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