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

[Iceberg]

At least we're getting some help tonight with UNH pulling out the win among other things.

[Trotsky]

According to the ECAC box score, we had 2 shots in the first period.  And 1 shot in the third period.

[GBR1234]

And I was sitting in section O... so not a lot of close up scoring views from my vantage point.
It seemed like CU had lots of chances, and I was shocked to see only 2 shots credited in the first.
From my perspective, Cornell was hurt by Clarkson's speed, quick transitional play and relentless forecheck.
CU's passing was not nearly as crisp as usual and they didn't use their bodies enough in the corners of clarkson's end.
Big Red couldn't catch a break as far as any lucky bounces of the puck are concerned and Clarkson got many.
Also a lot of empty seats tonight. I was surprised that the GA sections were so open.
Oh and... Clarkson's rag tag pep band was terrible... so off key. I love pep bands but when they can't hit the notes, it is like fingernails on a blackboard...  I'll have to bring Tylenol as I am in that section again tomorrow night.
It seems that the crowd was getting to the Clarkson goalie a bit. At one point when it was 5-2 he was taunting them by pointing to the scoreboard and holding up 5 fingers and then 2 fingers and shaking his stick at the student section. I never saw anything like that happen before, but I only get to Lynah for 4-5 games each year. Is this as uncommon a I assume it is?

[upprdeck]

passing was so sloppy, just never connected except for about 10 min in the 2nd..

[Scersk '97]

It seems that the crowd was getting to the Clarkson goalie a bit. At one point when it was 5-2 he was taunting them by pointing to the scoreboard and holding up 5 fingers and then 2 fingers and shaking his stick at the student section. I never saw anything like that happen before, but I only get to Lynah for 4-5 games each year. Is this as uncommon a I assume it is?

Good, they're in his head now. When a goalie (particularly a freshman) starts paying attention to sections A and B, that's a bad sign. A goalie's focus should be on the ice, period.

Such effective psychological warfare used not to be uncommon.

[BearLover]

At least we're getting some help tonight with UNH pulling out the win among other things.

It's too bad Miami just barely lost to a top team for the 100th game in a row.

Quite a night to pick to play your worst game of the year.

[BearLover]

According to the ECAC box score, we had 2 shots in the first period.  And 1 shot in the third period.

Maybe the slow start was due to the players' shock at no one being in the stands?  The Lynah crowds are a joke at this point.  I was a student just a few years ago, and we packed Lynah for the ECAC quarterfinals.  It's not just the students--the townies don't show up anymore either.  Even more disgraceful was 2/3 of the crowd leaving before/during the Senior Night celebrations two weeks ago.  

I don't know if it was Rauter or actual D-men on the ice at the time, but Cornell gave up a stupefying number of odd-man chances.  The Smith injury was absolutely crushing.  It's too bad the defense gets obliterated by injuries the one year Cornell's offense isn't anemic.  

Putting one shot on goal when you're losing for the entire period, most of it by two goals, is embarrassing.  Cornell could easily win this series, but if they don't, they didn't deserve to, and if they can't get to Lake Placid they won't be deserving of the NCAA tournament either.

[wakester2468]

My seat was low in sec L and looking directly across the rink in sec D and E,  I was stunned that those sections were basically empty. So i moved across the rink for the final two periods for a much better view. Usher told me to sit where i wanted. At a big Cornell game, WHAT! Drove 350 miles for the excitement
of an ECAC quarter final game at Lynah and not only did Cornell play horribly, the poor turnout was more than disappointing. Two shots on goal in the 1st and 1 in the 3rd is nothing short of unimaginable. Let's hope Saturday's game is played with a little more urgency. Very likely an NCAA tourney bid is on the line.

[Scersk '97]

Taking a look at the "highlights" from last night, I'd say the first Clarkson goal was the result of everyone trying to do a bit too much to protect Rauter, who was actually doing fine on the play. Indeed, one could make an argument that Rauter getting hooked down led to the goal, but it was perhaps difficult to see the Clarkson foul with so many white shirts around.

The second goal was a good deflection, but it still had the look of a fluky goal. We've had a bunch of those scored on us this season, and it would seem that the best way to prevent them is to limit opposing shots, which we weren't doing in the first.

The highlighted Vanderlaan miss in the third started with Weidner getting slashed from behind, after which Vanderlaan was absolutely tackled. Both penalties happened right in front of the refs. I mean, I know we had seen at that point our fair share of the penalties, but it frustrates me when refs reflexively put away their whistles in the third.

Power play did look good.

I don't know. I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to come out tonight and find a way to beat them. If there is a game on Sunday, I would say that it's always difficult to beat a team twice in a row. Yeeee...

[Hooking]

Apparently Coach Casey Jones had a game plan which neutralized Cornell's offense in the first period, then changed and neutered Cornell's offense again in the third period. There is only a .000000356 probability that all of Cornell's players individually and simultaneously had a random bad game in the first period, recovered in the second period, and then all individually suffered a relapse in the third period.

[jkahn]

At least we're getting some help tonight with UNH pulling out the win among other things.

To me that was a definite negative.  We want either BU or UML to win Hockey East.  If the 4 Hockey East quarters all go the same way as Friday's games, 3 of the 4 semi-finalists would be teams that jump ahead of us if the win they tournament - and even BC might do that if they get to the finals (obviously depending on how we do from here).

[Scersk '97]

Apparently Coach Casey Jones had a game plan which neutralized Cornell's offense in the first period, then changed and neutered Cornell's offense again in the third period. There is only a .000000356 probability that all of Cornell's players individually and simultaneously had a random bad game in the first period, recovered in the second period, and then all individually suffered a relapse in the third period.

Hooking, I thought I told you to watch all three periods! Bad Hooking!

[upprdeck]

we never have a big crowd game 1 of a series.  the majority of the townies do not pre buy the playoff tickets anymore.  there will be a bigger crowd tonight.

those 2 calls behind the clarkson net in the 3rd when we were still in the game didnt help. you knew we were going to have a couple calls go against us after the early run of clarkson penalties, but also those were so blatant i wasnt sure why the complained so much about them.

there was also a non-charging call where cornell kid got steamrolled behind the net by the D man who had about a 20 ft run up to the check.

still 3 shots in 2 periods is pretty bad hockey.

[scoop85]

Interesting that there are no quotes from Schafer in the game story, and he didn't appear at the press conference.  I assume his reasoning was that if you can't say something nice ...

[andyw2100]

I don't know if it was Rauter or actual D-men on the ice at the time, but Cornell gave up a stupefying number of odd-man chances.  The Smith injury was absolutely crushing.  It's too bad the defense gets obliterated by injuries the one year Cornell's offense isn't anemic.

My seat was low in sec L and looking directly across the rink in sec D and E,  I was stunned that those sections were basically empty.

I'm in C, so didn't have as good a view of D and E as you did from across the rink wakester, but D was definitely not "basically empty." Jim was there, giving out newspaper before the game, and there were plenty of students accepting the paper. (I saw one woman scrambling to get to Jim, as if he was giving out cash. I wonder at what point the students there will figure out it's really not that hard to bring your own paper.)

Looking across the rink at the townie side, there were empty seats, but not a heck of a lot of them.

Overall it felt like most regular season games to me. Not Harvard, and not what I would consider an appropriate crowd for a playoff game, but also not notably lacking from what has become the norm.