Upcoming Season '15-16

[LynahFaithful]

The first four games are pretty low priority which is nice compared to other recent seasons, I agree. I can see playing around with setting the lines for those games, too. Hopefully those solidify early so the lines aren't still being juggled around in February.  So often, the early games take on a higher importance with our limited OOC in respect to having hope for At-Large bid chances. Last season, we had to go on the road for a tough series vs. UNO right out of the gate, who had been playing for nearly a month. Now a home-and-home with Niagara followed immediately by a string of league games may be a good thing.

Good discussion. It helped get my head really thinking about the upcoming season. Ned knows, I have had tons of patience with this team, but I really need to start seeing more scoring...please.

Yes, I agree that recent seasons have been brutal to start out. The first four games should be easy and worst case scenario, one of the four should end in a tie.  I think those first four (and the Princeton) games are critical to starting momentum because the Quinnipiac game the following night and the Colgate games are PIVOTAL.  Quinnipiac was good last season and will be coming off of playing 7 games including some strong out of conference teams and Colgate will be worse.  Disregarding exhibition games, the first game we play against them will be our 5th and their 9th and the level they will be playing at is my biggest fear. Their initial strength of schedule is no joke - Mercyhurst and Northeastern weren't bad last year, then they play two against RIT (who did well in the NCAA tournament), two games against Providence (the reigning champions), a game against Quinnipiac (consistently been a good team in the recent past), and then what I would call an "easier" game against Princeton before taking us on.

You mentioned lines and I think it's critical that lines are established and kept consistent.  Last year the injury card (excuse) kept getting pulled and was credited with causing the line scrambling. Not to say injuries are insignificant, but as you mentioned, even in February lines were juggled and the lack of chemistry was evident on both offense and defense.  

I have tons of patience with this team too, but I would like to see more scoring as well.  I think that if last season we didn't win the Harvard and Yale games at Lynah, one of the Denver games, and the MSG game last year my patience would be wearing EXTREMELY thin.  I'm also enjoying this discussion for making me think a lot about next season and the more participation from others, the better!

Schafer's contract expires after next season and it'll be interesting to see how things are at the end and the direction the program goes in if they choose to go with someone else...

Cheers to next season!

[06Cowboy13]

Does anyone have any insight into the incoming recruiting class? I've been reading good things on Beau Starret and the local boy Angello but just curious anyone's scouting reports and input they have on our 9 freshman? Hoping for a big 2015-2016 season!

[Trotsky]

Does anyone have any insight into the incoming recruiting class? I've been reading good things on Beau Starret and the local boy Angello but just curious anyone's scouting reports and input they have on our 9 freshman? Hoping for a big 2015-2016 season!

Here is the official Cornell presser:

- - -

Class of 2019 Player Biographies
Anthony Angello
Forward — 6-foot-5, 205 pounds — Manlius, N.Y. — Omaha Lancers (USHL)
Angello was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins with the 145th pick in the fifth round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. He returned to the USHL's Omaha Lancers the following season and racked up 19 goals and 16 assists for 35 points in 56 games. He also had two goals and three assists while helping Team USA win the gold medal at the 2014 Junior A World Challenge. Before joining the Lancers, he played for two seasons with the Empire Junior Hockey League's Syracuse Junior Stars, and he was an All-State First Team selection in 2013 after averaging four points per game with Fayetteville-Manlius High School.
 
Luc Lalor
Forward — 5-foot-10, 165 pounds — St. Albert, Alberta — Fort McMurray Oil Barons (AJHL)
Lalor played parts of three seasons for the Fort McMurray Oil Barons, including 21 games last season in which he posted 15 points in 21 games. He also appeared in 13 games with the USHL's Green Bay Gamblers, notching three assists. In his rookie campaign with the Oil Barons, Lalor led the team in scoring with 30 points in 38 games and was named to the AJHL North Division All-Rookie Team.
 
Alec McCrea
Defenseman — 6-foot-3, 210 pounds — El Cajon, Calif. — Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)
McCrea was a mainstay for USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks for three seasons. He dressed in 158 regular-season games, putting up 46 points and a plus-18 career rating. He also played in 11 games during the Black Hawks' 2014 trip to the Clark Cup Finals, where they eventually fell in a decisive Game 5 to an Indiana Ice team that included future Big Red teammates Hayden Stewart and Dwyer Tschantz. McCrea will become the program's first player to hail from California.
 
Matthew Nuttle
Defenseman — 5-foot-11, 180 pounds — Marilla, N.Y. — Sioux Falls Stampede/Bloomington Thunder (USHL)
Nuttle helped the Sioux Falls Stampede win the USHL's Clark Cup last season, providing four assists and a plus-9 rating in 12 playoff games. He had 17 points in the regular season, joining the Stampede after 27 games with the Bloomington Thunder. He was named to the NAHL All-Rookie First Team in 2014 after scoring 31 points in 60 games with the Wenatchee Wild. Originally from the outskirts of Buffalo, he started his junior career with the Buffalo Junior Sabres.
 
Chad Otterman
Forward — 6-foot-3, 200 pounds — Morristown, N.J. — Philadelphia Flyers (USPHL)
Otterman played last season the USPHL, where he posted 13 points through 32 games with the South Shore Kings and Philadelphia Flyers. He also competed for four seasons with Delbarton School, helping the Green Wave to state championships in 2011 and 2012. He was named first-team all-state and to the New Jersey Devils all-tournament team in 2014. Otterman also had a decorated lacrosse career at Delbarton, where he was an Under Armor All-American and the 2014 MSG Varsity Player of the Year.
 
Trent Shore
Defenseman — 6-foot-3, 205 pounds — Ajax, Ontario — Cumberland Grads (CCHL)
Shore joins the Big Red after one season in the Central Canada Hockey League, where he notched 15 points in 57 games with the Carleton Place Canadians and the Cumberland Grads — serving as an assistant captain at the latter. He earned a spot on the CCHL All-Scholastic Team, was invited to try out for Team Canada East's entry in the 2015 Junior A World Challenge, and he was selected for the 2015 Central Canada Cup All-Star Challenge. In 2013 and 2014, he played for The Hill Academy, amassing a team-leading plus-92 rating over the two seasons.
 
Brendan Smith
Defenseman — 6 feet, 190 pounds — Centennial, Colo. — Omaha Lancers (USHL)
Smith played the previous two seasons with the USHL's Omaha Lancers, accumulating 18 points through three goals and 15 assists during the 2014-15 season. He helped the team to a consecutive five shutouts in 2014. He previously played five seasons with the Colorado Thunderbirds AAA, and won a Tier 1 Elite League championship in 2013 when he led the league for goals among defensemen.
 
Beau Starrett
Forward — 6-foot-5, 223 pounds — Bellingham, Mass. — South Shore Kings (USPHL)
Starrett attended the 2014 NHL Entry Draft combine and was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the third round with the 88th overall pick. He played for three seasons with the South Shore Kings and the renowned program at Catholic Memorial High School near Boston. He was a USPHL all-star after scoring 47 points in 48 games with the Kings during the 2013-14 season — his first campaign at that level. An injury limited Starrett to just seven games last season. While competing with Catholic Memorial, he was named to the 2013 Boston Globe All-Scholastic Team.
 
Mitch Vanderlaan
Forward — 5-foot-7, 175 pounds — Hanwell, New Brunswick — Fort McMurray Oil Barons (AJHL)
Vanderlaan spent the last two seasons with the Fort McMurray Oil Barons, where he earned all-rookie honors for the league's North Division with 32 points during the 2013-14 season. He served as an alternate captain during his second season for the Oil Barons, scoring 16 goals and adding 23 assists for 39 points. He represented the AJHL as a member of Team Canada West during the 2014 World Junior A Challenge. Vanderlaan was also presented with the Gas Drive AJHL Scholarship at the conclusion of his final season.

[TimV]

Sure would be nice to see Chad Otterman on the lacrosse team.  Yale has had a couple hockey players join lacrosse at the conclusion of hockey season.

And one of Ned's lacrosse teams had Harry Orr.

[Jim Hyla]

Via ECAC the Ithaca Voice article on the freshmen.

[Cop at Lynah]

This upcoming season will see the team play in front of some of the smallest crowds in recent memory.  It has more to do with the cost of tickets and the sterile atmosphere of Lynah than it does with the team.

[Trotsky]

This upcoming season will see the team play in front of some of the smallest crowds in recent memory.

You never know.  Fans may adopt the team as a feisty underdog.  Hopefully the upperclassmen are doing their part to indoctrinate the youngins.

[BearLover]

This upcoming season will see the team play in front of some of the smallest crowds in recent memory.

Yep.

[Jim Hyla]

Not with us, but I guess everywhere but the Ivies, coaches can supervise practices starting yesterday. Definitely a disadvantage compared to what we can do. Will the Ivies ever change?

[ursusminor]

RPI blog Without a Peer's annual post about Cornell. http://www.withoutapeer.com/2015/09/know-your-enemy-cornell.html


I have no connection with WaP except as a reader,

[Give My Regards]

Not with us, but I guess everywhere but the Ivies, coaches can supervise practices starting yesterday. Definitely a disadvantage compared to what we can do. Will the Ivies ever change?

Hey now, let's not unfairly portray the Ivy League as inflexible.  Why, over the last 30 years or so, they've gone from 26 regular-season games all the way up to 29!

[Trotsky]

RPI blog Without a Peer's annual post about Cornell. http://www.withoutapeer.com/2015/09/know-your-enemy-cornell.html

Well done and entertaining right up until this bizarre sentence:

Ryan and MacDonald aren't insignificant losses on the blue line

I guess he was going for understatement?  ::drunk::

[Dafatone]

This upcoming season will see the team play in front of some of the smallest crowds in recent memory.

Yep.

Eh.  When an underachieving team loses significant pieces, I usually see it as a chance to upset expectations.  But I tend to be optimistic.

[Trotsky]

TBRW Predictions, 2015-16

01. Qpc
02. Yal
03. SLU
04. Drt
05. Hvd
06. Cgt
07. Cor
08. Uni
09. RPI
10. Clk
11. Brn
12. Prn

[ursusminor]

Trotsky,

You still list last year's players who left early, e.g., RPI's Zalewski and Haggerty, so I don't know whom you included this time. RPI has no one, thankfully, who left early, but Zach Schroeder who was a Senior last year is back this year because he has an redshirt season due to injury.