Cornell-BU

[RichH]

Betts gets the puck behind the goal and just stands there, even after Smith breaks out wide.

This. CU teams over the past five seasons did this reset/delayed breakout an uncomfortable number of times for me. This season's team did not. The confidence to quickly and skillfully push a transition was a welcome change and a hallmark of this squad in my eyes, and as soon as I saw Betts back all the way up made my nerves-alarm explode, and then it's in the net.

[RichH]

Probably the best post-mortem of this weekend that matches my views came in the conclusion in a piece about the parity of this tournament, written by Joe Meloni on CHN titled "No. 1 Doesn't Mean What it Used To."

BU knocking Cornell off on Saturday was a case of, effectively, two largely equivalent teams that hit their strides at different points in the season. The Terriers are on fire right now. Cornell entered the weekend off a frustrating 4-1 loss to Princeton in the ECAC semifinals last weekend in Lake Placid. The Big Red offense hadn't quite been at its best for some time before BU ended its season.

Cornell hit a rough stretch at the wrong time. The Terriers became the best version of themselves just as the lights started to shine. Air Force's goal goaltender had the night of his life to end St. Cloud's season. A broken stick saved Notre Dame's season on Friday afternoon.

It happens every year.

My opinion all through this season was that we were pleased with the progress, speed, and youth of this team, and many of us were just waiting for the inevitable cold streak or injury bug to derail them. In the past, that usually hit in the Dec tournament through early January. But we kept winning, even with some key injuries. By the time they dropped that RPI game, a top seed was already well in reach.  Frankly, I thought the offense (SPECIFICALLY THE PP) went pretty cold in February. The first QF game kept this flickering hope that they had turned the corner, but when you only score 4 goals in the final three games, admittedly to the best and fiercest competition of the year, you can't expect to advance too far. If we keep making it this far, you just have to hope the bounces will fall on our side some of the time.

[Anne 85]

Probably the best post-mortem of this weekend that matches my views came in the conclusion in a piece about the parity of this tournament, written by Joe Meloni on CHN titled "No. 1 Doesn't Mean What it Used To."

BU knocking Cornell off on Saturday was a case of, effectively, two largely equivalent teams that hit their strides at different points in the season. The Terriers are on fire right now. Cornell entered the weekend off a frustrating 4-1 loss to Princeton in the ECAC semifinals last weekend in Lake Placid. The Big Red offense hadn't quite been at its best for some time before BU ended its season.

Cornell hit a rough stretch at the wrong time. The Terriers became the best version of themselves just as the lights started to shine. Air Force's goal goaltender had the night of his life to end St. Cloud's season. A broken stick saved Notre Dame's season on Friday afternoon.

It happens every year.

Yep, that's good.

Question is, is it possible to influence when those good / bad stretches come, or is it completely up to these puck bunnies:

[upprdeck]

we lost the last 2 games of the season..  BU had a wild swinging goal deflect in that was shot 6 ft off line and a seeing eye shot thru 5-6 bodies and an EN.  PU had a breakway where we had the puck, a bad bounce goal and EN and a nice goal on a long breakout pass.  

no PP goals no odd man rushes, no giveaways in front of the net. no shorties..

things happen.

[BearLover]

Schafer has never made the NCAA tournament three years in a row. Remember the great freshman class in 2011-12? It had four draft picks on it and the team's leading scorer (as a freshman). Made the NCAAs that year...never made it again. Nothing is guaranteed. That's why, even when the future looks bright or you're playing with house money, your tournament run is no less important than any other year's, and few losses are going to be more disappointing than yesterday's.

Greg again.

1. The last time we made the NC$$s 3 years in a row, the coach was Ned Harkness.  This is hardly some Schafer issue.

Didn't mean to suggest it was--just that in this era of Cornell Hockey, success doesn't necessarily carry over from one year to the next. You're not going to hear me complain about Mike for some time.

The first QF game kept this flickering hope that they had turned the corner, but when you only score 4 goals in the final three games, admittedly to the best and fiercest competition of the year, you can't expect to advance too far. If we keep making it this far, you just have to hope the bounces will fall on our side some of the time.

I agree the offense is clearly what needs to most improvement (just like every other year), but that's a deceptive sample size. In the three prior games, Cornell scored 16 goals, and they were top ten in the country in GPG in the regular season. If you look at how the last few games went, Cornell threw enough shots on goal where they'd typically score more than four goals (not so much in the second Q game, but they got a ton of shots through against Princeton and BU).

[Anne 85]

Hopefully The Plan is to keep gradually moving the equalizer levels in favor of speed and finesse and accentuating full participation of all 5 players on the offense.  Having a solid netminder in Galajda for possibly 3 more seasons surely won't hurt that.

Nothing is guaranteed but we're in a good position next year: solid D and G returning, and a good foundation at F with perhaps more help coming in.  Remember we absorbed 2 deserters this season so we have 2 slots to fill in addition to the seniors.

G (2 return) (1) backup needed.
D (7 return) (2) sought, I do not believe Bliss will be back.
F (11 return) (5) sought.

[Jim Hyla]

Yates and Rauter are now gone and we had better pray Angello doesn't leave.

This vein of speculation is getting unduly thick. Keeping it civil but being as blunt as possible, Angello leaving would be "misguided" on a level beyond even Shane Hynes. It would be "shocking" beyond belief.

Nevermind that he has only one more year left in his degree. We have a chance to finish a good amount of unfinished business next year, and I can only imagine that his central role in such a campaign will raise the value of his stock significantly.

I agree with you that he is a long-shot to make the NHL and would want to return to a strong team and all his friends and the ability to earn a degree, but Pittsburgh is going to offer him a lot of money and none of us can speak to what his and his family's financial situation is. It definitely wouldn't be shocking beyond belief.

He's a long-shot to make the NHL, but Pittsburgh's going to offer him a lot of money?

How do you get that? That's my point in reverse. Right now he isn't a lock to make it, so why would they offer him a lot of money? I'm certainly not sure of that.

And his family is okay.

[BigRedHockeyFan]

D (7 return) (2) sought, I do not believe Bliss will be back.

Ryan Bliss lists himself as Cornell '18 on Facebook.  It's unfortunate he was not able to play last year or this year.

I wish him the best of luck.

[BearLover]

Yates and Rauter are now gone and we had better pray Angello doesn't leave.

This vein of speculation is getting unduly thick. Keeping it civil but being as blunt as possible, Angello leaving would be "misguided" on a level beyond even Shane Hynes. It would be "shocking" beyond belief.

Nevermind that he has only one more year left in his degree. We have a chance to finish a good amount of unfinished business next year, and I can only imagine that his central role in such a campaign will raise the value of his stock significantly.

I agree with you that he is a long-shot to make the NHL and would want to return to a strong team and all his friends and the ability to earn a degree, but Pittsburgh is going to offer him a lot of money and none of us can speak to what his and his family's financial situation is. It definitely wouldn't be shocking beyond belief.

He's a long-shot to make the NHL, but Pittsburgh's going to offer him a lot of money?

How do you get that? That's my point in reverse. Right now he isn't a lock to make it, so why would they offer him a lot of money? I'm certainly not sure of that.

And his family is okay.

As a big guy who can skate and shoot, he has potential. And if Pittsburgh doesn't sign him now they lose him forever. I don't know the NHL cap structure for first year signees who would probably go straight to the AHL. Can the Penguins just offer the max to all of their draft picks? Or does it all come out of the same pool of money? Anybody familiar with the rules?

[Anne 85]

D (7 return) (2) sought, I do not believe Bliss will be back.

Ryan Bliss lists himself as Cornell '18 on Facebook.  It's unfortunate he was not able to play last year or this year.

I wish him the best of luck.

My understanding is he didn't do senior night because he's going to give it another shot.  He's our David Wright.  I admire his courage and determination and of course I wish him the best.

[KenP]

IMO biggest room for improvement is Strength of Schedule.

[Anne 85]

IMO biggest room for improvement is Strength of Schedule.

I'd have said so too but our shit SOS got us to #1 in the country this year.  Now, did it hurt our preparation for the playoffs?  Maybe.

[Jim Hyla]

Yates and Rauter are now gone and we had better pray Angello doesn't leave.

This vein of speculation is getting unduly thick. Keeping it civil but being as blunt as possible, Angello leaving would be "misguided" on a level beyond even Shane Hynes. It would be "shocking" beyond belief.

Nevermind that he has only one more year left in his degree. We have a chance to finish a good amount of unfinished business next year, and I can only imagine that his central role in such a campaign will raise the value of his stock significantly.

I agree with you that he is a long-shot to make the NHL and would want to return to a strong team and all his friends and the ability to earn a degree, but Pittsburgh is going to offer him a lot of money and none of us can speak to what his and his family's financial situation is. It definitely wouldn't be shocking beyond belief.

He's a long-shot to make the NHL, but Pittsburgh's going to offer him a lot of money?

How do you get that? That's my point in reverse. Right now he isn't a lock to make it, so why would they offer him a lot of money? I'm certainly not sure of that.

And his family is okay.

As a big guy who can skate and shoot, he has potential. And if Pittsburgh doesn't sign him now they lose him forever. I don't know the NHL cap structure for first year signees who would probably go straight to the AHL. Can the Penguins just offer the max to all of their draft picks? Or does it all come out of the same pool of money? Anybody familiar with the rules?

So you don't know the rules, but "Pittsburgh's going to offer him a lot of money".::screwy::

[BearLover]

Yates and Rauter are now gone and we had better pray Angello doesn't leave.

This vein of speculation is getting unduly thick. Keeping it civil but being as blunt as possible, Angello leaving would be "misguided" on a level beyond even Shane Hynes. It would be "shocking" beyond belief.

Nevermind that he has only one more year left in his degree. We have a chance to finish a good amount of unfinished business next year, and I can only imagine that his central role in such a campaign will raise the value of his stock significantly.

I agree with you that he is a long-shot to make the NHL and would want to return to a strong team and all his friends and the ability to earn a degree, but Pittsburgh is going to offer him a lot of money and none of us can speak to what his and his family's financial situation is. It definitely wouldn't be shocking beyond belief.

He's a long-shot to make the NHL, but Pittsburgh's going to offer him a lot of money?

How do you get that? That's my point in reverse. Right now he isn't a lock to make it, so why would they offer him a lot of money? I'm certainly not sure of that.

And his family is okay.

As a big guy who can skate and shoot, he has potential. And if Pittsburgh doesn't sign him now they lose him forever. I don't know the NHL cap structure for first year signees who would probably go straight to the AHL. Can the Penguins just offer the max to all of their draft picks? Or does it all come out of the same pool of money? Anybody familiar with the rules?

So you don't know the rules, but "Pittsburgh's going to offer him a lot of money".::screwy::

Yes, they're going to offer him a lot of money--far more than he'd be earning in his first year out of college at a regular job. The only question is how much more.

[KenP]

IMO biggest room for improvement is Strength of Schedule.

I'd have said so too but our shit SOS got us to #1 in the country this year.  Now, did it hurt our preparation for the playoffs?  Maybe.

Cupcakes are tasty but won't help you get to full potential.