but Mugford has a unique combination of intensity, skills, and strength. Since returning from his injury, his scoring seems to have dried up. This, in my opinion, is because he's been the one constant on the ever-changing 4th line. Before anything else, this must make finding a rhythm difficult for him. Greening and Nash have played together for 2 seasons now, and have been with Barlow from the start of this season. The brothers Kennedy have also been together for most of this season, and have been combined with Roeszler for a few weekends in a row now. Mugford is not offered such consistency, and he is aways paired with either unexperienced freshmen or "enforcers". Furthermore, he's been delegated to 4th line ice time, with no powerplay and minimal penalty kill time. While Schaefer has been doing a decent job of trying to roll all four lines this year, it still seems as though we see very little of Mugford. His role has been solely that of a checking line depth player. In my opinion, he is a much better player than that. His goal in Colgate (before he sustained his injury) was not a grinder/checker's muck goal. It was a goal-scorer's goal, a rifle from the top of the circle that beat the sieve cleanly, and we've seen that type of shot from him every year. If I were the coach, I would exchange Mugford for Joe Devin in virtually every spot on the lineup. Mugford and Devin are exactly the same size, but Mugford is a senior, and has already demostrated both skill and intensity. I believe that getting 3rd line ice time with Collins and Gallagher would increase the productivity of all three players. Also, while Devin was good on the 2nd powerplay unit with P and M Kennedy, I do not see what he brings that Mugford would not. Devin has been scoring recently, but I would argue that that is precisely due to the ice time and linemates issues. Devin has shown a lot of progress this year, but he is still a sophmore, he has 2 more years of Cornel hockey in front of him. Mugford is a senior, he has given his all for his team for three years, and he deserves the opportunity to exercise his offensive abilities.

Four Point Weekend

Team plays "well enough to get by", jumps to #3 in polls, #1 PWR and RPI

I know it was a four point weekend. I know Scrivens got a shutout, and nearly got another one. I know the powerplay seemed to click with 3 goals, that the PK seemed to click by keeping the other side off the board, that Nash and Greening found their way onto the score sheet plenty enough. Most people are happy with this. Five coaches think that we are the #1 team in the country, according to polls, and everyone else thinks highly enough of us and this weekend to bump us up to 3. But, blame my bad seats for both games if you'd like (worse for RPI than Union, but pretty bad for both), blame a bout of pessimism, blame whatever, but I do not see things as peachy. In my opinion, the team played just well enough to come out with the wins; they did not play the quality of hockey that can bring a team to the Frozen Four.

We were outplayed physically all weekend, in both games. If you look beyond the scorecard, look at the actual hockey, yes, both Union and Rensseaer outplayed us. In Schenectady, we were being bounced off the puck all game. Even big guys like Kreuger looked like they were Topher Scott out there. Our hits were for the most part uninspiring, while on the other hand, when we were the ones getting hit, we were being pushed all over the ice. And in Troy...Scrivens got bumped. At least FOUR TIMES. The last time gave me a bit of a scare, he was slow to get up, and took a few seconds to skate it off. He ultimately seemed to be ok, but he is our star player, he is the reason why we are in every game, he is the reason we have not had a loss in the ECAC yet, he NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED. RPI is not a good team, yet they were able to drive to the net repeatedly. The defense should be able to keep them out. That's what they are supposed to do. Our coach is known for shut-down defense first teams. This year is supposed to be "classic Schafer", but let me tell you. A shut-down defense does not allow opponents to drive to the net. They do not allow the other team's forwards to come anywhere near their goalie, let alone get hit or bumped.

I know that shots-on-goal records are sometimes misleading. We recorded less than 20 each game this weekend. While that is great for our shooting percentage and bad for the Milan's and Lange's save percentage, getting outshot is not a good habit to get into. Especially against the weaker teams. If we cannot control play for 60 minutes against the Engineers, if the 8th place team in the "EZAC" can outplay us physically and outshoot us, what happens when we see the Terriers of BU? For perspective, the highest ranked teams we've faced this year have been Princeton (currently 9 and falling, and we squeaked out a 1-0 shutout), and North Dakota (sitting at 15, and they shellacked us one night, even if we got even the second night). Eventually we will need to see a top-4 team...

I am the most dissapointed because of what we have shown in the past this season. Harvard-Dartmouth weekend this past fall was still the best hockey I've seen from our boys in Red in all my time watching them. We played physically, we controlled the play, we exploited the weaknesses of our opponents. In short, we made ourselves look good and the other guys look bad. We are capable. We just need to be able to do that every week, whether our opponent is Union, Boston U, or Brown.

The Bright Side: I do not mean to sound like I am all negative about this weekend. Obviously, winning makes me happy, and obviously the team did something right to come out with a combined score of 7-1. First (as usual), Ben Scrivens played spectacularly. What impresses me the most about his play, as I have said before, is how calm he is. No matter what traffic is in front of him, how many deflections the puck takes on the way in, how many rebounds sit in the crease that his defensemen cannot get out, he just does what needs to be done. He makes the everyday saves, and then he makes the spectacular saves, and he makes them all look effortless.

Brendan Nash had a decent weekend. In fact, on the defensive side of the puck, he had a strong weekend. One beautiful breakup of a 2-on-1, a few key blocked shots. A good weekend for him, after getting the 2nd night off vs Niagra (as mentioned last week), and some less-than-stellar performances earlier in the season (as also mentioned). Brother Riley lit up the scorecard, which is what he needs to do. Effortwise, could have been greater, the Nash-O-Meter seemed to read 3.5-4 ish range, but he put the puck in the net, and that is what our top line needs to do.

Scali is a great penalty killer. In Union, he carried the puck, while shorthanded, deep into the offensive zone, controlled despite being surrounded by four Union players, killed a good 15 seconds in this way, and then drew a penalty. Penalty killing does not get better than that. I'm slightly unsure why he and Nicholls were benched for Jillson and Punches. Punches in particular did not show me anything special, why he should win Scali's spot. I can only assume that the lineup decisions of this weekend were made to let Schafer see what he has and what the normally-scratched guys can do. [Nicholls also had a pretty good game Friday night, hustling to the puck and and contributing in the offensive zone]

Lastly, best wishes to Davenport. I could not see the play well from my seat, but from people who saw the game on TV, it was an awkward fall, bad luck. He seemed to be down on the ice for a while. We all hope that he is ok, you hate to see anybody on any team get injured. Hockey is stil only a sport, and these are real people playing them. I have not seen or heard any report of if he is injured or how badly. He skated off the ice, supported by two teammates, hopefully he is not hurt.
[Also, the guy who hit him, got a DQ for hitting Scali late in the game last year, and apparently was kicked out of another game a few weeks ago...Even if it was not his fault, I believe there is a difference between playing to the buzzer no matter the score, and going for the hard hit with 2 seconds left when it is obviously meaningless to the outcome. One is admirable, the other unnecessary, dangerous, undisciplined, and stupid].

Come back later in the week for a section of "Stuff People Have Asked Me", and also for my opinion on the 4th aka checking aka Mugford line

Union Game Quick Update

Cornell outshot, but comes away with 2 points

Saturday, 4:10 PM. Quick report, from the Crossgates Mall in Albany. A solid first period, led by the first powerplay unit, a weak second, and a stronger-than-usual third resulted in the win.

Goaltending: Scrivens was solid, but had a few lucky moments.
Defense: Brendan Nash in. Solid game. Like last week, I would expect him to be in again. I was wrong last week. We'll see.
Physical Play: Someone needs to teach it to our team. We had our checking line in, and a few big hits, but overall, we were completely outplayed physically. This was the same story as the first Niagra game. Even our big guys were getting bumped off the puck as if they were Topher Scott.

RPI won last night, in overtime. Slowly moving up, it seems. Tonight should be interesting. Also, Yale last night. That is good news for us. More tomorrow, after the game. Lets Go Red!

League Play Resumes!

Cornell to face Union College on Friay, Rensselaer on Saturday

Cornell (currently #2 in ECAC, by points) travels to the Albany area this week to face off against #s 7 and 8 in the ECAC, Union and RPI.

Friday's game at Messa Rink will be a rematch of last year's ECAC 2nd round of playoffs, where Cornell won two close games in Schenectady. Union is 4-4-0 in league play, and coming off a strong weekend where they knocked off both Princeton and Quinnipiac on the road. They will be playing with renewed confidence on their home ice, after beating stronger teams on the road. In goal, Union will probably start sophomre Corey Milan (who I believe we saw for half a game at the end of last years playoffs, after Justin Mrazek was pulled). Milan has posted an impressive 0.910 save percentage, and a decent 2.63 GAA. Offensively, Union is led by Adam Presizniuk, who is averaging just about a point a game.

Saturday night will see the Red face the Engineers of RPI in Houston Field House. RPI, showing a 3-5-1 League record, and a sad 4-15-2 overall record, is also coming off of a shocking win in NJ, drubbing Princeton 5-1. Mathias Lange has taken most of the time between the posts, putting up a 0.910 and a 3.05. Scoring is slow for Rensselaer, with Chase Polacek leading with 0.9 points per game.

Of course, points per game does not say much. We are led by Greening with only 0.866 points per game...

Keys to the weekend

• Scoring: At this time last season, most games either the first line (Greening/Nash) or the second line (M. Kennedy/Topher/Sawada) had a good game, but almost never did both lines have a good game the same night. This past weekend seemed to reflect this. Game 1 was dominated by Greening, and Nash had a decent game, while Game 2 was decided by Kennedy and Kennedy. In order for this weekend to be a success, at least one of the top two lines needs to play well each game. In order for the season, and a long-term push into the playoffs to be a success, both lines need to start producing much more regularly.

• Defensive Roster Decisions: Now that Berk has left the team, Cornell is carrying 7 blueliners. Last weekend, Brendan Nash played one of his strongest games of the year, and then was [benched, rested, or sidelined with an injury], replaced by Sean Whitney. While Whitney had a decent game--and showed some guts in carrying the puck deep into the offensive zone one shift--, Nash had a good game on both sides of the puck, despite some less-than-ideal showings earlier this season. While Scrivens, as always, can give our team a chance to win every game, it would be nice if for once we made it easier for him. Whether we can do this will depend on who are our defensemen, and how they do.
  

• Penalties: During last year's playoffs at Union, Cornell took undisciplined penalties in the last 4 minutes of each of the two games. In both case, we were up by only 1 goal, and allowed Union a powerplay in front of their home fans to try and save their season. We escaped from that last season. I do not want to see whether our luck will repeat itself.
  

Prediction: While I would like to write this weekend off as easy, I am a bit superstitious. Also, both teams did manage to steal legitimate victories from Princeton, who to that point I had believed were the most dangerous in the ECAC. Cornell needs to play confidently, physically, and responsibly. We are capable of beating any team in the ECAC, so long as every single player leaves it all on the ice for 60 minutes full. Now let's see it happen

Cornell 2, Niagra 1

Kennedy from Kennedy, and then Kennedy from Kennedy

Perfect weekend record, thanks to the Kennedy brothers and some ... unconventional playing by Scrivens. The shot that broke the shutout weekend was a beautiful 3-on-2 play that Niagra executed perfectly, no particular fault of Scrivens...but this was not his most technically sound outing. He got the job done though, so who cares whether it was by-the-books.

Today, both teams looked worse (or at least more evenly matched) than they did last night. Cornell's top line was not nearly as productive as it was last night, and Niagra did not have sustained pressure at any point like they did last night at the end of the 3rd. Cornell had WAY too many turnovers, too. I don't know if they were tired or what, but they CANNOT give up the puck that often against better teams. When the playoffs roll around, a bad turnover in the defensive zone could be the difference between a trip to albany and an early trip home.

Despite his line being less successful, Colin Greening has continued to play with heart, the way a captain should. One play in the 1st, he showed some speed I didn't know he had in him, speeding down the left wing to get a shot off. Riley Nash, on the other hand, did not have a great game. On the Nash-O-Meter (where 10 represents Riley playing as hard as he can and demonstrating the potential that got him drafted in the first round), today was a 2.5 to 3. Yesterday, I thought, he was playing at a 5, which is the best I've seen from him in a while.

In terms of special teams: The first powerplay unit (Greening Gallagher Nash, Seminoff and Barlow) was terrible. In the 1st, they couldn't keep the puck in the zone, then couldn't keep it at all, turned it over in the defensive zone, embarassing. In the 3rd, they at least kept possession for most of the shift, but they didn't generate any good chances. They often made one pass too many, held the puck for one second too long, and in that time lost the shooting lane. The most obvious cases of this were for the cross-ice passes and the guy standing in the slot. A powerplay is successful when it gets the PK (including the goalie) moving side to side and out of position. Niagra did a decent job of getting into the passing lanes, but we helped them out by waiting the nextra second before sending the pass across. And then, when we decided to take the outside shot, most of the time if it didn't miss the net completely, it got blocked in front. The first unit then would hold onto the puck and lose it, or try to play it back to the outside and set up again, instead of just throwing it at the net. Overall, they looked as though they were trying to get too fancy.

The second PP unit (Devin Kennedy Kennedy, Roeszler and Devin?) was having a great night, on the other hand. That unit works because Joe (? #22) Devin is big and strong and can park himself in front of the net. Also because they took better advantage of the opportunies they had. They put the puck on the net, forced the sieve to make saves. They gathered rebounds. They moved the puck well from side to side. And Patrick's goal was just fun. He got the puck on the top of the crease with nobody on him, and deked, forcing the sieve to commit, and then pulled it back and buried it. Even from the wrong side of the rink, it was fun to watch.

Interesting lineup decision: Brendan Nash out, Whitney in. Whitney played a solid game [although Niagra's one goal was caused by an odd play where Whitney carried the puck from our own end all the way to the other goal line while our team tried to change, and then nobody covered for him on defense, leading to the 3-on-2]. The strange part is sitting Brendan...Last night's game was one of his best of the season. He blocked a number of shots, broke up a few key plays to help Scrivens maintain the shutout, and even got involved in the offense in front of the net. We can only hope it was not an injury suffered blocking one of those shots.

Expected lineup decision: Kary and Jillson out, Scali and Nicholls in. Game one of the series, our team was severely outplayed physically. It seemed we lost every battle in the corner, got bounced off of the puck every play. Putting in the true checking line [Mugford Scali Nicholls] defintely helped in this regard, even if the line did not get many regular shifts, and did not make any particularly memorable checks.

Elsewhere in the ECAC: Quinnipiac lost to Union, and Princeton was drubbed 5-1 by lowly RPI. In Jersey, no less! Losses for the two teams closest to us in the league standings is good news (though Dartmouth won, technically vaulting them over Q into 3rd place). Also, Yale won, so did BU. BU still #1 in PWR, we are still #2. BUT, the bulldogs are now a TUC, and North Dakota is not. This means at this moment, we are undefeated vs TUC. Surprisingly, Yale might end up being in the top 4 come the end of the season, and might be a threat to us. They currently sit 6-2-0 in league play, to our 6-0-2. 8 games played, compared to Princeton and Quinnipiac's 12, and Dartmouth's 11.

Inaugural Post

GOOD EVENING HOCKEY FANS!

Welcome to Live At Lynah, one guy's views and thoughts of the Cornell Hockey team. I'd like to real quickly describe my aims for this blog.

I'm not going to be doing straight-up recaps. You can find plenty of recaps at www.cornellbigred.com, or ECAC Hockey, or USCHO, or a variety of other places. Most of my posts will be reactions to games: line combinations, who played well, who didn't, what worked, what didn't work, a comment on the officiating, that type of stuff. Basically, my views and opinions on the games. I will try to do previews for each weekend if I can. I will mention important ECAC resuts, and their implications for the playoffs, and I'll try to keep an eye on the national polls, the PWR, and the RPI. I'll do my best to keep things interesting. And if you have something to say, add, or discuss, go for it, they invented comments sections for a reason.

I had intended to start with last night's 3-0 win over Niagra University, and to post about that game before tonight's rematch, but it looks as though I will not have time, I'm really sorry. I will do a longer response after tonight's game, that will talk about both games. Until then, thanks for reading what I have to say, see you after the game, and
LETS
GO
RED!!!!!!!!