I'm at the Pepsi watching practice with Avash--the team looks calm and confident, joking and having fun. I'll have more up later, hopefully with some pictures. BTW, Gleed won the shootout... ;-)
Sorry I couldn't join ya this year, Adam :)
Leaving work in t-minus ~1 hour or so ;)
The Cornell hockey team seemed relaxed when they came out of the locker room; they were chatting and joking while waiting about 10 minutes for the zamboni to finish cleaning the ice off after the Harvard practice. I didn't notice anyone missing or anyone limping, although based on stretching, McKee looked hurt. The boys came out with vibrant red and white Nike practice jersey's that had a graphic on the back that might be another slogan for the season: the word "one" with the n circled. I absolutely love the Nike practice jerseys and I wouldn't mind having one myself.
Shortly after the practice started, the Harvard players came out of the locker room to watch Cornell practice while Donato went through his press conference.
The practice consisted of crossovers, two on ones, one on ones that turned into two on twos (after a one v one, that pair would chase to get back into the play of another one v one going the other way), powerplay, penalty kill, breakaway competition, faceoffs, five v five. The players really got into the one on one that turned into a two on two, hooting and hollering about moves and shots. I even overheard the Harvard players commenting about how neat the drill was. The play generally looked crisp and the skating seemed powerful. Pegoraro looked awesome on the faceoffs; I don't think he got beat once. However, during the powerplay, Coach wasn't happy with Pokulok's point shots and made him take a few extra reps on his own. Pokulok was clearly disappointed and hung his head a little after taking his extra reps. Pairings seemed normal but PM me if you want the real story about that... ;-)
About halfway through practice the team went through their breakaway competition. After a number of misses, Krantz and Sawada were the first two to score. Both took really nice rips that went upper ninety. O'Byrne also advanced with a calm five hole attempt and Gleed got the final score by going blocker side. Moulson tried to go five hole on Chabot but the door was closed, Pegs faked a shot and went to his backhand and was blocked, both assistants missed and Coach didn't take a shot.
In the second round, Krantz and Sawada again took the same shot and both missed glove side high. O'Byrne hit the face mask and Gleed won it with a shot that ricocheted under the leg and went five hole.
Chabot looked really confident and it seemed like he was making more of the saves on the breakaway but truely most skaters couldn't score so either the goalies looked really good or the shooters weren't quick enough with their moves and shots.
The boards were very elastic: A shot in the corner went straight to the goal mouth and shots wide of the net went back in front of the goal. I bet that at least one goal will be scored from a rebound off of the boards this weekend.
There is a Molson Canadian sign right in front of section 128. A creative fan could do a lot with it.
Going to dinner now...will have pics up tonight.
Did you watch the other teams?
[quote atb9]The boys came out with vibrant red and white Nike practice jersey's that had a graphic on the back that might be another slogan for the season: the word "one" with the n circled. I absolutely love the Nike practice jerseys and I wouldn't mind having one myself. [/quote]If you're talking about this logo (http://static.zoovy.com/img/mygolfball/W150-H150-Be5e5e5/nikeblack.jpg), it isn't a team slogan, it's one of Nike's logos (and, if I'm not mistaken, actually one of Nike Golf's logos). Yucky logo creep if you ask me.
[quote jmh30]If you're talking about this logo (http://static.zoovy.com/img/mygolfball/W150-H150-Be5e5e5/nikeblack.jpg), it isn't a team slogan, it's one of Nike's logos (and, if I'm not mistaken, actually one of Nike Golf's logos). Yucky logo creep if you ask me.[/quote]
Yup, that was the one. Too bad.
Sorry about the poor quality--I took the pictures with my camera phone. I wish I had Age's equipment and ability. :-)
(http://x5e.xanga.com/606b9363c763542799085/z29045692.jpg)
waiting for the ice to refreeze
(http://xc4.xanga.com/41780243d866842802073/z29047042.jpg)
Moulson, Sawada, and Bitz chatting it up
(http://xfb.xanga.com/4a6b42664263042807205/z29049662.jpg)
practicing faceoffs
(http://x21.xanga.com/62eb566539d3142808222/z29047904.jpg)
breakaways
(http://x94.xanga.com/166b5a677563042808513/z29047640.jpg)
5 v 5
(http://xc1.xanga.com/6afb46fa7833042808804/z29050466.jpg)
Huddle
Those are pretty darn good for a camera phone.
[quote nyc94]Did you watch the other teams?[/quote]
I also saw the Colgate practice.
Vaughn was upset the entire practice and it really showed in his team. The players looked tight and on edge. They were chatty on the ice but there was much more of a business attitude compared with the relaxed attitude that Cornell displayed. At one point, Vaughn sat the team down on the ice and brought out the dry erase board to diagram. It looked like he wasn't happy with the lanes that the puck was brought up in--they then practiced carrying the puck through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone and then passing the puck. Colgate was wearing maroon and gold, white, and grey, and did it ever elicit the muttering of a ton of "I hate Minnesota."
Towards the end of the practice, Vaughn was still upset and put them through a bunch of passing drills and conditioning drills. I don't think I've ever seen a practice like that at a championship. They accomplished much less than Cornell did during their practice. When Moore and Vaughn ran the last Colgate-in-Albany practice that I saw, it was much more efficient, moving through all of the pieces like a team should at the end of the year--like the Cornell practice.
Here's a picture (again, poor quality, sorry) of the team, including Dekanich (their goalie), doing conditioning.
(http://xcb.xanga.com/5d5b7afa0673242808947/z29050533.jpg)
The defenders and goalies, trailing the forwards, would skate to the blue line, hockey stop, and then backwards skate back to the goal line. The forwards would skate to the circles, stop, and skate facing forward back to the goal line. It was really weird. I know they didn't tire themselves out but I still kind of hope they did. :-P
BTW, McKee is on the front page of USCHO. ::uhoh::
[quote atb9]BTW, McKee is on the front page of USCHO. ::uhoh::[/quote]
With a somewhat apocalyptic headline.
[quote jmh30]Those are pretty darn good for a camera phone.[/quote]
Thanks. Sony Ericksson s710a with a 1.3 megapixel camera, video recording, and an 8x zoom. Except for the text messages being saved on the hard memory, I highly recommend it.
Thanks for the inside view and info.
Looking back over the pictures, I would just like to reiterate how embarrassed I am that Albany's minor league hockey team is called the "River Rats." Ugh. ::screwy:: While the Hudson River is full of chemicals that would mutate any animal, including turtles, the city doesn't have a rat problem.
[quote atb9]Looking back over the pictures, I would just like to reiterate how embarrassed I am that Albany's minor league hockey team is called the "River Rats." Ugh. ::screwy:: While the Hudson River is full of chemicals that would mutate any animal, including turtles, the city doesn't have a rat problem.[/quote]
That franchise used to be the Utica Devils. The Cornell pep band was invited to play at a U-Devils game in '92-'93...we even got to play the national anthem on the ice (no skates). Martin Brodeur was there that year, but I can't remember if he was the goaltender or not for that game.
I also wanted to point out that the Pepsi Arena has wireless internet throughout the arena...
[quote atb9]I also wanted to point out that the Pepsi Arena has wireless internet throughout the arena...[/quote]
i love finding wireless access points that are free with my axim :)
that is sweet. the river rats do have great jerseys and a cool maskott though