ELynah Forum

I saw the list of recruits Cornell landed this year and it looks solid...but how did CU do vs. other schools?  What schools did we beat out to get them?  Who did we lose out on?  

Matt Connors' 'final five' were Maine, Michigan State, Yale, and Dartmouth (in addition to Cornell)
Colin Greening (06) was recruited by Clarkson, RPI, and others
Justin Milo (06) was definitely recruited by a bunch of WCHA and HE programs.
I read something a while ago about Tony Romano (06) being looked at by some Hockey East schools, but I can't find it anymore.

i don't know anything about the others, but Evan Barlow's brother played at Harvard, and he put up pretty good numbers in the BCHL, so I'd be surprised if he wasn't looked at.

We lost out on 2 goaltenders for 2006-07..both Billy Sauer and Steve Jakiel are going to UMich that season, and both had been recruited/offered by Cornell.

[Q]pfibiger Wrote:

Colin Greening (06) was recruited by ..., RPI, and others.[/q]

:`(








;-)

[Q]pfibiger Wrote:

 We lost out on 2 goaltenders for 2006-07..both Billy Sauer and Steve Jakiel are going to UMich that season, and both had been recruited/offered by Cornell.[/q]

Wow, that seems awefully...well done.  Geez.

[Q]pfibiger Wrote:

 We lost out on 2 goaltenders for 2006-07..both Billy Sauer and Steve Jakiel are going to UMich that season, and both had been recruited/offered by Cornell.[/q]

Guess the timing is wrong to blame Gartman.

I don't know if Schafer was recruiting them for 06-07 or for next year (i had read about this well before DiLeo committed). It's possible they had no interest in coming to Ithaca and sitting for 2 years, backing up McKee.

Nanaimo has a goaltender coming in next year from Sasha Pokulok/Jared Seminoff's old team (The Notre Dame Hounds), Marc Cheverie. He's apparently a smart kid and was his league MVP last year.  Since Bestwick seems to pitch Cornell to his best students/athletes, you have to imagine we've got an inside track on this kid.

Phil,
However, Bestwick may be out as coach of the Clippers when their sale goes through. The current owner is denying that BEstwick will be out http://www.nanaimoclippers.com/newsarticle.php?id=182 but there are lots of rumors elsewhere. There are many threads on the BCHL mesage board (granted not a relaible source) http://www.network54.com/Forum/146929 about what is going on there and in Vernon. See, for example, the newspaper article posted in the fourth reply in the thread http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=146929&messageid=1117590104&lp=1118288913 which says that Bestwick may stay on as GM and Director of Player Personnel, but not as coach. In another article posted further down in that thread, Bestwick says that he wants to stay in Nanaimo. I guess the question is how much influence a GM will have on players, as opposed to a coach.

[Q]pfibiger Wrote:

Nanaimo has a goaltender coming in next year from Sasha Pokulok/Jared Seminoff's old team (The Notre Dame Hounds), Marc Cheverie. He's apparently a smart kid and was his league MVP last year.  Since Bestwick seems to pitch Cornell to his best students/athletes, you have to imagine we've got an inside track on this kid.[/q]

Notre Dame is also the alma mater of a number of other former Cornell players, including, I believe, goaltender Matt Underhill.

[Q]ursaminor Wrote:

 Phil,
However, Bestwick may be out as coach of the Clippers when their sale goes through. The current owner is denying that BEstwick will be out  but there are lots of rumors elsewhere. There are many threads on the BCHL mesage board (granted not a relaible source)  about what is going on there and in Vernon. See, for example, the newspaper article posted in the fourth reply in the thread  which says that Bestwick may stay on as GM and Director of Player Personnel, but not as coach. In another article posted further down in that thread, Bestwick says that he wants to stay in Nanaimo. I guess the question is how much influence a GM will have on players, as opposed to a coach.

Edited 1 times. Last edit at 06/09/05 12:25AM by ursaminor.[/q]

Just to follow up on this. The sale of the Nanaimo Clippers did go through..and it looks like Bestwick is still in place at Nanaimo, in fact he is now a part owner:

QuoteKen Wagner and Bill Gallacher are the majority owners.
Bill Bestwick also bought a share of the team. Bestwick is also President, General Manager and Co-Coach. Mike Vandekamp will also be a Co-Coach with Bestwick. Vandekamp is also the new Director of Hockey Operations.

So it looks like the pipeline is still intact :)

So Nanaimo has "co-coaches" now?  Never heard that one before.  Sounds like a recipe for distaster unless it's really just a pleasant way of pushing Bestwick upstairs.

IIRC, Don Cherry was involved in a co-coach situation which quickly degernated into chaos.  That may be more Cherry than structure, though.

Brendon Nash of the Salmon Arm Silverbanks committed to Cornell for 2006: http://www.sasilverbacks.com/index.php?more=546. His page http://www.sasilverbacks.com/roster.php?pid=61.

6'3"  195 lb LD. Last year's regular season stats: 59-0-17-17-40. Two years ago in Midget: 55-8-22-30-30.


Edit: Thread on the BCHL message board: http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=146929&messageid=1121729130&lp=1121757529.

Thanks Ralph,

An article about Nash, when he was moving from midget->BCHL a year and a half ago. Apparently we had our eye on him even then:

[Q]
Nash: Preparing for BCHL
Hockey Now Reporter

There are some rugby players in B.C who are mighty glad they don’t have to worry about tackling Brendon Nash anymore.

At nearly 6-foot-4, 195 pounds, the athletic Nash was an imposing back on his Brocklehurst Secondary School rugby team. The only sore spot for Nash was that his team didn’t go very far this year.

However, there has never been much doubt that hockey is Nash’s first love, and there’s no telling how far he will go on the ice. Last winter, Nash was the blue-line leader of the North Kamloops Lions Midget AAA team, helping them win the provincial championship and represent B.C. in the Pacific Region qualifying round for the national Midget championship.

An alternate captain on the team, a leader at his school, a contributor to the Kamloops community and an Honor Roll Student, Nash was a finalist for the 2004 Minor Hockey Achievement Award.

Nash has opted to combine hockey and academics by going the Junior A/NCAA route. He’s counting down the days to the start of training camp with the Salmon Arm SilverBacks.

“I’m excited about going there. Everyone I talk to says it’s a great organization and a great place to play hockey,” Nash said. “I thought about (playing in the WHL) but I thought Salmon Arm would be great for developing.

“We’re very excited to have him make the commitment to coming here and we think he’s going to develop into a very good player,” said SilverBacks GM Garry Davidson. “His strength right now might be the offensive part of the game but he’s big and strong and we’ll see how he develops.

“I’m sure he’s going to get a lot of (NCAA) interest. I understand Cornell made an early visit after the 1st of July and we’ve had other calls about him.”

Nash is looking forward to his first foray away from Kamloops. He will complete Grade 12 in Salmon Arm, aiming to keep up the marks necessary for admission to some of the best NCAA engineering faculties as well as catching the eye of hockey scouts. He’s already done that in tournaments such as the prestigious Mac’s Tournament in Calgary, where he was selected to play in the all-star game.

In addition to rugby and hockey, he has played volleyball and lacrosse and dabbled in most sports. He’s been a referee in lacrosse, a leader in school and contributor to Minor Hockey in various programs.

“Brendon’s most enduring quality is his presence in the community,” said Brocklehurst teacher Bernie Pimm. “At our school, he has emerged as the pre-eminent leader. He officiates intramural activities, helps run fundraisers, and assists his teachers with young students, all while playing hockey, rugby and pursuing academic excellence ... He has become a model of excellence that administrators, teachers and students are proud of.”
[/Q]

[Q]ursaminor Wrote:
6'3"  195 lb LD. Last year's regular season stats: 59-0-17-17-40.
[/q]

He was also the top scoring defenseman on his team during the playoffs with a 11-1-5-6 line

And a prospective engineer too.  Cool.

[Q]KeithK Wrote:

 And a prospective engineer too.  Cool.[/q]
When you consider Jan Pajerski and how he had to leave the team senior year for schoolwork, maybe not. :-/   It WOULD be cool if there weren't that caveat.

Wasn't  last year's team about 40% Engineering, 40% Hotel, 20% AEM & other?

definitly not...id guess 70% aem, 25% hotel, and 5% other....

[Q]Section A Banshee Wrote:

 [Q2]KeithK Wrote:

 And a prospective engineer too.  Cool.[/Q]
When you consider Jan Pajerski and how he had to leave the team senior year for schoolwork, maybe not.    It WOULD be cool if there weren't that caveat.[/q]

But there are the Dave Burkes and Ryan Hugheses who can cut it, too.  Just tell him to go ORIE... ;)

[Q]ithacat Wrote:

 Wasn't  last year's team about 40% Engineering, 40% Hotel, 20% AEM & other? [/q]

No. According to the media guide:

26 total
11 aem 42%
6 Hotel  20.6%
3 undecided (2 arts, one ag) 11.5%
3 econ 11.5%
1 PAM 3.8%
1 bio/society 3.8%
1 hbhs 3.8%

[Q]Chris '03 Wrote:

 [Q2]ithacat Wrote:

 Wasn't  last year's team about 40% Engineering, 40% Hotel, 20% AEM & other? [/Q]
No. According to the media guide:

26 total
11 aem 42%
6 Hotel  20.6%
3 undecided (2 arts, one ag) 11.5%
3 econ 11.5%
1 PAM 3.8%
1 bio/society 3.8%
1 hbhs 3.8%[/q]

Wow...I must have been thinking of the Minnesota guide. ::help::

Anyone with too much time on his hands want to go through old programs or media guides to see what the distribution of colleges has been over time?  Just wondering whether it has changed at all.  There seem to be fewer engineers than when I was an undergrad, but then I may just be remembering particular examples like Burke and Hughes (who were in my dept.)  I've only got programs from 94-98 or 99, so I can't do anything comprehensive..

I remember one engineer during my four years, but I'd have to dig out some programs to remember who.  I also don't remember to many hotelies.  That was a more common major on the football team, not the hockey team.  Usually the hockey players were Ag. Ec. majors, which basically was the only undergraduate business major at the time.

Andrew McNiven was in the engineering school, ORIE I think.

You're right about McNiven, but does ORIE really count?  :-P

[Q]Robb Wrote:But there are the Dave Burkes and Ryan Hugheses who can cut it, too.  Just tell him to go ORIE... [/q]Yeah, but that's pretty much the same as telling him not to do engineering, isn't it?  B-]

My senior year roommate was an ORIE.  He said it stood for one of two things:

- Outdoor Recreation and Imaginary Engineering
- Oh Really?  It's Easy.

??? They got rid of the PAM major in 1998, didn't they?

no

I always heard it as: Oh Really, Its Engineering?

I don't think we mentioned him in this thread, but Nanaimo has picked up a huge, bruising defenseman who played last year for the Saskatoon Contacts, who won the Telus Cup. He won the MVP of the tournament..

Some talk on the BCHL forum:
"The kid is a tank. He's 6'4" and 205lb. By the time he's done this season he should be 215 and by the time he heads to school a lean mean 220lb (so long as his trainer has a clue.) He's nice kid too, hard to believe he's only 17. Could pass for 19-20 easily. "

"By about January, the player that will make you say wow will be Eric Gryba from Nanaimo. He is an elite player. The type of guy who would play 25 in the WHL this year. He will be a player to watch. I predict he will be the best Dman in the BCHL next year after 25 games"

Anyway, it turns out the kid is a good student, and I just ran across this in an article:

"The futures ‹ believed to be the rights to D Eric Gryba, are expected to be announced at a news conference in Saskatoon today. Gryba, Portland's second pick, 23rd overall, in the 2003 draft, hasn't committed to the WHL and may end up at an Ivy League school"

The fact that he's headed to Nanaimo, and is being recruited by an Ivy League school (or is at least thought to be), makes it sound like Schafer has his eye on him. Other bits I've read about him make it sound like he could end up more or less at any school he wanted, hope he ends up in Ithaca. In addition to Nash, if we could pick up 1-2 of Gryba, Chad Morin, and Simon Danis-Pepin, that would be an incredibly solid defensive recruiting class.

Another 2 defensive bruisers one going to North Dakota and one possible for ND:

[Q]Tysen Dowzak (D, 6-5, 223 pounds)

Humongous in street shoes and larger than life on skates. Six-foot-five and still growing. Didn't have the best showing at the Select 17's, but it's obvious why everyone is drooling.

The former Shattuck standout will skate for the USHL's Lincoln Stars this year before moving to college in the fall of 2006, quite possibly to North Dakota. A top-10 prospect for the 2006 NHL Draft in the opinion of most observers.[/Q]

and

[Q]Not for Joe Finley, the 6-7, 240-pound defenseman from Edina, Minn., who played for the USHL's Sioux Falls Stampede last year. This September, he’ll step into the breach as a blueliner at North Dakota.

"It's been a whirlwind," said the 18-year-old Finley, who in 55 USHL games last year scored three goals and 18 points and compiled 181 penalty minutes.[/Q]

a bit on Brendon Nash from "Research on Ice":

----------------------------------------
Strong On The Pitch, Smooth On The Ice
 
Some use roller hockey as a means to prepare. Others like soccer.
 
Salmon Arm Silverbacks defenseman Brendon Nash, however, prefers rugby over all the rest.
 
"Rugby's a great training for hockey," says the 6-3, 200 pound Nash. "It helps keep you in shape because you rarely get a break, you have to play as a team, it's full contact, and it teaches you how to take a hit."
 
You Fox Sports World rugby watchers out there know exactly where Nash is coming from!  
 
Nash's conditioning has always been a fine compliment to the 18 year-old's offensive skills, which caught the eye of several schools last year, particularly Cornell, whose 'scholarship' offer Nash accepted just over two weeks ago.
 
A left handed shot, Nash will play a second season in Salmon Arm before heading to Ithaca, N.Y., in the fall of 2006.
 
"I was considering a few other schools," the Kamloops, BC, native explains, "but Cornell just seemed right. The school has a great tradition, and their coaches (head coach Mike Schafer and assistant Brent Brekke) both came to visit me last year, and I made a trip to Cornell in September."
 
His reaction to the scenic ECACHL campus? "I really liked it," Nash says, "it was so green, it reminded me of home."
 
On the ice, Nash looks right at home almost anywhere you put him.
 
"He really has a great set of hands, that's what I noticed about him most," explains Silverbacks' coach/GM Garry Davidson, who recruited Nash from the AAA N. Kamloops Lions. "But he also has very good size, which I think has pro potential. He understands if he truly commits himself, he'll be able to do great things down the road."

Even as a BCJHL rookie, Nash did well from a production standpoint (ironically, his lone goal came early in the post-season), but like many young offensive minded defensemen, he devoted much of his time to improving his performance in his own end.
 
"I think I'm a pretty good passer," Nash muses, "but I focused on what I needed to do behind my own blueline. I need to be sure I'm making the right decisions and not get caught running around."
 
"His comments are right on," agrees Davidson, "and it's good that he knows his strengths and where he needs to improve. He picks things up quickly though, and next year, I expect him to really take charge and become a solid two-way defenseman."
 
Nash comes from a family of six. His parents are Greg and Shannon (his father owns a home siding company), and he has two sisters and a younger brother, sixteen year-old Riley, a center/left wing who will skate for Team Pacific at the World Under-17 Challenge later this year.
 
Brendon graduated from Brocklehurst Secondary School this spring, and this fall he'll be taking classes at the University of British Columbia's Salmon Arm extension campus in hopes of getting a leg up academically when his freshman year at Cornell comes rolling around. He considered joining the WHL's Vancouver Giants, who owned his CHL rights, but Nash felt D-I was the route he wanted to take.
 
"I gave the WHL some consideration," says Nash, "but having been at Salmon Arm and seeing all the players the club has sent to college, I felt that college was the more valuable option."
 
"I think his decision to go to Cornell was a good one," adds Davidson, who also helped send Silverback center Evan Barlow onto Cornell this fall. "It's a good fit, and if Brendon hadn't done so, I think lots of schools would have quickly been lining up for him."  

[Q]KeithK Wrote:

 So Nanaimo has "co-coaches" now?  Never heard that one before.  Sounds like a recipe for distaster unless it's really just a pleasant way of pushing Bestwick upstairs.[/q]

In case anyone cares, Mike Vandekamp left Nanaimo without ever co-coaching a game to coach in the WHL, and it looks like Bill Bestwick is back to being the lone sheriff in town. That can't hurt our recruiting ability in Nanaimo.

According to a post on USCHO, you got a commitment from one of the top Canadian forwards, Blake Gallagher, a Nova Scotian playing for Notre Dame in Sask.

see article on Gallagher...

http://www.prairiesportslink.com/article.aspx?art_id=6835

[Q]mgl11 Wrote:

 see article on Gallagher...

[/q]

Sounds exciting, even if he will probably only be here a season or two.

http://www.subwayhockey.com/20042005/20042005statistics.htm

Notice that of his 58 goals, 18 were on the Power Play and 7 were short-handed.

Also note the  +/-  of  51  head and shoulders and whole upper body above the rest of his team  ....  pretty amazing?   even w/  team record of      36W-21L-1T-1OTL

Here's another blurb on Gallagher: http://hockeyrecruits.blogspot.com/

At 5'7" he might stick around longer than a year or two. Who knows? Looking forward to seeing Topher, Justin, & Blake...but is the Big going small?B-]

Unless that's a negative. The page doesn't specifiy + or -. Normally I'd assume a +, but in absence of any -s I'm not sure.

[Q]ithacat Wrote:

 Unless that's a negative. The page doesn't specifiy + or -. Normally I'd assume a +, but in absence of any -s I'm not sure.[/q]With 58 goals and 104 points, if he's  -51, well ::nut:: .

[Q]JimHyla Wrote:

 [Q2]ithacat Wrote:

 Unless that's a negative. The page doesn't specifiy + or -. Normally I'd assume a +, but in absence of any -s I'm not sure.[/Q]
With 58 goals and 104 points, if he's  -51, well  .[/q]

I was trying to be a little cheeky...must remember to use emoticons.  ::help::

I think it's noteworthy that the chances of smaller, skilled forwards leaving early are far less than the bigger forwards Cornell has been bringing in the last couple years.

I read a bit about him on a message board where someone was asking about him being recruited by the QMJHL, and the person who knew his family said he'd had his heart set on playing D1 hockey for a long time. I'd hope that that, combined with his size, would keep him at school for a while. I also saw this about him when discussing Nova Scotia players. Looks like in addition to being a goal scorer, he's good on faceoffs and isn't afraid to bang.


*"Blake Gallagher* - This guy was amazing, won every draw he took, skates well, has super offensive awearness and is not afraid to get his nose dirty. Why on earth he was never drafted into the QMJHL beats me, he diffently has the talent and abilty to be a good player at that level by far my favorite player in the whole game."

Hard to be certain of anything in a post by Chris Heisenberg.  ::rolleyes::

Well, at least the verbal seems legit.

http://www.notredame.sk.ca/main

[Q]Jeff Hopkins '82 Wrote:

 Hard to be certain of anything in a post by Chris Heisenberg.   [/q]

Since Chris lists each player's position, he can't know their momentum (basically how fast they skate). ::rolleyes::


(In case anyone doesn't know, Chris is Werner's grandson.)

[Q]ithacat Wrote:
Looking forward to seeing Topher, Justin, & Blake...but is the Big going small? [/q]

Nah, just the cloning of Vesce.  "A Vesce on Every Line!"  So, now we can see the progression:

1)  1996-97:  Schafer "reminds" McCutcheon's recruits how to play defense, lights a fire under Chartrand, brings in the oft-forgotten Tymchyschyn, institutes some discipline, inherits a couple good goaltenders, and wins two championships.

2)  1998-99:  Schafer, starting to build his own team, gets caught between defensive-minded recruits and a couple of scanty senior classes, loses the offense and has a couple of losing seasons.  The inexorable decline in GAA begins.  Ian Burt does a servicable job backing up Elliott and helping Underhill through his growing pains.  (Also into 2000.)

3)  2000:  The great class of '03 arrives, immediately making themselves felt on the scoring sheet.

4)  2001:  Vesce arrives and Paolini, well, appears.  Vesce turns into the offensive glue that, I think, Moynihan and Rutter never exactly turned out to be.  I can't help but think there is some significance to Moynihan being the only Schafer recruit to wear his #3.

5)  2002-03:  The Big Red ride Paolini, Vesce, and Baby, two great goalies, and the ever-shrinking GAA to national recognition.  We get great years out of two great goalies.  Matt Moulson arrives, arguably the first goal-scorer we've had since Chartrand.  Thrown onto a line with Vesce and Baby, he creates a prototype that Schafer has sought to recreate ever since:  "gifted" LW, buzzing center set-up, and a bruising RW.

6)  2004:  "Where'd my scoring go!"  Vesce gets injured, Moulson lacks a set-up man (but still scores), and the defense lets up...  just a bit.  We get upset by Clarkson.  Urgh.

7)  2005:  The scoring returns!  Scott proves to be a Vesce-type set-up man, the defense somehow is better than in 2003.  We get oh-so-close to returning to the Frozen Four.

To me, it looks like our recent nationally-recognized performance has opened up access to true goal-scorers--what we have always desperately needed.  Barlow looks to be a scorer, Kindret as well.  Connors has done some scoring, though he may be expected to play more of a Hynes/Baby roll at Cornell.  Gallagher, Greening, Milo, and Romano have all put up some numbers.  Scoring, scoring, scoring, scoring:  we're starting to talk about it.

So, why the shortness, or seeming lack of concern regarding height of these kids?  I think a lot of the credit goes to Vesce, who, on a team of trees proved to be very easy to integrate.  That prototypical line, with our left-wing lock, is, well, prototypical.  I can't help but think that a bit goes back, however, to one notable performance during our dominant wins over BU at Lynah in 2003.  As Jack Parker said:

"Our freshmen played real well. You'd think they'd be intimidated, [but] all our freshmen played real well. The upperclassmen are the ones that let us down, especially the forwards. I don't think we got decent play out of three forwards all weekend other than the freshmen â€" [David] VanderGulik and [Brad] Zancanaro."

Zancanaro was the only guy that we couldn't control all weekend, and he was an absolute mite.  He was also a winger, and Scott's play on the wing this season is reminiscent.  It seems that Schafer has decided that he need not have trees at every position, and that a few short, speedy guys are worth it, especially since there seems to be little defensive downside.  Defense first, after all.

One final note, with Hynes's departure one name immediately came to mind:  McCutcheon.  No, I wasn't reminiscing about Manderville's departure, I was thinking of the current McCutcheon.  Making it to Milwaukee may depend on him finally reaching his potential.  He needs to pull a Cooney.

(to pull a Cooney:  v., to show heretofore buried or unknown offensive skills in one's junior year when pared, finally, with a competent linemate)

Not to be too picky, but Chartrand was hardly the pure goal scorer.  He only had 10, 4 and 9 goals his first three seasons.  He was a talented two way player who put it together offensively with a surging team in '96.  Saying that Moulson is probably our first goal scorer since Derraugh or Andison woul be more accurate (basing that on stats, since I never saw either of them play).

Could also be that the critical absence of scoring was exposed in the NCAA runs, and Schafer has shifted a bit.  Stonewall D and G will get you the ECAC bid, but it will take scoring to get an NCAA title.

Scoring has always been the one flaw that has prevented them from really having a chance at winning a championship (it would be interesting to have seen them play Minn a few years ago, but their offense was far superior).   I believe Schafer is confident enough in his system to finally attempt integrating more offense (and hopefully more speed) and the recent success has allowed him to start winning some recruiting wars for offensive talent, even if they are smaller players.  

I will add one point I've never heard mentioned--I think the new Cornell undergraduate Business program is a major selling point to recruits (it has always essentially been there, but not accredited)---see comments from the most recent recruit.  About half the team is in that major, and that may help mitigate fears over balancing academics and athletics at an Ivy league school.  This program is also a major selling point in comparison to some other ECAC schools.  

Take a kid with natural scoring talent, broaden his defensive play, and get the best of both worlds.

I wonder whether McCutcheon is gritty enough for this level of play.  I'm hoping he is, because he has the skills.