ECAC Quaterfinals, Game 2: im not updating the score...come in and chat

[Rita]

[quote min][quote Hillel Hoffmann][quote Al DeFlorio]Disappointing to see a Schafer-coached team play such stupid hockey.  Not just tonight, either.  Very surprising.[/quote]
Yes. But it's not just the stupid stuff. In the third period, Quinnipiac has been stronger in the corners, forechecking like animals, setting up the cycle, doing all the stuff we used to do. Used to do. Used to do.[/quote]

I completely agree. This series loss, along with the team's inconsistent performance throughout the season, is very hard take. Surely we have the entire off-season to discuss this, but I for one want the old Schafer team - unfairly described by all as "big-n-slow" - back. The "fast-n-small" experiment pretty much failed this year.

LGR![/quote]

I'm not ready to give up on this group of young players. I am hopeful that the memory of how this series was lost will stay with them for their remaining years here. Remember they are freshmen in college juggling classes, exams, projects and papers and hockey. For those that played junior hockey last year, I think all they had to focus on was primarily hockey and hockey in a different system than that employed by the Cornell coaching staff.  

There were flashes of offensive spark from the freshmen, but yes, they (and the rest of the team) were inconsistent for most of the year. I think we lost quite a bit of leadership due to graduation and early defection to the pros, and it very well may be that Bitz, McC and Carefoot are more "supporting players" and not "natural leaders" that can compensate and "cover" for a very inexperienced team.

It has been very frustrating watching our team make stupid mistakes and essentially beat themselves. However, I am a believer that you have to "learn how to win" and I think this team has learned some valuable lessons, acquired a lot of experience and will come back much stronger next season.

BTW, I wish I had a quarter for every time Doug Krantz and Topher Scott mentioned the word "systems" during the intermission interviews with Jason Weinstein. I would have enough money to do a month's worth of laundry!

[oceanst41]

Look at what the teams were able to do after they skipped the playoffs in '03-'04.

There are some promising players that still have plenty of time on the hill. Barlow and Kennedy showed it from the sophomores, and Greening, Gallagher, Romano, Nash, et al showed it in flashes or streaks from the freshmen.