Perspective

[Greg Berge]

A 6 point lead on second place with 5 games to go.  Wow.

Sometimes it's hard to realize just how much this team has accomplished.

Vermont is fighting for their lives, so don't expect it to be any easier tomorrow night.  That's what the home stretch is all about.

[DeltaOne81]

I wanted 8 :-P

Just kidding, good point, but tonight still hurts :-/

[Al DeFlorio]

If you think we're disappointed, consider UNH, which was tied by Northeastern at 19:59 of the third period and then beaten in OT.

[DeltaOne81]

Ok, now I feel better :-))

[jtwcornell91]

Of course, Northeastern have their own reasons to be disappointed, considering how close they came to stealing the Beanpot from (Screw) BU.

[min]

ditto.
i for one just want to say that these past four weeks had been truly amazing.  

may another winning streak begin tonight! let's go red!

[zg88]

On the whole, despite the loss, there is more positive news than negative -- on the statistical front:


BAD:

-- The longest-in-17-yrs. 8-game win streak has been ended.  :`(

-- ...by Dartmouth!  :-(   ...in a shut out!!   ::yark::

-- Team Offense has plummeted to #20 in the nation.  ::uhoh::

-- The power play unit continues to be unproductive.  Clarkson has overtaken Cornell for #1 in that (ECAC) category.

-- The loss happened just as it seemed like the whole country was starting to pay attention to us (via the barrage of media coverage).   ::rolleyes::


GOOD:

-- There's still time to put together a 5-game win streak to finish up the regular season!  :-)

-- We only need a reasonable 2-2-1 in the last 5 games to be assured of the regular-season league title (...can't remember the trophy name...).  ;-)

-- Team Defense is out of 1st place by the thinnest possible margin (0.01 GA/G), behind Michigan State.  The Spartans have a big showdown with Michigan tonight (duel between the CCHA co-leaders and the two best P.K. teams in the nation), so we have a decent shot (please?!) at taking over the #1 spot (if we can shut down the Vermont goal-scoring machine...).

-- We may have been shut out, but Undy's 1-goal-allowed performance has moved him into a tie for 3rd in the nation (tied w/Cam McCormick, who allowed 5 goals against B.U. last night).  If you apply a "save-percentage tie-breaker" to the standings (as I will now do!), then Undy is #3 outright.  That means that Cornell now has two of the top three goalies in the nation (Lenny at #1 still!).  B-]

-- The special teams, even with an out-of-sync power play, are still in good shape, NCAA-rankings-wise (PP: #5 / PK: #3).

-- Sam Paolini is still tied for the ECAC lead in PP goals!

-- The Big Red are still leading in 3 out of the 4 major ECAC team-stat categories (Team O, Team D, PK)

-- Our 1.47 team GAA in the ECAC is simply incredible!!!  B-]    (The all-time best ECAC GAA was 1.45 (Cornell, '68)).  (And the distance between us and the 2nd-place team, Clarkson (2.41), is also amazing!)

-- Cornell can still finish the ECAC schedule with the fewest losses since '73 (also the last time we had a regular-season title)

-- As mentioned before (on another thread), this loss WILL re-focus the team.

[littleredfan]

poop. team/individual stats mean so little in comparison to a loss. no one is ever gonna look back and say, wow they were damn good on the powerplay that year. i want a freaking banner! and you would think that the shoddy play at princeton, and the slightly-shoddy game at yale would have been an indicator to the guys that we're not playing up to par. i think this loss just reinforces what ive been feeling for the past 2 games.

i think the only valuable stats are team stats that have significance for the playoffs...and RS title.

[zg88]

I totally agree, littleredfan.  The main purpose of my big, stat-laden post (above) was a selfish need for therapy following the loss.  I am "hard-wired" (from the "good old days"?) to look upon Dartmouth as a  "perennial ECAC doormat".  Dammit, that's just where they belong!  (Along with Brown and Union!  So there!!  What's happening to my world?!?)

I have shared your sense of foreboding over the past few games.  I was actually worried going into Princeton/Yale -- for good reason, as it turns out.

The main "statistic" to keep in mind for the near future is the plummeting effectiveness of the offense.  We seem to be falling back into last year's form.  I don't even want to look up the last time we were shut out by the Big Green -- has that ever happened?!?  Ugh.  (OK... I couldn't resist... I believe it was '60 (twice:  0-12, 0-11)).

(2-7-1 against 'em over the last 5 seasons... HUH?!!)

[littleredfan]

i hear you....i need therapy too. im actually slightly worried going into uvm. does anyone else feel me?

[Greg Berge]

Vermont has a lot more riding on this game than Cornell, and they're at home.  Hopefully, the team won't lose their focus.  After all, Conschafter has turned in some pretty remarkable games as well.

[French Rage]

If all the away teams (Cornell, RPI, Harvard, Colgate Brown, Union) win:

- We win

- Harvard and Colgate become TUCs

- Dartmouth is 2 games away from not being a TUC

- Union and RPI soldifiy themselves fruther as TUCs (hopefully we'll sweep them again)

So we should root for all the away teams.  Now the thing to hope for is that all the other ECACs become TUCs and Dartmouth drops out.

[Liz]

The main "statistic" to keep in mind for the near future is the plummeting effectiveness of the offense. We seem to be falling back into last year's form.

>Team Offense has plummeted to #20 in the nation.  

Maybe someone can enlighten me as I am a relative newcomer to serious hockey fandom. Cornell under Schafer seems as if it has always had a defensive focus, which makes sense since he and all his asst. coaches were defensemen as players (except McNiven).
So is it that Cornell has not snagged pure goal scorers (recruitment issue), or that the coaching has not emphasized goal scoring over playing well defensively? Is this a weakness in coaching? Are players not reaching their fullest potential as scorers in a defensively minded team? How much does a coach matter? Does Cornell need an offensive genious on its coaching staff to get to the highest level?

Anyone out there  who can play the part of Yoda?

So these[] act as quasi tags?

[Greg Berge]

This year's team is probably getting more out of the offense than anybody has a right to expect.  The team is built from the goal out, with emphases on defense, size and toughness.  There is not a great amount of speed or natural goal scoring talent.  Some, yeah, but it's not a team strength.

Last year the team averaged about 2.00 goals per game; this year they have improved to more than 3.50, which is remarkable considering they didn't add a blue chip goal scoring prospect -- they are just getting more out of the same guys.

Schafer is definitely a "defense first" coach.  (1) Schafer was a tough defenseman himself.  (2) Schafer did his first assistantship under Brian McCutcheon, who emphasized defense both when his team was outgunned (when he needed to) and when he had dominant squads.  (3) Schafer did his next assistantship at Western Michigan in the CCHA at a time when that conference was something like rollerball -- slug em around for 55 minutes and score the winner over the bleeding corpse.  He also has to do without the most highly recruited firepower (they follow the scholarships).  Every Ivy coach expect perhaps Harvard's must face that defense and size are more recruitable because they are more common.

So, Cornell's defensive orientation is equal parts coaching philosophy and playing the cards you're dealt (which itself is equal parts philosophy and supply).  After last year's awful offense, the staff does seem to be looking for a little more speed and production in the next set of recruits.  

It's not a bad problem to have (note the standings).  Guys like Doug Murray, Stephen Baby, and Mark McRae seem to share two characteristics: they skate poorly, and they win games.  We'll probably see more guys in that line.

[Liz]

>Guys like Doug Murray, Stephen Bâby, and Mark  McRae seem to share two characteristics: they skate poorly, and they win games.

OK, thanks, that helps. So, regarding the above, I have one more chance to see a live game this regular season.
Who should I look to for an example of a good skater? who are the best skaters on the team?

Time to turn in, but I hope I have more insights waiting for me tomorrow.