Cornell 3 Maine 6 Post-Game Discussion Thread

Beeeej · December 30, 2006, 09:55:24 PM

As I said in the game thread, I would have loved to beat Maine, but I honestly didn't expect us to have a shot at being in the title game to begin with. I think we did a hell of a job yesterday and we have a lot to build on for the stretch run starting mid-January. Now let's just not do something stupid like lose to Sacred Heart.

redhair34 · December 30, 2006, 09:58:40 PM

It will be interesting to hear from those at the game if the effort was there tonight.

Trotsky · December 30, 2006, 10:01:46 PM

A couple months ago I was picking this team 7th in conference. I aint complainin'.

Trotsky · December 30, 2006, 10:05:04 PM

As Jason said, the silver lining is that Mike can become the all-time winningest Cornell coach at home.

billhoward · December 30, 2006, 10:08:19 PM

Going 0 x 7 on power play while allowing 3 x 5 is no way to win against a top 10 team. It was nice 24 hours holding the championship belt. And it beats losing to UNH and beating (we hope) Western Michigan.

marty · December 30, 2006, 10:17:02 PM

Wasn't this tournament easily the most power laden of the bunch? The Vermont tourney had Vermont and St Cloud. The Great Lakes UofM and MSU. But most of the others seemed to be lacking in ranked teams.

Today was a letdown but the win last night may be something to build on. The D wasn't in really great form last year until they played in Wisconsin at the NCAAs. If this team continues to mature, it is hard to predict how they will fare in the playoffs.

calgARI '07 · December 30, 2006, 10:26:37 PM

This is a good team, far better than most of us expected at the beginning of the season. The only thing holding them back are special teams which are absolutely atrocious. Good weekend though.

ebilmes · December 30, 2006, 10:36:14 PM

If I had to choose one day this weekend on which to play well and another on which to play poorly, this is how I would have chosen to play. Yes, today was ugly, but we leave Florida with an impressive win over UNH.

We came out looking flat, and our first two goals came with a bit of luck. Davenport, unlike some other terrible first periods he has had, managed to play decently enough to keep us in the game. Unfortunately, it just seemed like every quality shot Maine got off ended up being a goal. The playbook on Troy must have been to shoot high (or should be now), since that was how the first four goals were scored. However, each time Maine scored, we (or Bishop) found a way to tie it up. In the "what if" department, it would have been nice to know how things would have worked out if Troy had made one more save.

Maine looked like a better team than UNH. Good defense and an offense that kept our d-men off-balance or sprinting backward a lot of the night.

Of the Maine goals, the second one (on the PP) was the worst. Essentially a 1x4 rush, our four guys just stood in their spots and let the Maine player skate right on the goal. Terrible goal to give up.

Disappointing end to the weekend, as this was a winnable game if we had played at a level similar to yesterday's.

Thanks to everyone who made the trip to FL or came out to support the Big Red!

Ben Rocky '04 · December 30, 2006, 10:53:52 PM

Good game, but the PK didn't look good and the defensive breakdowns for the first and 2nd Maine goals were bad bad bad. Liz describes the 2nd Maine goal as "the parting of the Red sea." You could have driven a zamboni through there. 5th Maine goal was caused by a CU player (28?) slipping on the ice and leaving a hole open. Krantz's 3rd CU goal was an amazing bullet. Unfortunately, it was the only goal that CU earned on its own (the first being Romano getting to a loose puck behind Bishop the Giant very quickly, and the 2nd being a total freak of nature, time and space, but not trigonometry. Bless you, trigonometry).

Oh well, off to go drink in Fort Myers. LGR!

PS: cheer we should have used > Big Red, Inbred, Big Red, Inbred.... yea

ebilmes · December 30, 2006, 10:58:06 PM

[quote Ben Rocky 04]
PS: cheer we should have used > Big Red, Inbred, Big Red, Inbred.... yea[/quote]

I suggested that one, but didn't get any enthusiastic support from you...

Locals do have some sort of inferiority complex that causes them to automatically cheer against Cornell. Bizarre.

jkahn · December 31, 2006, 12:37:15 AM

[quote redhair34]It will be interesting to hear from those at the game if the effort was there tonight.[/quote] It wasn't so much lack of effort, but lack of execution - combined with an opponent that was not only talented but played a lot hungrier than UNH did yesterday. I made the same "parting of the Red Sea" comment as Liz did about the 2nd Maine goal. The PP gets chances when Topher is out there, but half the PP time is going to a freshmen line of Greening-Gallagher-Romano and there's just no Topher in that group yet to set things up (I felt the same way about that last night). None of the goals against us were bad goals from a goaltending standpoint. We just allowed too many good chances and Maine was opportunistic in converting those opportunities. On a more positive note, although he got limited opportunities, I thought Milo played real well when he was out there.

calgARI '07 · December 31, 2006, 01:35:34 AM

Bitz is not a powerplay quarterback. Neither is Carefoot. Yet each unit runs through these guys. Schafer continually goes with these units that aren't even coming close to generating scoring chances.

calgARI '07 · December 31, 2006, 01:39:41 AM

Team definitely played hard tonight. This was their most physical outing of the season and they actually significantly outhit Maine. Maine is definitely one of the top teams in the NCAA and scored on basically all of their chances. Davenport wasn't terrible but he also didn't make any big saves. Cornell's defensive zone was pretty brutal. Still, if they had anything close to an efficient powerplay, they could have won this game.

Milo probably had more scoring chances than any other Cornell player and was rewarded with probably the most ice time he has had in one game this season.

Trotsky · December 31, 2006, 02:56:21 AM

[quote ebilmes]Locals do have some sort of inferiority complex that causes them to automatically cheer against Cornell.[/quote]

Not a stretch to think that the Faithful piss off some locals with our cheers, especially when we're in relatively small, disorganized bunches. What sounds ferocious and intimidating at Lynah can come across as poor sportsmanship on the road. Yet another reason to encourage clever cheers and discourage the monotonous "x... sucks!" drone.

jtwcornell91 · December 31, 2006, 07:31:22 AM

[quote Trotsky][quote ebilmes]Locals do have some sort of inferiority complex that causes them to automatically cheer against Cornell.[/quote]

Not a stretch to think that the Faithful piss off some locals with our cheers, especially when we're in relatively small, disorganized bunches. What sounds ferocious and intimidating at Lynah can come across as poor sportsmanship on the road. Yet another reason to encourage clever cheers and discourage the monotonous "x... sucks!" drone.[/quote]

We did actually have a woman in a Blades jacket come up and praise us for being "real fans" even though she roots against us every year. (She was particularly impressed that the dozen of us standing with the two bones stayed until the end.)