Why Cornell deviated from the winning strategy of splitting goaly duty in the playoffs has got me a bit befuddled. Underhill and LeNeveu are both very good, and it seems to be a fresh goalie for each game would be an advantage. I thought Underhill played a better game against RPI than Harvard. Could he have been somewhat fatiqued??
Chris
I agree totally. The roatation worked well all season, why tamper with success. I realize Underhill is a senior and this is it for him and tradition dictates going with one goalie in the playoffs, but with UNH getting a bye, I'd be all for sharing the goal duties this weekend.
From everything I have ever heard about goaltending, a netminder is better off getting as much action as possible. Underhill won't be fatigued on Sunay any more than he was probably fatigued going into last Saturday's game. Did he stand on his head and win the game against Harvard? No, but he didn't play poorly either. We got beat for other reasons than goaltending, reasons which have been discussed at length in other threads. I think Matt will be fine this weekend and I fully expect him to play.
You pick a goalie in the playoffs and stick with him. If you go back and forth you risk cooling him off and other hockey strategy things that I can't think of right now :-)). But from NHL to minors to college probably even to high school, you pick a go-to-goalie and ride him as far as he'll take you.
The rotation worked nicely, but Underhill deserves the role in his final postseason.
Underhill, period.
It will be "LeNeveu, period" come next fall.
Speaking of LeNeveu Period next fall, who else will be there? A new recruit? How about the guy from Northeastern?
I haven't heard anything that would indicate that Todd Marr won't be around next year (off course, I have hardly heard his name at all for months). I also don't remember seeing a goalie recruit though I don't have the link to Heisenberg's site at work to check. The way David played this year he has to be favorite to get the majority of minutes, but we do need one or two other guys as backups. Marr or whoever will certainly get a certani number of games in the fall, just to be game ready.
Marr is insurance, albeit EXTREMELY valuable insurance. I have read between the lines that we had a second tier prospect who snubbed us for Harvard because David looks so good, so we may have to fly with just one real goalie next year. Gee, it sucks to have to depend on the #1 Central Scouting Goaltender among NCAA players. ;-)
OTOH, Cornell is *the* premier goaltender position in the country (one reason why we managed to land David, who by all right would otherwise have gone junior).
I would expect us to land a solid prospect for next year. So far, Mike seems to have reloaded with the incoming class and is already nailing down talent for 11/03 (the two huge guys from Camrose).