Cornell 5 at UNH 2 (postgame)

Despite giving up 2 goals this was as close to perfection as Cornell has played hockey in a long time.
* Dominant
* Incredible defense
* Good penalty kill (OK, 0x4 on PP could be better)
* Resurrection of the shots-per-sixty Cornell traditon (allow as few shots per 60 minutes as possible, here 22 allowed vs. 43 taken)
* Whatever Mike Schafer said in the wake of the disappointing double loss at the Florida Hockey Classic, and/or whatever the team decided to do on its own ... worked
* Televised and not just over the Web - enough resolution so you could see the Cornell players smiling and enjoying the game. Good PR and recruiting tool, especially hearing Barry Melrose call Cornell the best college hockey team he's seen this year [out of 5 games]
* That awesome 2-minute offensive demonstration of puck control leading to Cornell's fouth goal. Ever seen Cornell play like that recently, let alone end that series with a goal?
* [edit add:] Thrived on an Olympic sheet of ice (200x100).
A team that plays this well is going [to have the chance to go] a long way into the postseason. So long as it continues to play this way.

When the season began, I hoped for a great team to watch and root for. Today we saw them and if anything in the third when they were cycling the puck around a very tired UNH team the Big Red looked better than I could have imagined.

What I liked most was the number of shots on net. They took shots when they had the chance. No looking for the perfect shot- and the quick release for some of those will be sorely needed as the season progresses.

I'm in such a good mood that I have decided not to make fun of Coach Umile's hair colorist.

Impressive, most impressive.

Don't mean this to rain on the parade in any way at all, but the UNH fans on USCHO to a man said this was the worst game they'd played all year.

Than in itself doesn't mean Cornell didn't play great. (1) They took advantage of a team having an off night, not something that's automatic. (2) Maybe they made UNH look bad.

Trotsky
Don't mean this to rain on the parade in any way at all, but the UNH fans on USCHO to a man said this was the worst game they'd played all year.

Than in itself doesn't mean Cornell didn't play great. (1) They took advantage of a team having an off night, not something that's automatic. (2) Maybe they made UNH look bad.

I think UNH's layoff was felt just as Cornell's was in Florida. It seemed to take Cornell four or five minutes to get used to the bigger ice and then discovered it was easier to play keepaway with more room, and also to take the puck out of the corners to the net.

Cornell did an incredible job of beating UNH along the boards throughout the game. That stretch that led to the fourth goal was described by UNH folks on USCHO as: "Ridiculous" and "one of the most dominant offensive possessions I've ever seen. Wow."

Trotsky
Don't mean this to rain on the parade in any way at all, but the UNH fans on USCHO to a man said this was the worst game they'd played all year.

Than in itself doesn't mean Cornell didn't play great. (1) They took advantage of a team having an off night, not something that's automatic. (2) Maybe they made UNH look bad.

The box score to their 6-1 loss to Wisconsin looks pretty bad as well.

Whatever Schafer said to the team Thursday-to-Saturday, I want to bottle up and give to my son just before he takes his SATs.

USCHO recap here: [www.uscho.com]

Even though the shot totals for Cornell were really high, the one thing that's still seems to be lacking (at least to me) is the rebounding. Other than the great possession in the 3rd, a lot of rebounds weren't kept in control.

Right up to that fourth goal, I was thinking, "Are we a man up? What the hell is going on here?"

Brilliant, crisp passing.

Can someone who recorded the ESPNU video upload the goal highlights to youtube? I watched the streaming video but the quality was pretty poor, and I don't have access to the archives with only a single game pass. I would really like to see the lead-up to the 4th goal again.

LaJollaRed
Right up to that fourth goal, I was thinking, "Are we a man up? What the hell is going on here?"

Brilliant, crisp passing.

I just re-watched that sequence, and the puck was in the UNH zone for literally 2:15 before the goal was scored.

jtwcornell91

LaJollaRed
Right up to that fourth goal, I was thinking, "Are we a man up? What the hell is going on here?"

Brilliant, crisp passing.

I just re-watched that sequence, and the puck was in the UNH zone for literally 2:15 before the goal was scored.

From the USCHO recap
“It was a clinic on cycling and puck possession; we couldn’t handle it,” said UNH coach Dick Umile. “I think they had three line changes and kept it in and we couldn’t break it down. They scored on it and that was, as they say, the nail [in the coffin] .”

Read more: [www.uscho.com]

Anyone have video of the no-goal call with like a minute left in the 1st period. From the student section, that looked like a clear goal, but the ref immediately waived it off. At the start of the intermission (the next stoppage of play) it looked like the refs reviewed the play for several minutes, but there was no announcement and, of course, no goal.

I couldn't help but observe that the 2 minutes of dominance (before the 4th goal) was very reminiscent of the o3 team.......

Just great to see the way Cornell played today. I thought Jillson had the best game of his Cornell career today (at least of those that I have seen). He made a number of excellent passes, and finally seemed to be on the same page with Riley Nash

Facetimer
Anyone have video of the no-goal call with like a minute left in the 1st period. From the student section, that looked like a clear goal, but the ref immediately waived it off. At the start of the intermission (the next stoppage of play) it looked like the refs reviewed the play for several minutes, but there was no announcement and, of course, no goal.

I believe that was the one that TV showed hitting the crossbar. At least I remember them talking about the review and how they'd have to replay the end of the period if it had been a goal.

Ahhh I'm so sad I missed this game. I had tickets but wasn't able to make it up to New Hampshire in time from Florida. The College Classic games were real big disappointments so I'm glad Schafer got the players back on track. I hope this momentum gets carried through the coming semester and we'll be able to end up first in the conference. Quinnipiac is losing its steam recently and it would be a big boost if we can win on their turf.

It should be a 4 point weekend if we play this well against SLU and CLK

Go Red!

Facetimer
Anyone have video of the no-goal call with like a minute left in the 1st period. From the student section, that looked like a clear goal, but the ref immediately waived it off. At the start of the intermission (the next stoppage of play) it looked like the refs reviewed the play for several minutes, but there was no announcement and, of course, no goal.

The replay on the tv broadcast showed pretty clearly that it bounced harmlessly off the crossbar.

Kyle Rose
Can someone who recorded the ESPNU video upload the goal highlights to youtube? I watched the streaming video but the quality was pretty poor, and I don't have access to the archives with only a single game pass. I would really like to see the lead-up to the 4th goal again.

I need to make some copies of it anyway, so I can throw together some highlights. Heck, for that game, I may just make a full video of it and accidentally drop it in the internets.

A few UNH fans commented to us at the rink that UNH did not play as well as usual yesterday, but one said, "We've seen Miami and Wisconsin play here this year, and you guys look better than both of them." Take with a grain of salt, of course, but nice to hear. Several people stopped us to ask, "How the heck did Cornell lose in Florida?! They look amazing."

It was nice to see a solid game, and the domination in the 3rd period was amazing.

Cornell alum who lives in NH, new to the forum but have read this for years. I was at the game and I usually see one or two games a year (Dartmouth and usually Brown). Best I have seen the team look in years. B. Nash was dominant, Riley Nash was tremendous and Greening is a beast up front. The cycling clinic was something that should be used in instructional videos. Patience, hard work and exceptional line changing while that was all going on, the UNH fans around me have never seen that and quite frankly I have watched about 40 games at the Whit over the last several years and you just do not see that kind of hard work down low in Hockey East. A truly dominant performance that must carry on into the 2nd half of the season.

A couple local newspaper links:

[www.fosters.com] - Foster's Daily Democrat from Dover, NH

[www.concordmonitor.com] - Concord Monitor from Concord, NH

[www.unionleader.com] - Manchester Union Leader from Manchester, NH

I have lived in NH for over a decade and have waited for the Red to invade the Whit and play the type of game that they did. I am at work with my Cornell tie and loving every minute of it. LGR.

ESPNU game highlights

don't know if this has been posted yet

EDIT: This is Barry Melrose interview with Scrivens... not much in the way of highlights- espn lied to me

Dave D'Onofrio, Concord Monitor
In addition to yesterday's loss, New Hampshire has also dropped games to Rensselaer, Miami and Wisconsin (twice) - a quartet of clubs that dress in the color of blood and may ultimately kill the Wildcats' season. UNH's last chance at registering an out-of-conference win comes Jan. 16 against Dartmouth, though beating the Big Green (3-10-0) might be too little, too late.

Too bad there's no journalism category in the Bulwer-Lytton writing contest. (Sunday night, as the field temp dropped below 20, ABC's announcers noted that the fourth or thereabouts touchdown vs. the Bengals "put the game on ice" and since this was TV, felt obliged to note they made a pun.)

Here ya go... from the replay of the 3rd goal all the way through the 4th goal:

FWIW, I just saw that ESPNU is rebroadcasting the game at 1:00 AM on Wednesday, Jan 6th.

Great video. Thank you.

Post game comments:

Thanks for posting the shift. It almost looked like a 5X3, let alone a typical powerplay.

cth95
Thanks for posting the shift. It almost looked like a 5X3, let alone a typical powerplay.

Fantastic clip. One of the most protracted periods of even strength dominance Cornell's ever shown.

I've been trying to find a way to describe how good the 1985 RPI team was for 25 years. That clip is perfect. That's how they looked in the ECAC SF against Cornell. When they were shorthanded.

Watching it live and then watching again on the video makes me appreciate it even more. The one thing lost is the fact that Cornell was into their third line change and the UNH guys had been out the whole time and were absolutely done. In fact that line for UNH did not take another shift for about 2-3 minutes. Umile had to double shift Butler's line because they were so tired.

The full game compression ran overnight but wasn't quite done when I left this morning. I'll put highlights together tonight or tomorrow and make the full thing available... somewhere.

We often hear Schafer talk about the team "not moving their feet" when they're not playing well. The impression I had watching this game and then replaying it is that, for nearly the whole game, the Cornell team never stopped "moving their feet." Watch that clip and it's clear that no one ever stopped skating. No one just stood there watching a teammate with the puck. Riley Nash passed the puck from the left point to Kennedy who was to the right of the cage. While Kennedy went into the corner to retrieve the puck and pass it out to Krueger at the right point, Nash cruised from the left point to just outside the crease where he was in perfect position to tip Krueger's shot.

Another thing that struck me was the comments by several UNH players about Cornell winning battles along the board and playing so tough in the offensive zone, and how UNH wasn't used to that kind of play in Hockey East. What made Cornell so effective in controlling this game was the combination of that typical Cornell strength with the confident passing and motion in the offensive zone, the taking of the puck out of the corners to the net, the cross-crease passes to players rushing the net, all very typical of the Hockey East style of play. The result was 43 shots on goal and, IIRC, 26(!) scoring chances.

Al DeFlorio
We often hear Schafer talk about the team "not moving their feet" when they're not playing well. The impression I had watching this game and then replaying it is that, for nearly the whole game, the Cornell team never stopped "moving their feet." Watch that clip and it's clear that no one ever stopped skating. No one just stood there watching a teammate with the puck. Riley Nash passed the puck from the left point to Kennedy who was to the right of the cage. While Kennedy went into the corner to retrieve the puck and pass it out to Krueger at the right point, Nash cruised from the left point to just outside the crease where he was in perfect position to tip Krueger's shot.

In addition we seemed so much quicker and crisper heading down the ice. I don't know if that was do to UNH's defending or if it was the larger ice, but it was noticable.

I noticed that UNH used the drop pass a lot. We didn't which is consistent with the fact that we rarely drop pass. Does drop passing work better on the bigger ice? I seem to recall UNH developing some pretty good chances from successful drop passes.

andyw2100
I noticed that UNH used the drop pass a lot. We didn't which is consistent with the fact that we rarely drop pass. Does drop passing work better on the bigger ice? I seem to recall UNH developing some pretty good chances from successful drop passes.

This (our side of it anyway) may reflect Schafer's guidance to the team to drive the net far more this year. I've noticed our guys trying, mostly succeeding, to maintain control of the puck more, all season long. The passes have been crisper and more sure, but IMHO there is much less overall passing than in prior years. This is especially obvious on our powerplay, which used to look like Tempest (passing around the periphery, then one mad dash in trying not to get impaled on the opposing defensemen), but now has guys punching into the slot from everywhere, stressing the D until it snaps somewhere and then, bang, a short interior pass or a rebound off a quick wrister is instantly there and (sometimes) gets jammed in.

(Admission: I didn't have video for Florida, so those games -- which apparently ran contrary to everything the team has tried to do all year -- don't impact my pristine picture of their play.)

French Rage

Al DeFlorio
We often hear Schafer talk about the team "not moving their feet" when they're not playing well. The impression I had watching this game and then replaying it is that, for nearly the whole game, the Cornell team never stopped "moving their feet." Watch that clip and it's clear that no one ever stopped skating. No one just stood there watching a teammate with the puck. Riley Nash passed the puck from the left point to Kennedy who was to the right of the cage. While Kennedy went into the corner to retrieve the puck and pass it out to Krueger at the right point, Nash cruised from the left point to just outside the crease where he was in perfect position to tip Krueger's shot.

In addition we seemed so much quicker and crisper heading down the ice. I don't know if that was do to UNH's defending or if it was the larger ice, but it was noticable.

Agree. Breakouts were much improved. I'm sure UNH's layoff caused them to be out of kilter (a la Cornell in Estero), but I do think we liked playing on the big sheet, and learned to take advantage of it rather early on. I guess 'confident' is the word I'd use to best describe our breakouts, whereas too often in the past I'd have used 'tentative.'

But my sense is, when watching WCHA games played on big ice, that seems to be the case generally. Teams don't often get trapped in their own zone and there's lots of transition play back and forth. Probably a function of more open ice for forwards to get free for clearing passes to move the puck out of the defensive zone, through center ice, and into the offensive zone.

Ok, so who was this...

[barmaidblog.livejournal.com]

The four guys in the corner wearing red and white break out in shouts and applause, and I don't have to turn around and look at the television to know something has happened that I won't like, but I do anyway. Sure enough, Cornell has taken a 3-2 lead against my beloved Wildcats, and I heave a sigh. One of the Cornell guys comes up to the bar shortly thereafter to order another pitcher, and points at the New Hampshire hockey jersey I'm wearing. To his credit, instead of needling me about the current score, he asks, "Hey, is that a game-worn?"

Thanks for posting... thing of beauty.

Here is the highlight video I promised. Took an extra day because the first try was just over 10 minutes and rejected, so I had to put it on a bit of a diet. It also includes The Shift. Enjoy.

Thanks for posting the highlight video -- I didn't see the game [had to rely on audio] so it was great to have a chance to get a flavor of what I missed.

Here are some pictures.

[ingoalmag.com]

Great highlight reel. Thanks.

Great video. Thanks for putting it together.

Ya gotta think the coaching staff is already using the clip of "the Shift" in their recruiting pitch

Loved the clip but why in the hell did Youtube list Glen Campbell singing Rhinestone Cowboy as a related clip?

Barry Melrose's voice?

One last dead weekend, then the home stretch:

#1 1/15-16: at Clarkson and St. Lawrence (always dangerous trip despite the records)
#2 1/22-23: North Dakota 2x (we learn which was real, Estero or UNH)
#3 1/29-30: St. Lawrence and Clarkson
#4 2/05-06: at Quinnipiac and Princeton (looks like the key weekend of the RS)
#5 2/12-13: Brown and Yale
#6 2/19-20: at Harvard and Dartmouth (haven't won the Ivies since 2005)
#7 2/26-27: Union and RPI

Five games left with teams that are currently "under consideration" in the Pairwise: North Dakota, Quinnipiac, Yale and Union. Cornell is currently 1-3-1 against TUC and 22nd in the PWR.

Trotsky
One last dead weekend, then the home stretch:

#1 1/15-16: at Clarkson and St. Lawrence (always dangerous trip despite the records)
#2 1/22-23: North Dakota 2x (we learn which was real, Estero or UNH)
#3 1/29-30: St. Lawrence and Clarkson
#4 2/05-06: at Quinnipiac and Princeton (looks like the key weekend of the RS)
#5 2/12-13: Brown and Yale
#6 2/19-20: at Harvard and Dartmouth (haven't won the Ivies since 2005)
#7 2/26-27: Union and RPI

You forgot PolandColgate. (I know, it's not a weekend.)

jtwcornell91
You forgot PolandColgate. (I know, it's not a weekend.)

I completely forgot about Poland, actually. And they're still occupying some of Upper Silesia. (It's a Czech Irredentist thing).

Trotsky
One last dead weekend, then the home stretch:

#1 1/15-16: at Clarkson and St. Lawrence (always dangerous trip despite the records)
#2 1/22-23: North Dakota 2x (we learn which was real, Estero or UNH)
#3 1/29-30: St. Lawrence and Clarkson
#4 2/05-06: at Quinnipiac and Princeton (looks like the key weekend of the RS)
#5 2/12-13: Brown and Yale
#6 2/19-20: at Harvard and Dartmouth (haven't won the Ivies since 2005)
#7 2/26-27: Union and RPI

Yeah, this was definite the hell month to kick off the decade, with UNH, UND x2, and North Country x2. Maybe throw in the '84 Oilers to make it easier.

Found this... somewhere.

Video of the interviews with Greening, Schafer, and Scrivens


is now also available.