Fortress Invitational

[BearLover]

Fair to say on the basis of individual skill, Providence was superior? I think Cornell is generally a well-structured, well-trained team but finds it hard to compete in terms of raw talent (penalty shootout for example)

Yes. Providence has far better talent. Cornell plays a smart system and its players are older and stronger than Providence's, but on an individual talent basis Providence is probably a top-five program in the country.

Everyone talks about that and how they are taller, but now (finally) looking for speed.

Well by CHN tables, PC players average 85 days younger, 1 inch shorter, and 1.6 pounds lighter. So that's older and stronger? You're going to tell me that those numbers are that much different, as to make a difference.

I think some pundits (This is not meant to single you out BearLover) are still back with the teams from 8-10 years ago and are forgetting that we are a completely different team, playing a different style of play than before. That means our players are also different.

Per the CHN tables, Cornell is the tallest team in the country. Point taken on the age/pound differential. Cornell has very few seniors on this year's team, so I believe the age gap isn't as great this season. (Providence also has only a couple of seniors, but that's because they had five players leave early last year.) My basis for saying Providence is younger is that, looking at their top players, they mostly played one year of junior hockey before matriculating, whereas the average Cornell player typically plays two years of juniors.

[Jim Hyla]

Not much out there.

CBR

Friars

At least the LV papers covered it. But if Dugan wasn't such a hero you wonder what they would have done.

Las Vegas Review-Journal

LV Sun

[billhoward]

Providence did a good job on PK, moving the forwards out closer to the blue line, sticks out, and disrupted Cornell's PP. They matched up against Cornell better than Ohio State. Maybe our team shares the distaste for a school that feels compelled to put The in front of Ohio State University.

This team is the best contender for the final four since 2003. We need Morgan Barron to be healthy. Stay aggressive without taking two majors per weekend.

[JasonN95]

A ten minute review of anything is inexcusable. Hopefully there is some reworking done on the review for a major penalty procedure the next time rules can be addressed. For me, if the refs don't have an immediate "My god, how did we both miss that blatantly obvious major!" reaction to the replay in the first moments of seeing it, there shouldn't be a penalty retroactively called.

[Jim Hyla]

The Sun

I already posted the link to the article, but thoght that this quote needed posting.

"Going back to last year in the regionals, we had a tough game against them, and then for whatever reason, they always bring their fans out to us," Dugan said. "I knew that they wouldn't like that too much. I kind of thought of it in the moment."

Does he really think that PC is the reason CU fans were there? Talk about feeling high on yourself.

I don't tweet, but someone should tell him it doesn't have anything to do with him or PC. Maybe we should invite him to Lynah.

CHN

USCHO

[RichH]

The Sun

I already posted the link to the article, but thoght that this quote needed posting.

"Going back to last year in the regionals, we had a tough game against them, and then for whatever reason, they always bring their fans out to us," Dugan said. "I knew that they wouldn't like that too much. I kind of thought of it in the moment."

Does he really think that PC is the reason CU fans were there? Talk about feeling high on yourself.

I don't tweet, but someone should tell him it doesn't have anything to do with him or PC. Maybe we should invite him to Lynah.

CHN

USCHO

While it is a little irksome to me, especially since our fans were mostly positive all weekend, the fact that his first instinct wasn't to look to his teammates to celebrate, but rather to taunt us means that we're still doing our job. The Cornell support was massive and noticeable, and clearly got under some skin on the PC bench.

Anyway, he just lost my oh-so-important TBRW vote for "most respected opponent," so neener-neener on you, dude. Enjoy your tiny trophy.

[Jim Hyla]

The Sun

I already posted the link to the article, but thoght that this quote needed posting.

"Going back to last year in the regionals, we had a tough game against them, and then for whatever reason, they always bring their fans out to us," Dugan said. "I knew that they wouldn't like that too much. I kind of thought of it in the moment."

Does he really think that PC is the reason CU fans were there? Talk about feeling high on yourself.

I don't tweet, but someone should tell him it doesn't have anything to do with him or PC. Maybe we should invite him to Lynah.

CHN

USCHO

While it is a little irksome to me, especially since our fans were mostly positive all weekend, the fact that his first instinct wasn't to look to his teammates to celebrate, but rather to taunt us means that we're still doing our job. The Cornell support was massive and noticeable, and clearly got under some skin on the PC bench.

Anyway, he just lost my oh-so-important TBRW vote for "most respected opponent," so neener-neener on you, dude. Enjoy your tiny trophy.

Good point.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Providence did a good job on PK, moving the forwards out closer to the blue line, sticks out, and disrupted Cornell's PP. They matched up against Cornell better than Ohio State. Maybe our team shares the distaste for a school that feels compelled to put The in front of Ohio State University.

This team is the best contender for the final four since 2003. We need Morgan Barron to be healthy. Stay aggressive without taking two majors per weekend.

What I said at one point during the game was that PC had really active sticks on defense.  It made us look sloppy.

As to penalty reviews (all reviews for that matter), there should be a time limit.  If they can't make a decision in five minutes, the play stands as called on the ice.  Move along.

[ugarte]

Does he really think that PC is the reason CU fans were there? Talk about feeling high on yourself.

I don't tweet, but someone should tell him it doesn't have anything to do with him or PC. Maybe we should invite him to Lynah.

tbh it sounds like a mangled quote and he was making the point that Cornell fans ride the opposing players hard.

[Swampy]

Providence did a good job on PK, moving the forwards out closer to the blue line, sticks out, and disrupted Cornell's PP. They matched up against Cornell better than Ohio State. Maybe our team shares the distaste for a school that feels compelled to put The in front of Ohio State University.

This team is the best contender for the final four since 2003. We need Morgan Barron to be healthy. Stay aggressive without taking two majors per weekend.

What I said at one point during the game was that PC had really active sticks on defense.  It made us look sloppy.

Providence did the same thing to us last spring in the regionals. We need to be prepared for this as we progress through March.

Watching the game I thought we were becoming fatigued, what with playing the late game the previous evening and having to kill two majors literally in less than a day. Leaman said he thought his team got better as the game went on. I think a major reason for this was that we got worse (tired). The second period is usually our strongest period because we usually tire out the opponent during the first half of the game and take advantage of them during the 2nd period; we then gain a lead and defend it very well. But the major took away almost 25% of the the second period and gave them the lead. We played from behind and just did not seem to have
the zip and sharpness they had during the OSU game and in the first period against Providence.

[marty]

Watching the game I thought we were becoming fatigued, what with playing the late game the previous evening and having to kill two majors literally in less than a day.

I agree, though it is hard to determine this while watching a broadcast. It also made the extra attacker goal that much more impressive.

[adamw]

There were two tiers of talent in Las Vegas:

1. Jack Dugan and Morgan Barron
2. Other

I didn't see PU being superior in talent.

They are - but that's fine. The better comparison is Barron to Tyce Thompson. Thompson is a monster. Dugan is off by himself skill wise. Then you add in Parker Ford, a very skilled center who came off the plane from the World Juniors to play Saturday, and dominated the faceoff circle, and was tough to handle.

Cornell is deeper (this year) - and has a slightly better goalie.  These are two of the best teams in the country - mirror images to a large extent, at least coaching wise, and I hope to hell Cornell doesn't have to play them again in the NCAAs unless it's the championship game.

[billhoward]

I wonder how much the 3-1/2-hour time difference makes. You can't just go back and look to history if a tournament 1-seed is the one playing the earlier game. Could Providence be - is this heresy? - better-conditioned? Was Providence the better team?

An unfair advantage from a generation ago was the NCAAs had the semifinals Thursday (1-seed) and Friday, then the title game Saturday.

[scoop85]

There were two tiers of talent in Las Vegas:

1. Jack Dugan and Morgan Barron
2. Other

I didn't see PU being superior in talent.

They are - but that's fine. The better comparison is Barron to Tyce Thompson. Thompson is a monster. Dugan is off by himself skill wise. Then you add in Parker Ford, a very skilled center who came off the plane from the World Juniors to play Saturday, and dominated the faceoff circle, and was tough to handle.

Cornell is deeper (this year) - and has a slightly better goalie.  These are two of the best teams in the country - mirror images to a large extent, at least coaching wise, and I hope to hell Cornell doesn't have to play them again in the NCAAs unless it's the championship game.

Usually we hold our own on faceoffs, but PU, and especially Ford, dominated us at the dot.  If we play them again we'll need to do better. I believe Andreev is pretty solid on faceoffs (I don't have time right now to look it up), so his absence may have really hurt us on Saturday.

[French Rage]

Since anything beyond the first OT wasn't official, I think the tournament officials should have had more fun with it.  Maybe have them play broomball for an OT, and play with multiple pucks.  Live a little!