Cornell vs. Sacred Heart Postgame

[scoop85]

So, Carefoot missed the game because he was attending his brother's wedding?  What, they couldn't schedule it in June? ;-)

[Trotsky]

[quote scoop85]So, Carefoot missed the game because he was attending his brother's wedding?  What, they couldn't schedule it in June? ;-)[/quote]

Must be a Canadian thing eh?

[calgARI '07]

10 steps forward, 3000 steps back.  Sacred Heart is not a bad team but Cornell didn't give them much of a fight.  They just play this nonsense hockey along the boards and in the corners not even coming close to getting to the net.  

I really don't know what it is Byron Bitz contributes.  He isn't even a shadow of the player he was on the second half of last season and quite frankly isn't as much of a presence as he was as a freshman. Scott also struggled a lot tonight.  The leadership was pretty much nonexistant.

The fourth line of Mugford-Kennedy-Scali is a great shutdown line and did a good job tonight but they played like 25 minutes and were out there regularly even after Cornell went down 2-1.  Those guys aren't going to score much.  

Seminoff puts that puck in the bench on the PK when he had the whole ice to clear it down and SHU scores the game winner off the next draw.  

Davenport still isn't challenging enough, siting back in the net too much and that first goal was a direct result of that.  

This team has been pretty brutal at home this season and has been similar to that 03-04 team that really struggled at home.  Should SHU qualify for the NCAA's, this loss will be very costly.  

These guys need to come and work every shift, every night.  Too many guys are getting free passes because they are older.  Schafer has ripped on the freshmen a good amount this year but they have been excellent in my opinion.  How this team came out as flat as they did in the third period is really absurd.  Only ECACHL games to go and they are in a good position so that is the good news.

[cookluver7]

Why Didnt Evan Salmela play?

[Dpperk29]

it looked like cornell just didn;t want to play. Rather disappointing.

Romano looked great, Milo aswell.

Davenport doesn't look confident or comfortable in net.

Fontas played well, as did Greening. Sawada hit some people, but other than that was kinda worthless.

Bitz was useless.

Cornell made several mistakes that a better opponent would have put in the back of the net. same with sacred heart.

[calgARI '07]

[quote Dpperk29]it looked like cornell just didn;t want to play. Rather disappointing.

Romano looked great, Milo aswell.

Davenport doesn't look confident or comfortable in net.

Fontas played well, as did Greening. Sawada hit some people, but other than that was kinda worthless.

Bitz was useless.

Cornell made several mistakes that a better opponent would have put in the back of the net. same with sacred heart.[/quote]

Sawada was the team's best player for a third straight game.  If the guys on his line would go to the net, more would happen.  Other than that, I agree with most of what you said.

[Dpperk29]

I suppose that is a fair assessment of sawada. He did look good the more I think about it, it just wasn't magnified by his linemates play. Sawada was deffinatly the star of that line.

[ugarte]

Doesn't a former Cornell player coach Sacred Heart? I wonder why we never schedule those guys. As far as I know, Cornell has never played Sacred Heart.

[JDeafv]

Kate and I finally saw our first game of the season, not exactly memorable, except I've seen all the Cornell losses to a given team we've lost to more than once.  

Anyway, some thoughts:
Good:
-Brendan Nash:  He was the best player on the ice tonight.  He's exceptionally poised with the puck and logs a ton of ice time

-Seminoff-Nash Pairing: By far the top D pair.  Should Schafer split them up?

-Sawada: He played with more intensity than anybody else on the team tonight.  He made an excellent play to get a shot off after stealing the puck from a back peddling SH D-man in the 3rd period, and nearly turned the game around single handedly.

Bad:
No specific players, but some things that Cornell should do better:

- Players were standing still on the ice.  This is unacceptable, players are taught to keep their feet moving at all times.  A hockey player standing still cannot act fast enough and is an easy player to defend against.

- Players watching shots after they are released from the opposition.  Too many times tonight SH would shoot and Cornell players would turn and look back at the goalie almost saying "I hope he stops it."  Instead the players should be moving to the net and corners expecting the goalie to stop it and positioning for the rebounds.  

These negatives seem so basic, it was hard to understand why we struggled with them tonight.

[Jim Hyla]

[quote ugarte]Doesn't a former Cornell player coach Sacred Heart? I wonder why we never schedule those guys. As far as I know, Cornell has never played Sacred Heart.[/quote]Yes, Shaun Hannah '94, and we've played them twice at home. Not trying to be an **shole or anything, but these things are very easy to look up before posting.::rolleyes::

[Lauren '06]

[quote Jim Hyla][quote ugarte]Doesn't a former Cornell player coach Sacred Heart? I wonder why we never schedule those guys. As far as I know, Cornell has never played Sacred Heart.[/quote]Yes, Shaun Hannah '94, and we've played them twice at home. Not trying to be an **shole or anything, but these things are very easy to look up before posting.::rolleyes::[/quote]
During the game, I was wondering how long it would take before someone would mention how it never happened.

[Jim Hyla]

[quote calgARI '07]I really don't know what it is Byron Bitz contributes.  He isn't even a shadow of the player he was on the second half of last season and quite frankly isn't as much of a presence as he was as a freshman.[/Q]I don't know , but I thought he played well. He controlled the puck when he had it, did a good job in the corners, and was double shifted at times. I don't think you can blame him.

[Q]Seminoff puts that puck in the bench on the PK when he had the whole ice to clear it down and SHU scores the game winner off the next draw.[/Q]True but it's not that uncommon for a clearing pass on the PK to get the bench. Not what you want but the problem was our play on the PK after that, we looked like we were waiting for it to be over.[/Q]
 [Q]How this team came out as flat as they did in the third period is really absurd.  [/quote]Maybe, but we did get 13 SOG in that period.


We skated 8 Freshman, 6 Sophs, 4 Juniors, and 2 Seniors (If I can count right at 2:30 AM) and one senior was McLeod, one junior was Fontas. So effectively we had 4 upperclassmen out of 20 players. I think this team is doing well compared to what I expected when the year started. We will hopefully get a top 4 seed, and that's all I could have expected.

[Trotsky]

[quote Jim Hyla]I don't know , but I thought he played well. He controlled the puck when he had it, did a good job in the corners, and was double shifted at times. I don't think you can blame him.[/quote]

Agreed completely.  There were several times in the second period where, on the netcast at least, it appeared that Bitz was the *only* player on the ice.  He checked SHU players off the puck in their own zone twice on the same shift, the first time picking up the puck himself (nobody there to help him) and the second time leaving the puck perfectly positioned in the slot (nobody there to pick it up).  Both these instances were when Cornell had just surrendered the puck in front, so there was no reason for the CU forwards not to be pressuring SHU trying to get the puck back.  I'm really surprised to hear Bitz faulted, tonight.

[calgARI '07]

Bitz is the captain of the team and should be one of if not their best players.  He was dominated games in the second half of last season.  I don't think he has dominated even one game this season.  The team is losing to Sacred Heart on home ice and he is talking to the refs for the majority of the third period.  This team doesn't play with enough emotion or conviction particularly on home ice.  The leaders of the team need to set the tone and they failed to do that tonight.  There were a dozen times tonight where Sawada had the puck in the corner and Bitz was just standing next to him.  I think Bitz has played well defensively and hasn't been a liability but the guy hasn't come close to elevating his game during a season where he absolutely needs to.  He has been a big part of the powerplay struggles as well.  If he is the captain, he needs to do more than just control the puck at times and talk to the refs.  He needs play with purpose every shift and make an impact every shift.  Doing a good job in the corners and controlling the puck is really nice if you're a third line center.  But Bitz's job is to do a lot more than that.  If he isn't a rara-type leader that's fine.  He still needs throw his weight around a lot more than he does for a 6'4 center.  He needs to drive to the net a lot more.  He needs to take defensemen to the outside more.  He needs to shot the puck more.  He needs to mix it up more after the whistle.  

The youth of this team has not been the problem.

[CKinsland]

So, the refereeing was a nice change.  Almost no calls.  (Not saying I agreed with all the non-calls or all the calls).  Just nice to have a lot of 5x5 play and a flowing game (despite the direction it flowed).  

Binda is not an ECAC ref, true?  He was one of the Estero Refs (I believe) and belongs to Hockey East?  

Whatever, it was a nice breather from some of the penalty-fests we've had this year.  

CK