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.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, January 19, 2009
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
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!
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!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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
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.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
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.
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!!!!!!!!
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!!!!!!!!
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