Niagara @ Cornell 11/21/17

[BearLover]

Exhilarating comeback and being 8-1 rules, but those're about the only positives you can draw from this game.

Oh, I'll draw a few more.


4. Speed kills.  This is our fastest squad since the mid 80s.

The team is faster, but is it fast enough? Still has trouble with aggressive forechecks, still fails to establish its own forecheck, still struggles to gain the zone (we continue to dump the puck in rather than carry the puck in the majority of the time, seemingly a worse ratio than the teams we play against). I think the cycling and passing have been better this season (though not tonight).

It appeared Cornell was drunk for most of tonight's game, though the cameraman also seemed drunk.

[redliner]

Exhilarating comeback and being 8-1 rules, but those're about the only positives you can draw from this game.

Oh, I'll draw a few more.


4. Speed kills.  This is our fastest squad since the mid 80s.

The team is faster, but is it fast enough? Still has trouble with aggressive forechecks, still fails to establish its own forecheck, still struggles to gain the zone (we continue to dump the puck in rather than carry the puck in the majority of the time, seemingly a worse ratio than the teams we play against). I think the cycling and passing have been better this season (though not tonight).

It appeared Cornell was drunk for most of tonight's game, though the cameraman also seemed drunk.

We should keep in mind that Niagara was coming off a bye week, while Cornell only had three days of rest. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the players were looking ahead to the BU game this Saturday. In the past, we would have lost this game. The team managed to grind out a win. Kudos to them.

[billhoward]

Truth in publishing: Maybe this is what got the team moving when it fell behind 4-2 to the No. 60 [divide by 2] 30 team (of 60) in RPI?

[BearLover]

Exhilarating comeback and being 8-1 rules, but those're about the only positives you can draw from this game.

Oh, I'll draw a few more.


4. Speed kills.  This is our fastest squad since the mid 80s.

The team is faster, but is it fast enough? Still has trouble with aggressive forechecks, still fails to establish its own forecheck, still struggles to gain the zone (we continue to dump the puck in rather than carry the puck in the majority of the time, seemingly a worse ratio than the teams we play against). I think the cycling and passing have been better this season (though not tonight).

It appeared Cornell was drunk for most of tonight's game, though the cameraman also seemed drunk.

We should keep in mind that Niagara was coming off a bye week, while Cornell only had three days of rest. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the players were looking ahead to the BU game this Saturday. In the past, we would have lost this game. The team managed to grind out a win. Kudos to them.

The first point is definitely fair and something I should have considered. I doubt the second one point, though--I think the Clarkson loss team brought this team back to earth and I don't think many of Schafer's teams find themselves looking past an opponent.

[Dafatone]

Another thing to consider is that we play Niagara often. It'd be best if our team is amped for every game, but you have to figure that this matchup is a bigger deal for them than it is for us. Combine that with short rest, a couple bad periods, and the fact that Niagara really isn't a bad team (middle of the pack in pairwise and RPI) and it's not like a tough matchup with them is the end of the world.

[Trotsky]

it's not like a tough matchup with them is the end of the world.

It's not but for much of the game we looked bad.  We weren't just out of sync, we were being outworked, outhustled, outwitted.  It wasn't good.

One thing did occur to me: for a young team maybe the Tuesday took them out of their regime.  Athletes are creatures of habit and until now all the games have been weekend pairs.  A Tuesday start means everything is "off" -- workouts, sleep patterns, study patterns.  They are young.  It might add up.

[ugarte]

Truth in publishing: Maybe this is what got the team moving when it fell behind 4-2 to the No. 60 team (of 60) in RPI?

Your browser spelled Bentley really wrong.

[ugarte]

it's not like a tough matchup with them is the end of the world.

It's not but for much of the game we looked bad.  We weren't just out of sync, we were being outworked, outhustled, outwitted.  It wasn't good.

One thing did occur to me: for a young team maybe the Tuesday took them out of their regime.  Athletes are creatures of habit and until now all the games have been weekend pairs.  A Tuesday start means everything is "off" -- workouts, sleep patterns, study patterns.  They are young.  It might add up.

I'm trying not to overthink it. It was a sloppy game against a team that is pretty good in the offensive zone. They move the puck, they go to the net, Galajda wasn't *on*, We had a couple of very bad clears (in particular the attempt on the 4th goal made me scream NO! at my monitor) and they scored a few early because of it. But Niagara can't play positional defense for shit and the goalie is extremely meh. When we settled down, we picked them apart.

[upprdeck]

I said Niagara would be tough and it was..   the key was to bring the energy and when we did we dominated for s stretch that won the game. This is the type of OC game we seemed to lose over the last 10 years, many times in the FL tourney and it came back to haunt us..  niagara had pretty good speed and we chased them and got out of position for some easy tap in goals.    but when we got on top of them in the 3rd they fell apart pretty quickly.   We have a young team and they have to learn that means come to play every shift.

Starrett and Donaldson being out didnt help either. We have plugged in new guys several games which is great for long term but guys still need to learn at game speed how to play with each other.

the PP has gone down a bit, very sluggish the last 3 games but last night was the first time we got very little movement even in getting 1 PP goal.

[Trotsky]

I'm trying not to overthink it.

Well there's your problem right there.

[Trotsky]

This is the type of OC game we seemed to lose over the last 10 years, many times in the FL tourney and it came back to haunt us..

That's it exactly -- this felt like a FL game.  It had that same let down, "who gives a sh-t?" feeling to it.

Everybody has a stinky night.  Count ourselves lucky we won't pay for it in PWR and hope it doesn't happen again.

[scoop85]

Another thing to consider is that we play Niagara often. It'd be best if our team is amped for every game, but you have to figure that this matchup is a bigger deal for them than it is for us. Combine that with short rest, a couple bad periods, and the fact that Niagara really isn't a bad team (middle of the pack in pairwise and RPI) and it's not like a tough matchup with them is the end of the world.

Niagara impressed me.  They played with conviction, ran a nice forecheck and have some skilled players.  Their defense and goaltending ultimately let them down last night, but they should win a lot of games in Atlantic Hockey, which continues to improve as a conference.

If Niagara keeps this up their new coach Jason Lammers will be a hot name for any open jobs at a higher profile program.

[BearLover]

It doesn't matter that BU has not played all that great this season; if this is the Cornell team that shows up on Saturday, it will be a long night.

I'd guess BU is a slight favorite.

[Trotsky]

We're the favorite if 2018 matters.  They're the favorite if MSG matters.

[BearLover]

They're the favorite if MSG matters.

They're also the favorite if you look at things that actually matter, like the talent on each team...