Cornell @ Clark

[ithacat]

Obviously, the problems are deeper than just the goalie position. A look at the team rankings on a national scale would ruin the best buzz. The good news is college hockey isn't a relegation sport. The bad news is the team is without Cole Bardreau.

PS, the team is 1-7 without Bardreau.

[LaJollaRed]

"Numbnuts" !?!

Can't you see this season is tearing us apart!

Also, when did another La Jolla person get into this?

Trotsky's warmth chart reminds me that I've been absolutely spoiled by a decade of good Cornell teams, and outstanding Cornell goaltending. As we acknowledged that the emphasis on defense doesn't always work, so too must we learn not to rely on Hobey-caliber goalies every year.

How about some forwards who can shoot a backhand?

[Trotsky]

We have seen bad times before.  We have been fortunate compared to other fan bases.

We will survive.

[jftf1958]

Obviously, the problems are deeper than just the goalie position. A look at the team rankings on a national scale would ruin the best buzz. The good news is college hockey isn't a relegation sport. The bad news is the team is without Cole Bardreau.

PS, the team is 1-7 without Bardreau.

I agree, the current situation is not specifically any one individuals fault the accountability is with the coaching staff; having stated that, Iles has had the good fortune of Schafer providing him every opportunity to advance in the spot light.  He plays in front of a forest - Wilcox, Esposito, Birch all 6'4", Stoick 6' 3", Dagostino 6'2", Gotovets 5'11".  FIVE of our defensemen are DRAFTED. With Schafer's traditional defensive systems, coupled with a highly ranked d core + goalie, the reasonable expectation of Iles is to post numbers far better than he has, as well as see year over year improvements. I am still baffled as to why Mike would risk a Championship projected season and not bring up Gillam - even as a talented goalie stapled to the bench until Iles leaves.  Marozzi left on leave in late May or early June plenty of time for the call up.  In my opinion Iles is simply an average goalie - lets hope he turns it around quickly  and proves me wrong.

[css228]

Obviously, the problems are deeper than just the goalie position. A look at the team rankings on a national scale would ruin the best buzz. The good news is college hockey isn't a relegation sport. The bad news is the team is without Cole Bardreau.

PS, the team is 1-7 without Bardreau.

I agree, the current situation is not specifically any one individuals fault the accountability is with the coaching staff; having stated that, Iles has had the good fortune of Schafer providing him every opportunity to advance in the spot light.  He plays in front of a forest - Wilcox, Esposito, Birch all 6'4", Stoick 6' 3", Dagostino 6'2", Gotovets 5'11".  FIVE of our defensemen are DRAFTED. With Schafer's traditional defensive systems, coupled with a highly ranked d core + goalie, the reasonable expectation of Iles is to post numbers far better than he has, as well as see year over year improvements. I am still baffled as to why Mike would risk a Championship projected season and not bring up Gillam - even as a talented goalie stapled to the bench until Iles leaves.  Marozzi left on leave in late May or early June plenty of time for the call up.  In my opinion Iles is simply an average goalie - lets hope he turns it around quickly  and proves me wrong.

Just an observation I've made, for a huge team, they really lose a lot of net front battles.

[carpy85]

Obviously, the problems are deeper than just the goalie position. A look at the team rankings on a national scale would ruin the best buzz. The good news is college hockey isn't a relegation sport. The bad news is the team is without Cole Bardreau.

PS, the team is 1-7 without Bardreau.

I agree, the current situation is not specifically any one individuals fault the accountability is with the coaching staff; having stated that, Iles has had the good fortune of Schafer providing him every opportunity to advance in the spot light.  He plays in front of a forest - Wilcox, Esposito, Birch all 6'4", Stoick 6' 3", Dagostino 6'2", Gotovets 5'11".  FIVE of our defensemen are DRAFTED. With Schafer's traditional defensive systems, coupled with a highly ranked d core + goalie, the reasonable expectation of Iles is to post numbers far better than he has, as well as see year over year improvements. I am still baffled as to why Mike would risk a Championship projected season and not bring up Gillam - even as a talented goalie stapled to the bench until Iles leaves.  Marozzi left on leave in late May or early June plenty of time for the call up.  In my opinion Iles is simply an average goalie - lets hope he turns it around quickly  and proves me wrong.

Just an observation I've made, for a huge team, they really lose a lot of net front battles.

It could be just my opinion but I think it looks like iles is watching what the players are doing rather than the puck. There has been a few shots this weekend that looked like iles followed the crowed of players and left an open net for the opponent who had the puck.

[Tcl123]

I'm going to sleep. Wake me up next October please. I can't take it anymore.

[css228]

Obviously, the problems are deeper than just the goalie position. A look at the team rankings on a national scale would ruin the best buzz. The good news is college hockey isn't a relegation sport. The bad news is the team is without Cole Bardreau.

PS, the team is 1-7 without Bardreau.

I agree, the current situation is not specifically any one individuals fault the accountability is with the coaching staff; having stated that, Iles has had the good fortune of Schafer providing him every opportunity to advance in the spot light.  He plays in front of a forest - Wilcox, Esposito, Birch all 6'4", Stoick 6' 3", Dagostino 6'2", Gotovets 5'11".  FIVE of our defensemen are DRAFTED. With Schafer's traditional defensive systems, coupled with a highly ranked d core + goalie, the reasonable expectation of Iles is to post numbers far better than he has, as well as see year over year improvements. I am still baffled as to why Mike would risk a Championship projected season and not bring up Gillam - even as a talented goalie stapled to the bench until Iles leaves.  Marozzi left on leave in late May or early June plenty of time for the call up.  In my opinion Iles is simply an average goalie - lets hope he turns it around quickly  and proves me wrong.

Just an observation I've made, for a huge team, they really lose a lot of net front battles.

It could be just my opinion but I think it looks like iles is watching what the players are doing rather than the puck. There has been a few shots this weekend that looked like iles followed the crowed of players and left an open net for the opponent who had the puck.

What I'm saying has nothing to do with Iles. We lose way too many netfront battles on both sides of the ice. As a result there's no one in on offense effectively screening the net and putting in rebounds, and on defense, we give up way too many easy rebound goals. As I said, for a big team, these guys are really bad in front of the nets. Being big is useless if you don't use your size.

[BearLover]

Honestly, they just suck.  Almost no one on the entire team can contribute on both ends of the ice.  Throw in a subpar year from Iles and idiotic penalties and it's not surprising they're at the bottom of the ECAC.  I wouldn't be surprised if Ferlin and Lowry bolt after this season.

[carpy85]

Honestly, they just suck.  Almost no one on the entire team can contribute on both ends of the ice.  Throw in a subpar year from Iles and idiotic penalties and it's not surprising they're at the bottom of the ECAC.  I wouldn't be surprised if Ferlin and Lowry bolt after this season.

Everyone this year is having a bad year except for Bardreau until he got hurt with a neck fracture. I dont think Ferlin or Lowery will leave after a season like that because all it would do is show the professional leagues that they are quitters when things on the ice get tough. Its a very bad look and no one wants to keep quitters. Matteau from last year is a perfect example.

[Towerroad]

Honestly, they just suck.  Almost no one on the entire team can contribute on both ends of the ice.  Throw in a subpar year from Iles and idiotic penalties and it's not surprising they're at the bottom of the ECAC.  I wouldn't be surprised if Ferlin and Lowry bolt after this season.

Everyone this year is having a bad year except for Bardreau until he got hurt with a neck fracture. I dont think Ferlin or Lowery will leave after a season like that because all it would do is show the professional leagues that they are quitters when things on the ice get tough. Its a very bad look and no one wants to keep quitters. Matteau from last year is a perfect example.

Players with serious NHL (or other professional athletics) aspirations have to constantly make decisions about what is best for their careers. The question they have to ask is "Is staying at Cornell for another season the best way to advance my NHL prospects?" A big part of that decision has to hinge on whether they still believe in the program. It is hard to see how another year like this one would be good for a players career.

If they went (and I hope the do not) they would not be the first or last to do so. The are not getting any younger and they are entitled to make rational decisions about their hockey careers.

[Jim Hyla]

Obviously, the problems are deeper than just the goalie position. A look at the team rankings on a national scale would ruin the best buzz. The good news is college hockey isn't a relegation sport. The bad news is the team is without Cole Bardreau.

PS, the team is 1-7 without Bardreau.

I agree, the current situation is not specifically any one individuals fault the accountability is with the coaching staff; having stated that, Iles has had the good fortune of Schafer providing him every opportunity to advance in the spot light.  He plays in front of a forest - Wilcox, Esposito, Birch all 6'4", Stoick 6' 3", Dagostino 6'2", Gotovets 5'11".  FIVE of our defensemen are DRAFTED. With Schafer's traditional defensive systems, coupled with a highly ranked d core + goalie, the reasonable expectation of Iles is to post numbers far better than he has, as well as see year over year improvements. I am still baffled as to why Mike would risk a Championship projected season and not bring up Gillam - even as a talented goalie stapled to the bench until Iles leaves.  Marozzi left on leave in late May or early June plenty of time for the call up.  In my opinion Iles is simply an average goalie - lets hope he turns it around quickly  and proves me wrong.

Let's look at a few facts. In ECAC play we've given up 37 goals. That's right in the middle of the pack, not where we should be. But we are only 1 behind leader Clarkson in PPGA, with 17. So almost half of Iles GA are on the PK. The only other teams with stats near that are Clarkson and Q. And Qs are 9 PPGA and 19 GA, so that doesn't count.

Surely you don't expect a goalie to have the same stats on the PK as otherwise. Knock down our PKs and his numbers are a lot better. No Iles is not the problem. He has allowed us to win every game. I don't know of a game where he would have been pulled for poor play, maybe to shake up the team, but not from performance.

As to complaining about not having Gillam "called up". It's not that easy. Do you know he would have come? I can easily imagine he didn't want to come and sit for 2 years. Even if he came, he knows he'd be in backup role. Doing that for 1 year to get used to the league and system is OK, 2 years maybe not.

It's easy to come up with solutions when we don't have all the facts.

[Trotsky]

Obviously, the problems are deeper than just the goalie position. A look at the team rankings on a national scale would ruin the best buzz. The good news is college hockey isn't a relegation sport. The bad news is the team is without Cole Bardreau.

PS, the team is 1-7 without Bardreau.

I agree, the current situation is not specifically any one individuals fault the accountability is with the coaching staff; having stated that, Iles has had the good fortune of Schafer providing him every opportunity to advance in the spot light.  He plays in front of a forest - Wilcox, Esposito, Birch all 6'4", Stoick 6' 3", Dagostino 6'2", Gotovets 5'11".  FIVE of our defensemen are DRAFTED. With Schafer's traditional defensive systems, coupled with a highly ranked d core + goalie, the reasonable expectation of Iles is to post numbers far better than he has, as well as see year over year improvements. I am still baffled as to why Mike would risk a Championship projected season and not bring up Gillam - even as a talented goalie stapled to the bench until Iles leaves.  Marozzi left on leave in late May or early June plenty of time for the call up.  In my opinion Iles is simply an average goalie - lets hope he turns it around quickly  and proves me wrong.

Just an observation I've made, for a huge team, they really lose a lot of net front battles.

It could be just my opinion but I think it looks like iles is watching what the players are doing rather than the puck. There has been a few shots this weekend that looked like iles followed the crowed of players and left an open net for the opponent who had the puck.

What I'm saying has nothing to do with Iles. We lose way too many netfront battles on both sides of the ice. As a result there's no one in on offense effectively screening the net and putting in rebounds, and on defense, we give up way too many easy rebound goals. As I said, for a big team, these guys are really bad in front of the nets. Being big is useless if you don't use your size.

Very good point, and it seems to be true on the other end, too.  We aren't as massive up front, but we do have some guys with size, and we seemingly never have guys positioned for deflections or to sweep in rebounds, which would seem like something you'd want when you stand back and cannon from the blueline (or at impossible angles from the goal line extended) all night.

We seem to be taking more shots than we used to, and I am from the Corsi School that in and of itself that's a good start.  But any competent goaltender can stop the first shot from the point.  We have some good hands guys (Espo, Miller) and some guys who used to be able to corral the puck and protect it from stick checks while moving at the net (Ferlin), but we aren't breeding Hynes - Baby guys who take the abuse and punish goalies for rebounds.

Another thing is, for a team with size, strength and actually a fair amount of speed, we aren't wearing teams down so that we can have our way with them late.  Our calling card for years was NFL style line play where by the latter part of the game the other guys were just tired and sore.  Not only are we not taking advantage of our size that way, it actually seems the opposite, where it's us getting outworked, out-hustled and even out-muscled late.  We have pretty expensive conditioning facilities; perhaps a few more reps might help the lads?

[Johnny 5]

I'm going to sleep. Wake me up next October please. I can't take it anymore.

I just mothballed my CU hockey baseball caps.
Now I'm deleting the Cornell hockey slides from my laptop slide show.

Great-uncle Cletus wants to know if anybody has Lou Reycroft's phone number??

::bang::

[jftf1958]

I realize that any kind of criticism constructive or not, opinions or not, if it's about Iles, they are forbidden by some on here.
However, the facts are what they are - stats not just "selected" by conference but rather overall and includes the progression year over year.
Iles was and in my opinon still is over-rated.  He is a good, average goalie.  It is when your goalie can CONSISTENTLY demonstrate his true value, whether PK situations, weak defense extra quality shots with quality saves is he a superstar, GREAT goalie.. sorry Iles has not been that.  As far as Gillam you are right, he saw what happened to Marozzi and probably decided that was not in his best interest for continued development.  In fact,
in his recruitment article, he said he was told that he actually may be arriving on the Hill this season in case Iles was going PRO.  I think Gillam would have come to "start" as a backup as long as like any other good quality goalie, he would see SOME game time with legitimate healthy competition - and I dont believe Marozzi would have left either if he wasnt stapled to the bench.  Again, a team legitimately aspiring to win the Championship this year, you should have a good, quality backup .. Look at Washington Capitals last year.