Clarkson Game Thread

For those who may be interested.

Arguably, the second most important pair of games every year.

But not for me. My father ('69) is an alum; my niece ('23) will soon be. Most important games of the season.

Hmm. McDonald listed as goalie for Cornell tonight, not Howe.

Clarkson throw backs are beautiful and giving me PTSD from those 80s teams.

Loved hearing the band play When the Saints Come Marching In at Clarkson. They sound fantastic this weekend - so glad they made the trip.

That was a beautiful set up and goal LETS GO RED

Dunc
That was a beautiful set up and goal LETS GO RED

+1

Clarkson hitting hard in our end and freeing up pucks. Like looking in a mirror.

1-0 after one. Even period.

Trotsky
Clarkson hitting hard in our end and freeing up pucks. Like looking in a mirror.

I wonder where Casey learned that style of play?

Cornell just held the puck for a full minute with a delayed penalty.

Cornell scores on the pp. We might have had a review of an earlier shot that might have gone in too.

Q (1-0) and H (4-1) both winning.

2-0 end of the 2nd. Styles are very similar …. Not surprising.

Union well into the third period against Quinnipiac. They have 8 shots.

Haider makes his first mistake all night and Berard skates around him and puts it on Max' stick for an open netter. 3-0, halfway through the third.

McDonald has made two or three absolutely fantastic saves tonight.

Make that three or four. Wow.

Q breaks it open in Schenectady, 4-0.

McDonald’s confidence level is off the charts compared to earlier in the year.

Well, this game changed rapidly in about 5 minutes.

Odd that this all started on an impossible angle shot.

Iceberg
Well, this game changed rapidly in about 5 minutes.

Cornell wearing lead skates.

Couple times they've been generous with the icing.

Dafatone
Couple times they've been generous with the icing.

Generous? I don't think the linesmen for this game know what icing is. Lots of instances where a Clarkson player clearly could've reasonably reached the puck.

4.7 seconds form being able to forget all this crap.

Iceberg

Dafatone
Couple times they've been generous with the icing.

Generous? I don't think the linesmen for this game know what icing is. Lots of instances where a Clarkson player clearly could've reasonably reached the puck.

Yeah, on the last one he slowed down. That was crazy.

Trotsky
4.7 seconds form being able to forget all this crap.

Too much time left ig...

Trotsky

Iceberg

Dafatone
Couple times they've been generous with the icing.

Generous? I don't think the linesmen for this game know what icing is. Lots of instances where a Clarkson player clearly could've reasonably reached the puck.

Yeah, on the last one he slowed down. That was crazy.

Walp.

I hate everything and everyone. How do you go from 4-0 to 4-4 in just over 5 minutes?

This isn’t just officiating, they need to look in the mirror here. Let’s take this OT.

Suboptimal.

SOG in the third, 20-5 Clarkson.

I know we've done well with it but 3x3 is so stupid.

Was I seeing double before the penalty. Looked like 4 Cornell players on the ice.

Casey's going bald. So weird to see.

marty
Was I seeing double before the penalty. Looked like 4 Cornell players on the ice.

It becomes 4x4 after 2 minutes of OT

Wow, pure garbage

Trotsky
I know we've done well with it but 3x3 is so stupid.

Because it's garbage, it's not weighted heavily, so it feels anticlimactic. Games feel like a tie to me if they go to OT.

While not a playoff game, this has a lot of 1979 Providence vibes, but with us taking the lumps

Dafatone

Trotsky
I know we've done well with it but 3x3 is so stupid.

Because it's garbage, it's not weighted heavily, so it feels anticlimactic. Games feel like a tie to me if they go to OT.

For PWR it basically is: 55/45 weighting.

Sit on that for a month.

And now the final insult: this kindergarten gimmick shit.

RichH
Sit on that for a month.

I know, right?

Trotsky
And now the final insult: this kindergarten gimmick shit.

They have to resurface the ice for this?

Trotsky

Dafatone

Trotsky
I know we've done well with it but 3x3 is so stupid.

Because it's garbage, it's not weighted heavily, so it feels anticlimactic. Games feel like a tie to me if they go to OT.

For PWR it basically is: 55/45 weighting.

Which is what makes it feel so lame to me. Why bother?

Trotsky

RichH
Sit on that for a month.

I know, right?

If you want a bright side, a little adversity early on is good to keep everyone hungry, or some similar platitude.

Dafatone

Trotsky

RichH
Sit on that for a month.

I know, right?

If you want a bright side, a little adversity early on is good to keep everyone hungry, or some similar platitude.

Get them to take the 3rd period shutdown practice seriously.

Call me a whiner but we got completely hosed on that icing call. It wasn’t close to icing

Mcdonald lmfao...

CU2007
Call me a whiner but we got completely hosed on that icing call. It wasn’t close to icing

I'm with you. That was ridiculous.

Yeah it’s time for the other goalie to get an extended look. 2 of those goals were total trash and every Clarkson player in the shootout did the exact same thing and scored the exact same way. Not that this team is going anywhere this season giving up a 4 goal lead in the last 5 minutes. Worst collapse I’ve seen in 25 years of Cornell hockey.

absolutely complete meltdown

Time for Schafer to go

blackwidow
Time for Schafer to go

Now you’re trolling.

blackwidow
Time for Schafer to go

LOL

RichH
Get them to take the 3rd period shutdown practice seriously.

We are unsurprisingly in violent agreement.

Was Howe on the bench? I was a bit surprised to see McDonald in tonight and to his credit, he did play well until giving up the bad-angle goal that really set things in motion.

Cop at Lynah
absolutely complete meltdown

The glass is also half-full: good power-play numbers

Iceberg

marty
Was I seeing double before the penalty. Looked like 4 Cornell players on the ice.

It becomes 4x4 after 2 minutes of OT

When you watch the replay the announcer said it was because the players called for roughing at the end of regulation came out at the end of their penalties to make it 4x4.

By that logic if there had been matching minors in regulation with the refs calling for the play to be 5x5 during the penalties then at the end of the penalty time they should come out and play 6x6.

This foolish 3x3 shit is a big turd on shaved ice.

Iceberg
Was Howe on the bench? I was a bit surprised to see McDonald in tonight and to his credit, he did play well until giving up the bad-angle goal that really set things in motion.

Very much like the bad angle goal he allowed in Hanover led to the weirdness of that game’s final minutes.

Cop at Lynah
absolutely complete meltdown

lucky me. I was finally able to start watching about 30 seconds before Clarkson’s first goal.

Fugly.

Is this the worst collapse in Cornell Hockey history or at least during Mike's tenure?

redice
Is this the worst collapse in Cornell Hockey history or at least during Mike's tenure?

I can’t think of a worse one during Mike’s tenure. My guess is the worst one in Cornell history given its importance would be the 1973 NCAA semifinal against Wisconsin, which was before my time.

redice
Is this the worst collapse in Cornell Hockey history or at least during Mike's tenure?

Is this a bus ride home where they are only taking off their skates? They did that once after a horrible loss v. Army (back in the 90's??).

I was thinking with the face off with 4.7 sec left, just tie up the center. Don't try to win it - just make sure Clarkson doesn't control it. UGH.

And the long delay for the stupid penalty shot was BS - just get on with the farce.

Rita

redice
Is this the worst collapse in Cornell Hockey history or at least during Mike's tenure?

Is this a bus ride home where they are only taking off their skates? They did that once after a horrible loss v. Army (back in the 90's??).

I just told my wife that story.

marty

Iceberg

marty
Was I seeing double before the penalty. Looked like 4 Cornell players on the ice.

It becomes 4x4 after 2 minutes of OT

When you watch the replay the announcer said it was because the players called for roughing at the end of regulation came out at the end of their penalties to make it 4x4.

By that logic if there had been matching minors in regulation with the refs calling for the play to be 5x5 during the penalties then at the end of the penalty time they should come out and play 6x6.

This foolish 3x3 shit is a big turd on shaved ice.

I'm pretty sure the rule is that when a 4x3 power play ends in OT, the penalized player gets back on the ice, and they play 4x4 until the next whistle, when it goes back to 3x3.

redice
Is this the worst collapse in Cornell Hockey history or at least during Mike's tenure?

In the Schafer era, I nominate the final game in 1999. This was game 2 of a first to 3 points QF series at Princeton. We had come from behind to tie in the first game and had a 4-1 lead halfway through the deciding game. Then, this.

However, tonight blows that away. I have added it to the Pantheon.

Robb

Cop at Lynah
absolutely complete meltdown

lucky me. I was finally able to start watching about 30 seconds before Clarkson’s first goal.

Target acquired.

Rita

redice
Is this the worst collapse in Cornell Hockey history or at least during Mike's tenure?

Is this a bus ride home where they are only taking off their skates? They did that once after a horrible loss v. Army (back in the 90's??).

Mike was talking to us about that once and said he will never do that again because he had to sit on that bus the entire ride.

redice
Is this the worst collapse in Cornell Hockey history or at least during Mike's tenure?

It didn’t come at the end of the game, but I think the last time we played at Meehan, a bad Brown team scored 3 in under 60 seconds to tie about midway through the 3rd, and the game ended 3-3. That was pretty frustrating and shocking.

Someone correct me if my memory messed up any details.

Edit: Feb. 2019. Early in the 3rd.

[www.collegehockeynews.com]

RichH

redice
Is this the worst collapse in Cornell Hockey history or at least during Mike's tenure?

It didn’t come at the end of the game, but I think the last time we played at Meehan, a bad Brown team scored 3 in under 60 seconds to tie about midway through the 3rd, and the game ended 3-3. That was pretty frustrating and shocking.

Someone correct me if my memory messed up any details.

Edit: Feb. 2019. Early in the 3rd.

[www.collegehockeynews.com]

There was also a home game against Princeton ten or so years ago when a 1-0 lead became a 2-1 loss in the closing minute or two. That came to mind tonight.

jtwcornell91

marty

Iceberg

marty
Was I seeing double before the penalty. Looked like 4 Cornell players on the ice.

It becomes 4x4 after 2 minutes of OT

When you watch the replay the announcer said it was because the players called for roughing at the end of regulation came out at the end of their penalties to make it 4x4.

By that logic if there had been matching minors in regulation with the refs calling for the play to be 5x5 during the penalties then at the end of the penalty time they should come out and play 6x6.

This foolish 3x3 shit is a big turd on shaved ice.

I'm pretty sure the rule is that when a 4x3 power play ends in OT, the penalized player gets back on the ice, and they play 4x4 until the next whistle, when it goes back to 3x3.

Right, but I'm talking about before the OT penalty. I swear I saw 4 red jerseys on the ice right before the penalty was called. So when they were resurfacing I tried to replay that (though on a tablet with other people talking on the room.)

I'm pretty sure the announcer said that the 2 in the box for roughing at the end of regulation were going to make it 4x4 when the penalties expired.

That also makes sense to me as it coincides with what I thought I saw just before the penalty. In real time I wasn't listening to the announcer and I thought we had too many men on the ice.

But logically it makes no sense to me. If we're playing goofy 3x3 gladiator hockey why not wait until the next whistle to release the 2 in the box for roughing?

We can watch the replay soon for those of us who want to self-flaggelate by reliving this minor disaster. (I know I might be all wet in this.)

9-1-1 at the break. Better than expected.

The first Clarkson goal was bad goaltending. You cannot give up anything from that angle.

The second Clarkson goal was a defensive breakdown. A Clarkson player was left wide open in the slot streaking to the net.

The third Clarkson goal was off a rebound where a player in the slot was again not picked up.

The fourth Clarkson goal was hard to see off the replay, but it looked like McDonald should have saved the initial shot and then a Clarkson player skated in behind him to tap in the rebound completely unimpeded.

So, a combination of bad goaltending and defensive breakdowns. But this is a team that has been prone to bad goaltending and defensive breakdowns this season.

Frankly, the #9 ranking was a joke. This team has done nothing to earn it. Coming into this weekend, they were 5-1-3 against terrible opposition. Maybe the voters felt bad that Cornell got jobbed out of a #1 overall seed two years ago?

In any event, Clarkson is a much better team. Cornell almost stole a win anyway, but they blew it. Despite the way it went down, you can't really be angry at the goaltending (Cornell's star goalie transferred), the defensive lapses (young team, didn't play last season, totally gassed by the end of the game) or the coaching (what the hell are they supposed to do, given the above?). It's an overall crappy situation that everyone is trying to make the best of. I think the fans and the poll voters were fooled by Cornell's "8-1" start, which was a figment of bad opposition and new OT rules, not an indication the team is actually good.

BearLover
The first Clarkson goal was bad goaltending. You cannot give up anything from that angle.

The second Clarkson goal was a defensive breakdown. A Clarkson player was left wide open in the slot streaking to the net.

The third Clarkson goal was off a rebound where a player in the slot was again not picked up.

The fourth Clarkson goal was hard to see off the replay, but it looked like McDonald should have saved the initial shot and then a Clarkson player skated in behind him to tap in the rebound completely unimpeded.

So, a combination of bad goaltending and defensive breakdowns. But this is a team that has been prone to bad goaltending and defensive breakdowns this season.

Frankly, the #9 ranking was a joke. This team has done nothing to earn it. Coming into this weekend, they were 5-1-3 against terrible opposition. Maybe the voters felt bad that Cornell got jobbed out of a #1 overall seed two years ago?

In any event, Clarkson is a much better team. Cornell almost stole a win anyway, but they blew it. Despite the way it went down, you can't really be angry at the goaltending (Cornell's star goalie transferred), the defensive lapses (young team, didn't play last season, totally gassed by the end of the game) or the coaching (what the hell are they supposed to do, given the above?). It's an overall crappy situation that everyone is trying to make the best of. I think the fans and the poll voters were fooled by Cornell's "8-1" start, which was a figment of bad opposition and new OT rules, not an indication the team is actually good.

We're not 5-1-3. We don't have three OT losses. We outplayed Clarkson for 50 minutes. Our best goalie was out.

Deep breaths, everyone.

what was really depressing was watching this on replay and noticing how much time was left in the video when the third period started. all i could think was "i hope clarkson has a long postgame show" but when they made it 4-3 i sighed deeply. my biggest problem with the meltdown was the sloppiness with the puck a man down. there were a couple of times when we could have easily skated it out and instead just gave possession back. i know that you aren't trying to put together a rush and get caught flat-footed but you do have 5 on the ice and can try to maintain any kind of possession. ugly finish.

clarkson is absolutely not a much better team. we were the much better team tonight. the 6x5 needs to be drilled better but come on we were kicking their ass. it wasn't 4-0 by accident.

arugula
9-1-1 at the break. Better than expected.

And hey, another 4 point weekend in the North County!

This new normal is just…rahhhhhggg.

The “Clarkson beats Cornell 4-4” collapse notwithstanding, last night I was concerned about not taking any points out of Cheel. S

Dafatone

BearLover
The first Clarkson goal was bad goaltending. You cannot give up anything from that angle.

The second Clarkson goal was a defensive breakdown. A Clarkson player was left wide open in the slot streaking to the net.

The third Clarkson goal was off a rebound where a player in the slot was again not picked up.

The fourth Clarkson goal was hard to see off the replay, but it looked like McDonald should have saved the initial shot and then a Clarkson player skated in behind him to tap in the rebound completely unimpeded.

So, a combination of bad goaltending and defensive breakdowns. But this is a team that has been prone to bad goaltending and defensive breakdowns this season.

Frankly, the #9 ranking was a joke. This team has done nothing to earn it. Coming into this weekend, they were 5-1-3 against terrible opposition. Maybe the voters felt bad that Cornell got jobbed out of a #1 overall seed two years ago?

In any event, Clarkson is a much better team. Cornell almost stole a win anyway, but they blew it. Despite the way it went down, you can't really be angry at the goaltending (Cornell's star goalie transferred), the defensive lapses (young team, didn't play last season, totally gassed by the end of the game) or the coaching (what the hell are they supposed to do, given the above?). It's an overall crappy situation that everyone is trying to make the best of. I think the fans and the poll voters were fooled by Cornell's "8-1" start, which was a figment of bad opposition and new OT rules, not an indication the team is actually good.

We're not 5-1-3. We don't have three OT losses. We outplayed Clarkson for 50 minutes. Our best goalie was out.

Deep breaths, everyone.

We are 6-1-4 now, for all intents and purposes. 6 wins, 1 loss, 4 ties. That's almost exactly how the PWR counts our record, and the PWR is what matters. (Rounding 55% to 50% for OT wins, but this difference is extremely marginal.)

Also, did we outplay Clarkson for 50 minutes? I admit I did not catch the entire game, but play was even or Clarkson was advantaged in what I saw. They outshot us 38-21.

And my understanding is that our best goalie was not out--rather, the coaches thought McDonald gave Cornell its best chance of winning, so they played him over Howe. Correct me if you've heard differently, but that was what was reported last night.

ugarte
what was really depressing was watching this on replay and noticing how much time was left in the video when the third period started. all i could think was "i hope clarkson has a long postgame show" but when they made it 4-3 i sighed deeply. my biggest problem with the meltdown was the sloppiness with the puck a man down. there were a couple of times when we could have easily skated it out and instead just gave possession back. i know that you aren't trying to put together a rush and get caught flat-footed but you do have 5 on the ice and can try to maintain any kind of possession. ugly finish.

clarkson is absolutely not a much better team. we were the much better team tonight. the 6x5 needs to be drilled better but come on we were kicking their ass. it wasn't 4-0 by accident.

I don't understand this at all. Cornell was outshot 38-21 but was the much better team tonight?

BearLover
Also, did we outplay Clarkson for 50 minutes? I admit I did not catch the entire game, but play was even or Clarkson was advantaged in what I saw. They outshot us 38-21.

You should watch the whole game if you're going to comment so harshly, like above and elsewhere.

On offense, Clarkson cycles well and has flashes of being dangerous when those cycles go long. We're faster, more inventive on rushes, and cycle pretty damn well too.

Schafer can coach defense, so I'm not all that worried about tonight's boneheaded play. It's a youngish group, still. Ask me again after Princeton on 1/21. All the kinks need to be worked out by then.

We need our top goalie back. McDonald is serviceable, but the team plays tight on defense in front of him.

BearLover

ugarte
clarkson is absolutely not a much better team. we were the much better team tonight. the 6x5 needs to be drilled better but come on we were kicking their ass. it wasn't 4-0 by accident.

I don't understand this at all. Cornell was outshot 38-21 but was the much better team tonight?

yes. objectively yes. clarkson was shooting trash from the red line like a penn state team from 8 years ago. we were skating circles around them and making their goalie work a lot harder. the first third period PP (where macdonald saved our asses over and over, for all the shit he's taking over the loss) and the 6x5 were the only times that clarkson was outplaying us.

Iceberg
Was Howe on the bench? I was a bit surprised to see McDonald in tonight and to his credit, he did play well until giving up the bad-angle goal that really set things in motion.

Before the Brown game, Grady mentioned that Howe had an injury he was dealing with and we might not see him until January. Then he played vs BU. Maybe he pushed too hard to come back and tweaked something, maybe coach just didn’t like what he saw, maybe McDonald’s performance yesterday earned him “hot hand” status. But I think if there’s a minor injury in the mix, he was given the time. Speculation here.

Edit: I didn’t answer your question. I can only assume he was on the bench.

ugarte

BearLover

ugarte
clarkson is absolutely not a much better team. we were the much better team tonight. the 6x5 needs to be drilled better but come on we were kicking their ass. it wasn't 4-0 by accident.

I don't understand this at all. Cornell was outshot 38-21 but was the much better team tonight?

yes. objectively yes. clarkson was shooting trash from the red line like a penn state team from 8 years ago. we were skating circles around them and making their goalie work a lot harder. the first third period PP (where macdonald saved our asses over and over, for all the shit he's taking over the loss) and the 6x5 were the only times that clarkson was outplaying us.

In this very thread, there was a comment about how CU controlled the puck for a full minute on a delayed penalty. I would be very surprised if we didn’t win time of possession. Cornell controlled this game…until they didn’t. If any coach can correct the closing game, it’s this one.

Anyway, tip your hat to Casey’s boys for the effort and not folding, be thankful that this wasn’t a playoff game, and be f’ing ready for them in Ithaca.

BearLover
The first Clarkson goal was bad goaltending. You cannot give up anything from that angle.

Matt Galajda gave up two goals from the opposite angle at Dartmouth in Cornell's last game of the fall 2019 semester. I find goals like that immensely frustrating, because a goaltender can easily position himself to make it impossible to allow a goal from that angle. But, goaltenders these days are taught to leave a small space over the shoulder closest to the post in order to better cover the rest of the net when the puck gets moved away from that extreme angle. Over the last couple of years, we've seen countless goals like that in the NCAA and NHL.

RichH

ugarte

BearLover

ugarte
clarkson is absolutely not a much better team. we were the much better team tonight. the 6x5 needs to be drilled better but come on we were kicking their ass. it wasn't 4-0 by accident.

I don't understand this at all. Cornell was outshot 38-21 but was the much better team tonight?

yes. objectively yes. clarkson was shooting trash from the red line like a penn state team from 8 years ago. we were skating circles around them and making their goalie work a lot harder. the first third period PP (where macdonald saved our asses over and over, for all the shit he's taking over the loss) and the 6x5 were the only times that clarkson was outplaying us.

In this very thread, there was a comment about how CU controlled the puck for a full minute on a delayed penalty. I would be very surprised if we didn’t win time of possession. Cornell controlled this game…until they didn’t. If any coach can correct the closing game, it’s this one.

Anyway, tip your hat to Casey’s boys for the effort and not folding, be thankful that this wasn’t a playoff game, and be f’ing ready for them in Ithaca.

I agree with Rich. For 114 minutes, Cornell was on the verge of earning a rare sweep of the North Country road trip. The final five and a half minutes were a disaster for anyone not wearing white, green, and gold. Prior to that, Cornell was having its best weekend of the season thus far.

I don't think we were significantly better, I think Clarkson was playing us tough and we were up 4-0 because, ironically, McDonald had made at least 3 phenomenal saves in the third period alone. Clarkson owned the game after our fourth goal, Nate kept the lid on for a while, then it all fell apart.

It sucks but it isn't indicative of a systemic problem. McDonald is a perfectly cromulent goaltender. We just completely fell asleep in the third and Casey and his team are simply too good to do that with.

We're going to be fine. This is just a shit sandwich to eat right before la petit morte.

Trotsky
This is just a shit sandwich to eat right before la petit morte.

this is a public website i don't need to know this much about you

Trotsky

redice
Is this the worst collapse in Cornell Hockey history or at least during Mike's tenure?

In the Schafer era, I nominate the final game in 1999. This was game 2 of a first to 3 points QF series at Princeton. We had come from behind to tie in the first game and had a 4-1 lead halfway through the deciding game. Then, this.

However, tonight blows that away. I have added it to the Pantheon.

I await the Clarkson Pep Band album featuring this game.

Scersk '97

BearLover
Also, did we outplay Clarkson for 50 minutes? I admit I did not catch the entire game, but play was even or Clarkson was advantaged in what I saw. They outshot us 38-21.

You should watch the whole game if you're going to comment so harshly, like above and elsewhere.

On offense, Clarkson cycles well and has flashes of being dangerous when those cycles go long. We're faster, more inventive on rushes, and cycle pretty damn well too.

Schafer can coach defense, so I'm not all that worried about tonight's boneheaded play. It's a youngish group, still. Ask me again after Princeton on 1/21. All the kinks need to be worked out by then.

We need our top goalie back. McDonald is serviceable, but the team plays tight on defense in front of him.

I've watched 80% of game time this season. Cornell is showing considerably worse goaltending, defensive stability, and offensive playmaking than I've seen since 2016. I watched 2/3 of last night's game. Maybe we dominated the second period, which I didn't see. We did not dominate anything else, and it was Clarkson who dominated the final minutes. Clarkson also dominated the second half of the first period, after Cornell scored its first goal.

Given how many hockey goals are off of rebounds or deflections (or bad plays by the goalie), including in last night's game, being outshot almost 2-to-1 is going to mean, almost every single time, you were outplayed. Cornell gave up 38 shots on goal, and four of them went in. Some were flukish, but 38 shots is a lot of chances for flukes to happen.

And again, one of the most worrying things is that, from what I can tell, Cornell is not missing its top goalie. Howe isn't injured. Rather, the coaches though McDonald IS Cornell's top goalie.

Howe is hurt and has been. We may see the 3rd goalie now

BearLover

Scersk '97

BearLover
Also, did we outplay Clarkson for 50 minutes? I admit I did not catch the entire game, but play was even or Clarkson was advantaged in what I saw. They outshot us 38-21.

You should watch the whole game if you're going to comment so harshly, like above and elsewhere.

On offense, Clarkson cycles well and has flashes of being dangerous when those cycles go long. We're faster, more inventive on rushes, and cycle pretty damn well too.

Schafer can coach defense, so I'm not all that worried about tonight's boneheaded play. It's a youngish group, still. Ask me again after Princeton on 1/21. All the kinks need to be worked out by then.

We need our top goalie back. McDonald is serviceable, but the team plays tight on defense in front of him.

I've watched 80% of game time this season. Cornell is showing considerably worse goaltending, defensive stability, and offensive playmaking than I've seen since 2016. I watched 2/3 of last night's game. Maybe we dominated the second period, which I didn't see. We did not dominate anything else, and it was Clarkson who dominated the final minutes. Clarkson also dominated the second half of the first period, after Cornell scored its first goal.

Given how many hockey goals are off of rebounds or deflections (or bad plays by the goalie), including in last night's game, being outshot almost 2-to-1 is going to mean, almost every single time, you were outplayed. Cornell gave up 38 shots on goal, and four of them went in. Some were flukish, but 38 shots is a lot of chances for flukes to happen.

And again, one of the most worrying things is that, from what I can tell, Cornell is not missing its top goalie. Howe isn't injured. Rather, the coaches though McDonald IS Cornell's top goalie.

We are literally 2nd in the nation in goals per game. Not sure where you're getting the idea that we don't have offensive playmaking.

upprdeck
Howe is hurt and has been. We may see the 3rd goalie now

Did Howe reinjure himself during the BU game? Schafer's reported comments made it sound like McDonald earned the starts this weekend thanks to a great week of practice. An interview with Howe also played during the first intermission of the StL game, and Howe was dressed for both games this weekend (road teams only dress two goalies). I did not see anything reported about a Howe injury, unlike in the Brown/Yale weekend, when it was reported he was injured. From the above it seemed pretty likely he isn't injured, or at least capable of playing through a minor injury if the coaches thought he gave Cornell its best chance to win.

cbuckser

BearLover
The first Clarkson goal was bad goaltending. You cannot give up anything from that angle.

Matt Galajda gave up two goals from the opposite angle at Dartmouth in Cornell's last game of the fall 2019 semester. I find goals like that immensely frustrating, because a goaltender can easily position himself to make it impossible to allow a goal from that angle. But, goaltenders these days are taught to leave a small space over the shoulder closest to the post in order to better cover the rest of the net when the puck gets moved away from that extreme angle. Over the last couple of years, we've seen countless goals like that in the NCAA and NHL.

Brandon Thomas said McDonald went down early, but hard (for me at least) to tell from the replay.

BearLover

upprdeck
Howe is hurt and has been. We may see the 3rd goalie now

Did Howe reinjure himself during the BU game? Schafer's reported comments made it sound like McDonald earned the starts this weekend thanks to a great week of practice. An interview with Howe also played during the first intermission of the StL game, and Howe was dressed for both games this weekend (road teams only dress two goalies). I did not see anything reported about a Howe injury, unlike in the Brown/Yale weekend, when it was reported he was injured. From the above it seemed pretty likely he isn't injured, or at least capable of playing through a minor injury if the coaches thought he gave Cornell its best chance to win.

More info concerning Howe.

the quality of the D when we have the puck under control and then not clearing it or giving it away will define this team.. We are scoring enough to compete. Clarkson had a ton of shots but not really many solid chances most of the game.. they cycled well but so did we for stretches.

The last big iciing was just an awful call.. the clarkson kid stopped skating the puck was barely moving and then he took a swing that showed complete lack of effort to play the puck. But we need to clear the puck when given a chance. sometimes we tried harder to make a tough pass than to just get the puck out and that led to some chances late and Clarkson put them home..

that whole sequence was ugly with the refs letting 4-5 guys lie on the puck.. it almost ended well as the clock kept going down,.

If you're wondering why McDonald played both games over the weekend, this is what Schafer said in the official Brandon Thomas writeup after the St. Lawrence game:

Senior Nate McDonald made 19 saves to earn the victory, improving to 5-0 in his first five collegiate starts.

"I thought he did a solid job again tonight," Schafer added. "I thought he was better at controlling his rebounds. He just had a great week of practice. He was just dialed in all week in practice and focused, and I thought he elevated himself this week as a goaltender."

Like many of you, I felt that the bad-angle goal McDonald allowed to lose the shutout started to turn the momentum against us. There was also the icing call against us with about 30 seconds left which should have been waved off, and the strange decision to have the faceoff with 5 seconds remaining in our end instead of at neutral ice. From the Sun article:

After the whistle, Clarkson’s Chris Klack and senior tri-captain Kyle Betts got into it, with Klack delivering a punch to Bett’s helmet and Betts responding by driving Klack to the ice. The two were assessed offsetting roughing penalties.

After a review, the officials placed the puck in Cornell’s defensive zone. The decision seemed to be an incorrect adjudication of Rule 81.2, which stipulates that the puck be placed in the neutral zone following an altercation where the attacking team’s players come below the faceoff circles to get involved – which Clarkson defenseman Noah Beck did when he went to the corner to check out the action.

“We made mistakes, officials made mistakes, and Clarkson capitalized,” Schafer said.

With 4.7 seconds left, if the puck had been placed in the neutral zone Clarkson would have had the impossible task of winning the draw, entering the zone and getting off a shot. But it wasn’t placed in the neutral zone.

Also, we did have a power play in OT and had some good chances, but failed to capitalize. At least if we had scored on that power play we would have avoided the shootout and gotten the extra point. This was the first game this season where I felt we really missed Galajda. Even though it's been documented in his thread how he has given up similar bad-angle goals, it's hard to believe he would have let all four of those goals in during the final few minutes, especially the final one.

Do you suppose this meltdown chiefly the product of a mental collapse or a physical collapse?

dbilmes
If you're wondering why McDonald played both games over the weekend, this is what Schafer said in the official Brandon Thomas writeup after the St. Lawrence game:

Senior Nate McDonald made 19 saves to earn the victory, improving to 5-0 in his first five collegiate starts.

"I thought he did a solid job again tonight," Schafer added. "I thought he was better at controlling his rebounds. He just had a great week of practice. He was just dialed in all week in practice and focused, and I thought he elevated himself this week as a goaltender."

Like many of you, I felt that the bad-angle goal McDonald allowed to lose the shutout started to turn the momentum against us. There was also the icing call against us with about 30 seconds left which should have been waved off, and the strange decision to have the faceoff with 5 seconds remaining in our end instead of at neutral ice. From the Sun article:

After the whistle, Clarkson’s Chris Klack and senior tri-captain Kyle Betts got into it, with Klack delivering a punch to Bett’s helmet and Betts responding by driving Klack to the ice. The two were assessed offsetting roughing penalties.

After a review, the officials placed the puck in Cornell’s defensive zone. The decision seemed to be an incorrect adjudication of Rule 81.2, which stipulates that the puck be placed in the neutral zone following an altercation where the attacking team’s players come below the faceoff circles to get involved – which Clarkson defenseman Noah Beck did when he went to the corner to check out the action.

“We made mistakes, officials made mistakes, and Clarkson capitalized,” Schafer said.

With 4.7 seconds left, if the puck had been placed in the neutral zone Clarkson would have had the impossible task of winning the draw, entering the zone and getting off a shot. But it wasn’t placed in the neutral zone.

Also, we did have a power play in OT and had some good chances, but failed to capitalize. At least if we had scored on that power play we would have avoided the shootout and gotten the extra point. This was the first game this season where I felt we really missed Galajda. Even though it's been documented in his thread how he has given up similar bad-angle goals, it's hard to believe he would have let all four of those goals in during the final few minutes, especially the final one.

This team plus Galajda would be a really, really, really, really good team.

I think we've got two issues late in games. First, we're young and missed a year. Maybe the conditioning isn't quite there the way it is for older teams (gee, it's weird to say old teams are in better shape compared to pro sports). Second, we're better at offense than defense. I think when we try to lock down a lead late in games, that's not our strength. Not that we should take unnecessary risks, but scoring more goals protects a lead, too.

dbilmes
If you're wondering why McDonald played both games over the weekend, this is what Schafer said in the official Brandon Thomas writeup after the St. Lawrence game:

Senior Nate McDonald made 19 saves to earn the victory, improving to 5-0 in his first five collegiate starts.

"I thought he did a solid job again tonight," Schafer added. "I thought he was better at controlling his rebounds. He just had a great week of practice. He was just dialed in all week in practice and focused, and I thought he elevated himself this week as a goaltender."

Like many of you, I felt that the bad-angle goal McDonald allowed to lose the shutout started to turn the momentum against us. There was also the icing call against us with about 30 seconds left which should have been waved off, and the strange decision to have the faceoff with 5 seconds remaining in our end instead of at neutral ice. From the Sun article:

After the whistle, Clarkson’s Chris Klack and senior tri-captain Kyle Betts got into it, with Klack delivering a punch to Bett’s helmet and Betts responding by driving Klack to the ice. The two were assessed offsetting roughing penalties.

After a review, the officials placed the puck in Cornell’s defensive zone. The decision seemed to be an incorrect adjudication of Rule 81.2, which stipulates that the puck be placed in the neutral zone following an altercation where the attacking team’s players come below the faceoff circles to get involved – which Clarkson defenseman Noah Beck did when he went to the corner to check out the action.

“We made mistakes, officials made mistakes, and Clarkson capitalized,” Schafer said.

With 4.7 seconds left, if the puck had been placed in the neutral zone Clarkson would have had the impossible task of winning the draw, entering the zone and getting off a shot. But it wasn’t placed in the neutral zone.

Also, we did have a power play in OT and had some good chances, but failed to capitalize. At least if we had scored on that power play we would have avoided the shootout and gotten the extra point. This was the first game this season where I felt we really missed Galajda. Even though it's been documented in his thread how he has given up similar bad-angle goals, it's hard to believe he would have let all four of those goals in during the final few minutes, especially the final one.

I looked at the rule and if you keep reading, it seems that since there were offsetting penalties the faceoff is supposed to be closest to where the play was whistled dead.

“When a violation of a rule has been committed by players of both teams on the play resulting in the stoppage, the ensuing faceoff shall be made at the point where the puck was when the stoppage occurred. If there is a differential in penalties, the faceoff will take place in the defending zone of the team with the additional penalty.”

[www.achahockey.org]

Coach Schafer on Clarkson game - “It was a tough ending – something that's never really happened to our program before. I am responsible for it . . . I failed our team tonight by not having them better prepared for the six-on-five. I thought we did, but I have to take responsibility that we were not detailed enough, so this result rests on my shoulders . . . Our players played hard and unfortunately, it got away . . . We will use it as a lesson, and will make sure we never make the same type of mistakes again."

In this day and age, it’s nice to see someone holding themself accountable. Quit griping, LGR!
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