Postgame thread: Cornell 2 at Harvard 4

[billhoward]

Beyond the obvious issues of the power play -- Cornell is having trouble when all 4 Harvard goals were PPG and when Cornell is something like 4 x 37 now on PP opportunities -- it seems as if Cornell can't (take your pick) be opportunistic, creative, or just plain scary (on offense). The Cornell-not-opportunistic line was in my head before Greening banged home the rebound to make it 3-2 with 3-1/2 minutes to play. So give us that.

Maybe this is just a reversible slump and not a death spiral paralleling the economy. Had just one of those Cornell PP rebounds been knocked home, it would have been a 3-3 final and we'd have gone into OT. And what are the odds we'd lose two straight games in OT?

When Cornell wears those red road uniforms, does the spirit of the Red Army teams go with the unis, and you play regimented, massive attack, and you've got no Plan B when you fall behind? We outshoot, out-faceoff, out-everything Harvard and lose. When we were down by 2 and the clock fell below 10:00 to play, it felt as if Cornell was not the kind of time that inspires confidence in two late-game goals.

So we're due to snap out of it some point. Who'd have thought: zero point weekend?

[Scersk '97]

I'd have thought.  No matter what those chuckle-head TV announcers say, we have a huge hole down the middle without Michael Kennedy.  He can't come back soon enough.  When Mugford has to center the 3rd line instead of the checking line, we've got problems.

The reality of the situation, though, is that (knock on wood) all we have to do is win two of our last four (cue Jim Mora) and we get a week off.  I have little doubt that the bye week would do wonders for us.

We play Yale, Union, RPI, and Brown; that's 1st place, t-7th, 10th, and 12th.  Whatever you want to say about how "anybody can beat anybody" in this league, if we don't win two of those games we don't deserve a first-round bye.

NCAAs?  Pffft.  Better start looking for an ECAC championship.

[Jacob '06]

Greening had a monster game, I think he had at least 7 prime scoring chances. We outshot them drastically, but we just couldn't get the puck to go in the net. I actually thought the power play was much more creative than they have been in the past, and they were getting plenty of chances but just not putting home the rebounds. The one thing I would like to see is that once they have posession for a while and the PKers are tired they should try to move the puck faster instead of just going for the point shots.

[lynah80]

Brandon Thomas quoted Mike in his blog tonight:

"I can't complain with the way we approached game," Schafer said. "If we play like that for the rest of the year, we'll be in good shape."

I think that when your opponent figures out your PK and PP strategies, you need to make adjustments.  This has been an issue for the last few years in games with Harvard.  Ted Donato doesn't have a good team this year but he is still a very smart guy.

[lynah80]

[quote billhoward]
When Cornell wears those red road uniforms, does the spirit of the Red Army teams go with the unis, and you play regimented, massive attack ...[/quote]

I cracked up when I read this.  Those old CCCP teams were good though, but they did have that one notable loss in 1980.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KArdaAu7p9M

[KeithK]

I take some cosmic responsibility for recent events:
http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?1,138439,138470#msg-138470

What we need is to step away from the rankings a bit and enjoy the hockey. A dozen years ago, before the PWR was widely circulated, Cornell fans would have looked at this team and thought "this is great! We're 14-2-3 and have a three point lead in the ECAC." A little more of that and a little stress about the PWR effect of each game might make things a bit more enjoyable.

Right now, stressing about PWR effects sounds really good...

[ugarte]

[quote KeithK]I take some cosmic responsibility for recent events:
http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?1,138439,138470#msg-138470
[/quote]
While I don't take responsibility, I think some perspective might be helpful:

Cornell has played most of the season on the razor's edge. In 9 games we've won 4 games by one goal and tied twice. Every game seems to have at least one shot that hit the post or a puck that got behind Scrivens and was cleared. After each game the sentiment seems to be "whew" not "outstanding!", as it used to be with Lenny and McKee. He appears to those reporting contemporaneously to be a combination of lucky and good.

I expect that he will remain very good through the year but his luck will probably run out and those pucks will start hitting the inside of the post.

We are a team that is not that far ahead of the pack in the ECAC. A top 5 ranking was never appropriate. I enjoy the wins and lament the losses but 2009 was not a year that I expected Cornell to make a serious run at an NCAA title.

[Trotsky]

[quote ugarte]We are a team that is not that far ahead of the pack in the ECAC.[/quote]One point out of 4th is indeed not that far ahead of the pack. =]

[Beeeej]

[quote ugarte][quote KeithK]I take some cosmic responsibility for recent events:
http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?1,138439,138470#msg-138470
[/quote]
While I don't take responsibility, I think some perspective might be helpful:

Cornell has played most of the season on the razor's edge. In 9 games we've won 4 games by one goal and tied twice. Every game seems to have at least one shot that hit the post or a puck that got behind Scrivens and was cleared. After each game the sentiment seems to be "whew" not "outstanding!", as it used to be with Lenny and McKee. He appears to those reporting contemporaneously to be a combination of lucky and good.

I expect that he will remain very good through the year but his luck will probably run out and those pucks will start hitting the inside of the post.

We are a team that is not that far ahead of the pack in the ECAC. A top 5 ranking was never appropriate. I enjoy the wins and lament the losses but 2009 was not a year that I expected Cornell to make a serious run at an NCAA title.[/quote]

As long as we're taking responsibility or looking for perspective:

[quote Beeeej, January 18]Does anybody doubt that a hot Yale, a frustrated Harvard, an unusually stifled Clarkson, and half a dozen other ECAC teams seeking revenge for their first tastes of Cornell this season will present an interesting challenge over the remaining twelve regular season games?

I saw some great stuff from this Cornell team this weekend, but I for one am not expecting them to enter the conference tourney at 25-1-3.[/quote],

[CU at Stanford]

0-7 in power play vs. Harvard
That don't make us look like a contender for ECAC

Don't forget, this Harvard team last night played their third game in one week, no?  We should have the refresher legs, and maybe we did.  The SOG count was deceiving in a sense that yes Cornell generated a lot of shots but most of them were not going to go into net in the first place, whereas each of Harvard's PPG you'd just get this sick-to-your-stomach feeling watching the play developed.  Pretty Harvard hockey, not so much on the Big Red side.

We sat next to the Harvard Band, and my wife remarked that their band section (or, as she'd put it, Harvard's fan base ::flipa: has matured over the last 10-11 years since we have been going to games at Bright.  It was painful to hear the Crimson pukes hurling cheers and insults on our goalie and team the way we typically would have taken it to their team.  

This was the third non-winning Cornell-Harvard contest we have attended in the last 4-5 years.  I hope we will reverse the trend SOON.  I am slowly losing my stamina to come to a "flipping" cold Cambridge to watch our Big Red team pummeled, on a Valentine's Day, no less.

[CU at Stanford]

I do want to give a public shoutout to Joanna and Justin (MBA '99) for our tickets to Bright last night.  Nice meeting Baby Grace!

How come the Cornell Pep Band did not play the love theme from Love Story last night?  We were at Harvard, on Valentine's Day, so it would have seem perfect.  But, no Love Story, hardly the O Canada (by Cornell fans), and, on top of that, Harvard totally screwed up on the singing of the US national anthem.  ::nut::

[Beeeej]

[quote CU at Stanford]How come the Cornell Pep Band did not play the love theme from Love Story last night?  We were at Harvard, on Valentine's Day, so it would have seem perfect.[/quote]

They did, twice.

[Chris '03]

[quote Beeeej][quote CU at Stanford]How come the Cornell Pep Band did not play the love theme from Love Story last night?  We were at Harvard, on Valentine's Day, so it would have seem perfect.[/quote]

They did, twice.[/quote]

Why not three times? (this is actually a serious question)

[ChipJ]

I also sat next to the Harvard band last night.  Didn't you notice that nobody sang or even CARED when the Harvard bank played their Alma Mater but all the Cornell fans sang lustily for ours?  That is the difference between Harvard and Cornell.

[Jim Hyla]

[quote ChipJ]I also sat next to the Harvard band last night.  Didn't you notice that nobody sang or even CARED when the Harvard bank played their Alma Mater but all the Cornell fans sang lustily for ours?  That is the difference between Harvard and Cornell.[/quote]Yes, and they even posted their words on the scoreboard for those that couldn't remember them.