Goalie Choice for Atlantic City

[trainbow]

I was very disappointed to see Iles start in goal in the ECAC final. As the game progressed, I just simply got angry.  A team can ride a hot goalie a long way, and Garman had it over Iles recently.  No goalie wins a game, and other posts talked about needing better offense.  But goalies can lose games, and demotivate a team.  A hot goalie keeps a team in a game and they can often find a way to win in spite of lesser talent or experience.  Tonight, in picking Iles, I thought Shafer failed to give Cornell the best chance to win against a Yale team who recently has shown weaknesses.  Sticking with a rotation is one thing for a regular season, another for a championship run.

[Chris '03]

I was very disappointed to see Iles start in goal in the ECAC final. As the game progressed, I just simply got angry.  A team can ride a hot goalie a long way, and Garman had it over Iles recently.  No goalie wins a game, and other posts talked about needing better offense.  But goalies can lose games, and demotivate a team.  A hot goalie keeps a team in a game and they can often find a way to win in spite of lesser talent or experience.  Tonight, in picking Iles, I thought Shafer failed to give Cornell the best chance to win against a Yale team who recently has shown weaknesses.  Sticking with a rotation is one thing for a regular season, another for a championship run.

I disagree. Iles didn't get blown out last Saturday. It's not as if Garman was the overwhelming hot hand.  Garman hadn't played back to back nights all season. In 2002 (the last time there was a CU platoon), Schafer rode Underhill into the playoffs and the team suffered consecutive Saturday loses. If I recall correctly, Denver and Miami have both relied on platoons to get to Frozen Fours or win championships in recent memory. Andy Iles is not the reason Cornell lost tonight. Yale was the superior team top to bottom.  It's unfortunate Iles will have to wait seven plus months to get another shot but the experience of playing tonight will also help him over the next three years.

It's a disappointing end to a season that, in the end, exceeded expectations.

[BigRedHockeyFan]

Garman hadn't played back to back nights all season.

He played back to back nights in Florida.

It's a disappointing end to a season that, in the end, exceeded expectations.

Agreed.

[Wastherein70]

You had a goalie that had been in net for the three victories of the four tournament games that Cornell had played, the last a shutout. Mike says in the pre-game that he picked Iles because it's Saturday, Andy's night, and Garman seemed tired after playing in the overheated rink in AC.  (Strangely, Rondeau seemed just fine after playing the day before in the same rink.)  I think that Yale was destined to win, but I think Mike's choice made it more embarrassing for Iles and for the team than it had to be.

[ithacat]

You had a goalie that had been in net for the three victories of the four tournament games that Cornell had played, the last a shutout. Mike says in the pre-game that he picked Iles because it's Saturday, Andy's night, and Garman seemed tired after playing in the overheated rink in AC.  (Strangely, Rondeau seemed just fine after playing the day before in the same rink.)  I think that Yale was destined to win, but I think Mike's choice made it more embarrassing for Iles and for the team than it had to be.

I think he also said that Yale had beaten Garman twice and hadn't seen Iles and he was going on a hunch. Rondeau did have more recovery time than Garman and he only faced 22 shots against Colgate, so he would have been fresher than Garman. Who knows if Garman would have made a difference, though it's highly doubtful. Yale is simply much better than Cornell right now. As good as Scrivens was his last two years he was 0-5 against Yale. Goalie play isn't the main issue.

[css228]

Besides  its a conditioning thing. Iles and Garman have been platooning all season. Rondeau hasn't. He's been the man all season.So as a runner I know the more you run the more you can run in the future. Probably similar for goalies and endurance

[Rosey]

Goaltending was *not* the problem in this game. I thought Iles was fantastic positionally and had good reflexes, though he did start flailing a bit as he learned he couldn't trust the D with Yale running up the score. Defense and offense were the problems: you make your life very difficult if you give up 6 goals, and you can't possibly win if you don't score a single goal.

[dbilmes]

We would have lost to Yale no matter who was in goal. But with Garman in goal, I'm convinced it would have been a more competitive game.

[Jim Hyla]

We would have lost to Yale no matter who was in goal. But with Garman in goal, I'm convinced it would have been a more competitive game.

I'm not.

[Killer]

We would have lost to Yale no matter who was in goal. But with Garman in goal, I'm convinced it would have been a more competitive game.

I'm not.

I have to agree.  I was hoping to see Garman between the pipes, but I'm afraid all that would have changed would have been the guy facing all the pucks.  The observations about Yale taking it to us by being faster, always on the move, passing more crisply, almost never hesistating, etc., accurately depict what was happening last night.

Could Garman have stood on his head and made a few more saves?  Maybe.  But without a drastic change in the flow of the game, it would not have been more competitive.  Think back to our ECAC semi in 2003 against Brown.  The final score was 2-0.  Looks close, right?  A real competitive game?  IMHO, hardly.  Our guys pounded them into submission all game long.  Yann Danis is no slouch, but he couldn't make up for what was happening on the rest of the ice.

No knock against Garman and Iles, but they weren't about to make the difference last night.

[Larry72]

We would have lost to Yale no matter who was in goal. But with Garman in goal, I'm convinced it would have been a more competitive game.

I'm not.

I have to agree.  I was hoping to see Garman between the pipes, but I'm afraid all that would have changed would have been the guy facing all the pucks.  The observations about Yale taking it to us by being faster, always on the move, passing more crisply, almost never hesistating, etc., accurately depict what was happening last night.

Could Garman have stood on his head and made a few more saves?  Maybe.  But without a drastic change in the flow of the game, it would not have been more competitive.  Think back to our ECAC semi in 2003 against Brown.  The final score was 2-0.  Looks close, right?  A real competitive game?  IMHO, hardly.  Our guys pounded them into submission all game long.  Yann Danis is no slouch, but he couldn't make up for what was happening on the rest of the ice.

No knock against Garman and Iles, but they weren't about to make the difference last night.

Well said - thinking back a just a few years it wasn't just Leneveu or McKee being spectacular to put up all those shutouts, it was because we had the players (defenseman AND forwards) who could play an effective style that gave the other team very few real scoring chances during the course of the game.  Unfortunately, not so this year.

[scoop85]

We would have lost to Yale no matter who was in goal. But with Garman in goal, I'm convinced it would have been a more competitive game.

I'm not.

I have to agree.  I was hoping to see Garman between the pipes, but I'm afraid all that would have changed would have been the guy facing all the pucks.  The observations about Yale taking it to us by being faster, always on the move, passing more crisply, almost never hesistating, etc., accurately depict what was happening last night.

Could Garman have stood on his head and made a few more saves?  Maybe.  But without a drastic change in the flow of the game, it would not have been more competitive.  Think back to our ECAC semi in 2003 against Brown.  The final score was 2-0.  Looks close, right?  A real competitive game?  IMHO, hardly.  Our guys pounded them into submission all game long.  Yann Danis is no slouch, but he couldn't make up for what was happening on the rest of the ice.

No knock against Garman and Iles, but they weren't about to make the difference last night.

Well said - thinking back a just a few years it wasn't just Leneveu or McKee being spectacular to put up all those shutouts, it was because we had the players (defenseman AND forwards) who could play an effective style that gave the other team very few real scoring chances during the course of the game.  Unfortunately, not so this year.

One striking (and consistent) theme was how often we were significantly outshot by the opponents, often by a 2 to 1 margin. Ironically, last night the shots were only something like 28-21, which was no reflection on the actual game itself.  In our best seasons, we would dominate in SOG as well as puck possession. This team never came close in either category.  All-in-all, a bit of a miracle we made it as far as we did.

[Scersk '97]

One striking (and consistent) theme was how often we were significantly outshot by the opponents, often by a 2 to 1 margin. Ironically, last night the shots were only something like 28-21, which was no reflection on the actual game itself.  In our best seasons, we would dominate in SOG as well as puck possession. This team never came close in either category.  All-in-all, a bit of a miracle we made it as far as we did.

On the shots margin, I found the highly negative shots-on-goal differential for this year's team disturbing and find it part of a disturbing trend.  I'd like to go back to our traditional dominance there.

That being said, it was a magical, somewhat surprising run.  Here's hoping that 2011 ~ 2001, 2012 ~ 2002, etc. etc.

[Al DeFlorio]

We would have lost to Yale no matter who was in goal. But with Garman in goal, I'm convinced it would have been a more competitive game.

If Cornell hadn't taken a penalty less than three minutes into the game and if our captain hadn't hit someone from behind later in the period (both penalties leading to Yale goals), it might have been "a more competitive game."  When you play a team with the skill and scoring capability that Yale has you don't hand them gratuitous opportunities like that and expect to win.  You play a smart game and force them to earn every scoring opportunity the hard way.

[JDeafv]

if our captain hadn't hit someone from behind later in the period

Those pesky Devin twins are difficult to keep straight - even when they have nameplates and numbers! ::crazy::