Yale 2 at Cornell 1 (OT) postgame

[billhoward]

Great points and welcome to posting.  The Schafer system is very successful in conference and it's been pretty successful in the NCAAs as well.  It doesn't line up well against teams of exceptional finesse and speed in the same way that a tank column doesn't have the maneuverability of mounted archers.  But (1) armor squishes cavalry most of the time, and (2) you can turn scrap metal into tanks, whereas you can't always find horses.

... while horses' asses are always in constant supply.
I thought armor was cavalry, as helicopters are also: the fast-moving, highly mobile force. As opposed to to the plodding men on foot (infantry) and those manning the catapults and howitzers (artillery).

Nice debut post by TowerRoad, thank you. Good insights. Intriguing that a Cornell loss yields to more posts and introspection. Yale here, Penn in basketball in Other Sports. I think we're all trying to say that Yale is better than us. While it's a loss in the record books, we also did play them even on the scoreboard for 60 minutes. Interesting to look ahead and wonder if, had we held for a tie, we could have won out and taken the ECAC title, gotten top seed, and perhaps Yale as #2 would have had a tougher time with the #3 seed than with the #4 seed. In other words, hope somebody else can knock out Yale in the ECACs.

[nyc94]

We may need somebody else to knock them out of our ECAC bracket. If we finish 1-2 or 2-1 we should be in different brackets, not that we should look ahead too much.

If the current standings hold up RPI could play Yale in the semifinals.  RPI beat Yale 5-2 in Troy back in November and 4-0 in New Haven two weeks ago.  RPI is currently tied for fourth with St. Lawrence and SLU has the head to head tie breaker.

[Scersk '97]

I think we're all trying to say that Yale is better than us.

I'm not.  I don't think that Yale is better than us.  I think we're pretty even, but in a round robin against a number of teams with varied styles, especially including some CCHA and WCHA schools, I'll take us (regardless of what KRACH is saying right now).

I'm trying to say that Yale hockey and Cornell hockey are very different brands.  Yale hockey is much more like Cleary Harvard hockey.  But Yale isn't (yet) absolutely loaded with talent like those late-80s/early-90s Harvard teams.  They need to find their C.J. Youngs and Fuscos; no one is talking Hobey about Yale (once again, yet).

Neither is our team loaded with Cornell-style talent like the 2003 team.  The pendulum of transformation swung slightly too far in 2007, and we've been regaining some Cornell-ness since then, but the pendulum has swung.  We're much more like a WCHA squad now—a tough, hard-nosed one like, say, North Dakota or Wisconsin, not one that doesn't know how to play defense.  What we need to find now, and what I hope the obvious recruiting talent of Casey Jones may bring, are mobile, crafty defensemen who know how to jump in on offense.  What I wouldn't give to have Mark McCrae and Charlie Cook with this group of forwards.  God, that was a special team...

So, if we can get it going this year and are faced with another game "at Minnesota" (2005) or "vs. Wisconsin" (2006), I think we win  those games, especially the former.  We have forwards with mobility and size that would really use that big ice to advantage.  On the other side of the coin, I don't think Yale could possibly survive one of those games, notwithstanding their result vs. Wisconsin earlier this year.

I just detest mini-mite teams like Yale, but I grew up with Cornell hockey, so maybe that's a foregone conclusion.

[Trotsky]

I'm not.  I don't think that Yale is better than us.  I think we're pretty even, but in a round robin against a number of teams with varied styles, especially including some CCHA and WCHA schools, I'll take us (regardless of what KRACH is saying right now).

I'm trying to say that Yale hockey and Cornell hockey are very different brands.  Yale hockey is much more like Cleary Harvard hockey.  But Yale isn't (yet) absolutely loaded with talent like those late-80s/early-90s Harvard teams.  They need to find their C.J. Youngs and Fuscos; no one is talking Hobey about Yale (once again, yet).

It is nowhere written that Yale's style is inherently superior to Cornell's, but the record tells the tale about the match-ups of these specific instances of those styles.  Both teams will probably get to Albany so there are good odds we will meet again.

Maybe having the type of uptempo opponent we worry about in the NCAAs as a conference opponent will give the team more experience in dealing with it.  National champions learn how to beat all comers.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

My observation on this team: if we're playing a team that can outskate us, we basically get one goal and then go into a defensive shell.  Then we just fall back around Scrivens and let the opposition throw pucks at us.  We did this against BU, NoDak, Quinny, and now Yale.

It may have worked for the Lax team last year, but it's not working all that well for us.

I don't understand, Jeff.  Lacrosse played an uptempo, scoring style.  Goaltending was probably the weakest position on the team.  Unlike hockey, they had finishers. We missed the cage completely on 4-5 prime chances against Yale.

I was thinking about the Princeton games in particular (especially in the NCAAs), We played keep-away for a substantial portion of the second half.  Mind you, it's easier to keep possession in lax than in hockey.

One thing it does point out is lax's ability to play multiple styes.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

My observation on this team: if we're playing a team that can outskate us, we basically get one goal and then go into a defensive shell.  Then we just fall back around Scrivens and let the opposition throw pucks at us.  We did this against BU, NoDak, Quinny, and now Yale.

It may have worked for the Lax team last year, but it's not working all that well for us.

I don't understand, Jeff.  Lacrosse played an uptempo, scoring style.  Goaltending was probably the weakest position on the team.  Unlike hockey, they had finishers. We missed the cage completely on 4-5 prime chances against Yale.

I was thinking about the Princeton games in particular (especially in the NCAAs), We played keep-away for a substantial portion of the second half.  Mind you, it's easier to keep possession in lax than in hockey.

One thing it does point out is lax's ability to play multiple styles.

[upperdeck]

Not going to win a lot of games getting outshot 52-20.  Simple as that.

we wern't outshot 52-20... shots on goal perhaps but not shots. I think the shots on goal totals were off by more than 10 on the cornell side.

CU just needs to get more of the quality shots on goal, it doesnt help to beat the goalie cleanly a dozen times if you miss the goal on all of them.. it also doesnt help if Yale can knock the cage off 3-4 times, one of those in the 3rd caused a CU shot to go over the cage instead of going under the cross bar..

[Roy 82]

Hell of a night for Yale's Denny Kearney.  In addition to their win, his sister wins a gold in Vancouver.

He should have been there supporting her. And not playing against us.

He did earn a sort-of-shoutout during her next-day fireside chat interview ("My brother plays hockey for Yale")