2007 update

CORNELL 2007 recruits (http://members.aol.com/cheisenber/Recruit03.htm):

Mitch Carefoot-RW (9/25/02) Salmon Arm (BCHL) 6'1 185 2-2-85 62-38-41-79-57// 2002 West U-17 & VC Camp
[www.sasilverbacks.com]
So far this season: 14 RW Mitch Carefoot (85) 34 8 18 26 26 = 6th in scoring

Byron Bitz-RW (8/5/02) Nanaimo (BCHL) 6'4 204 7-21-84
[www.nanaimoclippers.com]

Byron Bitz
Number: 22
Position: Forward
Birthday: July 21, 1984
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 200 lbs
Hometown: Saskatoon, SK

“Competing”, is Byron’s favorite aspect of hockey. His favorite NHL hockey team is the Boston Bruins and Joe Thornton is Byron’s preferred hockey player. Byron plans to obtain a College Degree. He considers his father to be the most influential person in his life. Byron’s Sportsmanship advice: “Never quit trying.”

So far this season: 22 RW BITZ, Byron (84) *33 15 26 41 19 = Leads team in scoring

Mark McCutcheon-RW (7/15/02) Jr.Coyotes (EJHL) 6' 175 5-21-84 36-24-26-50-84
[www.nejuniorcoyotes.com]

So far this season: 15 Marc McCutcheon (Pittsford, NY) 16 13 8 21 30 = 2nd in overall scoring (leads team with 13 goals)

Kevin McLeod-LW (3/11/02) Camrose (AJHL) 6'2 200 10-25-84 54-13-19-32-66
[www.calgarycanucks.com]
16 McLeod, Kevin LW Left 6'3" 200

KEVIN McLEOD 7 4 7 11 4
(CAMROSE) (26) (2) (11) (13) (31)
(TOTALS) (33) (6) (18) (24) (35)


Dan Glover-LD (3/11/02) Camrose (AJHL) 6'2 175 5-4-83 55-1-10-11-110
[www.net-works.ab.ca]

Dan Glover Games Goals Assists Points PIM +/- Shots Shoot %
01-02 55 1 10 11 110 +13 44 .023
01-02 Playoffs 8 0 0 0 10 +4 6 .000
Carreer to 02 63 1 10 11 120 +17 50 .020
Current 35 4 11 15 67 +12 65 .062

What I worry about is that we only have one D recruit to replace 3 very powerful Ds (Murray, Mcrae, Bell). With the top 5 of 6 scorers graduating, we're going to need some good D to survive the impact.

Felix

McCutcheon, hunh? From Pittsford, NY, you say? Hmmm... that's near Rochester, isn't it?

Looks like I'm going to have to say the name again.

I believe McCutcheon is the son of that other McCutcheon

He is in fact the son of our former coach. Schafer apparently did a good job of keeping McC in touch with the program, and is reaping the dividends now.

How soon they forget. When I was a sophomore, the team missed the playoffs despite having Joe Nieuwendyk in Hobey-Baker-class form. They team was a mess on the ice, leading the league in penalty minutes by a wide margin and the boosters forced Reycroft out. Attendance was down and it was much easier to get season tickets in my junior year. Even the Harvard game had tickets available on game day. McCutcheon came in, immediately imposed a sense of discipline on the ice and the team was the surprise of the league. The players enjoyed playing for him and they improved their all-around play greatly -- witness Manderville's continuing presence in the NHL as a defensive forward despite the fact that he didn't even know the first letter in "Defense" when he arrived at school.

Sure, by the end of his tenure, some of the lesser players had tuned him out and were frustrated with the continuing emphasis on defense first. But remember, the core of Schafer's two ECAC championship teams were recruited at McCutcheon's direction. We have no way of knowing whether he might have had substantially similar success had Moore not forced him out. And obviously, the guy can still coach a little bit, given his success in the ECHL and AHL.

Different strokes for different folks (i.e., college vs. the pros).

The greatest college coach ever was a complete flop in the pros; Coach M may be the reverse. More power to 'im. Fortunately, Schafer chose not to burn that bridge.

Right on, Al. Although I hope you're not categorizing the McCutcheon tenure as a complete flop; after his first five years, we were saying quite the opposite.

There are still several months for the coaches to snag another couple of defensemen for the class of 2007. I think it would be safe to guess that recruiting defensemen is extraordinarily high on the priority list.

CUlater '89 wrote:

Right on, Al. Although I hope you're not categorizing the McCutcheon tenure as a complete flop; after his first five years, we were saying quite the opposite.

Agree.

I recall a discussion on this topic with a very happy Laing Kennedy in Philadelphia at the 100th Cornell-Penn football game (at least I think that's what it was; much of what I remember is clouded by the fact it was very cold).

I was never that positive about Coach McCutcheon. I think firing Reycroft may have been a mistake, tho it's true his final year was his Season on the Brink (didn't he toss a water bottle at the ref in one game?)

McCutcheon had so much talent on those teams (some of it recruited by Schafer) in 89-90 and 90-91 -– 10 NHL draft picks, including 4(four) second-round pick -- but the never won an ECAC championship and made the NCAAS once and was bounced in the first round. It was clear even then that once the talent ran out, and it had to, we were in big trouble. I though he had to go by the time he was fired.

He always struck as something or a dour Scotch-Canadian, and it may be his seeming lack of emotion is not a problem in the pros where they play so many games than in college where you have to get up for every game.

Still, McCutcheon conducted himself with dignity, he praised the other team when they won, almost never stormed at the ref, never high sticked players in practice, etc. It's a credit to Schafer that he was able to mend fences -- it would be understandable if McCutcheon never wanted to ever have anything to do with Cornell again.

Though Brian was a 1971 classmate, I don't know him at all.

I do know that he was recruited by Ned Harkness, who won a NCAA Championship the Spring before we arrived here, and who guided Brian and the rest of the team through the fabulous 29-0 Championship season in 1969-70.

While the end of his coaching tenure here might carry some unpleasant thoughts, his time as a student here is something I'd think he'd want to cherish as an incredible time to be a part of Cornell Hockey.

I hope his son gets to have similarly wonderful memories here.

Ken '71

I echo your sentiments, Ken. And it seems that Mark is following in Brian's footsteps -- Brian was the leading goal scorer on the undefeated team, IIRC.

Remember that Mike was an assistant under Brian for several years, so I'll bet they have an excellent relationship. They are classic examples of the two brands of coaches: type A coaches lead by negative reinforcement, type B coaches lead by positive reinforcement. It also very often happens that the former were fantastic natural talents as players (like Brian), and the latter were mediocre talents who busted their butts every day of their playing career (like Mike).

We've seen both succeed here (Harkenss and Schafer as classic type B coaches, Bertrand and McCutcheon as classic type A coaches), and both succeed (or fail) elsewhere; I'm sure you can each cite hundreds of examples. I hope McCutcheon has a great four years here and is judged strictly on his own merits. From what I have read he is a solid player with flashes of brilliance, and regardless of what folks think of his dad's coaching, he sure as hell comes with a genetic skill package.

Greg wrote "It also very often happens that the former were fantastic natural talents as players (like Brian), and the latter were mediocre talents who busted their butts every day of their playing career (like Mike)." Having seen Brian play about 45-50 times for the Big Red, including every home game and more than half the away/neutral site games his first two years (soph. and junior), I believe Greg's description of Mike as a player also describes Brian very well. He totally busted his butt every shift (as did everyone playing for Ned) and was certainly not a great talent. His continued perserverence and hard work actually managed to get him (please excuse the cliche) a cup of coffee in the NHL as a player.

Jeff Kahn '70 wrote:

His continued perserverence and hard work actually managed to get him (please excuse the cliche) a cup of coffee in the NHL as a player.

And not many "cups" were tasted by college grads in those days.

Although I never saw Brian play, what Jeff wrote is my understanding as well from speaking to people who did see him play (including his buddy and former linemate John Hughes and Laing Kennedy). That's actually part of the basis for his approach to coaching and why coaching Manderville made him nuts. I understand that Mark was taught similarly, to try to make the most out of his talent and not to coast on it.

Saw this on the Maine recruit's USCHO thread:

Victoria Salsa Defenseman Ryan O'Byrne, who was watched by up to eight NHL scouts during Tuesday's Salsa loss to the league-leading Nanaimo Clippers at Esquimalt, is now himself a Clipper.

The highly regarded defenceman -- who will be flown down to Maine and Cornell soon for campus visits as the NCAA U.S. university recruiting war for him rages -- was traded Wednesday to the Clippers for Tyler Cherwinski in a swap of 18-year-old blueliners

According to the Victoria Salsa web site, Ryan O'Byrne is 18 years old, 6'5", 210 lbs. His hometown is Victoria, BC, and his ambition is to play in the NHL and get a business degree. According to the Nanaimo Clipper web site, O'Byrne has played in 28 games and had 4 goals (including 3 power-play goals), 8 assists, and 95 penalty minutes.

Cornell has recruited players from O'Byrne's teams before. Kelly Hughes played for Victoria. Greg Hornby, Shane Hynes, and Dave LeNeveu played for Nanaimo. Class of 2007 recruit Byron Bitz currently plays for the Clippers. If O'Byrne is interested in the business program in the Ag Ec department and becomes close friends with Bitz, that can only help Cornell's chances of bringing him on board. On the other hand, O'Byrne has a new teammate, Brent Shepheard, who will be going to Maine.

Here is a blurb on Dave LeNeveu going to the WJC tryout camp that mentions the Clipper-Cornell connection: [www.nanaimoclippers.com]