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.