Marr Against Vermont?

I'll probably get torn apart for this, but:

Does anyone else think Marr (or even Chabot) might get the start against Vermont? I figure that you always want your backups to be as sharp as possible, and after a challenging game against Dartmouth on Friday, it might make sense to use the Vermont game to fine tune a backup. Sure, Lenny will be around in case the other guys get into trouble, but why not give them some experience and rest Lenny for the trip to Lynah East?

Or, tangentially, if we get a big lead like last time against Vermont and Lenny loses the shutout chance, might we see a goalie swap mid-game?

About as much chance of that as Schafer suiting up in place of Stephen Bâby.

I think starting Marr would only contribute to the possibility of a letdown. If the coach puts in the backup, he is indicating (whether externally or latently) that he feels the opposing team is of less quality than most.

Which they are. Statistically.

Well, they've won three of their last six, including one over the team we're all very concerned about meeting Friday night. This is the ECAC, and wins haven't come so easy for us lately.

Al DeFlorio wrote:

Well, they've won three of their last six, including one over the team we're all very concerned about meeting Friday night. This is the ECAC, and wins haven't come so easy for us lately.

And each game is as important as every other in the standings and the pairwise. No need to risk a letdown when you really don't want one.

I understand your thought process Adam, but I agree with Age on this. Not going to happen. That is just not the way top notch coaches think. We have one of the best goalies in the country unless there are unforeseen circumstances, we will not be playing any other goalies going forward.

Best,
Ogie

I think Lenny said in an interview somewhere (I've read too many interviews) that he expects to start every game for Cornell this season unless he is physically unable to play or unless he is playing really poorly.

Coach said, in an interview earlier this season, that he always plays his best players. Seems a pretty open and shut case.

If that's the case, then how does one explain putting some of the defenders (Bell and Cook, I believe) at wing a few games back? Seems rather experimental to me.

As far as Bell goes, I think he was put at wing during the Union game because Coach was trying to get him his first goal of the season. Correct me if I'm wrong...

The Colgate loss killed what chance there was of seeing anybody but Lenny back there for the rest of the year. Wins are just too important now. Maybe we'll see Marr or Chabot in the third period of a 7-1 game to give them (especially Chabot) a much deserved reward; otherwise no way.

Travis Bell played forward for a couple of shifts after Chris Abbott got hurt during the game.

Also, Hornby was kicked out early in the Colgate road game. If Schafer wanted to roll four lines, he needed to put a defender on the wing.

As usual I agree with Ogie. But if we did get up like 8-1, I'd like to see Bâby suit up in the pads and play a little 'tender.

Isn't Lenny also going for Dryden's shutout record? Certainly shutouts are more likely to happen against the likes of UVM. Schafer won't consider pulling Lenny if he is running a shutout game.

I'd love to see Lenny tie Dryden's record at the Vermont game. Actually, I'd love to see it happen at the Dartmouth game, but that might be asking for too much--I'll settle for any kind of win there.

Since Lenny has barely missed shutouts so many times, I went back and looked at the record for most times giving up 0 or 1 in one season.

AFAIK:

17 Dryden '68 (6 shutouts, 11 1 goal games)
14 Dryden '67 (4 shutouts, 10 1 goal games)
14 Cropper '70 (3 shutouts, 11 1 goal games)
12 Dryden '69 (4 shutouts, 8 1 goal games)

So far this year:

10 LeNeveu '03 (5 shutouts, 5 1 goal games)

Last year Underhill and LeNeveu actually combined for the team record of 18 (5 shutouts, 13 1 goal games), but of course neither approached Dryden's personal record because of the split in playing time.

[Q]17 Dryden '68 (6 shutouts, 11 1 goal games)
14 Dryden '67 (4 shutouts, 10 1 goal games)
14 Cropper '70 (3 shutouts, 11 1 goal games)
12 Dryden '69 (4 shutouts, 8 1 goal games)
[/Q]

Something ain't right here, because Dryden finished his Cornell career with 13 shutouts, and the above gives him 14. I'm going to guess that Cropper had one of the ones in '69.

And one of the three shutouts in the 69-70 season was a combined effort between Cropper and Bob Rule (yes, the lacrosse-playing Bob Rule).

You know, I think maybe Chabot should play a little against Vermont.