Cornell 3 Princeton 2 Post Game Thread

Wow after controlling two periods of game our guys forgot there was a third period to play. Princeton definitely made close in that period.

Good things: PP is improving! yay

Bad? We need to play the full 60 minutes.

Nice to see Bitz score, McCutcheon is one of my fav players and keeps putting up points, Romano too.

We better be ready for Q tomorrow they have a really good offense but I'm hoping for the W.

LGR!!!

Omie
Wow after controlling two periods of game our guys forgot there was a third period to play. Princeton definitely made close in that period.

Good things: PP is improving! yay

Bad? We need to play the full 60 minutes.

Nice to see Bitz score, McCutcheon is one of my fav players and keeps putting up points, Romano too.

We better be ready for Q tomorrow they have a really good offense but I'm hoping for the W.

LGR!!!

I missed some big parts of the game. Was our play in the first two periods good, or just better than Princeton's? Definitely agree with the "full 60 minutes" comment. Were special teams better tonight?

Special teams were better we had 2 PPGs. I thought that we played really well the 1st and better than PU on the 2nd, not by large margins but definitely better than against Dartmouth. But the 3rd period was just awful, we got wayyyy too comfortable with our lead and almost lost it.

Another good win for Cornell. I'm glad that they were able to hang on in the 3rd and leave NJ with the win. It seems like the freshman are learning some good lessons early in the season: don't ever give up (Harvard and to an extent Dartmouth) and how to hang on to a lead despite being outplayed for much of a period (at least from the radio perspective).

Our PK seemed to be better and we got some PPGs!!

In goal, Davenport once again held his own, and then some.

Did Taylor Davenport play in the rest of the game? I do not recall hearing his name after the hit he took in the first.

Here's hoping they can leave CT with at least a point.

I know Davenport has been pretty solid in goal and has kept us in the games but he is certainly not great. He did a great job of keeping us in the game against Dartmouth in the 2nd and 3rd periods but he also let in 2 goals in 7 shots in the 1st which is partly why we trailed the whole game. And tonight he had awesome saves but also let in 2 shots in 3 mins, granted it was also the D's fault.

Omie
I know Davenport has been pretty solid in goal and has kept us in the games but he is certainly not great. He did a great job of keeping us in the game against Dartmouth in the 2nd and 3rd periods but he also let in 2 goals in 7 shots in the 1st which is partly why we trailed the whole game. And tonight he had awesome saves but also let in 2 shots in 3 mins, granted it was also the D's fault.

Have you seen his play in person? I've seen the RIT, Dartmouth and Harvard games live and would say Davenport plays was excellent. I don't think any of the goals were soft. If you're solely basing your opinion of Davenport's play on the number of goals given up in a insignificant sampling of shots or the time elapsed between two goals, I don't think that is particularly sound analysis. Of course, to each his own opinion.

Omie
...he also let in 2 goals in 7 shots in the 1st which is partly why we trailed the whole game.

Not all "shots" are created equal.

Correct me if I'm wrong, and bother me with your superior knowledge if you must:

But this is how I've been explaining the difference between McKee and Davenport, thus far in the season:

McKee was more of a Hasek Type.
Davenport is more of a Roy.

That is - McKee makes acrobatic gasper saves....Davenport seems to be in the right place at the right time.

BUT! 6-1-0....I'm feeling pretty good...They're already better than predicted.

Yea I have seen him play at Lynah (have season tickets), I am not saying he is bad I am saying he isn't great. Considering we had a huge question mark on goal, I think he is doing very good. I just don't understand the praise as if he were making amazing saves because he hasn't either.

I never quite felt comfortable when McKee was in goal. I do however, feel a bit more at ease with Davenport. He is solid and will only improve (we can hope).

Omie
Yea I have seen him play at Lynah (have season tickets), I am not saying he is bad I am saying he isn't great. Considering we had a huge question mark on goal, I think he is doing very good. I just don't understand the praise as if he were making amazing saves because he hasn't either.

I've only seen the team once this year in person, so I'm not claiming to speak from experience, but just a thought... could it be his style?

If he's more about being good positionally, then he won't make incredible saves because he won't get himself in the position to need to. Lenny was the same way, he was tremendous positionally, so he didn't have to make any spectacular looking saves, and it was therefore easier to take his play for granted.

I remember going on the North Country trip that year, when Lenny was with the Canadian Jr team, and noticing the difference with Marr was night and day (not that Marr was bad, we won 2 north country away games with him that weekend).

Being good and being flashy are two very different things. Though they can often be confused.

Could be. I am not expert.

Great 40 minutes of hockey by Cornell. Must have been an awesome speech in the Princeton locker room going into the third. If not, then Cornell just ran out of will to play well. Cornell special teams looked good, yes, with 2 PPG, unless it's that Princeton's special teams were especially not-so-good. Princeton gave Cornell a lot of power play opportunities. In goal, Davenport looked good for the most part, but I thought I also saw a lot of uncovered pucks left availble in the crease for a couple tenths of a second longer than is good for a Cornell fan's blood pressure.

Cornell's fans owned Baker Rink again. I miss it when the fans don't start the chant, "This is our house." Nice when Princeton pulled its goalie and Cornell fans pointed to Davenport, the Princeton bench, and the empty Princeton net: "Good goalie, bad goalie, better goalie."

We missed the pep band. Even if a dozen people had showed, it would have eliminated the Princeton organ, which was like being stuck in a large elevator with ice in the middle. Thank goodness for the cowbell.

Just got home from the game.

I was quite happy with Davenport in goal. He definitely played well positionally and didn't wander excessive;ly, although he did seem to be fighting off a couple of shots. I really couldn't fault him on either of the goals. On one he was badly screened and the other was just a perfect shot. But he saved the win late in the third.

Some other observations: the team looked small and they didn't hit very much. I felt confident that when they tried to rush the puck out of the zone, they'd get it out without turning it over (except for once). They did pass better than the more recent Cornell teams, and they didn't make any "what was he thinking?" passes in their own zone. In center ice they were not quite as good defensively, especially in the third. They let a lot of guys get past them, but made up with the error with speed.

Their defensive strategy in the third seemed to be to stack 5 guys in the slot and dare Princeton to try to get it through. As my friend put it late in the 3rd, "it's a good thing this game isn't 5 minutes longer or this could be really ugly."

Bitz was disappointing. He took a lot of faceoffs, but really didn't seem to be in the play much. None of the freshman really stood out to me, either for their skills or their errors.

Sorry, the pep band is poor... Don't worry, we will be in attendance at every remaining game north of the Mason-Dixon Line (the south scares me...I have to have winter).

This is somewhat unrelated to the game, but have other people found that WHCU comes in pretty poorly on North Campus, or is this just a problem with my radio? I resorted to the Princeton audio at points because of heavy static.

As if it wasn't bad enough, WHCU lowers their wattage at night. I'm at the very top of the South Hill and I still get awful reception.

First of all, a game at Princeton without a pep band is like a Princeton game against Harvard. Booooo, pep band priorities! The football season ended over a month ago! (Good luck tomorrow, gridders!)

I can't believe I left with 8 minutes left in the game. Stupid dinky schedule. They really should coordinate with the Athletic Department on departure times. Anyway, on to the game...

The first 5 minutes of the 3d period were about as bad as I've seen Cornell ever play. Memories of the 11-0 loss in New Haven. In between the second and third periods, someone sitting in front of me asked "How did this team beat Clarkson on the road?" After Princeton scored their second goal, I said "That's how."

[curmudgeon=high]Dear Cornell fans, stop yelling "shoot" or "ice it" every time Princeton touches the puck. I'm not saying you have to get tired of it as fast as I did, but you do have to get tired of it eventually, right?[/high]

Count me in the not-yet-impressed with Nash category. Also, not that impressed with Davenport between the pipes. He does come out of his net too much. He also blocks a lot of pucks that he should be catching. It is almost like he'd rather have a scramble in front of him than a face-off.

The first Princeton goal was a thing of beauty.

Still, glad to escape with a win. I liked watching Romano a lot; Bitz too.

I have no idea if this makes any sense. I need some sleep.

I just got back to campus after an awesome road trip. Overall, Davenport was very solid in net, spectactular late. He made his most amazing save of the season with under a minute to go in the third, go going post to post and getting horizontal to make a kick save on a one timer from point blank range.

Although ugarte, and others are right, he handles the puck WAY too much. It wouldn't bother me so much if he was actually GOOD at it, his carelessness lead to two turnovers tonight, along with him getting knocked on his ass once, which was totally his fault.

I continue to be impressed with his namesake, taylor, and see him as a legitimate top pair defensemen, especially on the PK. He has certainly come a long way from last year. Definitly our most improved player so far.

Princeton really looked terrible for the majority of the game, although they had a few stretches where it because quite clear why they were able to beat clarkson at their barn. That beind said though, there is no reason the game should have been as close as it was- we were far and away the better team.

Overall I'd the team played an average game, but there seemed to be very little intensity and emotion at all. Sawada, Mugford, Bitz, and others are going to have to step it up and show some intensity when playing Q tomorrow if we want to come away with a 4, or even 3 point weekend.

Omie
I know Davenport has been pretty solid in goal and has kept us in the games but he is certainly not great. He did a great job of keeping us in the game against Dartmouth in the 2nd and 3rd periods but he also let in 2 goals in 7 shots in the 1st which is partly why we trailed the whole game. And tonight he had awesome saves but also let in 2 shots in 3 mins, granted it was also the D's fault.

Omie: In the Dartmouth game, both were power play goals scored from the backdoor: passes across the slot to the backdoor hanger. He had no chance on either of them. Those goals were the result of sloppy PK around the net. Troy has been mostly solid. While he needs to improve his puckhandling skills outside the crease, his shot-handling skills have provided the confidence a young team needs from a goalie. Remember too: this is his first real season with The Red. And as you note, the D is also a major part of the equation.

I'm excited about this team! In my mind, the soph and frosh classes represent a true "Core", similar to the class of '03. If Mike keeps recruiting this type of player, I think in a year or two they again could be legitimate national contenders. I miss the old physical teams, but I also enjoy this new direction.

The man speaks several truths and half truths.

A game at Princeton without a pep band is like a Princeton game against Harvard. ... The football season ended over a month ago!

That's two in one paragraph. If the replacement organ music were used on Iraqi insurgents, they'd talk a lot faster than this unsophisticated waterboarding stuff.

Stupid dinky [NJT] schedule. They really should coordinate with the Athletic Department on departure times.

Like it would make a difference except for Cornell and Harvard. If 1% of the attendees use it to get back the mother ship train, that'd be less than a full person per game.

The first Princeton goal was a thing of beauty.

Half-truth. it was preceded by a moment of horror when we allowed the attacker to be around the defense and more or less alone (other than his stick and puck) at the faceoff circle.

Also, not that impressed with Davenport between the pipes.

Vs. Princeton, he seemed less impressive in person than in the pixelated world of CSTV. But he also roamed behind less than on TV; maybe that's a good thing to work off nervous energy.

... but heck, we're a half-dozen games into a season with a rookie lineup and the best, PM-me-wby-I'm-crutches, defenseman out till the new year.

From today's Ithaca Journal: "Of the 14 goals allowed by Davenport this year, nine have come on a power play by the opposition."

Only 5 even-strength goals, that's solid!!

He's playing a superb positional game while not allowing a lot of rebounds. Does his strong positional play make him appear less flashy? Yep!! Is that a bad thing? Nope!! Controlling rebounds is something that some goalies never do well. I think we should be pleased with his play. And, at the same time, look forward to improvement.

Coach Schafer is seeing a lot more of him that we do. And he's not giving Scrivens or DiLeo any playing time at all. I trust Mike's judgement on this one!!

ugarte
First of all, a game at Princeton without a pep band is like a Princeton game against Harvard. Booooo, pep band priorities! The football season ended over a month ago! (Good luck tomorrow, gridders!)

again, the band has limited funds (and most are generated from band alumni!). It's not because of football. There are plenty of times where we have taken busses in the middle of the night to make hockey and football in the same weekend. I hope the alumni band makes up for it tonight!

gatitita '05

ugarte
First of all, a game at Princeton without a pep band is like a Princeton game against Harvard. Booooo, pep band priorities! The football season ended over a month ago! (Good luck tomorrow, gridders!)

again, the band has limited funds (and most are generated from band alumni!). It's not because of football. There are plenty of times where we have taken busses in the middle of the night to make hockey and football in the same weekend. I hope the alumni band makes up for it tonight!

That's the spirit: Outscource the music to local talent. If it's alumni musicians, at least you're keeping it in the family. Didn't an NCAA hockey team 2-3 years back rent a local high school band for the playoffs?

billhoward

gatitita '05

ugarte
First of all, a game at Princeton without a pep band is like a Princeton game against Harvard. Booooo, pep band priorities! The football season ended over a month ago! (Good luck tomorrow, gridders!)

again, the band has limited funds (and most are generated from band alumni!). It's not because of football. There are plenty of times where we have taken busses in the middle of the night to make hockey and football in the same weekend. I hope the alumni band makes up for it tonight!

That's the spirit: Outscource the music to local talent. If it's alumni musicians, at least you're keeping it in the family. Didn't an NCAA hockey team 2-3 years back rent a local high school band for the playoffs?

The concept of the band making it to every ECAC game is a relatively new phenomenon, or so I've been told. While it's good that the band's been making it out consistently enough that people mistakenly assume it's natural for them to be everywhere, it's an unrealistic standard for every year, particularly since long-distance playoffs have been coming frequently in recent years.

I believe that was SLU(t) with the high school rent-a-band. The alumni band is planning on bringing about 25 for tonight's game, so we'll be able to make some noise.

As discussed with ugarte on the slightly too early train back to Penn Station, I do agree that Davenport gives up a few too many rebounds and leaves the net too often for me to be totally comfortable. At the same time, however, he was pretty solid positionally and I really can't fault him on either of the two goals allowed. The second one appeared to be redirected on the way in through traffic.

Regarding Nash, I wasn't especially impressed with his defense, although he did step around a Princeton player (who was probably distracted by watching Goeckner-Zoeller trip over his own name) to set up one of our goals.

The intensity didn't seem to be there in the 3rd period - the team looked very tentative. I'd imagine we can probably put this down as a learning experience for the young team, which is especially nice since we can also put it down in the W column.

It's probably better, academically, if the alumni band takes up the slack on the road - most probably have only one or two papers still due.

But seriously: Once you see the band (marching, pep, alumni) at many events, you really do take them for granted.

billhoward

gatitita '05

ugarte
First of all, a game at Princeton without a pep band is like a Princeton game against Harvard. Booooo, pep band priorities! The football season ended over a month ago! (Good luck tomorrow, gridders!)

again, the band has limited funds (and most are generated from band alumni!). It's not because of football. There are plenty of times where we have taken busses in the middle of the night to make hockey and football in the same weekend. I hope the alumni band makes up for it tonight!

That's the spirit: Outscource the music to local talent. If it's alumni musicians, at least you're keeping it in the family. Didn't an NCAA hockey team 2-3 years back rent a local high school band for the playoffs?

Wasn't it Mercyhurst when the made the NC$$'s in 2005, in Worcester?

Rita
Wasn't it Mercyhurst when they made the NC$$'s in 2005, in Worcester?

Might have been, but for sure it was St. Lawrence--I think in Albany.

Brian Deerr
The alumni band is planning on bringing about 25 for tonight's game, so we'll be able to make some noise.

That's good news! The only games I've seen in the past 5/6 years without the pep band have been the games down in Florida. The band really adds a lot to the atmosphere, even when they stick it way up in the rafters, like at RPI!

Rita

billhoward

gatitita '05

ugarte
First of all, a game at Princeton without a pep band is like a Princeton game against Harvard. Booooo, pep band priorities! The football season ended over a month ago! (Good luck tomorrow, gridders!)

again, the band has limited funds (and most are generated from band alumni!). It's not because of football. There are plenty of times where we have taken busses in the middle of the night to make hockey and football in the same weekend. I hope the alumni band makes up for it tonight!

That's the spirit: Outscource the music to local talent. If it's alumni musicians, at least you're keeping it in the family. Didn't an NCAA hockey team 2-3 years back rent a local high school band for the playoffs?

Wasn't it Mercyhurst when the made the NC$$'s in 2005, in Worcester?

Yup, Mercyhurst with the Shrewsbury High band.

[www.google.com]

billhoward
It's probably better, academically, if the alumni band takes up the slack on the road - most probably have only one or two papers still due.

But seriously: Once you see the band (marching, pep, alumni) at many events, you really do take them for granted.

We can help by donating to the pep band.

I was going to provide the link, but I couldn't find a direct link for how to donate. Presumably some of the email addresses on this page can tell you how.

I've donated in the past when there were specific calls (e.g. "help us get to Wisconsin!", but I really should make that an annual gift...

oops

dbilmes
That's good news! The only games I've seen in the past 5/6 years without the pep band have been the games down in Florida.

Though last year there were a few random instruments to give us pep

This should work. [www.alumni.cornell.edu] Just list the Pep Band under "other gift designation". None of the links on Pep Band site work for me.

Uh, that website stuff's all on me. I'm fixing it this week.

Section A Banshee
Uh, that website stuff's all on me. I'm fixing it this week.

Good, when you get it up post it on a new thread so it's not lost. You guys deserve it. Hear that all you readers, donate, even it's just $5, everything helps.

Jim Hyla

billhoward
It's probably better, academically, if the alumni band takes up the slack on the road - most probably have only one or two papers still due.

But seriously: Once you see the band (marching, pep, alumni) at many events, you really do take them for granted.

We can help by donating to the pep band.

Especially if your $100 donation doesn't just lead Cornell to reduce its magnificent funding by $100.

My thoughts after seeing us survive that 3rd period at Princeton...

-Greening played very well. I noticed several times when he was in the right place doing the right thing.

-Romano is fun to watch. Very fun.

-Troy did indeed make a spectacular save late in the 3rd that would have been called "no way to do anything about it" if he hadn't actually pulled it off. It was really that good.

-How come Princeton, of all teams, is outchecking us? I'm not saying we have to spend the whole game trying to have our 5'9" waterbugs ramming into people, but I saw VERY FEW hits by our big guys. We were terrible at playing the body last night.

-Similarly, our defense was borderline dreadful. We didn't stand them up at the blue-line, we never played the body, and we had some bad miscommunications and misplays.