Cornell-UNH Postgame Thread

Just back at hotel from the game. Great win for the Big Red. Lots of hustle every shift. Seminoff was immense on defense all game. He'd get my first star, even with Sawada getting two goals. But plenty of effort from everyone to pretty much neutralize NH's firepower and yet play offensively at the same time. Great to see everyone rise to the occasion.
Strong Cornell contingent there as well, much larger than previous few years. And thanks to Lauren and Rich for being our two-person Pep Band, which definitely adds to the atmosphere. Looking forward to tomorrow night.

From the sounds of the webcast Cornell was outworking UNH, and their announcers agreed with that sentiment. Plus, they were strong in the 1st and 3rd, two periods where they have had letdowns early on this year. It just sounded like Cornell was rolling their lines and making plays happen on every shift.

Hard for me to tell much more than that without video, so I'm looking for to the reviews from those in attendence.

Sounds like a good start for ECAC teams in NC holiday play as Princeton won and Clarkson topped Wisco 6-2 in the Badgers' tournament. They face Lake State having split a pair with them in Potsdam early in the season.

In case anyone here cares.

SLU and Princeton also with wins what you could call upset wins.

Agree with Jeff; not much to complain about.

We had all those PP opportunities in the first that we didn't capitalize on, but I'm glad that didn't come back to haunt us.

The team came out flying and played very well pretty much all night.

I thought the Bitz shot that "hit the post" was a goal. Not sure what angle the ref had, but the players were celebrating and the goal light went on. If it had hit the post, it would have made a clear sound. Definitely thought it was in the back of the net and bounced out.

Putting six goals (five counted) up against Regan is impressive. Bring on Maine!

Just back from the Clarkson-Wisconsin game. Clarkson looked really crisp and fired up all night, but it was Leggio who was incredibly hot all game. Amazing saves!

VERY excited to see the Cornell score. LGR!

oceanst41
SLU and Princeton also with wins what you could call upset wins.

Agree with the SLU win over BU but PU winning at home over another under-.500 team isn't really an upset.

Back from the game. Unbelievable win for Cornell. Certainly their best game of the season. Some of the freshmen really played well. Davenport's save in the second period was one of the best I've ever seen. Certainly right there with Elliot's stop on Bitz last year. Glover played very well for a guy who hasn't played in like 8 months. Officiating was a complete joke and was as predictable as it was bad. My 3 Stars were:

1. Greening
2. Sawada
3. Davenport

Big game tomorrow. Maine didn't do anything for the first two periods today and just exploded in the third.

The following are from the 2002-03 through current seasons -- I haven't had time to put Cornell and Opponent rankings into my DB prior to that.

That was the highest ranked (all rankings USCHO poll) opponent Cornell has beaten during the 5 season sample. Cornell has played a #2 two other times: the triple-ot QF loss against Wisconsin, and a 3-2 loss to Maine in Estero in December 2002.

This is the sixth top-10 team Cornell has beaten over the last 5 seasons:

2003:

#8 BC (NCAA QF)

2005:

#8 Harvard (ECAC F)
#9 Ohio State (NCAA 1R)

2006:

#10 Michigan State (10/28)
#10 St. Lawrence (1/10)

2007:

#2 New Hampshire (Estero)

Over that period, Cornell is 6-6 against top-10 opponents. This was the only case in which Cornell (#12) was not itself in the top 10 when playing a top-10 opponent.

Full tables (with some navigation problems, sorry) available off the bottom two links of this menu. In each case you can reach the second page of the report by appending "Page2" to the URL filename (preserving the .html filetype, of course).

Ari how could you leave me behind in Ithaca?!?!? it's so lonely here!

Rich S
In case anyone here cares.

Definitely rooting for the Knights. "A rising tide lifts all ECAC boats." Nice to see the conference get off to a fast start to the holidays -- the last few seasons of holiday tourneys have been tough (with PWR ramifications come March).

We were WAY better than I expected, which makes me very excited.

1. The penalty kill was reliable, even killing off several 5x3s. Some of the calls leading to those 5x3s were questionable...the roughing penalties all resulted (in my eyes) from a UNH player's decision to wrap his arm around a Cornell face...but we responded well to all of them. It seems the time off has allowed Schafer to focus on special teams and drastically improve them.

2. Glover was back! A solid blueline presence all night

3. Carefoot looked good, with two shortie attempts on top of his goal. Sawada and Troy Davenport were also great.

4. Crowd presence was excellent, as mentioned above. There was a largish standing section behind the many Cornell fans in our corner, and the two-trombone band attracted the attention of the arena staff, who turned down some of their piped in music for pep band pieces.

Liz '05
the two-trombone band attracted the attention of the arena staff, who turned down some of their piped in music for pep band pieces.

They were clearly audible on the UNH netcast.

wow. my first live game of the year, and what a time to show up (I mean the team!) they played very well, obviously.
some thoughts:
1. Great to see Glover back.
2. Wow we looke smal in person. usualy its the other way around.
3. Wow we are fast this year!
4. Davenport's 3 saves in the 2nd right before the 2nd UNH goal were amazing. you just can't make 4 of thouse at close range. he's got some skills, and room to develop. good things for us on the way.
5. Special teams looked fantastic.
6. Ari, it was great to see your mom and brother. i'll look for you and Larry Saturday.\
7. Maine dismantled Western Michigan. their sive was sivetackular.

The Rancor
7. Maine dismantled northern Michigan.

That sounds almost like a punchline.

"Maine beat Western Michigan so badly today that Northern Michigan lost, too!!"

Beeeej

The Rancor
7. Maine dismantled northern Michigan.

That sounds almost like a punchline.

"Maine beat Western Michigan so badly today that Northern Michigan lost, too!!"

oops!! well they might have!!!

Very surprised and pleased to see the score of this one. I had thought this was going to be a rebuilding year with all the offseason losses and graduation of last year's key players.

And yes RichS, I'm also happy to see Clarkson win. Big non-conference wins by fellow ECAC teams are good for the PWRs.

Now if only someone would add a TV game or two.

Also of note is that McCutcheon left the game midway through the second with an apparent injury and did not return. If he isn't back tomorrow, I'd imagine Milo will draw back into the lineup.

Trotsky

Rich S
In case anyone here cares.

Definitely rooting for the Knights. "A rising tide lifts all ECAC boats." Nice to see the conference get off to a fast start to the holidays -- the last few seasons of holiday tourneys have been tough (with PWR ramifications come March).

As Ivy Leaguers, shouldn't one say, "A rising tide lifts all yachts"? Boats are things the help uses to fetch more champagne. Or is that tenders?

But seriously, Rich and everyone else from Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Union -- yes, we're glad our own league's teams are winning. It looked kind of grim for the ECAC the start of the season. Anyway, the quality of your education doesn't depend on the fancy name across the ivy-laced iron gates at entrance. As well all know, it really depends on how well your teaching assistant has been able to overcome his or her accent.

ebilmes
I thought the Bitz shot that "hit the post" was a goal. Not sure what angle the ref had, but the players were celebrating and the goal light went on. If it had hit the post, it would have made a clear sound. Definitely thought it was in the back of the net and bounced out.

I had about as good of an angle on that shot as is humanly possible (and first row to boot). It hit the front inside corner of the post and popped right out without crossing the line. Ref had it right. I had already finished my "Oh that was close," groan when I saw the light on.

First time I've seen them play live since the 2005 ECAC championship. I was very impressed with Scott's leadership. Even when he and Bitz were on the ice together he was setting everyone up and given orders. It seems not only do the fans love him but the other players really respect him as well.

They're #2 in the nation? What a joke. BU is also way overrated. I hate the poll this year.

Liz '05
4. Crowd presence was excellent, as mentioned above. There was a largish standing section behind the many Cornell fans in our corner, and the two-trombone band attracted the attention of the arena staff, who turned down some of their piped in music for pep band pieces.

Definitely kudos to the trombones. My daughter (the little girl running around in the Dartmouth jersey) loved them. It seems that every year the atmosphere gets better for this tournament.

This is more like the defense-minded Cornell of the past several years: Keep shots-per-60 under 20 for the opponent. Stifle them in the third period. Solid goaltending. The part about putting up 5 goals in a game against a top-10 opponent (actually any opponent) is new. LGR!

Shots by Period
Team   1  2  3  Tot
-------------------
UNH    2 13  4 - 19
CORN   9  9 10 - 28

Oat
They're #2 in the nation? What a joke. BU is also way overrated. I hate the poll this year.

Speaking of opinions and credit where it's due, the ECAC wins have top billing on USCHO's front page right now, with our bear as the main graphic.

And speaking of USCHO, has anyone else noticed that they love things like that paragraph's lead, "Change is afoot in college hockey. Or is it?" The recap for the SLUt/BU game started, "Boston University's third-best-in-the-nation couldn't do much about how it went down in the opening round of the Ledyard National Bank Classic last night. Or maybe it could." I don't have any other examples on hand, but somewhere in my mind I have the impression I've seen that "XYZ -- or not???" lede before at that site. Can't say I like it too much.

I like the way the Naples, Florida newspaper reviewed the game -- the only disappointment is the story is preceded by a weather icon showing how it's quite warm down in Florida even today..

Cornell knocks off New Hampshire, 5-2, in Florida College Hockey Classic

USCHO doesn't pay a lot for its stories and it doesn't have a big copy-edit team reading and massaging copy before it goes online. Rick Reilly is not moonlighting as a college hockey writer. So maybe you have seen the same lead before - or maybe not? It still beats waiting for the weekly College Hockey Notebook in the local paper, or subscribing to the Hockey News to get news a week late.

Sure it beats those options, but that doesn't mean I can't comment on their bad ledes.

ebilmes
I thought the Bitz shot that "hit the post" was a goal. Not sure what angle the ref had, but the players were celebrating and the goal light went on. If it had hit the post, it would have made a clear sound. Definitely thought it was in the back of the net and bounced out.

Was in the UHN corner and thought it hit the back of the net and popped out uncalled (see Cornell - Maine in Portland a few years back), but we def. could hear a loud ping noise from down in our end.

Rob NH
but we def. could hear a loud ping noise from down in our end.

It might have been your cowbell. You guys played it every 2 minutes.

ebilmes

Rob NH
but we def. could hear a loud ping noise from down in our end.

It might have been your cowbell. You guys played it every 2 minutes.

We had to make up for you guys forgetting yours.

schoaff

ebilmes
I thought the Bitz shot that "hit the post" was a goal. Not sure what angle the ref had, but the players were celebrating and the goal light went on. If it had hit the post, it would have made a clear sound. Definitely thought it was in the back of the net and bounced out.

I had about as good of an angle on that shot as is humanly possible (and first row to boot). It hit the front inside corner of the post and popped right out without crossing the line. Ref had it right. I had already finished my "Oh that was close," groan when I saw the light on.

Completely disagree with this. I was also sitting behind the goal, but a little bit to the side (in the Cornell section). Admittedly, I would be one of the first to boo the ushers a bit if it HAD hit the post, but honestly, both myself and my boyfriend saw the net swish, leading us to believe it had hit and bounced out. No sound either (except that dumb UNH cowbell that was played every 30 seconds), and it was a quick shot, so had it hit the post, I'm pretty sure it would have been heard.

On another note, props to whoever started the "live free / die" chant. I enjoyed that one, even if I had to explain NH's motto to those around me before they got it.

las224
On another note, props to whoever started the "live free / die" chant. I enjoyed that one, even if I had to explain NH's motto to those around me before they got it.

The New Hampshire fans we hung with during the consolation game were amused by the Old Man of the Mountain cheer.

jtwcornell91

las224
On another note, props to whoever started the "live free / die" chant. I enjoyed that one, even if I had to explain NH's motto to those around me before they got it.

The New Hampshire fans we hung with during the consolation game were amused by the Old Man of the Mountain cheer.

We got creative at the @Dartmouth game last year. It took two periods before I realized that they'd be applicable to the other New Hampshire school too

jtwcornell91
The New Hampshire fans we hung with during the consolation game were amused by the Old Man of the Mountain cheer.

...which was?

Hey New Hampshire, the Old Man of the Mountain called, and he said, Ahhhhhh! (with hands on face, then pulling down, as if face was falling off)

Because the actual, massive, natural granite structure did fall a few years ago after eons of hanging on top of a 1000' cliff in Franconia Notch for those of you who aren't familiar with it.