Cornell-Princeton on Saturday

[FarEastLax]

Huge game this weekend.  Princeton has not been particularly impressive this year, and their 10-2 loss to Albany seems a good fit for the "clanger" category.  But, as always seems to be the case, they are still around and in the hunt to win the league championship.  

Although never acknowledged by the southern brand-name crowd (Princeton is still the Ivy team in their minds), we have now beaten Princeton four years in a row, including last year's solid 10-6 home win, the previous year's 4-3 thunderstorm game in NJ, and the 2005 17-4 pasting at Schoelkopf.  

With a little more consistency on defense and a solid game from our attack, I like our chances.  

Thoughts?

[Al DeFlorio]

Seems to me it depends on which Cornell team shows up.  The team that played the first half against Harvard and first three quarters against Penn would likely win.  The team that played the last twenty minutes against Harvard and the second half against Dartmouth will likely not.

This game is a chance for Princeton to make a statement after a disappointing season to date, and they'll pull out all stops.  Myers will have to be sharper than he was against Syracuse and Dartmouth or Princeton will sneak off with a win, especially if Hewit plays to his 2006 and 2007 form and stuffs our shots early, putting us back on our heels and getting us to play with little confidence.

[TimV]

While we've done much better on faceoff, the defensive end of the field remains a problem.  Gradinger and MacDonald have gotta avoid the penalties they drew against SU, and the the shortstick middie #30 really needs to step up his game.  The Princeton attack will never be as hard on this team as Syracuse, so I'm confident about Myers in goal.  If we can work the ball inside to Hurley, we'll be OK since the Princeton goaltender has not lived up to his expectations this year.  I'd still like to see the Canadian freshmen get worked into the offense - then Hurley could dump off to them when he draws the slide for a good inside finish.

[mnagowski]

[quote TimV]The Princeton attack will never be as hard on this team as Syracuse, so I'm confident about Myers in goal.[/quote]

Princeton has an attack?

[ugarte]

In all the talk about what Cornell has to do, we need to realize that even if we show up with our B game, the only way Cornell loses is if Princeton brings their A+ game. If they are a little off, there is a lot more margin for error.

We let Harvard get close after we put the game out of reach; they needed a heroic stand by their goalie in OT to escape with a win. We can't look past any team, of course, but this is NOT a Princeton team that should cause pregame jitters.

This isn't to disagree with other posters comments about our weaknesses and areas in need of improvement but I refuse to pretend to be nervous about this game in advance. I'm not guaranteeing a win - I respect the Princeton program too much for that - but I'm expecting one.

[Hillel Hoffmann]

Lots to talk about with this game, but first things first:

Anyone here with good connections who can arrange to move Passover? I'm pissed that the game time was moved to the late afternoon (4 p.m.); there's no chance I can go to Princeton or watch it live on television. On top of that, I don't get ESPNU, so I can't record it.

Given that Passover isn't likely to up and move, I'm hoping that there's someone out there who could make a recording of the ESPNU broadcast and mail it to me. Send me a private message if you're willing and able; maybe we can work out some kind of barter.

[Al DeFlorio]

Brown continues unbeaten in the league tonight by sneaking past Harvard, 8-7, in Providence.  14 saves for Jordan Burke.

[billhoward]

If you're Reform, are you at least allowed to watch if you get a goy to flip to the right channel?

Thank goodness Sandy Koufax isn't playing close defense for the Red.

[French Rage]

[quote billhoward]If you're Reform, are you at least allowed to watch if you get a goy to flip to the right channel?

Thank goodness Sandy Koufax isn't playing close defense for the Red.[/quote]

And couldn't you set up a VCR and DVR to record it ahead of time and then watch afterwards?

[Jacob '06]

[quote French Rage][quote billhoward]If you're Reform, are you at least allowed to watch if you get a goy to flip to the right channel?

Thank goodness Sandy Koufax isn't playing close defense for the Red.[/quote]

And couldn't you set up a VCR and DVR to record it ahead of time and then watch afterwards?[/quote]

He said he doesn't get the channel at home.

[ugarte]

[quote Al DeFlorio]Brown continues unbeaten in the league tonight by sneaking past Harvard, 8-7, in Providence.  14 saves for Jordan Burke.[/quote]
How many games has Harvard lost by 1 goal? 4? 5?

[djk26]

How many games has Harvard lost by 1 goal? 4? 5?

Four.

Harvard's games this year

[FarEastLax]

We could easily be in the same boat, having beat three teams by one goal: Navy, Yale and Army.  The wins against the Army and Navy are looking better as the season goes on.

[scoop85]

[quote FarEastLax]We could easily be in the same boat, having beat three teams by one goal: Navy, Yale and Army.  The wins against the Army and Navy are looking better as the season goes on.[/quote]

The Yale and Navy games were certainly nail biters. Army is a bit different, as we led 9-6 before they got two late goals; that game never really seemed in doubt.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote scoop85][quote FarEastLax]We could easily be in the same boat, having beat three teams by one goal: Navy, Yale and Army.  The wins against the Army and Navy are looking better as the season goes on.[/quote]

The Yale and Navy games were certainly nail biters. Army is a bit different, as we led 9-6 before they got two late goals; that game never really seemed in doubt.[/quote]
Well, there was some doubt in my mind when an Army guy fired a close-in shot (fortunately stopped by Martinez) with one or two seconds on the clock.

My impression watching that game was Cornell did have an edge in play and that seems to be confirmed by the game statistics.  But we did come pretty close to giving it away at the end.