Bemidji State

So, anyone know anything about these guys besides:

BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITY....

?

I suspect it will be fun to cheer against a team called the Beavers.

Trotsky
I suspect it will be fun to cheer against a team called the Beavers.

Agreed. A simple SUCKS would have sufficed, though.

Greenberg '97

Trotsky
I suspect it will be fun to cheer against a team called the Beavers.

Agreed. A simple SUCKS would have sufficed, though.

I left that as an exercise for the reader.

The mascot is "Bucky the Beaver."

I hear that they are an extremely fast team. Hopefully we'll be able to use our physical play to slow them down and have the game play out more of our style.

fast is not our friend

Robin
fast is not our friend

They're also small, which I fear will draw attention to our aggressive hitting and make it look worse to the refs.

how much penalty time did ND have this evening?

I saw them play about a month ago at Niagara, who was badly overmatched. Bemidji had two or three guys that could really fly, but the rest of the team seemed fairly nondescript. Niagara was clearly not at the same overall skill level, yet tried to skate with them in an end-to-end style game. It's tough to say how Bemidji will do against Cornell's size advantage and defense-first strategy. As far as common opponents, Bemidji was 4-2 against Niagara, and lost twice (one in OT) to North Dakota.

I'd say we're definitely the favorite in this matchup. Unfortunately, that seems to be the kiss of death in this year's tournament.

Non-conference results (errr, before tonight):

10/10/2008 L 2 @ Minnesota State 5
10/11/2008 L 2 @ Minnesota State 4
10/17/2008 L 2 @ Air Force 6
10/18/2008 L 0 @ Air Force 6
10/24/2008 W 4 St. Cloud State 2
10/25/2008 L 3 St. Cloud State 5
11/28/2008 W 3 Michigan Tech 0
11/29/2008 W 2 Michigan Tech 1
12/28/2008 W 4 Massachusetts 2 (Hanover, NH)
12/29/2008 L 2 @ Dartmouth 4
01/02/2009 L 3 North Dakota 4
01/03/2009 L 3 @ North Dakota 4 ot
01/16/2009 L 2 @ Minnesota-Duluth 3
01/17/2009 L 2 @ Minnesota-Duluth 4

4-10 during the regular season. 5-10 now. Throw out the first four games early in the season and they've played ok versus some good teams. Would you rather player Notre Dame or the team that just smoked them 5-1? Well, we don't get to pick....

Bemidji's KRACH rating is 83.81, while Cornell's is 210.4. So using this method, Cornell is expected to win about 70% of the time in a one-game series (please double check math).

BSU isn't even figured in the Pairwise tables.

Given so many "upsets" in the tournament this year, I am not sure if this is useful information. BTW, the upsets that weren't really upsets according to KRACH were UNH's win over UND in OT, and Vermont's win over Yale.

Beeeej

Robin
fast is not our friend

They're also small, which I fear will draw attention to our aggressive hitting and make it look worse to the refs.

How small are they exactly:

Average weight without goalies, based on rosters listed on home pages:

Cornell: 193 +/- 16
Beimidji: 187 +/- 15

mean +/- stdev

Number of players > 200 lbs

Cornell: 10
Beimidji: 4

That includes everyone, injured or not. No guarantee that the info on the websites is 100% accurate.

Robin
how much penalty time did ND have this evening?

5 minors, 10 minutes - only 4 during the critical parts - 2 hookings and 2 interference.... see box score

I also believe that BSU is one of the few remaining active D-1 programs that Cornell has never played before.

Trotsky, can you confirm?

sah67
I also believe that BSU is one of the few remaining active D-1 programs that Cornell has never played before.

Trotsky, can you confirm?

Teams Cornell has never played before: Bemidji State, Alaska-Anchorage, Nebraska-Omaha, Connecticut, Bentley, Holy Cross.

Cornell trying to join Brent Brekke and Justin Milo in the FF...

The complete game: Niagara Purple Eagles vs Bemidji Beavers CHA Hockey 11/22/2008

is available on YouTube:

lynah80
How small are they exactly:

Average weight without goalies, based on rosters listed on home pages:

Cornell: 193 +/- 16
Beimidji: 187 +/- 15

mean +/- stdev

Number of players > 200 lbs

Cornell: 10
Beimidji: 4

That includes everyone, injured or not. No guarantee that the info on the websites is 100% accurate.

CHN has a page that compares that stats of each team for any given game and I give it a look before games. It shows average size, weight, age, pp/pk%.

[www.collegehockeynews.com]

Having watched the BSU - UND game my observations:

Bemidji is small. Notre Dame looked huge compared to them (especially in those gold "Romulan Centurian" helmets). And ND is not bigger than we are. One guy to watch out for is #13, Tyler Scofield. He was all over the ice in the offensive zone. Fast and good sense with the puck. He's listed at 5'8" but seems much smaller.

Defense: Clog up the middle on defense, especially in front of the goalie. Block a lot of shots. Patient on the break-out. They definitely played really strong in their defensive zone.

Offense: they rarely tried to skate the puck into the zone. Their offense was a lot of dump and chase with the occasional rinkwide pass down the right wing. Good cycle along the offensive boards.

Sound familiar?

One thing I noticed was that Notre Dame consistently tried to skate the puck right up the middle of the ice. It wasn't working, but they didn't seem to have much else in the play book. Also ND's power play kept three men high / two men low with lots of shots from the point. That wasn't going to work against 4 defenders in the slot.

In summary, Ned Dykes had an observation about Bemidji that hits the nail on the head: A team-full of Tophers. They're small, aggressive, hard skating, and not afraid to take or give a hit against a bigger opponent.

BTW, speaking of Topher, his mom and dad say "Hi!" to everyone. They came up from Chicago for the game. Topher is skating for the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees in McAllen, Texas. Somehow, "Killer Bee" fits him, don'tcha think?

You were on TV quite a bit yesterday, Jeff. With a little luck perhaps we'll see you cheering happily at the end of the game tonight.

I spotted RichH, Jeff Hopkins '82, ebilmes, and Jeff Kahn in the crowd yesterday... probably a few others as well, but I can't recall.

I'm not as good as Beeeej at matching faces with names, but Annie Dykes was definitely on TV quite a bit as well.

Fast and small. I believe that is what Mrs. Donato said.
Go Big Red!!!!!!!!

Other random question for Trotsky/ACM/other historians: How many teams has Cornell played that no longer exist?

Penn and Wayne St. come to mind.

It would be funny if the number of teams we haven't yet played in D-I was smaller than the number of teams we have played but no longer exist.

nr53

lynah80
How small are they exactly:

Average weight without goalies, based on rosters listed on home pages:

Cornell: 193 +/- 16
Beimidji: 187 +/- 15

mean +/- stdev

Number of players > 200 lbs

Cornell: 10
Beimidji: 4

That includes everyone, injured or not. No guarantee that the info on the websites is 100% accurate.

CHN has a page that compares that stats of each team for any given game and I give it a look before games. It shows average size, weight, age, pp/pk%.

[www.collegehockeynews.com]

The heights and weights listed at Collegehockeynews for Cornell and Beimidji do not agree with those at the individual team homepages. That's why I recalculated the means.

I believe Syracuse is another.

Steaming video for ESPNu tonight

[www.ustream.tv]

Currently showing UNH vs ND

BMac
Other random question for Trotsky/ACM/other historians: How many teams has Cornell played that no longer exist?

Penn and Wayne St. come to mind.

It would be funny if the number of teams we haven't yet played in D-I was smaller than the number of teams we have played but no longer exist.

Take a look at pp. 46-47 of the Cornell Men's Ice Hockey media guide for 2008-09.

Bemidji Pioneer report on the Notre Dame game.

Bemidji coach
“That was a huge goal,” Serratore reported. “You know what I always say, the first team to four in college hockey wins. I don’t care who the team is, coming back from four goals down is very tough.”

Bemidji Pioneer had previewed the game.

The coaches..
In watching film, [ND Coach] Jackson said he’s very impressed with BSU’s team speed.

“They try to spread the ice which allows their speed to be effective,” he said. “They use speed on the power play as well, so we have been concentrating on playing the guys without the puck strong. The guys without the puck become dangerous with teams using that style and that’s where you have to really concentrate on defense.

“They also have a good goaltender in Matt Dalton and good defensemen. They bring a lot of energy to the game and are a reflection of (Serratore) in that regard. We expect this to be a difficult game.”

[BSU Coach] Serratore reported the Beavers have concentrated on being on their toes against the Fighting Irish.

“The biggest thing is, you can’t the way you play. You have to realize the tougher the opponent and the bigger the game the better you have to take care of the puck. In games of this magnitude against a team like Notre Dame, mistakes get magnified. They have a multitude of people who can beat you.”

Also note their links out on the topic.

BMac
It would be funny if the number of teams we haven't yet played in D-I was smaller than the number of teams we have played but no longer exist.

It's significantly smaller. US teams no longer D-1:

Bowdoin
Buffalo
Cascadilla
Case
Columbia
Hamilton
Lehigh
Middlebury
MIT
Norwich
Ohio
Ohio Agricultural College
Penn State
Penn
Plattsburgh
Seneca
St. Louis
Swarthmore
Syracuse
Wayne State
Western Reserve

A few are D-3; most have dropped to club. A few schools actually don't exist anymore.

We have an all-time losing record to...Hamilton??? And most of NESCAC???

Don't forget former ECAC school Colby College.

TimV
We have an all-time losing record to...Hamilton??? And most of NESCAC???

Before Harkness?

Much, much before.

imafrshmn
Don't forget former ECAC school Colby College.

Best regular season record (17-1-1) in the ECAC in 1962 and listed by Kurt Stutt as the [unrecognized-by-anyone-at-the-time] regular-season champion.

BU's great coach Jack Kelley was at Colby before BU, and was named NCAA coach of the year for Colby's 1961-2 season.

Comments about Bemidji sound somewhat like what people were saying before the regional game against MSU-Mankato in 2003. Let's hope we pound the Beavers into submission and manage a similar result!

Josh '99
Comments about Bemidji sound somewhat like what people were saying before the regional game against MSU-Mankato in 2003. Let's hope we pound the Beavers into submission and manage a similar result!

I was thinking the same thing. This Cornell team ain't that Cornell team no matter what happens the rest of the way.

Josh '99
Comments about Bemidji sound somewhat like what people were saying before the regional game against MSU-Mankato in 2003. Let's hope we pound the Beavers into submission and manage a similar result!

You mean like this?

Screw the Beavers!

How does the Krach math work?

Would the 70% win figure be calculated as the following:

210.4 / (83.81 + 210.4)

jnachod
How does the Krach math work?

Would the 70% win figure be calculated as the following:

210.4 / (83.81 + 210.4)

Yes.

jnachod
How does the Krach math work?

Would the 70% win figure be calculated as the following:

210.4 / (83.81 + 210.4)

Exactly. And I see that those are the update KRACH ratings, including the regional results. [www.slack.net] stops after the conference tournaments, but you can include the results by hand on the DIY page [www.slack.net] in the format

20090327 Pn 4 MD 5 nc
20090327 Mm 4 DU 2 nc
20090327 Vt 4 Ya 1 nc
20090327 AF 2 Mi 0 nc
20090328 OS 3 BU 8 nc
20090328 Mm 2 MD 1 nc
20090328 AF 2 Vt 3 nc
20090328 Cr 3 NE 2 nc
20090328 BS 5 Nt 1 nc
20090328 NH 6 ND 5 nc

Taking a break from work; as an aside one of the great things about graduating is being able to go back and access the U when you're working on a project. Currently I'm working on trying to change my daughter's high school start times. Prof. Maas has a lot of work on sleep and he and a senior (school kind of senior, not my kind of senior) have been working on teenage sleep issues. So you can see how this all ties into CU hockey.

Anyway, one thing I've not seen discussed, and has impressed me, is how much better we have been in breakouts. The terrible way we used to get tied up, or even give up the puck, in our defensive end seems to largely be a thing of the past. We don't seem to be as hesitant and often can start a good offensive rush with our first puck possession. That is so much better than earlier when I cringed when we circled behind our net, seemingly desperate to try and find a way to get out. I don't know why we're so much more successful, but it's very encouraging.

Secondly, I have to say this team is overall progressing at or above my expectations from before the year started. I expected this team to get to Albany and compete for the crown. I expected them to get a bid and hoped for a win. Overall my hope was that they would be successful enough to convince the players to stay together for another year, at which time they could compete favorably in the NCAAs. They are going further than just competing, but I still have this feeling that Riley may want to stay another year so he can be with his brother the last time. If that happens I don't expect Greening to leave. Maybe wishful thinking?

Well, back to work till it's newspaper time.

In addition to my wish for us to be in the lead at the end of the game (duh!) I really would enjoy having more than 16 seconds of playing with the lead. We were even or down for all of Princeton and Yale, and most of NE.

Beeeej

Josh '99
Comments about Bemidji sound somewhat like what people were saying before the regional game against MSU-Mankato in 2003. Let's hope we pound the Beavers into submission and manage a similar result!

You mean like this?

Screw the Beavers!

Like that, but also someone's observation upthread that their top few players are really good (Read, Scofield, Hunt) but beyond that fairly mediocre. I don't think anybody on BSU is as good as Shane Joseph and Grant Stephenson were, though, those two both had over 60 points/1.5 PPG (in probably the strongest conference in the country) that season.