Union at Cornell post-game

First regular season series sweep for U since '97-'98...lovely.

One of the worst periods I've ever seen from this team. When you score first and you lead going into the third period and you start on the powerplay, you'd better win the damn game.

I don't know what Schafer said to the team in the locker room going into the third period, but it sure didn't seem like they appreciated the magnitude of this game, especially because Quinnipiac and Princeton BOTH lost tonight. The team was flat for the entire period. I can assure you the scene in Onion's locker room was vastly different. If Cornell doesn't finish in the 3-4 spot in the rankings this season, you can look back and thank the game at St. Lawrence and this game. Very disappointing.

It's time to start holding the coaching staff accountable.

That was some of the most uninspired hockey I've seen all year. I thought this team was going to play very passionately tonight, given last weekend's disappointments, and the suspension on Devin. We let Union take the game to us tonight. Someone needs to light a fire under our asses and get this club out of this dysfunctional fog. Where's the killer instinct?

Yet another lead blown. I'm sick of seeing this team score a couple goals early and tank for the rest of the game.

Cornell came out flying early, and then had a HUGE missed opportunity when they only managed two SOG during a 2:00 5x3. Yet, they still found themselves up 2-0, and then proceeded to stand around and let Union score three unanswered goals.

Was the team distracted by the hideous pink ties the coaches were wearing?

We don't deserve a week off to start the playoffs.

Oh, and I don't know what was going on with the pep band. Did all the good people go to the basketball game? I love the band, but found myself cringing tonight.

Well I've seen killer instinct mentioned in this thread so far, and that's what Cornell was lacking. They got up 2-0 and looked like they had already moved on to RPI and were going through the motions. They took that two goal lead for granted, and it's disappointing considering they were putting on a clinic for the first half of that game.

And not that it had any effect on the outcome, since it was both ways, but was that not one of the worst officiated games all year? I'm not upset about any calls in specific, but the faceoffs were brutal. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard watching them fake dropping the puck, then kick someone out, then lecture two more players on where to stand, then finally drop the puck only to blow it dead again because it was an unfair drop. This happened an inordinate amount of times tonight and really made the game a tough watch online.

I just watched the archived game again. I agree that there were a fair number of missed calls on both sides. Perhaps the league should make the switch to 2 refs and 2 linesmen as has been proposed.

However, I think Cornell lost primarily because they didn't consistently play good defense during the last 25 minutes of the game. And at times, they just looked flat.

USCHO updates the Pairwise Ranking each night and after the loss to Union, Cornell has been dropped from the top 25. Prior to the Union loss, Cornell was #23.

[www.uscho.com]

Other ECAC teams:

8 Clarkson
16 Quinnipiac
21 Princeton
23 Union

This is not a good year for the conference. Also, eight of the top 10 teams are western schools.

Thought the game played out exactly like the first meeting last month. That, and no one on the ice simply cared whether or not we won.

lynah80
USCHO updates the Pairwise Ranking each night and after the loss to Union, Cornell has knocked themselves out of the top 25. Prior to the Union loss, Cornell was #23.

FYP.

What annoyed me was halfway through the third period, when Union #17 Josh Coyle poked Scrivens in the face with his stick three times in front of the ref, with no call. Little surprise he eventually earned an assist for his interfering efforts.

polar
What annoyed me was halfway through the third period, when Union #17 Josh Coyle poked Scrivens in the face with his stick three times in front of the ref, with no call. Little surprise he eventually earned an assist for his interfering efforts.

I agree, that was the most blatant non-call. You can always argue whether a play was hooking, or not; but that was after the play ended and the ref was right in the corner. No way he could not have seen it. I'm surprised Scrivens didn't grab his stick and throw it.

Scrivens is too nice a guy. Remember how he graciously passed the stick to the Union bench after the Union player lost it around the crease? Any other goaltender would've just swept is aside.

That game sucked. We would have been in second place with a win. They were dominating Union in the beginning, despite the ridiculous inept 5x3 for two whole minutes.

Plus, their goalie had one of the more amusing nervous twitches we've seen in a while- he would tap each post back and forth, alternating. It looked like a dance, leading section A to sing the chicken dance song at him. Good fun.

BMac
That game sucked. We would have been in second place with a win.

Nice try, we would have stayed in fourth, albeit 1 point from second.

Just received an email from ICS in response to my requests for help during last night's Union web cast. Don'cha just love that last sentence:

"I am deeply sorry for any issue that you may have encountered during our broadcasts last night. Cornell was encountering some issues with their bandwidth (internet connection speed) on their end and was unable to stream the game at a continues quality. I assure you that this is not a common occurrence and that Cornell broadcasts usually work flawlessly."

Al DeFlorio
Just received an email from ICS in response to my requests for help during last night's Union web cast. Don'cha just love that last sentence:

FWIW, after the first weekend's Redcast problems, this season has been much better and more reliable than any since I started watching with I3 back in 2003 (4?). I didn't have the privilege of watching any games through LynahCam, though.

Kyle

The lack of Cornell defense when up 2-0 especially that giveaway/pass from Krueger(?) was a bitch, but I have to give Union credit for their D.

This is the third time I have seen them this year and they sure as hell were all over Cornell in the third. Granted that some of that hanging on could've and should've been called but they reminded me of Cornell's D when they have smothered opponents.

What the hell happened last night at Starr? Was all the gas let out of the Onion?

===========================================================================
From the Saturday Ithaca Journal:

“It was one of the worst defensive games we've played in our own zone in quite some time,” Cornell coach Mike Schafer said. “But give them credit. They made some good plays and we didn't respond to their intensity.”

Entering the season, Cornell was 106-1-7 in games it led after two periods since the 2000-01 season. So far this season, it has a 9-2-1 record in such a scenario.

===========================================================================
I guess that explains Mike's decision to start 8 defensemen on Saturday night. I wouldn't be surprised to see him do the same thing against Quinnipiac, a fast team that averages more than 3 goals per game. A big question for next weekend though is Evan Barlow. Why did he sit out the RPI game?

lynah80
===========================================================================
From the Saturday Ithaca Journal:

“It was one of the worst defensive games we've played in our own zone in quite some time,” Cornell coach Mike Schafer said. “But give them credit. They made some good plays and we didn't respond to their intensity.”

Entering the season, Cornell was 106-1-7 in games it led after two periods since the 2000-01 season. So far this season, it has a 9-2-1 record in such a scenario.

===========================================================================
I guess that explains Mike's decision to start 8 defensemen on Saturday night. I wouldn't be surprised to see him do the same thing against Quinnipiac, a fast team that averages more than 3 goals per game. A big question for next weekend though is Evan Barlow. Why did he sit out the RPI game?

It was posted that Barlow was a healthy scratch, and since Schafer mentioned his late misconduct penalty in the Union game, that was probably the reason.

He skated 8 defensemen since he didn't have enough forwards.

lynah80
===========================================================================
From the Saturday Ithaca Journal:
Entering the season, Cornell was 106-1-7 in games it led after two periods since the 2000-01 season. So far this season, it has a 9-2-1 record in such a scenario.

Who would've thought that 1 loss came in '02-'03, a season in which they went 30-5-1? Down in Florida, with LeNeveu playing with Team Canada, Todd Marr and the Big Red had a 1-0 lead going into the third against Maine and eventually lost 3-2.

Those numbers are pretty gaudy, one loss in 7 seasons. No wonder these kids want a change, they've seen twice as many this year.