ECAC SF#2: Cornell 4 Princeton 3 - Postgame Thread

Beeeej · March 20, 2009, 11:57:49 PM

squeak

What a freakin' great game. It seemed Princeton had a step on us for large chunks of time during regulation, but we turned it up a notch at the end of the third and never looked back. Other than a few scary let-up moments in the two overtime periods, we kept crashing the net and working the boards like the Cornell teams we've come to know and love, and shelled Kalemba until he finally gave.

I'm sure I'll be able to talk again by tomorrow.

marty · March 21, 2009, 12:07:14 AM

Patrick Kennedy hit everything that moved in the above mentioned end of the third and in the OTs. There were loads of near calls in the OTs. You could hear the ref yelling for the players to stop holding. Great to enjoy some old fashioned bangin' - lots of fun to watch the Red take it to them.

Beeeej · March 21, 2009, 12:12:41 AM

Yeah, it got a wee bit chippy and grabby in the OTs, but the refs heroically backed off, even on a couple I would have been okay with them calling.

By the way, Blake Gallagher is my hero for this game - the guy was on crutches a few days ago, and he took a lot of shifts and worked his ass off. Without him on the ice, who knows how much steam the rest of the forwards would've had in the second OT?

Germ · March 21, 2009, 12:22:49 AM

Ahhh...sweet revenge! It almost takes all the pain away from our 3-2 loss at home during the regular season. (Not ALL the pain but most of it.) This has to be one of our biggest comebacks in the ECAC tourney doesn't it? The only game bigger that I can remember was our comeback against Harvard in '03. I think it was '03.

We're now at 8T in the pairwise and have a GREAT chance to steal a 2 seed with a win tomorrow.

BCrespi · March 21, 2009, 12:28:42 AM

This post was more appropriate for the postgame tread:

What an incredible three game series between these two teams this year. A 1-0 nail-biting CU win @ Princeton in the season opener. The heartbreaking loss where Princeton scores twice in the final minute to win 3-2. And now this, score twice in the final three minutes, one an extra-attacker goal, to force OT, and then win in double OT against a goalie having an incredible game. That's as good as it gets.

BCrespi · March 21, 2009, 12:30:26 AM

Also, I think the new poll in the upper right should be edited to include Sean Whitney. What a great game that kid played. Very aggressive and confident, even after he wasn't able to score from the slot.

Chris '03 · March 21, 2009, 12:32:44 AM

[quote Germ]Ahhh...sweet revenge! It almost takes all the pain away from our 3-2 loss at home during the regular season. [/quote]

Must not be too painful if you forget the score. :-P

Germ · March 21, 2009, 01:05:11 AM

[quote Chris '03][quote Germ]Ahhh...sweet revenge! It almost takes all the pain away from our 3-2 loss at home during the regular season. [/quote]

Must not be too painful if you forget the score. :-P[/quote]

2-1 my bad. But you're right...it could have been a 3-goal lead that we blew in that game and (with tonight's win) I wouldn't care all that much. If we win tomorrow I won't care about alot of other regular season losses either.

billhoward · March 21, 2009, 02:29:54 AM

Too many times we've been the one come-from-behind on. This is sweet. Even more so with R Nash and Greening attoning for penalties that almost did Cornell in.

Been a long time since I saw Cornell so dominant as in the first 3-4 minutes of the first overtime. All without scoring, but coming close oh-so-many times. It was scary because Princeton could still get one lucky break, especially once we let down some from the high-energy level that began the OT. That's what makes hockey in OT so exciting in the playoffs.

Hard to believe shots on goal were nearly even (Cornell 43-40 total including 10-10 and 4-3 in the two OTs). It seemed that Cornell carried play the majority of the game. One exception: In the middle of the third, I thought there was a letup where we forgot to forecheck.

I sat behind the Princeton goal all five periods. (Talk about not crowded - the box office offered me second row behind the glass a few minutes before the faceoff. I think the crowd would have fit in Lynah, no matter what the box office attendance says.) It was impressive to see how often Cornell beat Princeton to the puck and how often Cornell came away with the puck after the scrums along thje boards and picked up loose pucks in the offensive zone, even if we shot wide or the ensuing pass didn't go exactly where it was supposed to. Friday night, Cornell seemed well schooled in the basics.

My personal sense, even though Cornell makes such good use of all players suited up for the game, was that the OT seemed a little scary when the first line wasn't out there. Maybe it was just me.

Zane Kalemba really is a first rate goaltender. He didn't deserve to lose, but Princeton did, and that was his team.

I saw a lot of St. Lawrence fans who stuck around for game 2 while Yalies were barely in appearance. Maybe because the SLU fans were in Albany for the weekend while the Yale fans, such as they were, may have driven back to New Haven for dinner.

jks32 · March 21, 2009, 08:05:44 AM

[quote billhoward]Too many times we've been the one come-from-behind on. [/quote]

That's what she said.

Beeeej · March 21, 2009, 08:43:59 AM

According to the recap on USCHO, Greening beat Scrivens high for the GWG. (Yes, I've already alerted Mr. Sullivan to the error. I'm just sayin'.)

scoop85 · March 21, 2009, 09:06:29 AM

A few observations:

1. We carried the play and puck possession for much of the game, perhaps with the exception of the 2nd period. This was a well-deserved win.

2. Sean Whitney was a revelation. Showed surprising (to me anyway) offensive skill, and didn't seem at all intimidated by the big stage. Hard to imagine he won't be a regular on the blue line next year.

3. Barlow was (again) our best forward, even ignoring his amazing goal. Mugford was outstanding as well. Nash and Greening seemed off their games, but came up big when it counted. AMazing that Gallagher was a strong as he was coming off what sounded like a bad ankle injury.

4. Scrivens was not stellar, but did enough. Kalemba had to make at least a handful more difficult saves. Our gameplan was clearly to shoot high, and we missed some golden opportunities just over the net.

5. Nice to get another crack at Yale, knowing that our NCAA tourney life is (apparently) not dependent upon a win. Yale has to be the favorite, but if we play with the passion from Friday, we have a very decent shot.

ugarte · March 21, 2009, 09:09:02 AM

[quote Beeeej]According to the recap on USCHO, Greening beat Scrivens high for the GWG. [/quote]
Kind of like when a softball team only has 8, so one of the guys on the batting team helps out by playing catcher?

jy3 · March 21, 2009, 09:15:36 AM

So glad that game was on tv last night. The people at pepsi got a treat with both games yesterday. I wish we had been there. Best I can get us I think was 6th in the PWR and worst was I think #11. It is possible for 3 ecac teams to make the tourney but not 4.

I just wish that the final was not tape delayed - so strange for the semis to be live and the final to be tape delayed by a day

I was surprised that the Barlow goal was not on sports center this morning. What a great goal.
LGR!

peterg · March 21, 2009, 10:14:15 AM

[quote Germ]This has to be one of our biggest comebacks in the ECAC tourney doesn't it? The only game bigger that I can remember was our comeback against Harvard in '03. I think it was '03.[/quote]

One of the biggest, yes, but for the biggest, though it was a "different" ECAC, I still have to go with Providence.