Cornell at Princeton postgame thread 1/14/06

[see the game thread for other postgame notes] Shock and awe. Well, shock, very little awe ... that nobody wanted to start a separate postgame thread on this bizarre game. What happened to Cornell?

- After the 6-0 blowout of Quinnipiac Friday, this seemed like a good opportunity for a double-shutout weekend. Be careful what you wish for.
- Nobody goes unbeaten anymore in any sport. Just about. So a loss now and then isn't unthinkable.
- Princeton played well and forced the play early in first period.
- Cornell didn't play badly except for one big mistake, the breakway for goal No. 2.
- Cornell dominated Princeton for much of the game. (Shots were 35-24.). We sat with some Princeton fans and with the game winding down to the final five minutes, they were still scared to death that Cornell was going to net the equalizer plus one in overtime. They were just as nervous, up 2-0 with 3:30 left when McKee came out for the extra attacker. The Cornell attack really swarmed all over Princeton. We must have had 10 wraparounds (all game) and Princeton defenders only stopped or poked away one or two.

There are three ongoing issues this season, not unique to this game:
- Lots of quality chances translating to not enough scores. Like none Saturday.
- Reduced power play effectiveness and only one effective PP unit.
- Brief defensive lapses.

Friday night we were crowing about how it's good, maybe necessary, for a good team to open it up once in a while. Maybe it's good for the soul to lose a winnable game so the coach can do some soul searching on behalf of the team and deliver an inspirational message. If they bussed back Saturday in the snowstorm, it must've been a looooong ride in every way.

Not as bad as the score indicates. Still, pretty bad.

The greatest damage done to the Princeton team and psyche probably came when the Cornell contingent cried out Where Are Your Fans? Where Are Your Fans? Usually orange on black clothing stands out, and you didn't see a lot.

Hey, we beat Princeton 57-49 over at Jadwyn Gym.

[edit] One other neat thing you're only going to see once or twice in a lifetime: Princeton on power play the last minute and a half (Moulson of all people whistled off) and McKee off ... Cornell 5x5 dominating [the part you're not so likely to see a lot] ... Cornell able to dump the puck into the Princeton zone from anywhere on the rink and not being concerned about icing ... Princeton needing to ice the puck ... and the puck coming back into Princeton's end again and again.

Tough game to watch.

A few notes...

Can't be disappointed by the effort, only the final score. Sometimes you run into goalies with a double thick pane of glass in front of the net....

Can we please park a forward on the off post during the wrap-arond attempts. We'll give credit to Princeton's defense from keeping us from getting there to bang in one of the first 10 rebounds but after that....

Hey ref, how many times are you going to let their defense just fall on the puck in the corner before calling the delay of game. Five, six....BTW you could see Moulson just come off the ice in disgust and frustration with this tactic....

Speaking of Moulson. That was a really bad penalty to take at the end of the game. He just dumped the Princeton forward into the net to create the odd man rush out of the zone. Good play if you don't get caught, otherwise....

I'm still a bit dumb-founded (no jokes, please). Coming off a 6-0 win against Quinny, and given Cornell's road domination of Princeton the past 2 seasons...I'm baffled. It seemed they were beginning to put it together. Hopefully, this is merely an off-night. To be fair, Princeton has been playing pretty well the past few weeks and they had a great weekend.

This program really needs to find some finishers -- of course, what program doesn't. Seem to have a solid core of feeders, but someone needs to break out. This team is making decent goalies look great. Too few goals for the number of shots. Ah, it's so easy sitting here.

Lynah's going to be this coming weekend...

Only two things to say, really:

1) As soon as Gleed "scored" Princeton's first goal, I knew that a comeback would be difficult and unlikely. Cornell is usually quite good at shaking off the emotional effect of a goal by the other team. Very few teams are ever good at shaking off the emotional effect of an own-goal - and between their recent wins over very good teams, and their realization that Cornell, too, is merely human, I'm sure that goal also gave Princeton a lot of extra fire in their bellies.

2) The second goal breakaway: I was sitting directly behind McKee when it happened, and I had an extremely good view of the entire affair. Someone may already have said this on the game thread, but I don't feel like sifting through 100+ messages to find out: Why didn't he come out of the net? Goeckner-Zeller was chasing the puck from far enough behind that McKee had time to come out and knock the puck away, or at least come out and cut down the angles that G-Z had available to him. Yes, it's a risk, but sitting there and waiting is obviously also a risk. I sat there for what felt like eons seeing the opportunity to be proactive about it by leaving the crease just melt away, and it killed me. Isn't this something goalies practice on a fairly regular basis?

Beeeej

From center ice, the breakway looked like this: A Cornell defender was close behind and seemed to have his stick wrapped around G-Z's midsection. It's possible Goeckner-Zeller was about to be ridden off the play and if so, then McKee's role was to stay in the crease in case a second Princeton attacker appeared on the scene to grab the loose puck, although I don't recall anyone else being close. And to your point: In hindsight, had McKee come halfway to the blue line, GZ might not have been ready to shoot. Of course the way the game went, that would have meant we'd have only suffered a 1-0 loss. Saturday was Princeton's magical night. Love to see the Tigers as an ECAC playoff opponent so we could make it a best of 3 series for the season.

billhoward
Love to see the Tigers as an ECAC playoff opponent so we could make it a best of 3 series for the season.

That'd be best of 5, probably. Although if Princeton keeps this up, maybe they will make Albany....


Reposting from Scott's thread:

The fact is, Cornell played the better game last night, controlled the flow, and had the distinct majority of chances. Shots were 35-24, and that's probably a biased Princeton home town scorekeeper.

The only thing they couldn't do was finish. Whether that was their fault, luck, a hot goalie, or a combination of the 3, I don't know. But whatever it was, it sucked.

But had there been a few different bounces on scrambles in front of the net and/or the post they hit in the second (?) period, we easily could have been looking at a nice 3-1, 4-1 lead near the end of the game. Alas it was not to be.


This team is definitely weird though, this team has a variety of different problems that spring up. Lately the D seems to be getting solid and we're back to the nights when we can't put one home for our lives.

Scott is right, this team is a drop off from the last few years. But if there's a night that they can get all the cylinders clicking, they're pretty damn good. Unfortunately that has not consistently been the case.

DeltaOne81

billhoward
Love to see the Tigers as an ECAC playoff opponent so we could make it a best of 3 series for the season.

That'd be best of 5.

Unless we see them in Albany. (Assuming we're lucky enough to make it to Albany.)

In case a second Princeton attacker appeared on the scene from where?! There wasn't another one for at least twenty feet behind G-Z. By coming out of the crease and poking away the puck, McKee not only manages not to depend on his defender choosing to commit a blatant infraction that would've led to a penalty shot, he also removes the chance of a rebound once the rest of the Tigers do catch up.

You're also assuming that the remainder of the game would have gone exactly the same way had it remained 1-0 instead of 2-0, which is a pretty absurd assumption in a game where momentum often counts for as much as skill and determination.

Beeeej

This was the first time I've seen us lose at Princeton. Very disappointing.

What I saw last night was a team that in the first and third periods seemed very stationary. No hustle, no drive, no energy. We did well in the second, especially on the power play, but as noted elsewhere, couldn't finish. I don't sense we ever really challenged Leroux. By the third, we stopped hitting and let Princeton just sit on the puck (four guys on one in the corner? Please).

I didn't see any creativity offensively at all. We cycled well but had nobody in a position to score off the cycle. Everyone I spoke to noted that it looked like they were looking for the perfect shot rather than putting it on net and going after the rebound. Our passing was weak and very innacurate, though I'll blame some of that on the ice, which was in terrible shape. The reason the shots were so lopsided, IMO, was because by the third period Princeton decided they'd ice the puck and sit on the lead rather than try for another goal.

I don't see this team making it to the NCAAs, and I'm not holding my breath about Albany.

I was listening online, and it seems to me that once Princeton had the goal they went into a prevent almost immediately. It really felt like they were doing everything possible to take time of the clock while keeping Cornell away from any dangerous shooting areas, which I guess is the point. However, it sounded like Princeton stopped trying to put any offensive pressure on, and focused instead on holding that lead. Am I getting the picture correct from the radio?

My take, is it possible this team coming off a big win over QU was looking ahead to a huge game this friday at home against SLU?

Beeeej
Why didn't he come out of the net? Goeckner-Zeller was chasing the puck from far enough behind that McKee had time to come out and knock the puck away, or at least come out and cut down the angles that G-Z had available to him. Yes, it's a risk, but sitting there and waiting is obviously also a risk. I sat there for what felt like eons seeing the opportunity to be proactive about it by leaving the crease just melt away, and it killed me. Isn't this something goalies practice on a fairly regular basis?
Beeeej

Good question Beeeej. It's one I've asked myself everytime McKee's faced a breakaway. I don't think I've ever seen McKee make a breakaway save--not once. I've also never seen him come out of the net at all to stop a breakaway. He's a great goalie, but he seems to me to be pretty awful at breakaways.

I agree with you guys that McKee should have come out in some fashion on that breakaway. I don't think he should have come way out before G-Z got there, but it was obvious as they were skating down that the d-man was not going to take the penalty. Once G-Z was about 5 feet out from the crease I think the best thing would have been McKee just diving out at the puck b/c the d-man behind the play would've prevented the player making a move to the backhand so this would have taken away any shot.

As I said in the other thread, I think the issue with the offense was too much playing with the puck in the corners and not enough shots from the center and the points. It was also really annoying how much Princeton just iced the puck for the third period.

Good question Beeeej. It's one I've asked myself everytime McKee's faced a breakaway. I don't think I've ever seen McKee make a breakaway save--not once. I've also never seen him come out of the net at all to stop a breakaway. He's a great goalie, but he seems to me to be pretty awful at breakaways.

I didn't see last night's game, but in defense of McKee he saved at least two breakaways (and possibly three) during the shootout against Minnesota-Duluth to determine the championship of the Florida tournament last month.

dbilmes

Good question Beeeej. It's one I've asked myself everytime McKee's faced a breakaway. I don't think I've ever seen McKee make a breakaway save--not once. I've also never seen him come out of the net at all to stop a breakaway. He's a great goalie, but he seems to me to be pretty awful at breakaways.

I didn't see last night's game, but in defense of McKee he saved at least two breakaways (and possibly three) during the shootout against Minnesota-Duluth to determine the championship of the Florida tournament last month.

I've seen him make a couple in the Red-White games as well (the last few years). I was talking more about in-game situations. I remember hearing reports from Lansing last year that he made a couple in the Michigan State weekend. Maybe its a confirmation bias...I don't know, its just something I've noticed.

dbilmes

(someone else)
Good question Beeeej. It's one I've asked myself everytime McKee's faced a breakaway. I don't think I've ever seen McKee make a breakaway save--not once. I've also never seen him come out of the net at all to stop a breakaway. He's a great goalie, but he seems to me to be pretty awful at breakaways.

I didn't see last night's game, but in defense of McKee he saved at least two breakaways (and possibly three) during the shootout against Minnesota-Duluth to determine the championship of the Florida tournament last month.

Not only that, but he also made an in-game breakaway save in one of the Florida games. I remember mostly my surprise at the save, because breakaways are definitely not his strong suit.

A few points about the game.

First, I had a great view of one end of the rink (where Princeton defended in the 3rd). I'm pretty damn sure, about 6 minutes in the 3rd period or so, I saw the puck in the net, against the left post. It quickly got kicked out by someone. I wouldn't bet on it, but I'm pretty confident it was in there.

Pokulok was playing well, up until that awful turnover for the second goal. And it was awful. I missed exactly what happened on the first goal, but someone went to hit a Princeton player behind the net, bounced off the guy, and allowed him to make a nice pass in front of the net. Guess the pass went off Gleed's skate.

Our offense was lacking offense. We had lots of chances, but none of them were great. Leroux was very solid, but made maybe one great save all night. Someone mentioned we need a forward at the far post on wraparounds, and that could have generated at least 3 goals. Also, we need shooters who can put the puck on goal. Our defensemen were firing a lot of slapshots that went wide. Putting those on allows for rebounds, and besides, you need to shoot on goal to score.

On the other hand, our penalty kill looked fantastic. But our power play, after a few good in the early 2nd period, fell apart. Our 2nd PP line needs a lot of work.

Maybe we should reassemble the Barlow, Kennedy, Kindret line? It looked good against Niagara. And I'd like to see Kindret get some time, I've been impressed by him so far. At least, he's fast.

Moulson looked good against Princeton. So did O'Byrne, Mugford, and Cam Abbott. That's about it.

Jacob '06
It was also really annoying how much Princeton just iced the puck for the third period.

To be fair, we once won an ECAC championship by icing the puck for seven minutes.

jtwcornell91

Jacob '06
It was also really annoying how much Princeton just iced the puck for the third period.

To be fair, we once won an ECAC championship by icing the puck for seven minutes.

It was only seven minutes? It felt like hours at the time...

Do keep in mind that Princeton did beat Colgate on Friday night and also beat Denver earlier this season. They may be near the bottom of the ECAC ranks but they're not American International.

Do we ever want to see Cornell lose? No. Should we be concerned about the performance? Sure. But is a two point weekend on the road the end of the world? No. Especially in January. Anyone reemmber a 4-1 loss at Army ten years ago at this time?

KeithK
Anyone reemmber a 4-1 loss at Army ten years ago at this time?

Certainly all of us who were there. Watching future generals taking bellyflops on the ice between periods while wearing garbage bags was equally memorable.

[q]Certainly all of us who were there. Watching future generals taking bellyflops on the ice between periods while wearing garbage bags was equally memorable.[/q]I wasn't at the game - only listened to it. Apparently the radio listeners missed some interesting between period action...

oceanst41
My take, is it possible this team coming off a big win over QU was looking ahead to a huge game this friday at home against SLU?

When teams look ahead, they're almost always forgetting to show up Friday because of a big game Saturday. I'd be willing to bet that between Schafer's insistence on focus and kids' attention spans, half the team gives zero thought to the next week's opponent until about Tuesday. IMHO, rightfully so.

KeithK
Do we ever want to see Cornell lose? No. Should we be concerned about the performance? Sure. But is a two point weekend on the road the end of the world? No. Especially in January. Anyone reemmber a 4-1 loss at Army ten years ago at this time?

I remember an interesting story about what happened after that game, and even went so far as to suggest that the events of that story should have been repeated last Saturday night after the Princeton game.

But they were in Jersey. Would they have been able to tell the difference?

Do tell.

At least Princeton's organist was pretty cool. Anything is better than the canned music they used to play. I especially thought it was funny when he (or she?) played "Kashmir" and "Sympathy for the Devil."

As smart as Princeton folks are supposed to be, I can't believe that the rink folks there put up white narrow-gauge netting to protect spectators in the balcony. Thankfully, I didn't have to sit up there. Otherwise it would be like trying to watch a hockey game with gauze over your eyes.

Scott Kominkiewicz
At least Princeton's organist was pretty cool. Anything is better than the canned music they used to play. I especially thought it was funny when he (or she?) played "Kashmir" and "Sympathy for the Devil."

That organ was the worst in game music I had ever heard. It felt like being in a church.

MattShaf
That organ was the worst in game music I had ever heard. It felt like being in a church.

Agreed. "Tiny Dancer"? The theme from "Jeopardy"? I'll take "Songs that shouldn't be played at a hockey game" for $400, Alex.

I don't know, I enjoyed the Jeopardy theme music. Even the Princeton fans around us laughed when I yelled "What is Princeton sucks"

jmh30

KeithK
Do we ever want to see Cornell lose? No. Should we be concerned about the performance? Sure. But is a two point weekend on the road the end of the world? No. Especially in January. Anyone reemmber a 4-1 loss at Army ten years ago at this time?

I remember an interesting story about what happened after that game, and even went so far as to suggest that the events of that story should have been repeated last Saturday night after the Princeton game.

Listening to the game I don't think Cornell's performance last Saturday was on par with the game against the Black Knights. So a repeat of those post-game activities probably wasn't warranted. (Besides, didn't Schafer get reprimanded?)

KeithK
Listening to the game I don't think Cornell's performance last Saturday was on par with the game against the Black Knights. So a repeat of those post-game activities probably wasn't warranted. (Besides, didn't Schafer get reprimanded?)

No, but he decided that it was far more of a punishment to him and his staff than it had been to the players, and possibly the worst error in judgment he'd ever made. He had to ride the bus back to Ithaca along with them, after all.

Beeeej

what happened? that game was alittle before my time...

Dpperk29
what happened? that game was alittle before my time...

But it's more fun to make references to the events without explaining...

How do you keep a Cornell fan in suspense? I'll tell ya tomorrow.

You're a cruel man, Keith.

Coach Schafer was so disgusted by the team's performance that he had them run around the rink a few times before heading home, and didn't let them change clothes or shower. So they all rode back from West Point to Ithaca on the smelliest bus in history.

Including Coach Schafer, which is why he regretted the whole idea.

Beeeej

Part of the Baker Rink flavor. And Baker is the finest Division-III rink in the country. It would be the pride of Amherst, Williams, or Wesleyan.

Bill,

Agreed that Baker isn't up to par with the newer rinks but it has that old style "flavor" that many of us "older" college fans love.

As a visiting team, it has the grit and charm that requires you to work hard to earn a win, especially if the Tigers are playing well and get some fan support.

I recall seeing a number of games in the nearly 30 years I've seen Clarkson play there where Tech had all they could handle to come away with a win, or in some cases a tie. And that's when Clarkson had a much stronger team than Princeton in most cases.

I think the "atmosphere" begins in those locker rooms...definitely D-3 calibre.

Beeeej
Coach Schafer was so disgusted by the team's performance that he had them run around the rink a few times before heading home, and didn't let them change clothes or shower. So they all rode back from West Point to Ithaca on the smelliest bus in history.

And the team, which was 7-5-3 (6-2-3 ECAC) before that game, proceeded to go 10-2-1 (9-2-1 ECAC) in their remaining regular season games, crush Colgate in two ECAC quarterfinal games at Lynah, take their first ECAC title in 10 years with wins over Clarkson and Harvard in Lake Placid, and lose a heartbreaker to Lake State in the NCAAs. And so the legend of the smelly busride was born.

Well, if we could be guaranteed similar results (winning the ECAChLs, we can do without another heartbreaking NC$$ loss), it might have been worth repeating the bus ride. really can stinky hockey players smell much worse than NJ? (just kidding garden state natives, and there were times in ithaca when my hockey bag was quite offensive).

The quality of Baker Rink's *home* dressing room was enough to convince David McKee that if he was going to play Ivy League hockey at Princeton, it would only be once a year.

OTOH, the capacity at Baker Rink relative to Princeton's needs is more adequate than Lynah's.

I thought it was fun when a few of us kept singing Green Day after the organist stopped. But some of it was just weak, too.

On the whole, I prefer the Pep Band.

magical weekend?
remember, they beat Colgate 5-3 the night before too. Didnt they also beat UND or something. And yet they have a losing record?
Good for the ECAC, not so great for us.

I was sitting behind the Princeton goal (near Beej) and saw Powe attempt to pass the puck from behind the net, and instead hit the back of McKee's shinpad and into the goal. It very well may be possible that before it made it to the shinpad, it hit off of a skate.?
I thought these were the kind of goals that we used to get. Like someone said earlier, forget about waiting for the perfect shots, and just throw the puck on net and hopefully there will be rebounds and deflections (or deflections off of a skate, however, not with a distinct kicking motion, (thinks of BC in '02-'03 NCAA). I hope the kids (and coach) responds to Saturday this weekend.
LGR
dave '02

dadeo
I was sitting behind the Princeton goal (near Beej) and saw Powe attempt to pass the puck from behind the net, and instead hit the back of McKee's shinpad and into the goal.

It hit Gleed's skates and went five hole. It looked like Gleed freaked out a little when he saw where the puck was coming right at him. I'd like to see a replay.

ugarte
It hit Gleed's skates and went five hole. It looked like Gleed freaked out a little when he saw where the puck was coming right at him. I'd like to see a replay.

That's how I saw it too - although I was on the otherside of the rink - N-2. Nonethless, it seemed like all stars aligned and I felt I somehow got a great view of that play, and that's what I saw. But I could be mistaken.

As we were leaving the rink, I commented to my friend and my son that I thought it would be hard for Schaefer to keep a straight face and say the usual platitudes about how Princeton played well, deserved to win, wanted it more, etc. We were in the section next to the band, so we had a very good view of Princeton's "offense" and I can tell you they didn't have much. It was unusual for Princeton to win a face-off in their offensive zone. They had a handful of decent shots, but really not many. McKee looked good except on the one breakaway.

Given Princeton's collapsing defensive style, Cornell's offense seemed too focused on pushing the puck in close to the crease. The Red would've benefited from more shots from the point and the faceoff circle with some rebound chances. Cornell dominated a big part of the game but couldn't get many good looks because Princeton had a lot of guys surrounding the goal.

I agree with those who said Cornell didn't hit enough. The first period should have had many tigers bouncing off boards, but there were precious few significant hits. We had a clear size advantage that wasn't used much at all.

Individual player analysis: Sasha was constantly requesting the puck and not getting it. He was a non-factor on offense but not by choice. O'Byrne needs to learn to use his size properly. He could be really good, but isn't. On offense if everyone had Topher's intensity, the team would score 7 goals a game. Barlow looked pretty awful.

Other notes: It seemed like we lost a total of about 5 faceoffs in the whole game. Our centers are really good at winning the draw. Small consolation. I loved Schaefer pulling McKee with over 3:00 remaining. Princeton didn't hit the EN until they were on the PP.

Karl B. '77

Beeeej
Coach Schafer was so disgusted by the team's performance that he had them run around the rink a few times before heading home

The running around the rink was reportedly team captain Brad Chartrand's idea -- it sounded like a "maybe we'd better give Coach time to cool off" kind of situation. Seems like it didn't work so well...

It sounds, from the sum of those who were there, like this wasn't the sort of game that will provoke Schafer's ire. If they played pretty well and just got stoned by a plexiglass goalie and a suffocating D... well, he's not happy, but he's also not going to read the team the riot act.

OTOH, if he feels the effort was lacking, not even a 6-goal win would save them from an exhausting practice.

Nice long homestand coming up. It's all a question of whether the '06 team will play at Lynah like '03 and '05 (21-1-0 in ECAC RS), or '04 (6-3-2 in ECAC RS). So far, they're 2-1-1, and the toughest opponents have yet to come in.

Beeeej
You're a cruel man, Keith.

Yes, I am.

[q]Agreed that Baker isn't up to par with the newer rinks but it has that old style "flavor" that many of us "older" college fans love.[/q]I agree Rich. Baker is one of my favorite road rinks. But I much prefer the old barns with character to the new "facilities".

I'd be inclined to think that McKee made his decision on factors more important than the quality of the home dressing room.

If that were key, I'd bet Clarkson would get nearly all the guys they recruit.

Agreed in general about Baker's capacity. However, when they hosted North Dakota with Parise a few years back, and Notre Dame, another year, the place was PACKED! We went and there were people practically hanging off the rafters, much like there used to be at Clarkson Arena in the old old old days.

We sat in the row right behind the Cornell bench (this with "standing room only" tickets) and saw one of the coaches' clipboards had badly chipped corners. We wondered how that could happen. When it got flung to the concrete in the third period, the answer was clear. Emotions sometimes overtake the coaches.

Agreed 100 %

Beeeej
You're a cruel man, Keith.

Coach Schafer was so disgusted by the team's performance that he had them run around the rink a few times before heading home, and didn't let them change clothes or shower. So they all rode back from West Point to Ithaca on the smelliest bus in history.

Including Coach Schafer, which is why he regretted the whole idea.

Beeeej

So then Coach Morris at Clarkson, who was lambasted here for using a similar "no shower" tactic, learned it from Schafer?

Rich S
So then Coach Morris at Clarkson, who was lambasted here for using a similar "no shower" tactic, learned it from Schafer?

Who in the what now? When did that happen? I remember Morris being lambasted for slagging off his goalies in the press and getting into a tustle with one of his players. (Was that a neutral enough way to say it without starting a flamewar?)

I do remember Don Vaughn calling for a stick check in an S*IT game once and wondering why the moral outrage displayed by Gilligan and Grillo over Schafer actually challenging their use of illegal equipment didn't manifest itself in whatever Hockey Least team the Red Raiders were playing. Sorry, was that totally incomprehensible?

Alan Greenspan would be proud. I didn't understand a word.

From the Princeton sports website:

Leroux made 35 saves on Saturday against Cornell to become the first Princeton goaltender to blank the Big Red in 42 years.

Not exactly history I had hoped to witness.

DeltaOne81

ugarte
It hit Gleed's skates and went five hole. It looked like Gleed freaked out a little when he saw where the puck was coming right at him. I'd like to see a replay.

That's how I saw it too - although I was on the otherside of the rink - N-2. Nonethless, it seemed like all stars aligned and I felt I somehow got a great view of that play, and that's what I saw. But I could be mistaken.

That's exactly what I saw, too (first period I was sitting basically on the goal line, not behind the net as I was for the third). No question in my mind, it hit Gleed's skate or stick.

Beeeej

Beeeej
That's exactly what I saw, too (first period I was sitting basically on the goal line, not behind the net as I was for the third). No question in my mind, it hit Gleed's skate or stick.

It was his skate.

i really think baker is a class act rink with a lot of character. I just can't stand that damn organ (or whatever it is).

Given the choice between "Jock Jams" and an organ I'll take organ music any day.

dave
i really think baker is a class act rink with a lot of character.

I think the renovation they gave Baker many years back did a wonderful job of updating the rink while maintaining its character.

In particular, the building of new walkways around the outside of the rink makes access much easier than before. I wonder if something similar is in the plans for Lynah's redo--that is, add more seats where the existing walkway is on the south side while enclosing what is now the outside of the south side of the rink to provide access.

[q]In particular, the building of new walkways around the outside of the rink makes access much easier than before. I wonder if something similar is in the plans for Lynah's redo--that is, add more seats where the existing walkway is on the south side while enclosing what is now the outside of the south side of the rink to provide access.[/q]I thought the idea was to build a new lobby on the south side of the rink, to provide a real entrance to the facility. Assuming that is still the plan I think this would imply at least an outer walkway around the back of the rink, or perhaps just a wide lobby providing access to the seating at a number of places.

Al DeFlorio

dave
i really think baker is a class act rink with a lot of character.

I think the renovation they gave Baker many years back did a wonderful job of updating the rink while maintaining its character.

In particular, the building of new walkways around the outside of the rink makes access much easier than before. I wonder if something similar is in the plans for Lynah's redo--that is, add more seats where the existing walkway is on the south side while enclosing what is now the outside of the south side of the rink to provide access.

Al, that was proposed a few years ago. St. Law also is like that. At Lynah they also proposed working on the west (open) end with new locker rooms and a CHA room overlooking the ice.

Outer aisles would allow concession stands there and more seating. I believe the CHA has money set aside for their room and have to assume that the renovations were too much since the whole rink could not be brought up to current building codes.

Have we lost only on Saturdays so far? Too lazy to check, but maybe this could be meaningful.

ctenah
Have we lost only on Saturdays so far? Too lazy to check, but maybe this could be meaningful.

Union was a Friday.

We happened to walk out of Baker rink with the "organist" - a Princeton undergrad - carrying his keyboard that he plugs in to the PA system. He told us that this is something that they are trying out, and he was interested in what we thought. Too bad I didn't think to tell him about elynah. I told him it was definitely better than the recorded crap they used previously, but he had plenty of room for improvement.

KeithK
Given the choice between "Jock Jams" and an organ I'll take organ music any day.

I'd take *good* organ music, but that? That was NOT good organ music.

Lots of old buildings get glass walkways around the outside to expand the facility or bridge two facilities that are in cold weather. A lot use cost-constrained construction and, for instance, the glass is really plexiglass or similar that discolors and scratches and it then looks like a failed attempt to bridge two eras. Baker avoided that.

billhoward
Lots of old buildings get glass walkways around the outside to expand the facility or bridge two facilities that are in cold weather. A lot use cost-constrained construction and, for instance, the glass is really plexiglass or similar that discolors and scratches and it then looks like a failed attempt to bridge two eras. Baker avoided that.

Agree fully. Princeton has the endowment to do things first-class--and they usually do.

I believe that Baker Rink has a some sort of "protected status" so there may be some restrictions on what they can do to it...unlike Palmer Stadium.

Can anyone confirm?

Do we know that Princeton U paid for the renovations or perhaps alumni raised the funds ?

Almost sounds as if Gadowsky is taking a page from the Princeton style of basketball - lots of perimeter shooting, no offensive rebounding, and getting back on defense quickly. Seems to be working better for the hockey team than their basketball team this year.