Princeton 2 at Cornell 5 (postgame)

Just finished watching the replay.

They always say you're never as good as your best game nor as bad as your worst. Well, I'm okay if we're really not quite as good as we played last night, because that still leaves a ton of room for us to be a darn good hockey team. I can't think of anything that Princeton did better than we did last night. We out-skated, out-hit, out-positioned, and just flat out-played them for essentially the whole game.

Both of their goals were defensive lapses on our part (but then, as a former soccer goalie/defender, I always think every goal for both teams could have been defended better!) On the first, both of our defensemen pinched in simultaneously to the high slot to set up a 2x1 rush. Credit to our defenders, they got back well to make it a 2x2, but then both of them took the same guy coming across the blue line - 2 miscommunications on the same play, and MacIntyre is the last guy you want to give an opportunity like that. On the second goal, their puck carrier drew the attention of 4 Cornell players as he came across the blue line, and MacIntyre just slid in behind all of them. Once the pass found the seam, it was a guaranteed goal.

Scrivens wasn't tested extensively, but he did make a couple of very nice positional plays to cut off angles, notably on a couple of rebounds that could have turned nasty. He was able to stay with the play across the crease and be in position for the rebound chance. But the real story of the game, of course, was the top line of Greening, Gallagher, and Devin(?). Greening's strength on the puck is phenomenal, almost Bâby-esque (hope Age hasn't gotten rid of the Bâby-izer just yet), which draws lots of double teams, opening up the ice for Gallagher's explosive accelerations to the net. They really have some chemistry going and are a joy to watch.

Unfortunately, the video skipped twice, and Riley Nash scored during the second one, which is a real shame, because it would have been nice to see him doing something useful with the puck. When he has the puck in space, he skates beautifully and has great touch - he had a few nifty passes. As soon as he gets pressure, though, he just looks a bit lost. Seemed like every time he touched it resulted in "Nash losing it along the near boards," "Nash losing the handle on the puck," etc. He just doesn't seem to have the killer instinct that Gallagher is displaying - seems like every time Gallagher touches it, he's making a beeline for the net, drawing attention, stirring it up, making things happen, and I just don't see that from Riley.

All in all, though, like I said - a great showing from a team that could be truly great this year. Tonight should be a great game, with two high-flying offenses(!) battling it out for early-season league supremacy. Can't wait - I'm definitely staying up for that one!

Riley Nash actually made a really nifty move that I'm probably not going to be able to describe well. Perhaps someone with access to the replay will be able to help describe it better. It happened some time in the second period. Nash carried the puck across the blue line, on the right side. He then appeared to leave the puck for a player following him--I think it might have been Jillson. But before Jillson could get to the puck Nash somehow reached behind himself or something and had regained control of it, which had definitely fooled the defender. It didn't result in a goal (obviously), or, as I recall, even a great scoring chance, but it was a really pretty play, and easily could have resulted in a scoring opportunity.

Anyone else see this play and know what I'm talking about? If so, feel free to describe it better.

I do remember that play - very pretty, as you said, but it went for naught. I also forgot to mention that 2x in the first period, Riley had the puck on his stick in the slot, and both times he tried soft little wristers like he was trying to lull the goalie to sleep rather than just lowering his shoulder and charging the net or really putting on a hard shot. Kalemba just gobbled them up both times. I know there's not much space or time in that close to do something, but it sure seemed like more should have come from those plays....

Nash's goal was a snipe from near the faceoff circle right in front of B. He had no one in front of him, took his time with the puck, and lasered a shot which beat Kalemba over his (left?) shoulder.

Robb's analysis seems spot-on, especially about what happened on the two Princeton goals. Given how close each of the games against P were last year, I was surprised to see how bad Princeton looked last night. They got fired up towards the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd and looked better than us for a stretch, but they couldn't sustain that.

P's only wins this season are against Brown, Clarkson, and Dartmouth. At this point they don't look anything like a contender for the ECAC title. Maybe if they figure out the goaltending situation and get something going on offense, they can make a run later in the season. I can't understand why Kalemba has had so much of a drop-off from last season to this season. Is he still shaken up about blowing those leads in the ECAC semifinal and NCAA "regional semifinal"?

This was a great win given our trouble with Princeton last season, and the fact that they were chosen to finish near the top of the ECAC, but at this point in the season this is just another blowout win over a cupcake ECAC team. The second real test of the season comes tonight against Quinnipiac.