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.