Trois Rivieres Postgame

Pretty embarrassing performance tonight. UQTR was definitely a better team than I expected, although there is absolutely no reason why we couldn’t have won that game by 3 or more goals. In fact, I only counted 3 quality scoring chances for us all game. These guys were definitely a bush-league team, shooting after the whistle, looking for fights at every opportunity. It is pretty clear that they play a different brand of hockey than the NCAA would allow. On one hand I think that is a good thing for things to get physical, we played passionless hockey for nearly all 60 minutes of the game. Although on the hand, all of the scuffs, especially those in the third period, really seemed to kill our momentum. Many of us were wondering why Schafer didn’t take a timeout late in the third and I’m guessing this is the reason why.

The lines posted in the other thread were what we opened the game with in the first period, and didn’t seem to chance much over the game. Devin and Nichols seemed to be splitting time with Scali/Mugford.

Both power play units failed to generate any chances. I was pretty surprised to see Barlow running the point of the first unit. The second unit I thought was a little bit better, although I really doubt we will see a unit of 3 freshmen and 2 sophomores in the regular season. Our first PK unit (Mugford, Scali, Krantz, Berk/Davenport/Krueger) seemed fine, although the second unit (Barlow, Kennedy, Seminoff, Krantz) I thought left a lot more open lanes and against a more skilled team could have easily given up a few scoring chances. It will be interesting to see how these lines change on Sunday.

Defensive pairings seemed to change a bit throughout the game. For the majority of the game it was Devin/Krantz, Berk/Krueger and Davenport/Seminoff, although Johnston got a couple early shifts in with Seminoff and Berk. It will be interesting to see how these lines change on Sunday.

Scrivens was solid in net, although I think UQTR only had one scoring opportunity, in the third period their center missed a wide open net during a 5 on 3. Of all our forwards, I thought Greening was far and away the most involved, he played some great hockey. As usual, Seminoff was impressive on defense and was not afraid to give up his body for blocked shot or pass. Mike Devin continues to impress me; this guy plays a smart, physical brand of hockey and seems to have great hockey sense. He has a hard, low shot and isn’t afraid to take the one-timer. On the other hand, his classmate Nash looked lost for the first 2 periods of the game… although he did show some flashes of his great stick handling in the third.

One of the many things this team is going to have to work on this week is winning faceoffs- who would have thought that Mugford would be our best faceoff man on the evening.

The crowd seemed surprisingly quiet… even for an exhibition game. Section B was content to sit on their hands for the game, and even when a select few of us did start cheers; people were hesitant to join in and seemed impartial as to the outcome of the game.

Doug '08
The crowd seemed surprisingly quiet… even for an exhibition game. Section B was content to sit on their hands for the game, and even when a select few of us did start cheers; people were hesitant to join in and seemed impartial as to the outcome of the game.

Can you really blame them? A lot of them came into this year full of hope and expected to see a high-flying Cornell team, but just saw a bunch of half-assed skirmishes with a bush league Canadian team. There was crowd intensity at the beginning, and then again late in the 3rd/OT, but for most of the game Cornell played like it was an exhibition game that didn't matter. I don't really blame the crowd.

The crowd sounded good on the audio, anyway,

I hesitate to judge the overall team based on tonight's performance. UQTR definitely plays a different brand of hockey than the NCAA. Yes, the shooting after the whistle that one time was ridiculously stupid, but otherwise, they play good-ole fashioned physical hockey. They were a good team, much better than I think anyone expected. The real test comes tomorrow, as UQTR beat Ottawa 6-0 a week or two ago.

I thought the Freshman played very well. Tyler Roeszler and Patrick Kennedy were constantly in scoring opportunities, while Mike Devin was just a beast on defense.

One thing I would've like to see Nash do more, and this will come as the season progresses, is give up the puck more. He plays on talented line and doesn't have to take it to the net himself. The one time when he had a great one-on-one chance, the defenseman clearly stuck his arm around Nash and held him, but the referee called no holding or hooking penalties tonight. While I do not blame the ref whatsoever for the outcome, I think that if he had taken control of the game earlier, it would not have gotten out of control.

Aside from Greening who always plays a solid game, I thought Scott was our best offenseman on the ice, no question about it. The 4'7" line is short, but the guys are workers. They won't score goals easily because Scott and Gallagher are set-up men, not finishers, but I think they will cash in if they stay together. Realistically, I'd like to see this line split up though. These guys are play makers, and need a big body in front of the net to help them finish.

Otherwise, I just a little disappointed in their mechanics once again. Clearing the puck will always be difficult when the wingers come too far down low, and break outs were horrendous once again. Tape-to-tape passes seem more like wishful thinking than standard operations, and the powerplay showed very little life. This time around it was get the puck to Patrick Kennedy...so thus the strategy of get the puck to whomever is wearing #10 and let them shoot still holds true.

The team blindly threw the puck across the crease a lot though, which I like because it means they're just trying to get the puck to the net, but the players in front need to keep their sticks on the ice if we're going to have any opportunity of deflecting the puck into the net. Mike Kennedy did that quite often with his brother.

Agreed, with ebilmes about the crowed, and I though that sections D-G showed more life tonight than usual.

Trying to recall the last time we have been shut out by a Canadian opponent during the exhibition or regular season. I'm also trying to recall the last time the loonie was worth more than the greenback. Times change.

Appreciated Bilmes' remark that the crowd was quiet and treated it like a meaningless exhibition game.

The Ithaca Journal reports that Les Patriotes were ticked off about what they viewed as an uncalled kneeing penalty by Cornell in the third, and that's what touched off the shoving matches. Of course, IJ also referred to the game as "exciting", so take that with a grain of salt...

billhoward
Trying to recall the last time we have been shut out by a Canadian opponent during the exhibition or regular season.

I don't keep exhibs. Here are the only shut outs by Canadian schools:

1958 Ontario Agricultural College, 0-9
1913 Univ. of Toronto, 0-10

Trotsky

billhoward
Trying to recall the last time we have been shut out by a Canadian opponent during the exhibition or regular season.

I don't keep exhibs. Here are the only shut outs by Canadian schools:

1958 Ontario Agricultural College, 0-9
1913 Univ. of Toronto, 0-10

Toronto shut us out for 60 minutes in the 1-0 OT win in 1967-8.