Should He Stay or Should He Go 2014

[redice]

I'll tell you one thing I think they can do to improve the PP.

Show a little more urgency when the puck is in the Cornell zone & they're pondering their breakout.    Do they really have to stand behind their own goal and wait for EVERY Cornell player to get in the perfect position?  Geez!!    It sometimes looks they CU is the one trying to run out the clock on their own PP!!
Not a big deal, you say?   Well, it's enough for another shot or two on every PP; maybe more!   Doesn't that seem like it could result in some more scoring?

That goes along with another suggestion (that I made) that the goalies could be helping by advancing the puck up-ice.   Why not?    Every PP consists of a finite amount of time.   Let's spend more of it in the correct end of the ice!

Just because players, coaches, & fans are used to the time wasted in the defensive zone, that does not make it the wise thing to do.   Put some pressure on that D.  When they think they can do a leisurely line change, come right at em!!

[Trotsky]

We do waste a shitload of time getting set up for the breakout, and not just on the pp.  Typically you expect that when you're playing superior competition, but we do it all the time.

The ironic (maddening) part of which is we have the speed and talent with this junior class to really push the puck hard and force the opponent back on their heels.  Teams forecheck us aggressively because there is no punishment if they get it wrong -- we'll still let them get back.

[Swampy]

It is a nice analysis, but ultimately he hasn't really responded to Josh's point with anything but a much longer-winded way of saying "We need to fix our power play." Sure, he also kind of asked "What's wrong with it that needs fixing?" or at least he asked "What do teams with better power plays have that we don't?" and that's a step very few other posters here have bothered to take, but it still doesn't provide anything remotely resembling a solution. If we could go down to the all-night points outlet and buy an extra point a game, we'd have done that by now, too.

Did you just censure someone for not offering solutions while not offering solutions?

I'm not in the crowd assuming that fixing the power play should be a simple matter of deciding to fix the power play. I agree with what Josh said, and had kind of said it already upthread, though it took me several more paragraphs to say it. It's analagous to saying Schafer must go then shrugging feebly when someone asks who else we might be able to get who's likely to get better results. Fix the power play, sure, we'd love to - how?

I think one of my points, based on admittedly flawed data, is that our PP is not so bad (#2 Ivy, #30 nationally). OTOH, our overall team offense is atrocious (#4 in the ancient six, #47 nationally). I also tried to debunk the idea that a team necessarily trades off offense for defense.

Put this all together, and I suggest three possible conclusions. (1) There is a way to do much better, and it's through improving the offense. (2) This is about the best Cornell can do, so we should get used to mediocrity. (3) This year, and perhaps other recent years, are anamolies, and Cornell will soon rise to where it was 5 years ago and earlier.

I'm inclined to believe #1, but I can't say why. If you're asking how to enact #1, you're asking the wrong person. If I knew that, I'd be applying for the next open MD1 coaching job. (Princeton? Union?)

I'm not saying anything much different from what others have said (Kyle, Trotsky, Rita, etc.). Schafer has been an extremely successful coach, but in recent years he hasn't been achieving even his own goals. (I recall an interview somewhere in which he said this is to be a top-10 team every year.) To get back to this level, either he has to do something to give the offense some juice, or someone else has to do it. That someone else could be an assistant, probably not one who came through the system, or it could be a replacement.

Or it could just happen, and we'd think he made some adjustments. I'm still hoping that next year's senior class will lead us to the promised land. Because after that, the deluge.

[Trotsky]

I'm still hoping that next year's senior class will lead us to the promised land. Because after that, the deluge.

We'll see what the incoming freshmen look like.  The class of '15 is special; '17 seems perfectly reasonable.  '16 is a hole (I guess most of the talent decomitted), but then again '14 was a weak class (albeit with a good goalie) too.  In a way this means we get two years ('18 / '19) to ramp up for the impending loss of '15.  Reasonable, as long as there's talent in those two classes.  I don't think we'll see a deluge as much as a slight drizzle.

[RichH]

It is a nice analysis, but ultimately he hasn't really responded to Josh's point with anything but a much longer-winded way of saying "We need to fix our power play." Sure, he also kind of asked "What's wrong with it that needs fixing?" or at least he asked "What do teams with better power plays have that we don't?" and that's a step very few other posters here have bothered to take, but it still doesn't provide anything remotely resembling a solution. If we could go down to the all-night points outlet and buy an extra point a game, we'd have done that by now, too.

Did you just censure someone for not offering solutions while not offering solutions?

I'm not in the crowd assuming that fixing the power play should be a simple matter of deciding to fix the power play. I agree with what Josh said, and had kind of said it already upthread, though it took me several more paragraphs to say it. It's analagous to saying Schafer must go then shrugging feebly when someone asks who else we might be able to get who's likely to get better results. Fix the power play, sure, we'd love to - how?

Trying to restore some levity to the thread.  When things get to where you are losing your sense of humor, I begin to worry.

The Losing His Shit Scale goes thusly:

1 Kyle loses his sense of humor. (baseline)
3 Jim loses his sense of humor.  A bad day.
5 Beeeej* loses his sense of humor.  Situation becoming worrisome.
7 ugarte loses his sense of humor.  Serious.  Scale no longer amusing.
9 RichH loses his sense of humor.  Extinction event.

(* post-marriage may need to be re-scored as 4 due to stress)

Congratulations, Rich!

Yes! I'm the last fool standing?

[Trotsky]

Yes! I'm the last fool standing?

More like the circuit breaker for the whole thing.

But hey, no pressure.

[Dafatone]

My suggestion would be to skate around a little more in the offensive zone on the PP.

I'm not too worried about urgency or wasted time setting up the PP.  But I think we tend to get a little too static once we're in the zone.  More moving parts could help.