CU vs. Denver

Looks like the Friday game is telecast on Root Mountain Sports, apparently available on DirecTV and Dish. Denver's webcast arrangement will do the Saturday game for $8.95 (a monthly subscription) but not the Friday game. Link here: [www.nmnathletics.com]

Thanks for the update for Saturday Al. A few of us are trying to get a private table down at CBS Scene in Foxboro for tomorrow night's game. If anybody is interested, PM me.

Anyone trying to find a place in New York City? I'm happy to make a few calls if there are suggestions of places to contact.

...nevermind, just saw there will be a viewing at Village Pourhouse.

It often seems like we have a critical mass of DC people, but other than the NCAAs I don't think I've ever seen a DC viewing party.

DTV 683 in the NY area, 687 in Boston area. [www.directv.com]

Also, here's a reminder that the game isn't starting until 9:30 pm EST, because of time travel. Normal Friday night bar-crowd volume may be a factor in choosing a place given the later-than-usual start time.

RichH
Also, here's a reminder that the game isn't starting until 9:30 pm EST, because of time travel. Normal Friday night bar-crowd volume may be a factor in choosing a place given the later-than-usual start time.

And if you live in the burbs as we do, you have to confirm the bar with multiple TVs will be open until midnight. Sheesh: 30,000 people and only six (five?) liquor licenses in our town.

RichH
Also, here's a reminder that the game isn't starting until 9:30 pm EST, because of time travel. Normal Friday night bar-crowd volume may be a factor in choosing a place given the later-than-usual start time.

...and now I'm nostalgic for the time I lived where bars were open past 10 on Fridays.

Westfield was worried that with more bars, we'd open ourselves to Hells Angels packing the Jolly Trolley ... hitting on Junior Leaguers ... and the horrible outcome: all those thank-you notes to write.

Root Sports release
DU hockey coverage begins Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. MT when the Pioneers host in-state rival Colorado College. The Pioneers' television schedule also includes a second matchup against the Tigers (Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. MT) and games against perennial powers Boston University (Dec. 29 at 7 p.m. MT) and North Dakota (Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. MT). [www.denverpioneers.com]

For Boston:

Game On Fenway, meet up anytime after 9 p.m. They have agreed to put the video on but likely no audio. Hopefully not too crowded with folks still away for breaks and holidays. I may or may not be there. My friend Jonathan will be there at 9 to reserve space. Text him at 617-429-0075

OK, so who's up for dishing out $8.95 to watch Denver kick our a$$ again tonight?

I didnt think Denver kicked and A$$ last night.. the only place the dominated was on the PP which added up to too much for CU. we played plenty well enough to win and even the announcers felt like that.. I will take that effort the rest of the year.. the worse part is since the 3-0 lead in fl getting outscored 11-2 and not playing poorly only a small bit of those games.

upprdeck
I didnt think Denver kicked and A$$ last night.. the only place the dominated was on the PP which added up to too much for CU. we played plenty well enough to win and even the announcers felt like that.. I will take that effort the rest of the year.. the worse part is since the 3-0 lead in fl getting outscored 11-2 and not playing poorly only a small bit of those games.

Yes, but once again the inability to stay out of the penalty box comes back to bite them in the a$$.
What's the old adage about horseshoes & hand grenades??

stop it.... we are a crappy team. so disappointing.

Redscore
stop it.... we are a crappy team. so disappointing.

Does this mean the Fire Schafer party is going to start early this year? Looks like Yale might have a good team again, maybe we can even start the "Schafer's system doesn't work" threads before the bulk of the ECAC RS gets going.

yes.. i'll be honest... i haven't watched a cornell game for five years... boring. I love the school and team and I follow the team like a true fan, but I cant watch anymore. if you talk to college hockey fans, We are boring, and irrelevant. I love the team but cant watch them anymore.....

Redscore
yes.. i'll be honest... i haven't watched a cornell game for five years... boring. I love the school and team and I follow the team like a true fan, but I cant watch anymore. if you talk to college hockey fans, We are boring, and irrelevant. I love the team but cant watch them anymore.....

Have you been drinking?

No. don't want to get into an argument with you... Just stating how i've felt for a while. enjoy the successes like all of you, but still would like to actually see our team play exciting hockey, even if they lose. I know that maybe it puts me in the minority. I'm a huge supporter of the school and sports comes second. Play to win and have fun, not to win in a constipated way...

Box score from Saturday shows Cornell with 45 minutes of penalties at 20:00 mark of the third:
McCarron 5+10 (obscene language, DQ)
de Swardt 5+10 (spearing, misconduct)
Bench 5+10 (abuse of officials, misconduct)
[www.collegehockeystats.net]
Looks like we may be without McCarron next game and whoever abused the officials could get a game suspension.
I can see how Mike or one of the assistants could go ballistic at hearing the other penalties called.

jkahn
McCarron 5+10 (obscene language, DQ)

DQ'ing someone for obscene language is pretty ridiculous. Ref must be very sensitive about his relationship with his mother, sister, and/or farm animals.

Certainly looks like the refs swallowed their otherwise pretty active whistles until the very end, there. I'm sure that had nothing to do with DU being up.

Jerseygirl

Redscore
yes.. i'll be honest... i haven't watched a cornell game for five years... boring. I love the school and team and I follow the team like a true fan, but I cant watch anymore. if you talk to college hockey fans, We are boring, and irrelevant. I love the team but cant watch them anymore.....

Have you been drinking?

Trolling. It's like drinking, except it isn't.

Dafatone

Jerseygirl

Redscore
yes.. i'll be honest... i haven't watched a cornell game for five years... boring. I love the school and team and I follow the team like a true fan, but I cant watch anymore. if you talk to college hockey fans, We are boring, and irrelevant. I love the team but cant watch them anymore.....

Have you been drinking?

Trolling. It's like drinking, except it isn't.

I was being kind.

Scersk '97

jkahn
McCarron 5+10 (obscene language, DQ)

DQ'ing someone for obscene language is pretty ridiculous. Ref must be very sensitive about his relationship with his mother, sister, and/or farm animals.

Certainly looks like the refs swallowed their otherwise pretty active whistles until the very end, there. I'm sure that had nothing to do with DU being up.

I was afraid this would happen.
My family has been involved with Cornell hockey since Ezra skated on Beebe.
And, even great-uncle Mordecai says he's never seen a less disciplined Cornell hockey team than this one.
Two nights of bad, out-of-town refs would be one thing. But, this is an almost every game scenario.
Coach needs to get control of his players (coaches?) & quick, or this season will be one for the record books.
And, not in a good sense.

Johnny 5

Scersk '97

jkahn
McCarron 5+10 (obscene language, DQ)

DQ'ing someone for obscene language is pretty ridiculous. Ref must be very sensitive about his relationship with his mother, sister, and/or farm animals.

Certainly looks like the refs swallowed their otherwise pretty active whistles until the very end, there. I'm sure that had nothing to do with DU being up.

I was afraid this would happen.
My family has been involved with Cornell hockey since Ezra skated on Beebe.
And, even great-uncle Mordecai says he's never seen a less disciplined Cornell hockey team than this one.
Two nights of bad, out-of-town refs would be one thing. But, this is an almost every game scenario.
Coach needs to get control of his players (coaches?) & quick, or this season will be one for the record books.
And, not in a good sense.

Agree. Losing a game is one thing. Embarrassing the University while doing so is another.

Um... a misconduct for spearing and a DQ for obscene language? Isn't it usually the other way around?

Al DeFlorio

Johnny 5

Scersk '97

jkahn
McCarron 5+10 (obscene language, DQ)

DQ'ing someone for obscene language is pretty ridiculous. Ref must be very sensitive about his relationship with his mother, sister, and/or farm animals.

Certainly looks like the refs swallowed their otherwise pretty active whistles until the very end, there. I'm sure that had nothing to do with DU being up.

I was afraid this would happen.
My family has been involved with Cornell hockey since Ezra skated on Beebe.
And, even great-uncle Mordecai says he's never seen a less disciplined Cornell hockey team than this one.
Two nights of bad, out-of-town refs would be one thing. But, this is an almost every game scenario.
Coach needs to get control of his players (coaches?) & quick, or this season will be one for the record books.
And, not in a good sense.

Agree. Losing a game is one thing. Embarrassing the University while doing so is another.

Well Said!

I am afraid that there is an element of truth in what Redscore says. At the beginning of the season this team was touted as one of the best Cornell teams in at least the last 2 decades. So far that potential has not been realized, and the on ice behavior has embarrassed our Alma Mater. Make no mistake about it, the Coach owns this problem, it is up to him to right the ship and he should be judged accordingly.

jkahn
Box score from Saturday shows Cornell with 45 minutes of penalties at 20:00 mark of the third:
McCarron 5+10 (obscene language, DQ)
...
Looks like we may be without McCarron next game and whoever abused the officials could get a game suspension.
...

It's McCarron's second DQ, so he's gone for the next TWO games.

jkahn
Bench 5+10 (abuse of officials, misconduct)

According to a DU fan on USCHO, the abuse-of-officials penalty was later rescinded.

Schafer's take on the end-of-game penalties:
[www.youtube.com]

sah67
Schafer's take on the end-of-game penalties:
[www.youtube.com]

The coach says there was no swearing. The officials believed they heard something else why call a penalty. Even officials can lose their composure. (Didn't the ECAC's head of officiating get into a shouting match in the Union press box and was later fined? [blog.timesunion.com]) It's hard for fans to believe their team is in the wrong. Conflicting stories and viewpoints. Whatever really happened, Cornell returns to league play and may find officials watching Cornell more closely.

Does anyone track the season record for game misconducts and game disqualifications? It may need to be in the context of the era. Someone like Kevin Pettit '71 (?) was a man for his time and if I recall the legend correctly, he needed something like 15 penalty minutes in his final game to break the season or career record ... and he succeeded. But was Pettit also not the man who beat Harvard with a late game or OT shot from near center ice? So all is forgiven.

billhoward
Does anyone track the season record for game misconducts and game disqualifications?

Although the records aren't broken down to specific calls, my guess is they have a long, long way to go. The "Top 50 Career/Season PIM" and the "PIM/Game" records (towards the bottom) hint at how different the game once was.

In any case, it sounds like we won't be making any more regular-season road trips to play WCHA teams.

dbilmes
In any case, it sounds like we won't be making any more regular-season road trips to play WCHA teams.

I am sure they are devastated

dbilmes
In any case, it sounds like we won't be making any more regular-season road trips to play WCHA teams.

As of next year, Denver probably won't either.

Redscore
yes.. i'll be honest... i haven't watched a cornell game for five years... boring. I love the school and team and I follow the team like a true fan, but I cant watch anymore. if you talk to college hockey fans, We are boring, and irrelevant. I love the team but cant watch them anymore.....

Yes, our style of play is


so boring.

Well, as to the hockey games ...

I was at both games in the Cornell alum section, which was behind the nets. I'm hoarse like the old days in section B.

My summary of game 1: we got beat at a kinda dump and chase style. Denver seemed to be saying "ok, you wanna play that dull, we will too. They made the best of their opportunities, we did not. Passes were consistently two feet off where they needed to be.

Game 2: CU fans were more lively, and the game was more evenly played. There was certainly some hometown reffing going on. Whistle to stop play with a live puck in the crease, and the game misconduct certainly wasn't obvious from my angle. Big Red did a lot better to keep DU from having quality SOGs they had in game 1. so the shot count wasn't indicative of the evenness of the play. A loss, but not embarrassing. Team was gassed in third period.

The Denver cameras didn't show much of the scuffle after the final whistle. And I haven't watched any of the video again. But given those caveats, I pretty much disagree with the those thinking the team embarrassed the university. Perhaps the officials did the maximum to make it seem that way. This is also very far from the most undisciplined team ever.

I don't think there was a replay on the Tiitinen penalty. Jason said repeatedly that Tiitinen was not on the ice at the time. Let's assume there was contact to the head. It was presumably fairly incidental. Axell's penalty looked to be about as weak a major call as one will ever see, if it was even a penalty.

I'll believe Schafer's account of the end of the game. From the light milling around by all the players not long after the buzzer, it couldn't have been all that bad. By all one can tell, this was a very poorly officiated game. The counterpart contacts to the head were not called on Denver. The officials really did us a disservice, and needlessly, by not allowing the postgame handshake. Our players looked like they wanted to do it and were as calm as in most situations with a little postgame action. This decision by the officials is the only thing that will leave a bad impression of Cornell because it will look like there really was a serious problem.

All this notwithstanding, too many penalties are being taken--at least in a season where both special teams are poor. Does anyone have the penalty minutes when matching penalties and 10-minute misconducts are subtracted out--and where we rank then?

And one certainly does not have a good feeling about this team reaching its expected potential, not that there couldn't still be a late-season run with everything coming together. (How did so many ECAC teams become as good or better than us this season, when we should be significantly better than last season? Is it recruiting or just our playing below potential?)

The only certainty is whenever we lose three straight 10% of the fan base goes on suicide watch. Relax. We will win another game in our history.

captens1

Game 2: CU fans were more lively, and the game was more evenly played.

I suppose I could be reading too much into this, but when Denver has 16 second period shots to Cornell's 2, it does not give the indication of being "evenly played."

Trotsky
The only certainty is whenever we lose three straight 10% of the fan base goes on suicide watch. Relax. We will win another game in our history.

What is the point of a post like this? Should we not be engaging in critical analysis of the team and its performances?

HockeyMan

Trotsky
The only certainty is whenever we lose three straight 10% of the fan base goes on suicide watch. Relax. We will win another game in our history.

What is the point of a post like this? Should we not be engaging in critical analysis of the team and its performances?

On that note: What I want to know is why MacDonald keeps playing over Stoick, even though the former lags the team and the rest of the D, by a significant amount, in +/-. Yeah, yeah, I know +/- isn't everything, but it's something. What I've seen of MacDonald this year is a firebrand who jumps up into the play a bit more often than he should but lacks the speed of, say, a Gotovets to recover when he's made a mistake.

I wonder if it's time to give the freshman some more ice time.

On the other side, I think that if Ferlin and McCarron can work their ways out of their sophomore slumps the extra goals will cure a lot of ills. McCarron, quite clearly, needs to stay out of the box. Ferlin? Still just doesn't look himself.

jtwcornell91

Redscore
yes.. i'll be honest... i haven't watched a cornell game for five years... boring. I love the school and team and I follow the team like a true fan, but I cant watch anymore. if you talk to college hockey fans, We are boring, and irrelevant. I love the team but cant watch them anymore.....

Yes, our style of play is


so boring.

It was a thing of beauty but 3 or 4 minutes of great hockey does not a season make. How did the 09-10 season end? One and done in the NCAA tournament drubbed 6-2 by the same NH Wildcats.

For the record I am not calling for the coaches head, but 7 Majors, 4 10 min misconducts, and 7 Game misconducts is not a record to boast about. Coupled this with a relatively weak special team effort and it really begins to cost. Regardless of whether it was warranted or not the Denver penalties were not an isolated incident.

The coach recruits, trains, and selects the players. I assume he is paid quite well and it is reasonable to ask if we are satisfied with the product he is putting on the ice? If the coach is holding the players accountable for their on ice play, the coach should be held accountable for the teams performance?

Scersk '97

HockeyMan

Trotsky
The only certainty is whenever we lose three straight 10% of the fan base goes on suicide watch. Relax. We will win another game in our history.

What is the point of a post like this? Should we not be engaging in critical analysis of the team and its performances?

On that note: What I want to know is why MacDonald keeps playing over Stoick, even though the former lags the team and the rest of the D, by a significant amount, in +/-. Yeah, yeah, I know +/- isn't everything, but it's something. What I've seen of MacDonald this year is a firebrand who jumps up into the play a bit more often than he should but lacks the speed of, say, a Gotovets to recover when he's made a mistake.

I wonder if it's time to give the freshman some more ice time.

On the other side, I think that if Ferlin and McCarron can work their ways out of their sophomore slumps the extra goals will cure a lot of ills. McCarron, quite clearly, needs to stay out of the box. Ferlin? Still just doesn't look himself.

+/- is a terrible way to judge. And by my calculations MacDonald has been one of our better defenders. Bench D'ags for a game, he's been lazy with the puck in our zone all season long and maybe benching a captain will send a message to the team.

Nice that you have total penalty minutes and PIM per game to allow for shorter or longer careers and the freshmen-ineligible years. I see coach Schafer is #3 on the total PIM chart and one of about 14 players to manage 2 PIM or more per game. (Only two topped 3 PIM per game, both players from the Harkness era.) And nobody since Ryan O'Byrne in 2007 has been over 2 PIM (also over 200 total penalty minutes). Thanks.

Thanks for the recap. Cornell has a history of poor Januarys and considerable improvement in February (except in injury-heavy years). So maybe there's a pony in there somewhere.

css228
+/- is a terrible way to judge. And by my calculations MacDonald has been one of our better defenders. Bench D'ags for a game, he's been lazy with the puck in our zone all season long and maybe benching a captain will send a message to the team.

Not trying to be flippant here, but what are your calculations? I've never seen a better, commonly available quantitative stat than +/-, and yet everyone bemoans its supposed ridiculousness. Is there a stat for defenders in hockey equivalent in value to On-base Percentage for batters in baseball, and, if so, do you have it calculated for this team?

Scersk '97

css228
+/- is a terrible way to judge. And by my calculations MacDonald has been one of our better defenders. Bench D'ags for a game, he's been lazy with the puck in our zone all season long and maybe benching a captain will send a message to the team.

Not trying to be flippant here, but what are your calculations? I've never seen a better, commonly available quantitative stat than +/-, and yet everyone bemoans its supposed ridiculousness. Is there a stat for defenders in hockey equivalent in value to On-base Percentage for batters in baseball, and, if so, do you have it calculated for this team?

I haven't actually done any calculations, but if I had I'd be using more advanced stats like Corsi, Corsi Rel, Fenwick, and Zone Entries for the team. Unfortunately, when you don't have access to game film for every single game, its pretty difficult to calculate these stats for a player. That said, over at BSH Geoff Detwiler tracked every zone entry for the Flyers last season. A lot of his conclusions were printed over at NHL Numbers. For more info on stuff like Corsi, Corsi Rel, and other advanced stats that are far better measures of +/- check out BSH one of the best hockey sites on the web. But in short, yes these advanced stats exist, and if someone had access to game film and was willing to put in the effort to track these kind of things, it could be done.

*Second advanced stats primer for people who want more in depth coverage of the topic

css228

Scersk '97

css228
+/- is a terrible way to judge. And by my calculations MacDonald has been one of our better defenders. Bench D'ags for a game, he's been lazy with the puck in our zone all season long and maybe benching a captain will send a message to the team.

Not trying to be flippant here, but what are your calculations? I've never seen a better, commonly available quantitative stat than +/-, and yet everyone bemoans its supposed ridiculousness. Is there a stat for defenders in hockey equivalent in value to On-base Percentage for batters in baseball, and, if so, do you have it calculated for this team?

I haven't actually done any calculations, but if I had I'd be using more advanced stats like Corsi, Corsi Rel, Fenwick, and Zone Entries for the team. Unfortunately, when you don't have access to game film for every single game, its pretty difficult to calculate these stats for a player. That said, over at BSH Geoff Detwiler tracked every zone entry for the Flyers last season. A lot of his conclusions were printed over at NHL Numbers. For more info on stuff like Corsi, Corsi Rel, and other advanced stats that are far better measures of +/- check out BSH one of the best hockey sites on the web. But in short, yes these advanced stats exist, and if someone had access to game film and was willing to put in the effort to track these kind of things, it could be done.

*Second advanced stats primer for people who want more in depth coverage of the topic

Then why did you say, "And by my calculations", if you hadn't done any calculations. Unfortunately it's misstatements like that that lead to arguments. I guess what you meant was, "I think". That has a whole different meaning.

Jim Hyla

css228
I haven't actually done any calculations, but if I had I'd be using more advanced stats like Corsi, Corsi Rel, Fenwick, and Zone Entries for the team. Unfortunately, when you don't have access to game film for every single game, its pretty difficult to calculate these stats for a player. That said, over at BSH Geoff Detwiler tracked every zone entry for the Flyers last season. A lot of his conclusions were printed over at NHL Numbers. For more info on stuff like Corsi, Corsi Rel, and other advanced stats that are far better measures of +/- check out BSH one of the best hockey sites on the web. But in short, yes these advanced stats exist, and if someone had access to game film and was willing to put in the effort to track these kind of things, it could be done.

*Second advanced stats primer for people who want more in depth coverage of the topic

Then why did you say, "And by my calculations", if you hadn't done any calculations. Unfortunately it's misstatements like that that lead to arguments. I guess what you meant was, "I think". That has a whole different meaning.

1) css228, thanks a bunch for the reference, and I will definitely check out the site. One assumes (hopes?) that our hockey staff calculates a number of these metrics and applies the insight gleaned as best they can; one might also assume that a statistically-sophisticated approach to hockey could help level the ice surface for us against other, more-talented programs. Addendum: Of course, the problem with advanced stats is that they require a robust data set to have any meaning. I'm hoping that say, oh, 15 games or so is enough... (Anyone want to calculate even-strength save percentage for NCAA goalies? I think that would be really interesting, given that I have a hunch that Iles's somewhat mediocre looking performance so far from a statistical standpoint has everything to do with our crappy penalty kill.)

2) Jim, exactly! The calculations and data mining done to initiate, for example, the referee bias thread should precede any statement like "by my calculations."

Scersk '97

Jim Hyla

css228
I haven't actually done any calculations, but if I had I'd be using more advanced stats like Corsi, Corsi Rel, Fenwick, and Zone Entries for the team. Unfortunately, when you don't have access to game film for every single game, its pretty difficult to calculate these stats for a player. That said, over at BSH Geoff Detwiler tracked every zone entry for the Flyers last season. A lot of his conclusions were printed over at NHL Numbers. For more info on stuff like Corsi, Corsi Rel, and other advanced stats that are far better measures of +/- check out BSH one of the best hockey sites on the web. But in short, yes these advanced stats exist, and if someone had access to game film and was willing to put in the effort to track these kind of things, it could be done.

*Second advanced stats primer for people who want more in depth coverage of the topic

Then why did you say, "And by my calculations", if you hadn't done any calculations. Unfortunately it's misstatements like that that lead to arguments. I guess what you meant was, "I think". That has a whole different meaning.

1) css228, thanks a bunch for the reference, and I will definitely check out the site. One assumes (hopes?) that our hockey staff calculates a number of these metrics and applies the insight gleaned as best they can; one might also assume that a statistically-sophisticated approach to hockey could help level the ice surface for us against other, more-talented programs. Addendum: Of course, the problem with advanced stats is that they require a robust data set to have any meaning. I'm hoping that say, oh, 15 games or so is enough... (Anyone want to calculate even-strength save percentage for NCAA goalies? I think that would be really interesting, given that I have a hunch that Iles's somewhat mediocre looking performance so far from a statistical standpoint has everything to do with our crappy penalty kill.)

2) Jim, exactly! The calculations and data mining done to initiate, for example, the referee bias thread should precede any statement like "by my calculations."

Unfortunately 15 games isn't really enough to draw any conclusions with these stats, and we play such short seasons, that these are the kind of stats that probably need two of season's worth of data to be worthwhile. Though some stats obviously stabilize faster than others. I would think something like Corsi (Team shots while on ice - Opponent shots while on ice) might stabilize pretty fast. The nice thing about Corsi Rel is it gives you a direct comparison to the teammates. As for your hunch, since a full 40% of our goals against have been on the kill, I suspect you're right, even if those stats haven't stabilized yet. And yes, I definitely should have said something like from my observations.

I have mostly just seen the home Lynah games. It is hard to notice everything, but I have seen MacDonald make a number of very good defensive plays. He also seems to jump up too far on the play less than D'agostino and Ryan. I am unsure why his +/- is so low. D'agostino has indeed been careless with the puck, but I think he is too talented to bench. Birch has been very solid and dependable defensively, as always. Gotovets I have not noticed a ton; perhaps that is a good thing? He is skilled enough that he should probably have more points, though. Wilcox has looked smart and steady.

On offense, I love the games of Bardreau, McCarron, and Mowrey, who play with an edge yet are also offensively skilled. They all take too many penalties, though, especially M and M, and many of these are unnecessary. Ferlin has looked great, even if it has not translated onto the stat sheet. Lowry too, except he's actually producing. Espo is very talented and the best goal scorer, but he seems out of place at times on this big, physical, defensive-minded team. Miller won best defensive forward last year (I think), but I don't know if that was the result of his high +/- or because the voters actually watched him play. I haven't really noticed his superb defense (I have noticed his superb offense). The other guys are mostly role players. Unfortunately, that's a lot of role players. The 3rd and 4th lines have not looked great offensively, and I believe they have also given up the majority of goals defensively. I'm not sure if it's possible for Schafer to play the top lines more...but if it is, he probably should.

Iles overall has been good. He'll always take chances, and they'll usually pay off. He hasn't been as quick from side to side and has not seemed to read shots that well and he seemed to in the past (although the sample size is very small), and has let some in that he is capable of stopping.

I don't know what the problem is, but it's not a lack of effort. The guys have been playing extremely hard and have looked bigger and stronger than their opponents, winning the far majority of physical battles, even in the games they've lost (at least at home). It's just hard to win when your 2nd line takes too many penalties and doesn't play consistent D and your 3rd and 4th lines can't create offensive chances.

BearLover
I have mostly just seen the home Lynah games. It is hard to notice everything, but I have seen MacDonald make a number of very good defensive plays. He also seems to jump up too far on the play less than D'agostino and Ryan. I am unsure why his +/- is so low. D'agostino has indeed been careless with the puck, but I think he is too talented to bench. Birch has been very solid and dependable defensively, as always. Gotovets I have not noticed a ton; perhaps that is a good thing? He is skilled enough that he should probably have more points, though. Wilcox has looked smart and steady.

On offense, I love the games of Bardreau, McCarron, and Mowrey, who play with an edge yet are also offensively skilled. They all take too many penalties, though, especially M and M, and many of these are unnecessary. Ferlin has looked great, even if it has not translated onto the stat sheet. Lowry too, except he's actually producing. Espo is very talented and the best goal scorer, but he seems out of place at times on this big, physical, defensive-minded team. Miller won best defensive forward last year (I think), but I don't know if that was the result of his high +/- or because the voters actually watched him play. I haven't really noticed his superb defense (I have noticed his superb offense). The other guys are mostly role players. Unfortunately, that's a lot of role players. The 3rd and 4th lines have not looked great offensively, and I believe they have also given up the majority of goals defensively. I'm not sure if it's possible for Schafer to play the top lines more...but if it is, he probably should.

Iles overall has been good. He'll always take chances, and they'll usually pay off. He hasn't been as quick from side to side and has not seemed to read shots that well and he seemed to in the past (although the sample size is very small), and has let some in that he is capable of stopping.

I don't know what the problem is, but it's not a lack of effort. The guys have been playing extremely hard and have looked bigger and stronger than their opponents, winning the far majority of physical battles, even in the games they've lost (at least at home). It's just hard to win when your 2nd line takes too many penalties and doesn't play consistent D and your 3rd and 4th lines can't create offensive chances.

Faceoff percentage probably needs to be better than .522. Penalties need to stop happening or the kill needs to get better, or both. Special teams in general is pretty atrocious.

It's interesting to note that opponents shooting percentage is so high (.157) on the power play. That just screams a bad penalty kill. Shooting percentages should be higher on a power play than they are in 5 v 5 because you're getting better opportunities, but not 6% higher (in comparison ours only goes up 2%, not that our power play is any good).Interesting to note as well that our opponents have been penalized more than we have, but when we get penalized, our penalties are more serious (7 majors to our opponents 2). Despite having 3 fewer penalties this season we have 30 more penalty minutes than our oppenents.
We have played significantly worse hockey away from home than we have at home, with our only road win being a game we really did not deserve. I'm not sure Iles is to blame, but he has not been as stellar as last year for sure. Against Maine we were just flat out beat after the 1st ten minutes. Couldn't get to a puck first.

I think our biggest problem is we are too hesitant to shoot, and by the time we do, we're taking shots from the point into closed lanes, which never get to the net as a result. We're not being outshot by much overall, but if someone could find 5 v 5 shot stats I'm sure we would see the problem. We generally rely on scoring with a very poor power play, and don't generate too much offense 5 v 5. I generally preach patience with shooting, but at some point you just need to get pucks to net.

Al DeFlorio

captens1

Game 2: CU fans were more lively, and the game was more evenly played.

I suppose I could be reading too much into this, but when Denver has 16 second period shots to Cornell's 2, it does not give the indication of being "evenly played."

When I looked up at the shot counter late in the second or early in the third on Saturday I was shocked at the discrepency. The shot count did not at all reflect how even the game was.

The two majors oskewed shot totals a bit. Denver also did a good job of blocking shots. We also hit iron three times in the game. If you counted quality offensive chances I bet you'd come up with a pretty even total.

It's hard for me to judge the first major penalty since it occurred on the otehr side of the ice (as captens1 noted the Cornell section was behind one of the goals). The second major call was an absolutely horrible cell. Axell was completing a check and got kicked out for it.

Cornell kind of got embarrassed on the ice on Friday night (though the first half of the game wasnt bad). Saturday was a hard fought tight game. Having two guys tossed on weak calls certainly had a significant affect on how the game was played in the third period and may have unfairly decided the outcome.

[www.collegehockeynews.com]
Article concerning this weekend.

marty
[www.collegehockeynews.com]
Article concerning this weekend.

And the Big Red will of course do so without McCarron, whose controversial game disqualification handed out at the end of Saturday’s game against Denver carries an automatic one-game suspension.

As mentioned before, this was his second DQ of the year, first was leaving the bench in Clarkson game, so now 2 game sit-down. I don't know if he can or will even travel to the Capital District. Does anyone know if he can go with the team?

I agree with Keith. DU's shots in game 2 were just not the in-close, quality shots of game 1, they were often outside the faceoff circles. So the SOGs were very misleading.

My wife, who was seeing her first-ever hockey game on Saturday, did think that Cornell lacked the skills of the players on the DU team. It's nice to get a perspective of someone who isn't hopelessly biased.

Eventually my wife got into the game enough to join me on "Let's go Red!" She couldn't quite work herself up to ["Denver returns to full strength"] ..."they still suck."

Tom

KeithK

Al DeFlorio

captens1

Game 2: CU fans were more lively, and the game was more evenly played.

I suppose I could be reading too much into this, but when Denver has 16 second period shots to Cornell's 2, it does not give the indication of being "evenly played."

When I looked up at the shot counter late in the second or early in the third on Saturday I was shocked at the discrepency. The shot count did not at all reflect how even the game was.

The two majors oskewed shot totals a bit. Denver also did a good job of blocking shots. We also hit iron three times in the game. If you counted quality offensive chances I bet you'd come up with a pretty even total.

It's hard for me to judge the first major penalty since it occurred on the otehr side of the ice (as captens1 noted the Cornell section was behind one of the goals). The second major call was an absolutely horrible cell. Axell was completing a check and got kicked out for it.

Cornell kind of got embarrassed on the ice on Friday night (though the first half of the game wasnt bad). Saturday was a hard fought tight game. Having two guys tossed on weak calls certainly had a significant affect on how the game was played in the third period and may have unfairly decided the outcome.

Jim Hyla

marty
[www.collegehockeynews.com]
Article concerning this weekend.

And the Big Red will of course do so without McCarron, whose controversial game disqualification handed out at the end of Saturday’s game against Denver carries an automatic one-game suspension.

As mentioned before, this was his second DQ of the year, first was leaving the bench in Clarkson game, so now 2 game sit-down. I don't know if he can or will even travel to the Capital District. Does anyone know if he can go with the team?

If I recall correctly, the ECAC limits the number of players who could travel with the team in the regular season. I think it's 23 players. I don't think McCarron would be banned from traveling, but if he did make the trip, it would limit Cornell's depth if guys get hurt or DQ'd during the game at Union.

I'm too lazy to look up the rules and confirm this. If anyone has the info or the time to retrieve it, don't hesitate to verify or disprove this.

cbuckser
If I recall correctly, the ECAC limits the number of players who could travel with the team in the regular season. I think it's 23 players. I don't think McCarron would be banned from traveling, but if he did make the trip, it would limit Cornell's depth if guys get hurt or DQ'd during the game at Union.

I'm too lazy to look up the rules and confirm this. If anyone has the info or the time to retrieve it, don't hesitate to verify or disprove this.

This has come up before on USCHO and no one found a rule book, but the limit is apparently only for league games. The Ivy League may however have its own rule in addition.

No real place to put this, but here's an article from USCHO on Craig Esposito. A little upbeat hockey news for what is a downbeat time.

Thanks Jim! I hope his dream continues to come true and he's worthy of cracking the lineup for a few games.

Jim Hyla
No real place to put this, but here's an article from USCHO on Craig Esposito. A little upbeat hockey news for what is a downbeat time.

Excellent article. It's daunting to imagine what his workload is. I hope his classwork isn't suffering.