Future Coaching?

[KeithK]

Simple. I'm not judging us by our record. I'm judging us by our 49% CF in close situations. Good teams are positive possession teams. If you are under 50% possession you are mediocre.

I respect that you value the advanced metrics. However, I feel that at this level with such a large disparity and range in skill, these metrics just aren't as useful as they probably are in the NHL. In the end, the scoreboard is all that matters to most people. If to you a team with 49.9% is mediocre and a team at 50.1% is good, then a team 60% must be fantastic. The national leader in CF close, 10% above your "mediocrity cliff" point is sitting at #24 in PWR.  Not to mention CF% doesn't necessarily translate to possession, especially at this level. Shooting isn't the only skill.

That's my biggest question with using advanced metrics.  It may be that the data is gettinggood enough at the NHL level to have solid predictive capability (I don't follow that aspect well enough to know).  But you have to be wary about applying the same conclusions to a different level with, as RichH says, a greater variation in talent levels. The qualitative trends are unlikely to change (possession better than not, for instance) but the numbers probably do.

For instance, one point that's been discussed is shot percentage. Looking at the top 50 scorers in the NCAA this year, 27 of them have shot percentages over 15% and 16 are over 18%. This could just be a reflection of small sample sizes because of fewer games. A quick scan of some of previous years for those guys shows some variability. But I suspect that the spread in "true talent" on this metric will be greater in college. If nothing else, the talent level of the opposing goalies has a bigger spread.

[Trotsky]

Thought I saw kasdorf has one more year of eligibility? I may be wrong but swore I saw it somewhere. Unless I missed him signing.

He may.  Ralph will certainly know.

[pfibiger]

Thought I saw kasdorf has one more year of eligibility? I may be wrong but swore I saw it somewhere. Unless I missed him signing.

I believe he missed almost an entire year, so he's possibly coming back for a post-grad year with a medical redshirt. It's not a done deal though.

[CowbellGuy]

Thought I saw kasdorf has one more year of eligibility? I may be wrong but swore I saw it somewhere. Unless I missed him signing.

I believe he missed almost an entire year, so he's possibly coming back for a post-grad year with a medical redshirt. It's not a done deal though.

At RPI's gathering at The Nines, Seth Appert's Hair said he's coming back for another year as a graduate student.

[marty]

Thought I saw kasdorf has one more year of eligibility? I may be wrong but swore I saw it somewhere. Unless I missed him signing.

He may.  Ralph will certainly know.

He does have another year but I think it would be foolish for him to wait if he can negotiate a signing bonus.  He has had significant injury issues.  I wish him a long and prosperous career but he may be too fragile for that.  It makes sense for him to sign.

[scoop85]

Thought I saw kasdorf has one more year of eligibility? I may be wrong but swore I saw it somewhere. Unless I missed him signing.

He may.  Ralph will certainly know.

He does have another year but I think it would be foolish for him to wait if he can negotiate a signing bonus.  He has had significant injury issues.  I wish him a long and prosperous career but he may be too fragile for that.  It makes sense for him to sign.

Just reported on Twitter that Kasdorf signed with the Sabres

[RichH]

https://twitter.com/BuffaloSabres/status/709522368159473665

[Trotsky]

He's married?

[marty]

He's married?

I think he and his wife are expecting their first child.

[Trotsky]

He's married?

I think he and his wife are expecting their first child.

Oof.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/84/10/f1/8410f14dac4932fea001ba2154b2fd51.jpg

"Too much, too soon."

[TimV]

Murray or Derraugh?:-D

[ursusminor]

Thought I saw kasdorf has one more year of eligibility? I may be wrong but swore I saw it somewhere. Unless I missed him signing.

He may.  Ralph will certainly know.

It's been answered, but since you asked me:

He was a Senior but got a medical redshirt from his soph season when he only played in two games. Although he said when asked during the year that he had not made up his mind whether he would return, no one expected him back. A telling factor is that the goalie who was recruited for next season, Chase Perry, is a transfer from Colorado College who would lose another season of eligibility if he was delayed until 2017.

He is indeed married with a child on the way.

[BigRedHockeyFan]

If I were a college hockey player, I would prefer to play on a team that focused more on creative offense than on a structured and disciplined defense.  Further, its more fun to score goals than it is to block shots.


Despite that, I predict Schafer will be re-hired.

[BearLover]

It should be noted that despite my displeasure with the past few years, I like Schafer.  I want to see him win; part of the reason I pull so strongly for Cornell is because I think he deserves it.  He means a lot to Cornell Hockey--and that only makes the recent mediocre seasons tougher to swallow.  It's not mutually exclusive, however, for him to also not be the best coach for the program.  Realistically, though, he isn't going anywhere, and if the ship is in fact sinking, I'm ready to go down with it...

[Trotsky]

It should be noted that despite my displeasure with the past few years, I like Schafer.  I want to see him win; part of the reason I pull so strongly for Cornell is because I think he deserves it.  He means a lot to Cornell Hockey--and that only makes the recent mediocre seasons tougher to swallow.  It's not mutually exclusive, however, for him to also not be the best coach for the program.  Realistically, though, he isn't going anywhere, and if the ship is in fact sinking, I'm ready to go down with it...

The ship is not sinking.  We're the first team out of the NC$$ this year.  While this looks like a steady decline, it should also be noted that in 21 seasons Schafer has coached 10 worse than or equal to this year.  The thing we haven't done since 2008-10 is follow up an improvement with another improvement.  We finished with almost the same record we had in 2008 overall record-wise, but because of the overall improvement of the conference we finished in 8th rather than 5th.

I think we have a good core to build around, and while I will miss the seniors we were not hit the way some of our rivals will be.  We're in an era with a very strong ECAC, so whereas in the past we had to be the best in the league by far to have a shot in the NC$$, now we really need only crack the top 3 -- something that is in reach.