Clarkson @ Cornell 03/10-3/12?/17

[andyw2100]

I heard an audible "Knight" during the anthem and I don't think I've heard that (or U) at Lynah on the broadcast before.

I'm pretty sure Clarkson fans shout "knights."

[upprdeck]

there was a pretty good number of clarkson fans in section o and many season ticket holders who never showed up at all.

[upprdeck]

not sure which is struggling more the hockey D breakout or the Lax D against the 10 man ride.

[Johnny 5]

Fortunately, the former is still winning games; somehow.
However, my nervous system is suffering.

::rock::

[RatushnyFan]

our D and its inability to clear with control of the puck was an issue all weekend.. we would lose control or whiff or not get it up the boards all weekend long..

by far the worst the D has looked in awhile, or at least everytime other teams really went with pressure, which will probably be every game from now one.

Smith's absence is quite noticeable.  The D is out of whack because of the juggling back there, and while we're doing ok keeping the opposition at bay, our breakout is far less effective.

The relevant comparison here, in the context of the breakout, is Rauter vs. Smith.  I couldn't put my finger on why our breakout has been so terrible, but it's certainly been terrible.

I was at Lynah on Saturday for the 2-1 win.  Very impressed with Rauter's poise on defense.  He played both defense and forward in 5 on 5, PP and PK situations.  That is unbelievably difficult at this level of competition; speaks to his skating ability, puck protection and hockey smarts.  Didn't see the Friday or Sunday's games but I think he played a nearly flawless game on Saturday.

[Jim Hyla]

our D and its inability to clear with control of the puck was an issue all weekend.. we would lose control or whiff or not get it up the boards all weekend long..

by far the worst the D has looked in awhile, or at least everytime other teams really went with pressure, which will probably be every game from now one.

Smith's absence is quite noticeable.  The D is out of whack because of the juggling back there, and while we're doing ok keeping the opposition at bay, our breakout is far less effective.

The relevant comparison here, in the context of the breakout, is Rauter vs. Smith.  I couldn't put my finger on why our breakout has been so terrible, but it's certainly been terrible.

I was at Lynah on Saturday for the 2-1 win.  Very impressed with Rauter's poise on defense.  He played both defense and forward in 5 on 5, PP and PK situations.  That is unbelievably difficult at this level of competition; speaks to his skating ability, puck protection and hockey smarts.  Didn't see the Friday or Sunday's games but I think he played a nearly flawless game on Saturday.

Agree that Rauter played extremely well, but I think that one problem Saturday was fatigue, especially for the defense. I said at the game that they looked dead. I'd like to see the play times for each player. Does anyone know where to get that? In particular, how much time McCarron logged.

[Trotsky]

I'd like to see the play times for each player. Does anyone know where to get that? In particular, how much time McCarron logged.

I can't find TOI, but check out McCarron's shot attempts on Sunday.

[RatushnyFan]

McCarron looked gassed at times on Saturday in the 2nd and 3rd period, some 20-30 second shifts where he was looking to get off.  He didn't play poorly, I just think they realized the legs weren't there so keep the shifts short.  I've never been able to find TOI for college games.  I've trolled and I can't find it.

Best stats I can find are here, where you can get +/- (I still like to see it, though not all that useful in a vacuum), shot and penalty info:  http://collegehockeystats.net/1617/schedules/corm

[TimV]

not sure which is struggling more the hockey D breakout or the Lax D against the 10 man ride.

No question the Lax D is worse.  And it shouldn't be that hard.  Your upfield middies and attack work an over-and-back across the midfield line to pop someone open by using the offsides rule.  There's always confusion among the riders as to who goes across, especially if you use some picks.  You can also play some games sneaking in and out at the substitution boxes.

[BearLover]

Thinking a bit more about this past weekend and how Cornell was fortunate to survive it, I'm starting to worry that Cornell has actually just been really lucky this entire season.  Our advanced stats are not good.  Meanwhile, the advanced stats of the other teams ranked highly in the PWR are almost universally strong--and in nearly every case better than ours.  We've had this debate enough on here, but now we have a full season's sample of games to work with, and Corsi etc. really do seem highly correlated with overall success.  Outside of the advanced stats, though, until this past weekend, we've looked pretty consistently good...

[Hooking]

No matter how we got here this season is a whole LOT more enjoyable than last season. Now, if Cornell can improve as much again next year . . .

[upprdeck]

we probably didnt deserve to win, based on the stats, last weekend.  but there have been way too many games were we just dominated for 2/3 of the game to think we were lucky the whole season.

[Jim Hyla]

we probably didnt deserve to win, based on the stats, last weekend.  but there have been way too many games were we just dominated for 2/3 of the game to think we were lucky the whole season.

I think we generally over-achieved this season. That's obviously a lot better than under-achieving and we saw plenty of that a few years ago.

You have to think that the defense is getting close to worn out. I posted before that it certainly looked like that was at least part of the problem in the third period of the third game. I suspect they actually did better trying to defend in their zone, rather than getting caught out of position and with no legs, further up the ice.

The defense reminded me some of Schafer's first 2 seasons, 96 & 97, when he won ECAC titles. The strategy then seemed to be, get ahead and ride defense and good goaltending to wins. I wouldn't be unhappy to see that again.

You also wonder what could have been, if we had not lost so many, especially Bliss, on defense.

[Dafatone]

I'm salivating at the thought of having all our defensemen healthy.  Who would you even scratch out of mccarron, wedman, bliss, Smith, kaldis, mccrea, and nuttle?

[Al DeFlorio]

I'm salivating at the thought of having all our defensemen healthy.  Who would you even scratch out of mccarron, wedman, bliss, Smith, kaldis, mccrea, and nuttle?

Graduation will scratch McCarron.:-/