Hahvahd @ Cornell

[abmarks]

Same story as always. We have no offensive talent.

[Scersk '97]

Same story as always. We have no offensive talent.

Lame.  But a clutch delurk.

[BearLover]

Cornell outplayed them, but a horrible turnover by D'agostino and a single incredible offensive play by Harvard swung the game in their favor.

[HockeyMan]

Postgame threads not what they used to be.  Could we have a fuller recap, please, from someone who was there? Flyersgolf?

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

The best part of the game was Emerick's pre-game discussion about Lynah Rink "traditions".  Made me smile.

The rest of the game?  Not so much.

[upprdeck]

really was a story that has been told over and over..  

while most of the year cornell has come out flat and been outshot for most of the first two periods and then tried to come back, this time it was much different.  

Cornell outhit, out shot, out chanced harvard from the puck drop.

Still we cant find the back of the net.  The back end turnovers on bad passes or weak stick handling is giving up 4-5 chances a game and often turning into 2 on 1s that the other teams are burying.

in this game from the Dots out Cornell did most everything right, we cleared, we created speed thru center ice, we cycled.  but behind the Dots we play soft , make bad decision, we lose the puck off our sticks under no pressure, and we fail to understand how much faster other teams are when coming up from behind us.

still we need to score. we have won a bunch of games over the years being outshot but generally we the quality chances are much closer than the shot totals. in this game other than the giveaway chances harvard didnt do much other than look good on the PP where they didnt end up scoring, but neither did we.

playing hard for a full game was a first step in the right direction. not they need to start seeing some reward for that.

[Trotsky]

Postgame threads not what they used to be.  Could we have a fuller recap, please, from someone who was there? Flyersgolf?

I think everybody's drunk.  Give it until this afternoon.

Cornell addressed the two immediate problems from prior games: playing with intensity and taking dumb penalties.  They didn't finish what seemed like a dozen great chances, but that may have been less a system failure than just plain bad luck.

[CowbellGuy]

Postgame threads not what they used to be.  Could we have a fuller recap, please, from someone who was there? Flyersgolf?

I think everybody's drunk.  Give it until this afternoon.

Cornell addressed the two immediate problems from prior games: playing with intensity and taking dumb penalties.  They didn't finish what seemed like a dozen great chances, but that may have been less a system failure than just plain bad luck.

When you generate that many chances, odds are you'll get your share of goals. I wasn't concerned with the offensive effort last night. If they can keep that up, they'll be fine. What concerned me were the BILLIONS of atrocious turnovers, most right around their goal. If Harvard could have hit the broad side of a barn, they could have easily had 10 goals. There were so many wide open nets that they missed that it wasn't funny.

[scoop85]

Postgame threads not what they used to be.  Could we have a fuller recap, please, from someone who was there? Flyersgolf?

I think everybody's drunk.  Give it until this afternoon.

Cornell addressed the two immediate problems from prior games: playing with intensity and taking dumb penalties.  They didn't finish what seemed like a dozen great chances, but that may have been less a system failure than just plain bad luck.

When you generate that many chances, odds are you'll get your share of goals. I wasn't concerned with the offensive effort last night. If they can keep that up, they'll be fine. What concerned me were the BILLIONS of atrocious turnovers, most right around their goal. If Harvard could have hit the broad side of a barn, they could have easily had 10 goals. There were so many wide open nets that they missed that it wasn't funny.

Harvard did miss a number of golden opportunities, but we missed just as many (think Espo's breakaway).  Certainly no comparison to the debacle in AC last March, as we had the better of territorial play last night.

I was curious as to who would sit last night, and was not surprised it was DeSewardt.  I have to imagine it was because of his penchant for taking bad penalties, and Schafer was determined that we stay out of the box, which we largely did.

[Trotsky]

I was curious as to who would sit last night, and was not surprised it was DeSewardt.  I have to imagine it was because of his penchant for taking bad penalties, and Schafer was determined that we stay out of the box, which we largely did.

Speaking of guys who have had that problem in the past, it's great to see how much McCarron's game has improved in general and how much smarter he is playing in particular.  The sophomores seem to have mostly taken a big step forward, whether it be conditioning or just general maturity.  Ferlin alone seems not to have, and I get the impression on any given night he's only at about 60% out there.  Vinnie Auger syndrome.

[Trotsky]

If Harvard could have hit the broad side of a barn, they could have easily had 10 goals. There were so many wide open nets that they missed that it wasn't funny.

Maybe Andy just has those angles computed perfectly...  ;-)

BTW, please don't ever even joke about Harvard getting 10 goals at Lynah.  I don't think I'll ever get over Macho Grande.

[dbilmes]

The sophomores seem to have mostly taken a big step forward, whether it be conditioning or just general maturity.  Ferlin alone seems not to have, and I get the impression on any given night he's only at about 60% out there.  Vinnie Auger syndrome.

I agree that Ferlin hasn't looked as dominant this season as he did last year. Last year, every time he touched the puck, it seemed like he could make something happen. This year, that only happens sporadically. I know he was hurt against Princeton last weekend, although he didn't miss any subsequent games. But it's hard to believe that he has only two points this season and is still looking for his first goal.

[BearLover]

Cornell lost due to any number of reasons, but lack of effort and intensity was not one of them.  You could tell they were playing as hard as they possibly could the entire game.  They must be incredibly frustrated right now, more than the seniors on this team can ever remember.  Freshman year they won these games.  Sophomore year they were legitimately mediocre.  Junior year they had to wait for the freshmen to settle in, but once they did, they won these games too.  This year, I have a feeling they're having a more difficult time diagnosing their problems.  Big game tonight.

[Trotsky]

Another positive: even with the obvious frustration they didn't melt down, spend their time bitching to the refs, or go into Army of One mode.  They kept playing within the system, kept their patience, and didn't take themselves out of the game with penalties.  Yeah, it didn't lead to a comeback this time, but those are the conditions that at least allow comebacks.

[scoop85]

Another positive: even with the obvious frustration they didn't melt down, spend their time bitching to the refs, or go into Army of One mode.  They kept playing within the system, kept their patience, and didn't take themselves out of the game with penalties.  Yeah, it didn't lead to a comeback this time, but those are the conditions that at least allow comebacks.

Excellent point.  They stayed disciplined and kept plugging away.  Results should follow.