It's your site, Age, but what the fudge?

[Greg Berge]

I never said Murray was Cornell's best defenseman ever, although I do think he's the best I've seen since '81.  I'm sure Dan Lodboa fans would have a lot to say about best ever.

But the real question is, what the (insert chocolate product here) is it with you and always slagging Murray?  If I want to compliment a Cornell player on USCHO, I really think I ought to be able to without a Cornell fan immediately and monotonously chiming in to the contrary.  Yeah, yeah, it's your Constitutional right and all that, but GIVE IT A REST already... ::rolleyes::

[Adam \'01]

I know that a few of us wanted to vote for "a large Swedish man"  but it's not a choice.

[CowbellGuy]

Because some people sitting on the other coast that see a handful of games a year (and none this year) have clearly painted a delusional image of Doug in their minds and on various fora, which I feel the need to offset. And as you can clearly read, I am not the only one in my camp. I can think of 2 people in particular who know more than both of us put together, and a group of visiting Canadian Juniors players who agree with me.

[jtwcornell91]

These were the visiting Canadian Juniors on whom Hornby made such an impression, right?

[CowbellGuy]

yes

[Josh '99]

While you're certainly entitled to your opinion, and make some valid points supporting it, I have to agree with Greg that maybe bashing Murray on USCHO isn't the best idea.  Solidarity and all that; there are enough Westerners bashing our team without us doing it for them.

[melissa\'01]

I don't know. I don't think bashing is called for but neither is overstating. If Murray is praised as being all that then when people from other NCAA teams see him for the first time they will more likely be disappointed. If we keep things on a more or less even keel - "yeah he's good at these areas, needs work on this and overall is a decent player" then they'll likely go away pleasantly surprised.

[jtwcornell91]

OTOH, if we have everyone worrying about Murray, they may be surprised by Baby, and Vesce, and Paolini, and the McRaes, and Hornby, and Wallace, and ...

[ugarte]

It's your post, Greg, but do you have to drop an f-bomb in the thread title?  What about the children???[/b]

[Josh '99]

big red apple wrote:

It's your post, Greg, but do you have to drop an f-bomb in the thread title?  What about the children???[/b]

I think they prefer to be called "undergrads".  :-D

[Ben Doyle 03]

Watch it Herman. . .you're not that much older than I am.:-P

[Rich S]

Maybe he's been watching "the Sopranos" too much....::rolleyes::

[JDeafv]

Mark McRae is the best defensive defensemen on the team this year, and Brian McMeekin was probably the best last year, and Danny Powell before that.  Murray on the other hand MIGHT be the best player, who happens to play defense during that stretch.  

Murray is not playing good defense this year.  He often gets caught trying to do "too much" and is usually out of the play.  On the other hand, the other defensemen consistantly do the little things that win the puck and clear the zone, and as a result they are making Doug look bad by playing such solid defense.  

I wish Doug played as intelligent a game as Mark McRae.  He would easily dominate in the ECAC and probably the NCAA.  

I just question the people of the Doug Murray fan club because he doesn't play nearly as well as they would like to think he does.

[jason]

Agreed about McMeekin, based on what I saw last year he was the biggest loss going into this season, bigger than Undy.

[Ben Doyle 03]

my $.02:-)

(1) Murray is a very good player but definitely not the best ever or at this stage even the best on the team. What you can't see from just reading the point tallies is that many of those assists come from completely missing the net and then Ryan, Steve, Mark or Sam pick it up off the end boards and make a play with the puck. It would be interesting to see how many of Doug's assists are of the Boston Garden variety. I have a feeling close to half (if not more) might fit into that category.


(2) Right now some would argue Ryan Vesce is a better defensemen than Doug Murray. I'm not "bashing" him but stating a simple observation (I've attended 10 of 15 games so far). He has not been the same player he was last year, he hasn't been the mean, raw, nasty Doug we've all come to know. Does he make some big hits...Yes. Does he sometimes have trouble holding the zone (not just on the PP)...Yes. Dose he sometimes have trouble clearing the zone...Yes. But as has recently been mentioned, expectations are high (maybe too high) and he has yet to meet them. Bottom line is there are plenty of games left for him to pick it up and meet such expectations, let's hope for his sake an that of the team he can. I have nothing more to say about the Murray issue.


(3) Anything we lost with McMeekin we've gained in stepped up defensive intensity by our forwards. Vesce is always back in the play (even more than last year) whenever he is on the ice; Pegoraro has consistently been  a solid back-checker as have the Abbott twins, and our rock solid positional play from almost everyone on the bench (most of the time) gives the team an even more dominating feel for the opposition than in the past.


(4) As for the loss of Undy, I would say it wasn't all that huge. IMO, we are better off with Dave in net than we were with Matt. Lenny is a better goalie now than Undy was anytime last season.