Game 3: Cornell 1, Clarkson 0 (OT)

[Jim Hyla]

The Bardreau save at 12:30 in the first period, part 2:
(1) Josephs brings the puck to his forehand
(2) Shoots as Bardreau dives in front of him
(3) And Bardraux blocks the shot with his stick.

Thank god for a bad backhand, he certainly could have scored if he felt good about it.

[Chris '03]

The other goal is more questionable. Was it stopped and then everyone pushed in? No way that I think the refs could have seen whether it crossed, but they must have been looking at something, they were in there a long time.

I don't know how he knew this, but Jason mentioned on the broadcast that during that stoppage the refs were reviewing both situations.  That's why it took so long.

I think Brandon Thomas tweeted that he'd learned that during the intermission a few minutes before it was mentioned on the broadcast.

[KeithK]

The Bardreau save at 12:30 in the first period, part 2:
(1) Josephs brings the puck to his forehand
(2) Shoots as Bardreau dives in front of him
(3) And Bardraux blocks the shot with his stick.

Thank god for a bad backhand, he certainly could have scored if he felt good about it.

Definitely. I would score 9 out of 10 times from that spot with a backhand so no doubt Josephs would have if he'd had the good sense to just put it in.

As an aside, I suspect that is the kind of "finishing" that can definitely be taught. You don't need much natural skill to tap in a rebound in a situation like that.  You just have to have the instincts and confidence to just tap the puck home rather than switching sides.

[andyw2100]

The Cornell write-up of the game says that the play in which Iles wound up across the goal line on the break-away was ruled not to be a goal because he was pushed in by the Clarkson player. Here's the quote from the article:

"The Golden Knights had another close call with 12:30 to play in the third period when a funny bounce off the glass sent DiNallo away on a breakaway. He attempted to beat Iles with a shot between the legs, but the Big Red's goalie smothered the puck. There was some controversy as he slid backward toward the goal line with the puck still underneath his pads, but the referee closest to the play ruled he was pushed into the net by Christian Powers' poke at the pads."

Watching as it happened, my thoughts were that the only reason there wasn't a 1 on the scoreboard for Clarkson was that the ref must have ruled that either he had blown the whistle or had intended to before the puck crossed the line. I didn't think the Clarkson player had any impact on moving Iles across the goal line. I haven't seen video, but seeing the picture above reinforces my belief that that must have been the ruling, as the Clarkson player is just getting to Iles who is already well into the goal. I think there's a pretty good chance the writer is not correct with respect to why that was not a Clarkson goal. If I am mistaken, then I think we really dodged a bullet, and got the benefit of a blown call. Does anyone have video of this play?

Edit: The Twitter caption above is consistent with my assessment.

Post-game interview with Casey. He says the ref told him he blew the whistle.

Thanks, Jim. That makes a lot more sense.

[BearLover]

(and bad news for Cornell)

Not at all.  Better opponents (particularly our traditional rivals) --> better conference --> better for us.

Here we go again...

Can we at least wait until Q and U are playing in April to have this discussion? ::deadhorse::

He won't be as pissed this year - the Elis at done.

I was never pissed, just sad.  

@Trotsky: the logic of the second conditional does not follow.

I don't want to have this discussion again either. (I mean, I do, but not that much.)  However, I'll say this: with this year's talent, Cornell makes the NCAA's if the ECAC is as good as it was in 2003.  And as Yale proved last year, you don't need to be one of the best teams to win it all--you just need to get in.

[upprdeck]

the picture ignores the clarkson player whose stick you can see jammed into the pile.  does it have to be a body that shoves the goalie or can an opposing players stick shove someone in?

[Trotsky]

Thank god for a bad backhand, he certainly could have scored if he felt good about it.

I wonder if it is just a hellish angle from the backend?  Really surprising a player would not instinctively just chop it in.

[cayugadan]

In case you didn't have a chance to see Andy's last moments at a game in Lynah.
Warning:  turn down the audio!
[video]http://youtu.be/y5aFtH_9Ob0[/video]

[andyw2100]

In case you didn't have a chance to see Andy's last moments at a game in Lynah.
Warning:  turn down the audio!
[video]http://youtu.be/y5aFtH_9Ob0[/video]

You captured Iles kissing the logo at center ice that the other video I've seen missed. The other video was posted to Facebook by The Cornell Alumni Association. I'll try to include the link here, but in case it doesn't work, you know where to look for it.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152359981042318&set=vb.565647317&type=2&theater

[Dafatone]

(and bad news for Cornell)

Not at all.  Better opponents (particularly our traditional rivals) --> better conference --> better for us.

Here we go again...

Can we at least wait until Q and U are playing in April to have this discussion? ::deadhorse::

He won't be as pissed this year - the Elis at done.

I was never pissed, just sad.  

@Trotsky: the logic of the second conditional does not follow.

I don't want to have this discussion again either. (I mean, I do, but not that much.)  However, I'll say this: with this year's talent, Cornell makes the NCAA's if the ECAC is as good as it was in 2003.  And as Yale proved last year, you don't need to be one of the best teams to win it all--you just need to get in.

The biggest thing hurting us is bad losses/ties to very bad teams.  I'm not sure what the relative strength of the ECAC has to do with that.

[Trotsky]

Post-game comments by Mike, Andy and Brian.

[Trotsky]

the logic of the second conditional does not follow

Opinions vary, but I do (as you know) think that as the league gets better we do, too.  I think we will always be able to recruit well within the league, so the question is what pool of players are available to us.  The better our league does, the more kids consider the Ivy and ECAC teams as credible paths to titles, exposure, and the draft.  If an Atlantic Hockey team runs off a string of 4 or 5 conference titles and auto bids because the rest of the conference is terrible, they still go nowhere.  The ECAC ran a real risk of becoming a marginal conference like that -- I never want to go back to that, because that way lies Ivy football-like irrelevance.

Anyway, this weekend there is no disagreement between us on who we're rooting for.  

[Josh '99]

(and bad news for Cornell)

Not at all.  Better opponents (particularly our traditional rivals) --> better conference --> better for us.

Here we go again...

Can we at least wait until Q and U are playing in April to have this discussion? ::deadhorse::

He won't be as pissed this year - the Elis at done.

I was never pissed, just sad.  

@Trotsky: the logic of the second conditional does not follow.

I don't want to have this discussion again either. (I mean, I do, but not that much.)  However, I'll say this: with this year's talent, Cornell makes the NCAA's if the ECAC is as good as it was in 2003.  And as Yale proved last year, you don't need to be one of the best teams to win it all--you just need to get in.

The biggest thing hurting us is bad losses/ties to very bad teams.  I'm not sure what the relative strength of the ECAC has to do with that.

Who would've thought a close loss to a then-.500 BU team coming off a series win over UND would be such a black mark?

[Trotsky]

UNO also let us down by sucking.

BU and Dartmouth were the only bad losses; Maine, SLU and Dartmouth were the bad ties.  Blowing 7 bad points over a 31-game string isn't egregious.

Basically, Bob Gaudet hurt us, but we are still in contention for both the ECAC title and an NC$$ bid, and at the beginning of the season the consensus was a successful season would be a bye and getting to Lake Placid.

IMHO, the Clarkson win locked up a "B plus" for this season, and a Union win would lock up an "A minus" (kids who matriculated after 1990 substitute "A minus" and "A," respectively).

[RichH]

NM. Greg did a better job wrapping up my thought.