Brown at Cornell postgame

[billhoward]

Workmanlike 4-1 victory. Sawada has the game (goal, assist) you expect of him. [edit add:] And special teams came through. A game Cornell obviously should have won, but with Cornell this year, no opponent is a guaranteed win. LGR.

[sah67]

[quote billhoward]Workmanlike 4-1 victory. Sawada has the game (goal, assist) you expect of him. A game Cornell obviously should have won, but with Cornell this year, no opponent is a guaranteed win. LGR.[/quote]

We really got sloppy in the 2nd, perhaps encouraged by Brown's horrid 1st period, but nearly paid for it.  Good third period though.

Excellent special teams effort also....66% powerplay conversion, 100% PK.

[Trotsky]

[quote sah67]Excellent special teams effort also....66% powerplay conversion, 100% PK.[/quote]LiveStats has Cornell 2x2 on pp and 6x6 on kill.

[sah67]

[quote Trotsky][quote sah67]Excellent special teams effort also....66% powerplay conversion, 100% PK.[/quote]LiveStats has Cornell 2x2 on pp and 6x6 on kill.[/quote]

I thought we had about 15 seconds of pp at the beginning the 2nd where we didn't score.

EDIT: Collegehockeystats.net has it as 2/3

[sah67]

Tony's 3 stars of the game are:

1. Ray Sawada
2. Tyler Mugford
3. Chris Fontas

Joe Scali and Colin Greening could have easily been candidates as well IMHO.

[TimV]

They showed all the goals, Sawada's hit, and as a nice finishing touch, as the annoumcers signed off they replayed the player's raising their sticks to salute.   Very cool.::banana::

[TimV]

Now they've won about seven in a row.  It's a record for them.

[sah67]

[quote TimV]Now they've won about seven in a row.  It's a record for them.[/quote]

They score the ENG before SLU's sieve could even make it to the bench ::twitch::

[sah67]

Clarkson 5 RPI 2
Union 3 SLU 1
Yale 6 Colgate 1

Non-conference
Niagara 5 Quinnipiac 1

[TimV]

Since said sieve was still on the ice, it counts as a goal against, right? Not an ENG?

[RichH]

[quote billhoward]Workmanlike 4-1 victory. Sawada has the game (goal, assist) you expect of him. A game Cornell obviously should have won, but with Cornell this year, no opponent is a guaranteed win. LGR.[/quote]

A little rough around the edges, but they did what they were expected to do vs. a team with one win.

Earlier in the year, I wrote something along the lines of when Greening and Riley get comfortable with each other, that should be a special line.  What I've observed is that those are 2 very, very talented players that happen to be on the ice at the same time.  The truly *great* lines in league history (Perrin/St. Louis, Tuomainen/Robitaille, et. al.) were great because they were in tune with what each would do in the future.  They always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone in the building not because they knew where their linemates are, but they knew where their linemates were going to be.  That isn't what I'm seeing from our first line.  I see Riley continue to jam up against 3 defenders and try to deke his own way out of it.  I see Greening and Nash taking one-man cycles in the corner, while everyone waits to see what happens next.  Barlow has to clear out obstacles and let the other two have fun with that open space...together.

Nice game by Sawada...great to see.  Joe Devin did good work finishing off the opportunistic breakaway.  A lot of good work by much of the team, but as people mentioned in the game thread...not a solid 60 minutes yet.  Focus needs to be locked in by the end of Feb.

The goals we scored were opportunistic, and that's how this team has to get them.  Throw it on net and be ready around the net for something to squirt loose.  There was a point during the 2nd intermission (when it was 2-1) where the radio audio dropped out, and we got to overhear someone in the pressbox being incredibly sarcastic:  "whoa...another offensive display by Cornell *guffaw*  Yeah, you saw them beat Niagara 6-0 and everyone is like 'whoa.'  Dude, THAT was the fluke game."  4-1 makes me feel better, and I'll take the team than can lock down a 3rd period lead over what we saw during the holidays.

The hallmark of every great Schafer-coached team...Penalty Killing.  You can usually get a feel of how far they'll go with the strength of the PK unit.  1997 rode one of the best PKs I've ever seen all the way to the national quarters.  Earlier this decade, the PK was dominant, and so was the team.  I tell you what...I feel better about this team in the 2nd half of the season than I did in the 1st half based solely on my comfort level with the PK.  It's coming together.  Not perfect, but they are "getting it."

Yale will be a better test than this Brown team.

[Trotsky]

[quote RichH]Yale will be a better test than this Brown team.[/quote]Also, it's the second game of the weekend, when Cornell has had letdowns.  A win would be indicative that the team is coming together and can be a serious contender.  RPI stayed in until late against Clarkson tonight -- the Knights can be beaten both in Ithaca and Albany.


The Union loss is looking less and less bad.  Other than that, Cornell is 5-0 in its last games not against Clarkson.  Yale's a key test, because they're looking pretty good.  If the Red can make it happen now, they have a great chance with the home-and-home coming up against 'Gate.

Or they could go 0-3.  Who knows with such a young team?

[sah67]

[quote TimV]Since said sieve was still on the ice, it counts as a goal against, right? Not an ENG?[/quote]

Correct, it goes as a goal-against in his stats...even thought there really was no "against".

[hockeychick470]

This is my 3rd season sitting on the D/E boarder.  The cowbell is one of my favorite cheers, especially when I go stand in B or A with friends because it gets extremely  garbled with clapping on the D/E end.  This is the first time that I've seen anyone come to the D/E end to play the cowbell.  Thanks, you made my night.

LGR

[Drew]

[quote hockeychick470]This is my 3rd season sitting on the D/E boarder.  The cowbell is one of my favorite cheers, especially when I go stand in B or A with friends because it gets extremely  garbled with clapping on the D/E end.  This is the first time that I've seen anyone come to the D/E end to play the cowbell.  Thanks, you made my night.

LGR[/quote]

Doug, Sounds like empty net in front of you...;-)