Postgame Thread: Yale 4 @ Cornell 3

[RichH]

Well, we've seen what can beat us now.  Yale exposed several weaknesses.  

They shoot accurately and follow the 2nd chances up very effectively.  One of those "put the puck on net and see what we can make of it" teams.  Absolutely great with open ice (three 4x4 goals were the back-breakers).

Defensively, they have a very strong and close forecheck which always gives us trouble.  They also were able to read our board-play and cut off our usual passes.  

They'll be a factor in the playoffs.  Let's get Brown tomorrow night.

[scoop85]

I saw about half the game, and was awfully impressed by Yale's speed and tenacity.  Hard to imagine that they lost to Alabama-Huntsville.

I thought we came out great to start the second period, but didn't sustain our energy.  Hopefully we'll come out focused tomorrow.

[imafrshmn]

It was a generally well-played game from both sides.  Yale's recent success in Lynah is no accident; Allain always has them ready to play.  As RichH pointed out, it was indeed Yale's quickness and skillfulness that proved the deciding factor tonight, beating our defenders to loose pucks around the crease.  Our breakout was decent and we were able to have a little puck possession advantage, but again it was Yale's speed in their defensive zone that prevented us from setting up as many quality chances as we would have liked.  Credit their goaltender for several key saves.  Scrivens may have looked shaky tonight what with all the rebounds, but it was precisely due to Yale's accurate shooting.  

It was quite a frightening scene in the 3rd when a Yale player had his forearm cut open by someone's skate.  He was taken out on a stretcher to an ambulance.  I wish him the best.

We'll get Brown tomorrow night.  LGR

[RedWins11]

Where was Justin Krueger in this game? We've missed our powerful defender!

[Larry72]

He apparently was injured sometime in the first period.  Came out for a couple of shifts after, but didn't play the 2nd and 3rd period.

[Jim Hyla]

[quote RedWins11]Where was Justin Krueger in this game? We've missed our powerful defender![/quote]He was hit in the defensive zone in the first. I don't know by whom, but he skated/limped to the bench. Hopefully he just tightened up in between periods and will be back tomorrow.

[redice]

Brendan Nash was absolutely brutal tonight.   He played the whole game like his head just was not in it.

His stickhandling was so bad that I saw him changing sticks at one point during the game.   I guess he figured there was something wrong with the stick........I think the problem was at the top end of the stick.

[Jim Hyla]

[quote imafrshmn]It was a generally well-played game from both sides.[/quote]
I can't agree. We played terribly. I think the worst of our game was not being able to pick up our passes. So many times a pass would go to a stick and not stick. That leads to a turnover. Yale is faster and if you give them a chance they can blow buy you. I hope this was just an off night. I think our positioning was OK, but why we couldn't keep our passes I don't know. Yale was definitely the better team, we were lucky to make it a one goal game and make it look good.

On the other hand, we played one of our worst games and only lost by one, so?

Yale looks to really be one of the best ECAC teams, if they can ever find a way to win at home. Clarkson is obviously playing better and if this means they start to play up to their potential, we'll have a good race to the finish.

[ebilmes]

[quote redice]Brendan Nash was absolutely brutal tonight.   He played the whole game like his head just was not in it.[/quote]

He had the nice shot for the 3rd goal, but at that point it just didn't matter. He was directly responsible for the 3rd Yale goal, as he fumbled the puck at the blue line, lost it to the Yale forward, fell down, got up, tried to hook the Yale player to prevent the breakaway, but missed. Schafer gives the kid a ton of ice time in big situations, so obviously he sees something in him I don't, but tonight he was awful. His stupid penalty (behind the play, directly in front of the ref) gave Yale the PP for their first goal.

Yale just outplayed us, and they were the better team. We could not handle their trap forecheck [still working on my hockey terminology], and that killed us in the breakout plays. They won the majority of faceoffs (it seemed), they won board battles. We played like we expected them to be a Union/RPI/Niagara type of team, a team that wouldn't challenge our guys too much and give them some good looks at net. That didn't happen. The Yale D was so dominant for stretches that it looked a lot like our D from 03 or 05.

That said, January 23 is not a bad time for our second loss of the season. Let's regroup tomorrow night and get back on track.

[Robb]

Outworked and outhustled is no way to go through a hockey game.

Seemed like every time we put on a hit, we just expected the Yalie to roll over and die so we could take the puck, and then got caught standing around surprised that the Yalie was still stickhandling.  Away.  Very fast.  With the puck.  Ugh.

We just never caught on that Yale was going to be in our faces all night - the only time in the game when we actually took care of the puck was after Scrivens was pulled.  Other than that, we just never adjusted to the fact that there was ALWAYS going to be a Yale player in our face, ready to steal the puck at the slightest bobble.  We just looked bewildered that a team would dare to be that aggressive with us...

And yet, still managed a one-goal loss.  It should have been worse - so perhaps we were the more "opportunistic" team last night....

[semsox]

I thought the D was having difficulty clearing pucks last night.  On at least two of the Yale goals, it wasn't until a 2nd or 3rd effort was made that they put it home.  On their second goal I believe, Scrivens made a wonderful glove save on the first chance, but there was no one in front to clear it.  On the third goal, same thing, Scrivens made the initial play, but the Yale player picked up the loose rebound and tucked it under the crossbar.  

I know that 4 on 4 doesn't occur too often, but the players need to be much more responsible than they were last night.  Three 4 on 4 goals is completely unacceptable.

[redice]

And, what is the record for 4-on-4 goals in a game.   Three seems like an extraordinary number.

[MattShaf]

Our lack of speed and our ability to defend against speed in the open ice was exposed by this loss to Yale. Hopefully, thats not something that will transfer over to the Olympic sheet if we have to play on one later in the year.
Scrivens played well but would prefer more covers than rebounds.
That said, the team came back hard against an opponent that was outskating them for most of the game. A couple of conversions on the power play and we could have had a better outcome.

[lynah80]

Yale made an impressive comeback against Colgate tonight and won 5-4 in OT.  They were down 4-0 in the third period.  Ryan Rondeau gave up 4 goals on only 13 shots and was pulled in favor of Alec Richards.  Maybe he was re-injured during the Cornell game.  Yale scored another shorty, their sixth of the year (RIT leads the nation with .  They moved into second place in the ECAC with 17 points.

[RichH]

[quote lynah80]Yale made an impressive comeback against Colgate tonight and won 5-4 in OT.  They were down 4-0 in the third period.  Ryan Rondeau gave up 4 goals on only 13 shots and was pulled in favor of Alec Richards.  Maybe he was re-injured during the Cornell game.  They scored another shorty, their sixth of the year.  Yale moved into second place in the ECAC with 17 points.[/quote]

Yes, this is discussed in the Saturday out-of-town scores thread.