Princeton at Cornell post-game thread

[/b]Four point weekend and into a tie for third place with Quinnipiac. (Up by 3 points on fifth-place Dartmouth, which plays Yale Sunday.) Way to go!

Awesome offensive explosion by Cornell in the first two periods. All the more amazing that Cornell is down so many key players. And nice defense by Cornell, especially in the first two periods. Byron Bitz found his scoring touch (2G, 2A, +3). Ray Sawada too (2G, 2A, +4). Cornell has 19 goals in four games, albeit 3, 6, 2 and 8 isn't as useful as say 5-4-5-5.

But still: Cornell was outshot (although Princeton padded its totals with low-percentage, what-the-heck-it-might-catch-a-bounce shots). Cornell gave up a couple of power play goals (3x8 or 3x7 allowed). The team let up in the third period (okay, Cornell was up 8-1).

Way for the seniors to close out their regular-season Lynah careers.

[Edit add:] Looking good for home ice and a first-round bye and with Harvard now in sixth, a possible Cornell-Cantab playoff in Ithaca. (Yale-Dartmouth yet to play Sunday. Yale winning helps our chances of being third/fourth in the ECAC; Dartmouth winning helps our chances of winning the Ivy title (like you think a lot about that one).) Standings below after Saturday's games.

                ECACHL     Overall 
  Team         GP  W-L-T Pts. GF-GA     GP  W-L-T GF-GA 
1 St. Lawrence 20 15-4-1 31 68-50     32 19-11-2 100-86 
2 Clarkson     20 12-4-4 28 69-45     32 20-7-5 117-77 
3 CORNELL      20 10-6-4 24 62-47     27 14-9-4 86-66   
  Quinnipiac   20 10-6-4 24 72-55     32 16-11-5 120-87 
5 Dartmouth    19 9-7-3 21 58-56      26 13-10-3 78-75 
6 Harvard      20 8-10-2 18 60-63     27 10-15-2 73-80 
  Princeton    20 8-10-2 18 58-61     27 11-13-3 78-81 
8 Colgate      20 7-10-3 17 51-53     34 13-17-4 89-85 
9 Yale         19 7-11-1 15 50-63     26 10-13-3 69-82 
  Rensselaer   20 5-10-5 15 46-75     32 9-15-8 77-114 
11 Brown       20 5-11-4 14 57-62     27 9-12-6 80-79 
12 Union       20 6-13-1 13 50-71     32 13-16-3 94-108 

Sunday, February 18:
  Dartmouth            at Yale         4:00 pm    
Friday, February 23:
  Brown                at Rensselaer   7:00 pm    
  Yale                 at Union        7:00 pm    
  Colgate              at Harvard      7:00 pm    
  Clarkson             at Princeton    7:00 pm    
  St. Lawrence         at Quinnipiac   7:00 pm    
  Cornell              at Dartmouth    7:30 pm    
Saturday, February 24:
  St. Lawrence         at Princeton    3:30 pm    
  Yale                 at Rensselaer   7:00 pm    
  Brown                at Union        7:00 pm    
  Colgate              at Dartmouth    7:00 pm    
  Cornell              at Harvard      7:00 pm    
  Clarkson             at Quinnipiac   8:00 pm   
   

You posted before the game ended. Party Foul!

Where was Kennedy?

ryeguy
Where was Kennedy?

Hurt last night.

When last night...what period...was it goony?

Clarkson scores with 3 seconds remaining to make it 3-3. In OT now.

Over according to WRPI. 3-3- tie.

Roy 82
You posted before the game ended. Party Foul!

You'll see that's not so when you see the box score with the time-of-game numbers. Hey, I type 55 words per minute.

Let's hope the Seniors will get an even more glorious send-off (into the Post-Season) at Lynah East a week from today, our "home" away from home.

I will start the call....Rebecca and I will be there, as well as Joanna and Justin B. (fresh back from 2 1/2 years in Africa as Peace Corps volunteers), Kolo and his wife. And Toni M. will drive in from Western MA.

LGR!

Tyler Mugford you

This looked more like a WCHA game.

Great night for the seniors. Can't fault the team too much for losing focus up 8-1.


Princeton looked absolutely awful.

Bring on Sucks! But don't overlook Dartmouth on Friday.

billhoward
Looking good for home ice and a first-round bye and with Harvard now in sixth, a possible Cornell-Cantab playoff in Ithaca. (Yale-Dartmouth yet to play Sunday. Yale winning helps our chances of being fourth; Dartmouth winning helps our chances of winning the Ivy title (like you think a lot about that one).)

Here's a scenerio I'd like to avoid:
Losing at Dartmouth next week, and then seeing them again on their ice for the playoffs. Sooooo ...
Let's go Yale!

He was head checked last night, shoul dahve been a 5 minute major, was only a 2 minute. He was back on teh ice 5 or 10 minutes later, but Schafer said it was a precautionary thing to keep him off tonight.

billhoward
Yale winning helps our chances of being third/fourth in the ECAC; Dartmouth winning helps our chances of winning the Ivy title (like you think a lot about that one).)

If I'm seeing the standings correctly, a win at Dartmouth clinches a bye for us, regardless of Dartmouth winning or losing against Yale tomorrow.

ebilmes
Princeton looked absolutely awful.

Sitting in the front row of D behind the Cornell bench, at the end of the game I could read the lips of the Princeton head coach say to Schafer upon handshake, "That wasn't much fun". Frankly, I thought it was!

sah67
If I'm seeing the standings correctly, a win at Dartmouth clinches a bye for us, regardless of Dartmouth winning or losing against Yale tomorrow.

Yes, our magic number with Dartmouth is 3½ (haven't checked the tie-breakers).

[slack.net]
[slack.net]

ebilmes
But don't overlook Dartmouth on Friday.

Given how much trouble we've had at Dartmouth in recent years, we'd better not!

redheadfanatic
He was head checked last night, shoul dahve been a 5 minute major, was only a 2 minute. He was back on teh ice 5 or 10 minutes later, but Schafer said it was a precautionary thing to keep him off tonight.

Right, but my question is, when in the game was he hurt. That is, was the game getting chippy toward the end and someone hit him or was it earlier in the game?

Marty, the hit happened about half way through the 2nd period. It was soon after Cornell killed a penalty. The goon is Q's Jamie Bates.

A couple other things...

Did anyone have a good view of what happened on the first Princeton goal? Looked like Troy stopped it under his pad but didn't know where the puck was. Bitz (?) rushed over to try and keep it out of the net, but the Princeton player poked at the puck and pushed it in.

I didn't know Bitz was a soccer player. That 1-0 stickless rush that culminated in his trying to kick in the puck is one of the more bizarre plays I've seen.

I thought Romano's attempt at a last-second goal to end the 8-4 game was a little unsportsmanlike.

ebilmes
A couple other things...

Did anyone have a good view of what happened on the first Princeton goal? Looked like Troy stopped it under his pad but didn't know where the puck was. Bitz (?) rushed over to try and keep it out of the net, but the Princeton player poked at the puck and pushed it in.[/Q]That's how I saw it.

[Q]I didn't know Bitz was a soccer player. That 1-0 stickless rush that culminated in his trying to kick in the puck is one of the more bizarre plays I've seen.[/Q]Unfortunately it also led to a PU goal. He would have been better off going to the boards and trying to tie it up for a while.

[Q]I thought Romano's attempt at a last-second goal to end the 8-4 game was a little unsportsmanlike.

Agree.

Anyone know what happened to Scali? He didn't play at all in the third period.

ebilmes
I thought Romano's attempt at a last-second goal to end the 8-4 game was a little unsportsmanlike.

I thought the only thing unsportsmanlike was the way Princeton played. They instigated most of the skirmishes and charged Davenport all night.

ithacat

ebilmes
I thought Romano's attempt at a last-second goal to end the 8-4 game was a little unsportsmanlike.

I thought the only thing unsportsmanlike was the way Princeton played. They instigated most of the skirmishes and charged Davenport all night.

You mean...they were high-class goons. The kind with hyphenated last names.

billhoward

Roy 82
You posted before the game ended. Party Foul!

You'll see that's not so when you see the box score with the time-of-game numbers. Hey, I type 55 words per minute.

I totally buy what you're saying, Bill. I got a call from an old CU roommate late in the 3rd period. My feed of the Princeton broadcast still had it 8-3, but he already knew it was 8-4. It was at least another minute, maybe almost two, before I heard the 4th goal called. And he knew the game had ended well in advance of my hearing it. So, depending on all the variables that go into finally getting the feed to your desktop, quite clearly, individual users will be out-of-synch with one another. My buddy could have easily had time to start a post-game thread, with full knowledge of the outcome, while I was still listening to the final minute.

Giffy
Anyone know what happened to Scali? He didn't play at all in the third period.

He got his clock cleaned at 17:03 of the 2nd period, drawing an elbowing penalty on Moore from PU...perhaps he was still seeing stars after this and Schafer sent him to the showers. I was also wondering why he was all cleaned up and in his suit for the seniors ceremony...I hadn't remembered the big elbow.

sah67

Giffy
Anyone know what happened to Scali? He didn't play at all in the third period.

He got his clock cleaned at 17:03 of the 2nd period, drawing an elbowing penalty on Moore from PU...perhaps he was still seeing stars after this and Schafer sent him to the showers. I was also wondering why he was all cleaned up and in his suit for the seniors ceremony...I hadn't remembered the big elbow.

I suspect, and hope, that with the lead we had, Coach just decided that we didn't have to have him and it was best just to let him rest.

For the most part, I thought Princeton showed a decent bit of class given the pounding we gave them. They were bad, but not too bad. I thought Quinnipiac played much dirtier and started a lot more fights after the whistle.

That being said, I'm tired of watching refs call matching minors every time a scuffle breaks out. Once in a while, one team or player is the instigator. There had to be 5 or 6 matching minors called this weekend, and for the most part, we were just defending our goalie or retaliating. Almost all of the fights occured on top of Davenport. That being said, there are times that we pick fights, too. I'm amazed at the amount of trashtalking Mugford can pull off in a single game.

ebilmes
I thought Romano's attempt at a last-second goal to end the 8-4 game was a little unsportsmanlike.

Eh. Princeton had hung three straight goals on Cornell and was taking liberties with our goalie Under those circumstances, I say keep playing hard until the final whistle. Plus, Romano is clearly obsessed with scoring; we need a guy like that, even if it means he forgets to turn it off when discretion may warrant it.

Killer

billhoward

Roy 82
You posted before the game ended. Party Foul!

You'll see that's not so when you see the box score with the time-of-game numbers. Hey, I type 55 words per minute.

I totally buy what you're saying, Bill. I got a call from an old CU roommate late in the 3rd period. My feed of the Princeton broadcast still had it 8-3, but he already knew it was 8-4. It was at least another minute, maybe almost two, before I heard the 4th goal called. And he knew the game had ended well in advance of my hearing it. So, depending on all the variables that go into finally getting the feed to your desktop, quite clearly, individual users will be out-of-synch with one another. My buddy could have easily had time to start a post-game thread, with full knowledge of the outcome, while I was still listening to the final minute.

Your erstwhile roommate might have way to make a living in Vegas with this kind of hysteresis.

The name Mugford sounds more pugilistic than, say, Topher Scott. Maybe the guy's living up or down to preconceived notions.

billhoward
The name Mugford sounds more pugilistic than, say, Topher Scott.

While watching replays of the goals this morning on all-acess, I caught Jason mentioning while Mugford (from the bench) was jawing with Westgarth, something like "And well, Westgarth is having words with someone on the Cornell bench...and it's, not surprisingly, Tyler Mugford".

I love the kid's aggression...even if he does have a big mouth.

sah67
I love the kid's aggression...even if he does have a big mouth.

Guess he's not a candidate for the Joe Nieuwendyk Award.

sah67
While watching replays of the goals this morning on all-acess, I caught Jason mentioning while Mugford (from the bench) was jawing with Westgarth, something like "And well, Westgarth is having words with someone on the Cornell bench...and it's, not surprisingly, Tyler Mugford".

Westgarth was almost Nickersonian in his thuggery, though he lacked the near-mythic savagery of the Clarksonator.

ithacat

sah67
While watching replays of the goals this morning on all-acess, I caught Jason mentioning while Mugford (from the bench) was jawing with Westgarth, something like "And well, Westgarth is having words with someone on the Cornell bench...and it's, not surprisingly, Tyler Mugford".

Westgarth was almost Nickersonian in his thuggery, though he lacked the near-mythic savagery of the Clarksonator.

You're just asking for a rebuttal from RichS. Surprised it hasn't crossed the wires yet. Maybe Rich is scanning the message to see if the S-word was posted in white-on-white type, seen only by search engines.

billhoward

ithacat

sah67
While watching replays of the goals this morning on all-acess, I caught Jason mentioning while Mugford (from the bench) was jawing with Westgarth, something like "And well, Westgarth is having words with someone on the Cornell bench...and it's, not surprisingly, Tyler Mugford".

Westgarth was almost Nickersonian in his thuggery, though he lacked the near-mythic savagery of the Clarksonator.

You're just asking for a rebuttal from RichS. Surprised it hasn't crossed the wires yet. Maybe Rich is scanning the message to see if the S-word was posted in white-on-white type, seen only by search engines.

I'll quote someone on the bored's sentiments about the finger dance at cheel (I am too lazy/busy to actually look up who and what exactly was said), it went something like "It's so over the top it's funny."

I laughed...

In case you missed it... When Davenport got taken out(the time his mask came off and he got tangled in the net), who was the first person to come to his defense? That's right, Topher Scott got in on top of the guy and he and Davenport got in some good shots before it was broken up.

Also, anybody see the slap shot from the point he took against Q? I was stunned, until I saw it "miss" wide on the backside and Romano streak in on it. A lot of movement and offensive imagination from the team in the last several games.

i also love how Topher dumps the puck along from the blue line and then skates around his man and reliably beats him to the corner to continue play.

and he lines up for checks going into the boards behind the net with guys who easily have 50 pounds on him. he gets knocked back most times, but it seems like he aims at the guy rather than try some shifty move to duck away from him... pretty ballsy.

mtmack25

Also, anybody see the slap shot from the point he took against Q? I was stunned, until I saw it "miss" wide on the backside and Romano streak in on it. A lot of movement and offensive imagination from the team in the last several games.

I was also stunned by Topher's slapper from the point, and started cheering loudly, even thought it didn't come close to going in.

I don't believe that it was meant to go in. I think it was a pass to Romano all the way. His accuracy is good enough to put it where he wants it. If he wanted it on net, I believe he would have put it there

MUGFORD !!!!!!!!!!!!

I think (and hope it continues that) it's a big positive that there appears to be some serious stability with the lines. Not in that Cornell is having the same players consistently jump over the boards together, but that they are consistently playing well together.

I think the last few weeks, where we have been identifying single players as looking awesome, are starting to gel into a team thing. With Greening, Carefoot (when healthy), Kennedy and Barlow putting together a great month or couple of weeks we started taking notice. Now the team seems to be picking up on that level of play. Greening may have lit a fire under that first line for instance, and they really seem to be playing at a high level with each other now. Carefoot was able to jumpstart the play of his line and really got Kennedy going as well, giving Cornell a great two way line. Now the lines in between seem to be picking up play, as McCutcheon-Gallagher-Barlow were buzzing around the net all weekend and Romano-Scott-Milo are always dangerous with their puck control and creativity.

Not to mention the power play, with the additons of Barlow and Salmela seems to be stepping it up a notch (fingers crossed).

Nothing looks better than the ability to roll four good lines at any time of the game when you want to make a run. I think that's a huge key if we are going to see a confident Cornell playoff team like we have been so used to seeing in the past.

Davenport named ECAC Goaltender of the Week, and Greening is the Rookie of the Week.

[cornellbigred.cstv.com]

Avash '05
Davenport named ECAC Goaltender of the Week, and Greening is the Rookie of the Week.

[cornellbigred.cstv.com]

Greening has played really well for two weeks now. He certainly deserves it.

billhoward

Your erstwhile roommate might have way to make a living in Vegas with this kind of hysteresis.

I should call him and see if he already has tomorrow's paper.