Red-White Scrimmage - Saturday, 10/17 @ 7pm

[scoop85]

Uh, was anyone there who would care to comment?

[ithacat]

FWIW, Red defeated White 4-1. The scrimmage was broken into 5x5, 4x4, and PP sessions. A group of Ithaca Youth players were there and played for a few minutes every 5 or 6 minutes (didn't really check the clock).

Scoring:

Red: Miller from Jillson and B. Nash during 4x4 (Scrivens in goal)
Nice finish to some pretty passing.

White: Axell from Roeszler and D'Agostino during 5x5 (Kanji)
Good blue collar goal around the crease.

Red: Greening from Gallagher and R. Nash PP (Kanji)
Greening in the slot.

Red: Moulson from Mihalek and R. Nash during 4x4 (Kanji)
Maybe my favorite goal of the night: Flying down the wing ahead of the pack and lets it rip from inside the blue line.

Red: Ross unassisted ENG during 6x5
I would have made him do it again...off his own half boards right into the heart of the goal. Must be one heck of a pool player.

Scrivens and Garman made some very nice saves. Despite the results, Kanji did fine for a young goalie.

Everyone played except Jarred Seymour. Sounds like he's dinged up and will be out for a bit.

Would have liked to see the night finish with penalty shots, but it was a long night. I loved seeing the Ithaca Youth players worked into the scrimmage, right down to the stick salute. Good work by the bands as well.

Cornell's biggest recruiting need might be an Olympia driver. I'll miss Dave's show, but at least find someone who can cover the ice and not require extra passes. ::drive::  Of course, it was a scrimmage for everyone.

[Larry72]

It was the first time in recent memory that I thought the freshman stole the show.  As a group:
- They are big! Branden Birch is the biggest at 6-4/205 with John Esposito the smallest at 5-10/170.
- They are fast!
- They scored three out of five goals on the night! I agree that Moulson's goal was probably the prettiest of the night.  

At this time, the team appears to have a lot of depth.  It's possible that most of the freshman could be in the lineup early on.

[fatchance72]

Birch and D'Agostino played well. They're both pretty quick for big guys. Based on one scrimmage, they seem very comfortable with the puck and were able to break out of the defensive zone easily.

In my mind, I kept comparing them to someone like Berk or freshmen M. Devin or Taylor Davenport. Berk and Devin and Davenport were very robotic and unsure with the puck, and it seemed that the lack of puck handling defensemen in general was leading to some problems on the breakout. Anyway, BB and (especially) D'Agostino were NOT like that. Encouraging sign.

And I loved the little kids. Freakin hilarious.

[releck97]

BTW, someone asked awhile back about Joe Devin.  He played last night and looked good.  I can't wait to see our first two lines get their timing down this year.  They have the potential to be scary good!

[ithacat]

It'll be interesting to see what kind of lines are rolled this weekend.

Greening, Nash, Gallagher, Jillson, Miller, and Esposito were on the Red team and Greening and Nash were on different lines: Nash centered Jillson and Miller; Gallagher centered Greening and Esposito. The Nash line had pretty good chemistry (for a scrimmage) and Miller looked like he has a nose for the goal. For the White, Collins played center which was interesting. Not that any of that means anything...

I'm curious whether we'll see:
Collins - Nash - Kennedy
Greening - Gallagher - Jillson
Nicholls/Kary - Scali - Devin (Moulson)
Miller (Axell) - Roeszler - Esposito (Mihalek)

Or:
Miller - Nash - Jillson
Greening - Collins - Gallagher
Nicholls/Kary - Scali - Devin (Moulson)
Kennedy (Axell) - Roeszler - Esposito (Mihalek)

Would also like to see Esposito gets some runs at center.

What kind of line combos do people think we'll see?

[Trotsky]

What is the LW, C, RW breakdown (as near as people can tell)?

[redhair34]

[quote ithacat]It'll be interesting to see what kind of lines are rolled this weekend.

Greening, Nash, Gallagher, Jillson, Miller, and Esposito were on the Red team and Greening and Nash were on different lines: Nash centered Jillson and Miller; Gallagher centered Greening and Esposito. The Nash line had pretty good chemistry (for a scrimmage) and Miller looked like he has a nose for the goal. For the White, Collins played center which was interesting. Not that any of that means anything...

I'm curious whether we'll see:
Collins - Nash - Kennedy
Greening - Gallagher - Jillson
Nicholls/Kary - Scali - Devin (Moulson)
Miller (Axell) - Roeszler - Esposito (Mihalek)

Or:
Miller - Nash - Jillson
Greening - Collins - Gallagher
Nicholls/Kary - Scali - Devin (Moulson)
Kennedy (Axell) - Roeszler - Esposito (Mihalek)

Would also like to see Esposito gets some runs at center.

What kind of line combos do people think we'll see?[/quote]

Yikes.  I forgot how little depth we have down the middle.

[ithacat]

[quote Trotsky]What is the LW, C, RW breakdown (as near as people can tell)?[/quote]

Most of the forwards play multiple positions. I think the only exceptions last year were Greening (LW), Nash (C), Jillson (RW), Scali (LW), Nicholls (RW), and Devin (RW). The three scoring lines appear to have many possibile combinations.

A checking line is where it becomes most curious to me. Based on the last 2 years, Scali would be on the left and Nicholls would be on the right. Could Kary or Moulson center such a line?

[ebilmes]

It looks like Schafer wants Whitney to be on the first PP unit with the Nashes and Greening. I think Gallagher was also out there with them most of the time.

[scoop85]

[quote ebilmes]It looks like Schafer wants Whitney to be on the first PP unit with the Nashes and Greening. I think Gallagher was also out there with them most of the time.[/quote]

So, I wonder if this means that Whitney might supplant M. Devin on the PP? Devin has a nice shot, but it has been erratic.  From what I saw of Whitney, he's got nice skills and seems well suited to play the point.

[fatchance72]

During the second half of last year, Schafer used 4 forwards and 1 defenseman on the 1st PP line. It was Gallagher, RNash, Greening, Barlow/MKennedy and BNash.

Is there any reason to think he won't use just 1 dman on the 1st PP line?

Assuming he does, I think the most likely line will be Gallagher, RNash, Greening, BNash and Jillson/JDevin/PKennedy.

I don't think Whitney has a chance to be on the 1st PP line. He only played 14 games last year and, if memory serves me correctly, was very rarely (if ever) on the ice on the PP.

[Josh '99]

[quote fatchance72]During the second half of last year, Schafer used 4 forwards and 1 defenseman on the 1st PP line. It was Gallagher, RNash, Greening, Barlow/MKennedy and BNash.

Is there any reason to think he won't use just 1 dman on the 1st PP line?

Assuming he does, I think the most likely line will be Gallagher, RNash, Greening, BNash and Jillson/JDevin/PKennedy.

I don't think Whitney has a chance to be on the 1st PP line. He only played 14 games last year and, if memory serves me correctly, was very rarely (if ever) on the ice on the PP.[/quote]As far as I can figure, Schafer only uses a power play unit with only one defenseman if he trusts the forward playing the point to be somewhat defensively responsible and not give up shorthanded rushes.  (Schafer's teams tend not to score or give up large numbers of shorthanded goals.  For example, the 2002-03 team conceded only two, and didn't score any despite having the best PK in the NCAA by percentage.  The 2004-05 team, which scored 9 SHG, led by 4 from Mike Iggulden and 2 each from Mitch Carefoot and Mike Knoepfli, is really the only notable exception.)  So, I think it'd at least have to depend whether he thinks he can trust Jillson or Kennedy or whichever other forward might be considered for that role to make safe plays, rather than aggressive/fancy ones, when handling the puck at the blue line.

I know that doesn't definitively answer your question, but I think maybe it captures at least a part of Schafer's decisionmaking process in this regard.

[Trotsky]

[quote Josh '99]As far as I can figure, Schafer only uses a power play unit with only one defenseman if he trusts the forward playing the point to be somewhat defensively responsible[/quote]

This is known as the Ryan Hughes Dictum.