Cornell at Harvard postgame

[cth95]

Ari,

     You have been railing on Schafer all season for not finding the right mix on the powerplay.  As much as you seem to be involved with the team, I am guessing you don't sit and watch every practice.  The powerplay has been incredibly frustrating, and I'm sure there are multiple reasons, but how do you know he hasn't been trying different powerplay combinations during practice and just hasn't come up with anything better?  Nobody's perfect, but we are talking about someone who coached the #1 powerplay in the country just a couple of years ago.

[ebilmes]

[quote cth95]Ari,

     You have been railing on Schafer all season for not finding the right mix on the powerplay.  As much as you seem to be involved with the team, I am guessing you don't sit and watch every practice.  The powerplay has been incredibly frustrating, and I'm sure there are multiple reasons, but how do you know he hasn't been trying different powerplay combinations during practice and just hasn't come up with anything better?  Nobody's perfect, but we are talking about someone who coached the #1 powerplay in the country just a couple of years ago.[/quote]

I'd be shocked if Schafer couldn't find a better combination! Have you seen our PPs? Just the inclusion of Salmela made the PP look light years better. Yes, Schafer has shown he is capable of coaching a good PP, but this year's is just awful and it is clear that Bitz should not be on the ice for it.

[Beeeej]

[quote ebilmes][quote cth95]Ari,

     You have been railing on Schafer all season for not finding the right mix on the powerplay.  As much as you seem to be involved with the team, I am guessing you don't sit and watch every practice.  The powerplay has been incredibly frustrating, and I'm sure there are multiple reasons, but how do you know he hasn't been trying different powerplay combinations during practice and just hasn't come up with anything better?  Nobody's perfect, but we are talking about someone who coached the #1 powerplay in the country just a couple of years ago.[/quote]

I'd be shocked if Schafer couldn't find a better combination! Have you seen our PPs? Just the inclusion of Salmela made the PP look light years better. Yes, Schafer has shown he is capable of coaching a good PP, but this year's is just awful and it is clear that Bitz should not be on the ice for it.[/quote]

I think you're not quite getting the premise of the question.  If it's clear that Bitz shouldn't be on the ice for it, tell us who should QB the PP - and what your case is for it.  cth95 suggested, quite reasonably, that Schafer is not so stupid as to not look for other combinations during practice.  Your shock or lack thereof at the results doesn't mean that the results are impossible.

[calgARI '07]

[quote cth95]Ari,

     You have been railing on Schafer all season for not finding the right mix on the powerplay.  As much as you seem to be involved with the team, I am guessing you don't sit and watch every practice.  The powerplay has been incredibly frustrating, and I'm sure there are multiple reasons, but how do you know he hasn't been trying different powerplay combinations during practice and just hasn't come up with anything better?  Nobody's perfect, but we are talking about someone who coached the #1 powerplay in the country just a couple of years ago.[/quote]

I sure have been railing on Schafer all season for not finding the right mix on the powerplay.  That is because he hasn't found the right mix on the powerplay and has continually let the same guys run it.  Bitz is not a quarterback and I would think that this should have been obvious to Schafer in November.  Whatever unit he has been running has not produced, period.  

It isn't that they get chances and can't find the net, they don't get any shots to the net.  The guys he has running the powerplay just keep the puck along the perimeter and hope for the best.  No pucks get to the net and very little happens.

I certainly do not sit through practice and watch combinations but all comments from Schafer this year have been about how he is very impressed with how the powerplay does in practice.  There is not one coach I have ever seen that sticks with the same concept for this long without changing things up but Schafer is hell bent on the powerplay running through Bitz despite the fact that it has had almost no success with that setup.  The best that unit has looked all season was last weekend when a true quarterback, Salmela, ran it and Bitz had his most productive game when moved near the net.  

Two weeks ago, Mike Eaves put his fourth line out for a powerplay because his normal guys weren't getting it done.  Schafer never does that even when his regular guys don't generate a shot for the first three minutes of a five minute powerplay.  

I'm not interested in what Schafer accomplished with the powerplay in 03.  He did a great job with that team and he had some great players that he got a lot out of, but this is a different team.  Different types of players with different strengths.  It is his responsibility to come up with solutions that best-utilize them and it is very clear he has failed to do that this season.  He has just gone with the status quo with giving Bitz the ball every single time.  I applaud him for moving Gallagher to the point of the second unit as that has improved it.  At the same time, it is really hard not to notice that through the 29 games I have been at this season that whichever unit Bitz is quarterbacking does nothing.  As I said in an earlier post, the second unit has been sporadically successful.

I believe Bitz can be a big contributor to the powerplay and that was clear last weekend, but not as the quarterback as he has been this entire season.  He does not see the ice well enough nor does he make good enough decisions to be a quarterback.  He does have good hands and great reach which makes him a natural fit to be around the net.  

This whole post is a waste of time though because it has become very clear that Bitz will not be moved off the point of the first powerplay unit.

[calgARI '07]

[quote Beeeej]

I think you're not quite getting the premise of the question.  If it's clear that Bitz shouldn't be on the ice for it, tell us who should QB the PP - and what your case is for it.  cth95 suggested, quite reasonably, that Schafer is not so stupid as to not look for other combinations during practice.  Your shock or lack thereof at the results doesn't mean that the results are impossible.[/quote]

With regard to the question, the first powerplay should look just like it did last weekend when it had success.

Salmela and Barlow or Milo in the back with Bitz, Sawada, and Scott up front.  Salmela is a natural quarterback while both Barlow and Milo are smart players who read the play well.  Bitz and Sawada are both good around the net and capable of winning battles for lose pucks on the boards while they both have pretty good offensive ability.  Scott sees the ice well and has creativity and has a knack for finding the open man.  He has been useless on the powerplay because nobody gets open for a shot because he along with Bitz and whoever else is up high don't move the puck quick enough so opposing penalty killers can adjust with ease.

[CU at Stanford]

From Section 19, Harvard's Goal No. 2 looked like a garbage goal.  You might have had a better viewpoint, but from where I sat, that was what appeared.

Laser was meant for Goal No. 1.