ELynah Forum

Time will tell, but I think this is a real solid pick up for Cornell.  Congrats!

I'd just like to give props to both Cornell and Schafer for geting this done.  I know I have rubbed their noses in bad scheduling in the past, but this is a HUGE step in the right direction.

Thumbs up all the way around!!

Cornell fans, tough loss.  I was very surprised to see so many penalties from a undisciplined Cornell team.  It is one thing to take a slashing penalty late in the game on a Harvard breakaway, but most of Cornell penalties were the result of poor decisions, not being outskated and having to make up for a lack of speed.  I've never seen a Schafer-led Cornell team play that way against Harvard.

Anyhow, I think you missed the biggest positive for Cornell and that is Riley Nash.  I thought he was the best player on the ice.  He is so quick and smart with the puck.  The issue is that so much of his play-making ability go to waste, at least they did last night.  You have to wonder how long he will be at Cornell if Schafer can't find people to play on his line that can finish and better understand the cerebral aspects of the game.

I came away very impressed with him, much more so than Scrivens who made the cardinal sin by not hugging a post and getting burned short-side.

Faithful,

That was a tough game.  BU is very good and was similarly, very good against Harvard as well.  They are fast, tenacious, and do a great job in the neutral zone.

However, BU is undisciplined and can play unfocused at times and to beat them, you need to capitalize on those opportunities.  After watching BU play twice now, it amazes me that their record is so abysmal with the talent they can throw out there.  

There is a fairly large talent discrepancy between BU and teams like Cornell and Harvard right now.  Goaltending can often alleviate the disparity, but Cornell has the worst goaltending it has had in a long, long time.  Scrivens isn't horrible, but he's not going to win a game for you and I think that prevents Cornell from playing the game it can and wants to play.  When you have a shut-down goalie, it allows everyone to play a much different style.

Good luck.

Cornell fans,

Good game on Friday night.  It really could have gone either way and I think the biggest difference is that Richter > Scrivens.  Been a long time since Harvard could say that its goalie is better than Cornell's, but I think this may very well be the case.

On that note and looking to the future, it will be interesting to see how the Matt Hoyle vs Mike Garman match up pans out.  Two heralded goalies - both moreso than Richter and Scrivens / Davenport.

Good luck the rest of the way and see you in Albany.

Take off the red glasses.

Harvard ain't winning a NC this year, and neither is Cornell.  But Harvard is remarkedly better than last year.  Can you say the same for Cornell?

I don't put a lot of stake in home wins against union or rpi (though 2 shutouts is solid), but a 6-1 win at slu and a 2-1 loss at clarkson when those teams had played 6-7 games, there is some significance in those games.

The proof will be in the pudding on Friday night.  If Cornell takes it to Harvard, I will eat crow on Monday.  Time will tell.

That is funny...

I know exactly the guy you are talking about.  I love Harvard hockey, but not that much....B-]

JTW,

Are you one of those engineering guys that looked forward to the 8 hour lab on Fridays?  Something tells me yes.

Wake up, will ya?

The Harvard - Yale game has nothing to do with football.  It is about the tailgate - most people never even set foot in the stadium.

Most folks will head down to New Haven the night before and booze it up and continue boozing before, during, and after the game.

That said, good luck on friday night.  Crowd or no crowd, the way this Harvard team is playing, you guys are gonna need it.

Going back 2 seasons for that result....

Gripping at straws aren't we?

There is actually some critical mass forming, believe it or not.  Who would have thought.

Message to Mike S: You need goal scorers, not grinders and you won't have to settle for a 0-0 draw against a Canadian B team......

Don't you love it when when guys correct your spelling or verbiage in a online forum?

Relax.  I'm just having some fun....killing an otherwise slow Friday at the office.

Cornell will be fine.  I don't think these two guys are the answer though.

Guys, Mike must love eating at Subway these days.

Sounds like he's really in the market for grinders.

Seem like a bunch of roll players, which you need, but still waiting for some high impact guys - both for the Class of 2008 and 2009 (admittedly early for 2009).

If you think Jillson & Birch are high-end, upper echelon takent, then you need to take off those Big Red shades....

Garman & Nash were great gets.  I'm just saying that everything else seems to be very middle of the road.

An earlier poster said that Schafer's system has never relied upon high-end talent, and I agree, that is true.  Schafer clearly has been able to develop guys and have them buy into the system which allows Cornell's team to be better than the sum of its parts.  Harvard under Donato has gotten better at this, but is still playign catch up in this regard....no argument from me there.

I'm not trying to throw Cornell under the bus, I'm just saying that the 2007 & 2008 class (thus far) does not appear to stack up to the Cornell classes of the early 2000s.

Look at Harvard's 2008 class:
Killorn - 3rd round draft pick
Hoyle - Top-rated goalie in the AJHL
Grimshaw - potential 1st - 2nd round NHL draft pick in 2008 draft
Moore - won't be a high draft pick due to size, but solid USNDT player
Kroshus - Top kid out of AJHL

Seriously, break down Cornell's 2008 class and tell me where each recruit projects.  I suppose that we will have to see how Ross & Jillson perform this year in the USHL which should give everyone a much better sense for what kind of players they are.

Phil,

I'd take that bet anytime for 2007.  Mike Devin should be a good player, but let's keep in mind that while an extra year in the BCHL will certainly help him, he wasn't even a Top 7-8 defenseman in New England prior to that.  He was not considered even in the same realm as Alex Biega, and while Alex had a great freshman campaign last year for Harvard, I don't expect him to be anywhere near as good as Grimshaw.

To me, it seems like Harvard & Clarkson recruiting has picked up, while Cornell's has fallen relative to where each of these teams were 4-5 years ago.  Harvard has gone head to head with Michigan (Grimshaw), Wisconsin (Hoyle), and every East Coast team (Killorn) and won.

Nash was a great get for Cornell, but other than him, I don't see Cornell going out and beating the upper echelon teams for talent.

The guys you mention may very well evolve into great players (Sam Paolini etc) and I will have to eat crow.  But, let's be honest, on paper, by no means are these players highly coveted by the top teams in college hockey.  That should tell you something right there.

Guys,

Not to rain on the parade, but these recruits are all role players?  As you well know, you need them, but Cornell has yet to sign a high-end recruit for 2008 (Perhaps Garmen).

Riley Nash was a great recruit for an otherwise very mediocre group of 2007 talent relative to Cornell standards of the last several years.

I'm sure a Sam Paolini type will emerge as a diamond in the rough, but let's face it, there's a reason why BC, Michigan, Minnestoa, etc are in the hunt year in and year out.....Talent matters.

There is still a lot of time left to round out the 2008 class, but a lot of the high-end guys are committed.  A good Cornell is good for the league so I hope Schafer has couple of wild deuces in his back pocket....