Cornell-Princeton Post-game

[Jim Hyla]

OK, I'm tired of flipping through the game line to get to post-game, so I'll start this.

A few points:

1. At the end of the season this will be the game we look back on.
2. If we don't get our second line back, it'll be a long, or short, rest of the year.
3. I don't think I've ever said this but I'm afraid Coach made a big mistake leading to this loss. Having our top line out at the end was a big mistake, IMHO. They played great throughout the game but were tired. Riley is atrocious on face-offs and the guys were just too tired. I don't know why he had them on for the first P goal, say nothing about why they stayed on after that.
4. Overall, especially considering what players we had, I think this was the best game in a couple of weeks. If the Kennedys get back, and the rest of the team plays like this we could be OK.
5. Let's see everybody at Dartmouth. First vs. second is good, but so is second vs. third, and I sure as hell don't want to be fourth.

[lynah80]

[quote Jim Hyla]
3. I don't think I've ever said this but I'm afraid Coach made a big mistake leading to this loss. Having our top line out at the end was a big mistake, IMHO. They played great throughout the game but were tired. Riley is atrocious on face-offs and the guys were just too tired. I don't know why he had them on for the first P goal, say nothing about why they stayed on after that.[/quote]

I agree that the first line should not have been on the ice after the EA goal.  Schafer should have accepted that the game was going to be decided in OT.  For the EA goal, Barlow, B. Nash, R Nash, Mugford, and Seminoff were on the ice, so things were set up somewhat like a PK.  Psychologically and physically, those guys were ready for a breather.  The first line pressed into the Princeton end after the face off and didn't have enough energy to keep up with the Princeton rush after they lost control of the puck.  Seminoff was clearly not thinking conservatively when he pinched in.

[lynah80]

This is from the CBR website:

"That score would hold up for the next 18 seconds until the Tigers broke out on a rush out of their own zone. Princeton's Kevin Lohry sprung Taylor Fedun on a break, who passed across the ice to Kevin Kaiser. Kaiser got the puck in deep and sent a pass to Fedun, who roofed a shot over Scrivens for the game-winner."

I don't think this guy went to the game.

This is what I saw:

With the score tied 1-1, Cornell pressed into the Princeton end after the center ice face off.  It looked like they didn't want the game to go into OT.  Seminoff pinched in and fell down when he was fighting for the puck along the half-wall with Lohry.  None of the Cornell forwards were in a position to drop back to cover for him.  Once Lohry worked the puck away from Seminoff and out to Kaiser at the blue line, the Big Red was in trouble.  Lohry took off for the net with Fedun.  Kaiser made a great neutral ice pass to Fedun, who passed the puck to Lohry near the Cornell blue line.  Justin Krueger was the only defenseman back, and he fell.  Lohry skated to the glove side of the net and Scrivens followed him.  He passed the puck across the slot to Fedun.  Greening intercepted the pass and tried to clear, but unfortunately, he put it right on Fedun's stick.  Scrivens didn't have time to react and was still on the other side of the net.  Fedun had an open net to shoot at and he poked in a low shot.

I can't remember a previous Cornell game when two goals were scored in the last minute by an opponent.

[ebilmes]

Despite the seemingly unreal record that Schafer teams have held when leading after two, sometimes you just can't hold that slim lead. Princeton is a strong team and they weren't going to go quietly. Like in Friday night's game, we had plenty of chances and lots of PPs. It's our own fault for not having built a larger lead by that point in the game.

Obviously this game sucks for the standings, PWR, etc., but you have to play the full 60 minutes. We let go in the last minute.

We'll see what happens next weekend. It's always a tough roadtrip, but I'd love to see us come out firing to make up for what happened tonight. Whatever happens now, a strong push through the conference tournament can put us right where we want for NCAAs.

Lastly, for the handful of morons who started jangling their keys with one minute left, let this be a lesson to you.

Let's beat the Big Green. See you in Hanover.

[Al DeFlorio]

Just watched the tying goal again, very painfully.  Reminded me of Dean Talafous's last seconds tying goal in the 1973 NCAA semifinal.  The Princeton kid was left alone in front of the net, while four of our guys mucked along the boards to Scrivens's left.

[Trotsky]

Mistakes all around.  It happens, and one time in a thousand it happens at a terrible time.  Still, better now than in the final minute of an NCAA QF.

Lessons are painful, but they pay for themselves many times over -- if they are learned.

[dbilmes]

[quote lynah80]
I can't remember a previous Cornell game when two goals were scored in the last minute by an opponent.[/quote]
I do remember the same thing happening during a home game against Brown my freshman year, back in 1974. Only in that case, I believe that only enabled Brown to tie the game and we lost it in OT. I recall seeing our goalie drinking beer out of his shoe in the Chapter House later that night.
In any case, how we bounce back from this devastating defeat will be a true test of the character of this team.

[Chris '03]

The GWG reminded me of Zach Greer in Baltimore. The helpless feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

The good news is that they outplayed a very good PU team for 55 minutes without their second line. The final score stings but the rest of the game inspired some confidence for a possible playoff game down the road.

Four goals, one at even strength, in four games doesn't inspire a ton of confidence though.

[ACM]

[quote dbilmes][quote lynah80]
I can't remember a previous Cornell game when two goals were scored in the last minute by an opponent.[/quote]
I do remember the same thing happening during a home game against Brown my freshman year, back in 1974. Only in that case, I believe that only enabled Brown to tie the game and we lost it in OT. I recall seeing our goalie drinking beer out of his shoe in the Chapter House later that night.
In any case, how we bounce back from this devastating defeat will be a true test of the character of this team.[/quote]

You remember the same game I do. December 7, 1974, Cornell with a 3-1 lead with under a minute to play. Brown scores at 19:05, Cornell takes a penalty at 19:20, Brown ties the score with a PPG at 19:26, Brown gets the game-winner at 8:34 of OT (they played 10-minute overtimes back then).

[HockeyMan]

Painful result.  But maybe in one respect not so shocking.  Four goals in four games ain't gonna to get it done.  Not late in the season and not later in the playoffs.  You're too dependent on hot goaltending, too dependent on getting breaks.  

As was said on the game thread, we showed precious little up front down the stretch. I understand playing to protect a lead in the third (though one could argue about whether it's sound strategy), I understand the need to clamp down defensively.  But we've got to be able to show more than this, even if the Kennedys are missing.

You get what you get in a Schafer system.  It's a about disciplined, defensively-oriented hockey, and eking out tough low-scoring wins. But I worry.  I worried when we scraped by a middling Niagara team in two homes games (getting two very late goals in one of them to inflate the margin), and I worry now.

[gonyr]

This felt like a real gut-punch. The game seemed well in hand, if a bit tight. Cornell was definitely carrying play for the first 50 minutes. Even after the first Princeton goal, it seemed like OT, and probably a tie, was fairly well assured. Then, instant flashback to the undergrad years and that horrible empty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

This ends my personal four year winning streak. Of course, I only get to one or two games a year. One bright note for the trip: I sold my extra tickets to BCrespi from this forum (who I had never met), and he was good enough to phone and give me a heads-up about the delayed start for the game. The Faithful are good people. I'd bet the bar in the Statler did a month's worth of business in 90 minutes.

[French Rage]

Why was it delayed?

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote French Rage]Why was it delayed?[/quote]
Princeton's bus broke down on the long, arduous trip from Hamilton to Ithaca.

[French Rage]

[quote Al DeFlorio][quote French Rage]Why was it delayed?[/quote]
Princeton's bus broke down on the long, arduous trip from Hamilton to Ithaca.[/quote]

As long as they don't use some BS "forget their jerseys" excuse.

[RichH]

[quote Al DeFlorio][quote French Rage]Why was it delayed?[/quote]
Princeton's bus broke down on the long, arduous trip from Hamilton to Ithaca.[/quote]

Yeah, and I'm kinda disappointed how the Faithful handled this.  First, kudos to the ticket-takers for doing a solid job at informing everyone about the delay and what time they expected the game to actually start.

That said, there were tons of people milling about in the field house lobby and outside, trying to figure out what to do.  Well, this was a hecklers dream!  Plenty of time for everyone to get there.  An amusing reason why they were late!  It's too bad A & B wasn't full when Princeton came out for warm-ups, but it's REALLY lame that there was no noise coming from anybody but the bands.  A half-full B just sat there politely.  No sarcastic "HEY, LOOK EVERYONE!  Princeton's here!!  Nice of you to show up, Princeton!"  There was no "It's not like we had any plans or anything!  Why don't you take you sweet TIME to warm up!"  No "Whassamatter, I thought New Jersey was FULL of bus mechanics!"  No "Prince-ton rides the shooooort bus!"  chants.  This was a situation ripe for creativity and humor.  The only thing that happened was the CU band led a brief "Sieve" chant as PU emerged from their locker room.

Yeah, yeah...this is going to turn into another "in my day" rant, but

 *inhale*  

IN MY DAY A & B were packed by 30 minutes prior to game time.  The pre-game warm-up heckle session was a sacred part of the night, and it was the time for individual fans to shine and show off their creativity and ranting skills.  In between band songs, there was a constant din letting the opponents have it.  

And if the band were given an hour of basically down time...we'd empty the folder.  Play anything and everything we could find to give the good fans whose night were inconvenienced some entertainment.  Both bands sorta picked their butts for a while.  

The only people shouting I could hear were the girls selling "$5 t-shirts!" out in the concourse.  I know this generation has decided that showing up 5 minutes after the game starts is the new status quo.  Whatever, that's your time.  But when you're already there with nothing to do, would you rather stand around the sidewalk outside, or sit around our venerable old rink and make something fun out of it?