Thoughts on CU-UWM

Anybody who was there care to share?

Imagine a rink much like Clarkson's but with better acoustics, i.e., somewhat ugly and antiseptic, but with a lower roof. Imagine my pleasure when I saw that there was a reasonable Cornell contingent already there and standing. Imagine my dismay when I realized that the whole crowd had been issued yellow and brown "Thunderstix." Imagine my utter disbelief at the "Thunderstix." Imagine how much I hate "Thunderstix."

Oh, did I mention that I consider "Thunderstix" to be tools of the Dev-il?

Anyway, other than that, one just has to look at the box. I mean, we scored three times in the very early part of the first. Just about when we got used to watching the game again after the first score (in 50 seconds), we had to start singing Davy again. How horrible.

WMU looked, well, absolutely flabbergasted in the first until they took that time out. After the time out, they still were being outplayed. Their coach must have put the fear of Jee-bus in them during the break, since the second was a different story. I can't say that WMU played better than we did, but they certainly held their own.

The goal: at some point, LeNevue had to make a sophomore mistake. Puck heads down the ice, LeNevue hesitates, LeNevue heads out of goal, puck ends up in the net. It was no big wup--probably won't happen again, as Schafer said in the USCHO summary after the game.

The third: most of the WeeMus decided to trickle out--beat the traffic, you know--and Cornell started to look dominant again towards the end. There was a point towards the very end of the game where we held it in their end for about five minutes, it seemed. 5-1, 6-1, and "which team is the winning team?"

I noticed Pegoraro quite a bit, who was quite speedy. Vesce was truly on the top of his game tonight, and the last goal looked like something out of Sega hockey. They had, as most teams, no answer for Bâby's uncanny ability to shield the puck and look over his shoulder for the great pass. Murray looked a bit out of sorts tonight, and Gleed, who has looked very good in the other games I have seen, may need to spend a bit of time gauging opposing team's forwards when he's on the bench--he got beat on one where, if he had looked at who it was (their speedy captain), he probably should've taken the body early. So, not one of our best defensive outings, but very satisfying offensively.

Actually, much like the sweet silence of absent "Thunderstix," the evening was, on the whole, quite satisfying.

And the trend (I think pointed out by Greg) continues; only the teams that have played Cornell realize and acknowledge the potential legitimacy of our program.

A snip from the USCHO board:
"... Cornell is better than advertised, I don't think being #7 does them justice. They humiliated the Broncos Friday, and after being dominated for the first period Saturday, then fought back even with a VICIOUS student section riding every play. Yes, Bâby, is a biach, i've never seen such a big man play like a mini-mite since Keith Primeau played for the Wings, and I've never heard the word SUCK echoed so loudly in a building.

WMU is usually money against non-conference teams at Lawson, Cornell just blew our minds."

Never heard suck echoed so loudly in a building? That uscho poster has clearly never been anywhere near east hill on a friday/saturday evening in the winter.

Adam '01 wrote:

Never heard suck echoed so loudly in a building? That uscho poster has clearly never been anywhere near east hill on a friday/saturday evening in the winter.

Ah, but imagine how loudly "suck" would echo if the whole Lynah crowd only yelled "you just suck" ONCE. Food for thought.

Something no one has mentioned: we came damn close to losing 3-2 on a third weird goal; Lenny almost fell victim to a "Lawson Bounce" when a puck coming around the boards hit what must have been the visitors' player entrance door and bounced right into the slot where an onrushing Bronco seemed sure to score. But somehow Lenny dove in front of the shot (as did a defenseman; not sure who) and they managed to keep their bodies on the ice long enough to block several shots before getting a whistle.

OK, since I'm finally getting around to it, thoughts.

- Despite having no shutouts over the time frame, I don't think Cornell has given up a "normal" goal over the past four games. The PP goal where the BU player was sitting on Lenny, a couple of shorties where the puck hopped the defenseman's stick at the blue line, a defensive-zone giveaway on a rare bad touch by Bell, and a virtual empty-netter after an ill-timed attempt to come out and play the puck by Lenny. I'd rather be giving up flukes than "normal" goals, because flukes can only happen so many times.
- After the two weird goals in the Saturday game, trailing 2-1 (IIRC), LeNeveu made one of the best saves I've ever seen. He came around the net to play a puck that'd been dumped, but the puck took a Lynah-style bounce and came to a WMU skater in front of the net. LeNeveu dove back in front and saved the open shot with (I think) his blocker, then got in position to stop WMU's rebound tries and get a whistle. Amazing.
- Ben Wallace impressed a number of us with his solid play in the defensive end, and topped the weekend off with his first career goal to tie the Saturday game at 2. After not getting a whole lot of playing time his first two years, Wallace appears to have developed into a solid defender.
- Bâby, Vesce, and Moulson have started to mesh together really well. Bâby especially was outstanding this weekend, holding the puck for long periods of time near the boards in the offensive zone, while simultaneously holding off a defender.
- WMU likes cherrypicking.
- It's been mentioned, but Marr was the only backup dressed. Whether this means definitely that he'll start in Florida or not, I don't know.

Re Marr vs. Chabot starting in place of LeNeveu during Estero...I pulled this from Marr's ocsn roster bio:

His preparation now should pay off if LeNeveu is off with the Canadian team in December.

No similar statement was made for Chabot, so infer what you will about who would get the nod.

Does anyone know if Marr saw any playing time while with Northeastern?

Marr has no Northeastern stats on hockeydb.com, although there is some info from his pre-college days: 3.11/.909 and 3.87/.890 in two seasons in the USHL.

I would not read anything at all into the comments on the team web site. I highly doubt that the info on there comes from the coaches. That said, the description on the site (which is all the info I really have to go on) makes it sound like Chabot has pretty good credentials.

[Q] Ben Wallace impressed a number of us with his solid play in the defensive end, and topped the weekend off with his first career goal to tie the Saturday game at 2. After not getting a whole lot of playing time his first two years, Wallace appears to have developed into a solid defender.
[/Q]

Let's get some facts straight here, OK?

Ben Wallace played in 32 of 33 games as a freshman in 2000-01, mostly as Mark McRae's defense partner.

Ben Wallace scored 2 goals as a freshman in 2000-01.

Ben Wallace didn't just suddenly "develop" into a solid defender. He has always been a solid defender. He was a regular defenseman for the first 5 games of the 2001-02 season, until he got hurt in the first BU game. That he was unable to get back into the lineup for the rest of the season does not reflect a lack of ability on his part, but the strength of the six guys (Murray, Downs, Cook, McRae, Bell, McMeekin) ahead of him.

I, for one, am not at all surprised at how well he has performed this season.

As I understand it, Chabot was recommended to Mike by the same person who recommended LeNeveu. Pretty good track record so far, I'd say.

Could be Chabot was left home to prep for his first set of final exams, since it appears Mike intended from the get-go to play Lennie in both games. Not sure we should be trying to read too much into it.

If anyone ever goes after me, I want Arthur in my corner.

I second that!

[q]He was a regular defenseman for the first 5 games of the 2001-02 season, until he got hurt in the first BU game. That he was unable to get back into the lineup for the rest of the season does not reflect a lack of ability on his part, but the strength of the six guys (Murray, Downs, Cook, McRae, Bell, McMeekin) ahead of him.
[/q]

Took the words outta my mouth. Although I believe he got hurt during the Harvard game.

He's a solid stay-at-home defender. Rarely, if ever, caught out of position, and extremely strong in the defensive zone.

My mistake. Stats on this site said Wallace played just 5 games in 00-01; I should've cross-referenced.

I also didn't say (or mean to imply) I was "surprised" that he'd played well, just that I was impressed.

*sigh* Perhaps plastering this at the top of every page on the CHDB wasn't enough:

Statistics before the 2001-02 season are incomplete or missing

You might note that there are only 6 games in that season so far.

Exactly, and that's why I should've cross-referenced it. Look, the point is the same. Wallace played very well last weekend. How about if everyone just disregards everything else I said about him, OK?