Cornell 3, Princeton 5

Needs to work on PK...

The officiating by referee McDonald was laughable. The call he made with 3 minutes left in the game at 3-3 was just a bizarre call to make at that point of what was a great game. Of course the PK continued its horrid night 5 seconds later.

Just got back from the game.

Cornell started slow again. It looked like they woke up groggy, got off the bus and onto the ice with no warm up. I did see them warm up though, they started the game with little energy and were a step behind all loose pucks. Iles got beat high on the glove side on a well run Princeton power play just past the midway mark of the first. Again Andy had to make some impressive saves to be only down a goal at the end of the first. Jacob Macdonald and Madison Dias really looked improved from last year. I also got the impression that Cole Bardreau added some muscle to his frame as he looks much more physically mature.

The second period brought more of the same lack of effort. Sitting behind Iles I saw a persistent Princeton attack where they made a concerted effort to hit Cornell everywhere and pressure the puck. The tip-in goal on the Princeton power play could not had gone in a space larger than the width of the puck. Excellent tip by P's Zajac put the puck on edge and it made it in between Iles skate and the post. Iles again kept Cornell in the game, his lateral speed is impressive. He was cleanly beaten once but that rang off the post and out of play.

Least I forget Cornell missed two break aways, one by Bradreau and one by Miller. Both shot the puck right into the goalie. The P goalie is a slug, not much athleticism and terrible lateral movement. He is big and plays angles well though. Down 2-0 at the end of the second I thought I was going to let you know how pitiful the effort was. The back check was brutal, no one hustled to get back on D the first two periods. Almost every forward let up when going to hit a P player, it was just weird, like they did not want to hurt anyone. Axell and Miller can not be included as they really play well all the time in BOTH ends.

The first 15 minutes of the 3rd period were unbelievable, best 15 minutes of Cornell hockey in years. Princeton was on the ropes from the start of the 3rd and CU got a power play about 4 minutes in. Esposito is cool under pressure and roofed a cross ice pass from Ryan past the slug.

A comment on Ryan, he is a wonderful skater and it looked like the coaching staff started letting him skate the puck up ice more. I would let Ryan go, take off the reins. He is so much faster than everyone else and he is under control at high speed. CU generated some good pressure with Ryan leading the rush. I think Ryan may be a very special player before his Cornell career is over. When he cranks it up the rest of the players on the ice do also, they have to to keep up with him.

I would call the pressure Cornell applied the first 15 minutes of the 3rd Harkness like forechecking. Cornell beat P to every hit and puck. The defensemen quickly pinched on break outs hemming P in. It was so much fun. Princeton was having a hard time just trying to ice the puck. Cornell was rolling the lines and P was exhausted. After a few moments of Cornell hitting everything that moved, Miller picked up a loose puck behind the net, raced to the opposite side and banked it in off Condon, again very slow laterally.

Princeton looked out of shape and was gasping for air. de Swardt scored a really nice goal on a feed from Bardreau. Even after Cornell went ahead they still were moving well and pushing forward, They did miss some opportunities to pull away, but the effort was there.

Then a turn over at the Cornell blue and this guy Kleebaum gets the puck and cuts across the middle and shoots back across the grain high over Iles glove hand shoulder while leaving his feet falling down. It was the goal of his life as far as I know. The momentum was immediately taken away after this unlikely goal. CU's confidence and effort started to dwindle.

With 3 minutes to go Ryan gets a cross checking penalty. It seems that when P players get any contact from behind they go down easily, or can not skate. I saw Ryan hit him from behind but he went down too easily, the P player drew the penalty. Princeton calls a timeout. P's power play has been very good all night, CU really struggled trying to figure it out. When Princeton comes back from the time out they run a different power play, a set play off the faceoff different from anything they have done all night. Instead of going to the point they went to the net and no Cornell defenders were there. Game over. Iles was not his best in the 3rd.

If Cornell plays the Q the way they did the 3rd they will score at least 6. John Knisley really picked it up in the 3rd and gave a lot better than he got, For a smaller player he was fearless in the corners and did a great job freeing up the puck against much bigger players.

Ferlin was hurt on a suspect hit in the 3rd. He we in a lot of pain and tried to go but could not skate, It looked like a knee problem, I am speculating here.

Refereeing was again well below the level of play. Chip Mcdonald was horrendous, I am not sure he called any penalties on P. The linesmen were very good. Why are there so many refs in the ECAC that want to have something to do with the outcome of the game? At least no one lost sight of the puck. ECAC should discipline Mcdonald.

Not showing up in the first and second periods is the why they lost.

flyersgolf
Just got back from the game.

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Not showing up in the first and second periods is the why they lost.

Excellent recap and thank you very much Flyersgolf. I was driving across swampland during the game and then dismayed to see the final score. I see that, yet again, we did not "stay out of the box". Ugh.

That ex-bronco is starting to get ripe.

From a comment made by the announcers on the Princeton video feed, "This is an upset of biblical proportions"!
I can't wait to see the Div. 1 polls next week.