Yale 4 @ Cornell 2_ 11/19

[BigRedHockeyFan]

The simple analysis:  Yale is really good this year.  If Rondeau can have a reasonably good year and no one goes for a midnight swim in early March, they could very well be a FF team.  For Cornell, I hope Mike adjusts his approach to the game a little more to fit the skills of the players he currently has and the way the game is being referred.  I'm sure he watches the films a lot and can see that imperfect execution of the Schafer style of play is going to produce a lot of penalties.

[Jim Hyla]

The simple analysis:  Yale is really good this year.  If Rondeau can have a reasonably good year and no one goes for a midnight swim in early March, they could very well be a FF team.  For Cornell, I hope Mike adjusts his approach to the game a little more to fit the skills of the players he currently has and the way the game is being referred.  I'm sure he watches the films a lot and can see that imperfect execution of the Schafer style of play is going to produce a lot of penalties.

Excuse me, have you seen these games? (Yeah, I'm being too harsh, sorry.) His style is very up-tempo. There is a lot less dump and run, and a hell of a lot more skating. The problem isn't his style, it's his players being able to execute. I'll say it again, we lost to Yale not because our forwards couldn't skate, but because the D and deep forward couldn't get past their forecheck, and because our D let two of their sharpshooters in alone on goal. We need better play in our defensive zone, not better offense. You're not going to score if you're outshot 14-3.

[ebilmes]

I only saw a few minutes of the Yale game, but I don't know why every team doesn't send two forecheckers against Cornell. Yale usually does this for at least part of the game against us and has now won 5 (6?) in a row. Memorably, St. Lawrence was able to frustrate us by doing this during that awful 8-1 affair in Canton. I know the talent level of this year's team is a little lower than what we had the last couple of years, but carrying the puck out of the zone has been a consistent problem.

[ajh258]

I agree with BigRedHockeyFan that Schafer needs to adjust his strategy based on the players' individual skills. We can already see the advantage of that on a limited basis with Mowrey and Gotovets on second shift and I think our starters just need some good support strategies that can help them bring their potential out.

With this in mind, Jim hits it right on the spot - our defense needs work - more specifically puck handling in our own zone. I am not sure what works best for current players to counter those two man forechecks that Elie is describing, but they are definitely a big issue. One way to minimize those situations, however, and to save time, is to ditch our old setup behind the net and go straight up the ice once puck possession is established. Then, two blueliners should fall back and follow behind the offensive shift and let them take the puck down the ice. By focusing play in the neutral zone and not bringing the puck back, we minimize defensive risks that happen on our side and will keep pressure on the opposing team. Of course, when you're dealing with teams who deploys that same strategy, we need to think of a way to take advantage of our size to dominate the neutral zone, as well as make sure our defensive players know where to position themselves to prevent successful breakaway goals.