Cornell vs. RPI 1/7/23

[marty]

Some interesting stats courtesy of Cornell:
1) First time we scored six-plus goals in consecutive games in 5 years
2) First time we had consecutive 11-goal weekends in 31 years
3) Berard is first player with four consecutive multi-point games since Barron did it to open 2019-20 season
4) On the negative side, first time we gave up four power-play goals since we gave up five to Harvard in 2006 ECAC Championship game

A few other random thoughts:
1) When was the last time we had back-to-back games where the opposing coach had to pull the starting goalie?
2) If you could combine the Union announcers and the RPI production crew you would have a great hockey broadcast!

If you look at the USCHO box it seems RPI might not have had but 1 (or 0) shot on goal in the 3rd until the Andreev penalty.

At the 15 minute mark or so I was thinking RPI might not get another SOG. The 3rd vs RPI was reminiscent of the previous night at Union.

[Trotsky]

That was a perfect weekend if you take out The Unfortunate Incident.

[Trotsky]

One of the only qualms I had about The System^TM was that with so few goals for we were always just a screw up or a fluke bounce or two away from allowing bad teams back in our games.  This is No Longer the Case.  This team is still quite capable of playing shut down D with a late lead, but they have enough offense to get some breathing room (or as we just saw recover from a lousy stretch).  I have confidence we can win when we are favored and get ourselves to the 50/50 games in the tournies (Harvard at Placid, the NCAA 1R match up).  It may not help us against clearly superior teams (Quinnipiac) but it gets us to where we need to be to exploit a bad night for them or a career performance by Shane.

I continue to be heartened and surprised that Schafer was able to retool our approach while still retaining responsible defense in all three zones, adding speed and skill to give us legitimate offensive capability.  He's just a really good coach and we should appreciate these last few decades and our Silver Age.

[coz]

One of the only qualms I had about The System^TM was that with so few goals for we were always just a screw up or a fluke bounce or two away from allowing bad teams back in our games.  This is No Longer the Case.  This team is still quite capable of playing shut down D with a late lead, but they have enough offense to get some breathing room (or as we just saw recover from a lousy stretch).  I have confidence we can win when we are favored and get ourselves to the 50/50 games in the tournies (Harvard at Placid, the NCAA 1R match up).  It may not help us against clearly superior teams (Quinnipiac) but it gets us to where we need to be to exploit a bad night for them or a career performance by Shane.

I continue to be heartened and surprised that Schafer was able to retool our approach while still retaining responsible defense in all three zones, adding speed and skill to give us legitimate offensive capability.  He's just a really good coach and we should appreciate these last few decades and our Silver Age.

I was in the same boat with Schafer. It does seem like we have enough skill now that these types of games are much less stressful.

For this season specifically I'm not sure we're good/skilled enough score against the really good teams and the PP remains what I call "2 Minutes of Sadness", but the trajectory is good and I think we'll get there soon enough (at least at 5v5).

[Dafatone]

One of the only qualms I had about The System^TM was that with so few goals for we were always just a screw up or a fluke bounce or two away from allowing bad teams back in our games.  This is No Longer the Case.  This team is still quite capable of playing shut down D with a late lead, but they have enough offense to get some breathing room (or as we just saw recover from a lousy stretch).  I have confidence we can win when we are favored and get ourselves to the 50/50 games in the tournies (Harvard at Placid, the NCAA 1R match up).  It may not help us against clearly superior teams (Quinnipiac) but it gets us to where we need to be to exploit a bad night for them or a career performance by Shane.

I continue to be heartened and surprised that Schafer was able to retool our approach while still retaining responsible defense in all three zones, adding speed and skill to give us legitimate offensive capability.  He's just a really good coach and we should appreciate these last few decades and our Silver Age.

I was in the same boat with Schafer. It does seem like we have enough skill now that these types of games are much less stressful.

For this season specifically I'm not sure we're good/skilled enough score against the really good teams and the PP remains what I call "2 Minutes of Sadness", but the trajectory is good and I think we'll get there soon enough (at least at 5v5).

The PP seems to act like getting the puck to the doorstep or the center slot is itself the goal. These are high scoring places, but if the goalie is prepare and the center slot is covered, it's not like they're automatic. We pass around the outside and to the corners until there's a clear line to the crease, but unless there a cross-crease pass open, the goalie can block off that line.

We need to do a little more skating the puck from high to low and moving without the puck to make life difficult for defenders,

[Give My Regards]

2) First time we had consecutive 11-goal weekends in 31 years

Well, AIC wasn't exactly a weekend (Thu-Fri), but hey, I'll take it.

[marty]

I continue to be heartened and surprised that Schafer was able to retool our approach while still retaining responsible defense in all three zones, adding speed and skill to give us legitimate offensive capability.  He's just a really good coach and we should appreciate these last few decades and our Silver Age.

I agree but there are two fantastic assistant coaches that need some love too.

When you listen to Jason's post game interviews with Ben and Sean it's easy to imagine a coherent team that is on a great ride together.

[BearLover]

I continue to be heartened and surprised that Schafer was able to retool our approach while still retaining responsible defense in all three zones, adding speed and skill to give us legitimate offensive capability.  He's just a really good coach and we should appreciate these last few decades and our Silver Age.

I agree but there are two fantastic assistant coaches that need some love too.

When you listen to Jason's post game interviews with Ben and Sean it's easy to imagine a coherent team that is on a great ride together.

Do these ever get posted online anywhere?

[Trotsky]

One of the only qualms I had about The System^TM was that with so few goals for we were always just a screw up or a fluke bounce or two away from allowing bad teams back in our games.  This is No Longer the Case.  This team is still quite capable of playing shut down D with a late lead, but they have enough offense to get some breathing room (or as we just saw recover from a lousy stretch).  I have confidence we can win when we are favored and get ourselves to the 50/50 games in the tournies (Harvard at Placid, the NCAA 1R match up).  It may not help us against clearly superior teams (Quinnipiac) but it gets us to where we need to be to exploit a bad night for them or a career performance by Shane.

I continue to be heartened and surprised that Schafer was able to retool our approach while still retaining responsible defense in all three zones, adding speed and skill to give us legitimate offensive capability.  He's just a really good coach and we should appreciate these last few decades and our Silver Age.

I was in the same boat with Schafer. It does seem like we have enough skill now that these types of games are much less stressful.

For this season specifically I'm not sure we're good/skilled enough score against the really good teams and the PP remains what I call "2 Minutes of Sadness", but the trajectory is good and I think we'll get there soon enough (at least at 5v5).

The PP seems to act like getting the puck to the doorstep or the center slot is itself the goal. These are high scoring places, but if the goalie is prepare and the center slot is covered, it's not like they're automatic. We pass around the outside and to the corners until there's a clear line to the crease, but unless there a cross-crease pass open, the goalie can block off that line.

We need to do a little more skating the puck from high to low and moving without the puck to make life difficult for defenders,

We have been having some guys try to run the backdoor play or cycle down and then cross ice to the opposite side of the goalie.  Bancroft has been pretty good at that.  I can't remember if Donaldson is getting pp minutes but he seems to try to run that type of play too.

We always cheat back to make sure we don't give up the counter on a block, and blocked shots are such a huge part of today's game I think that's prudent.  What we are missing is the Immovable Object who can convert those pucks that slide back into the low crease after the first chance.  Max is the obvious candidate and it's not for lack of trying but he hasn't been able to convert many.  We may also be suffering from Stienburg Withdrawal.

[upprdeck]

Going into the RPI game we had the #1 PP in ECAC games..

[margolism]

The NHL record for number of goals given up during a five-minute major is 4.

Anyone know the college hockey record?

[abmarks]

Going into the RPI game we had the #1 PP in ECAC games..

And 15th nationally.

[coz]

Going into the RPI game we had the #1 PP in ECAC games..

And 15th nationally.

And against what I would consider our toughest opponents so far (UMD, QU, Clarkson, UConn, and Sucks) we are a cool 1 for 22. Now you can argue that was early in the season and they've gotten into a groove as they've gotten more comfortable, but the PP has to start showing up in games that we're not already dominating 5v5.


All this to say, I'll take a mediocre PP if we're consistently winning the possession battle which under Schafer we always have even when we weren't skilled enough to take advantage.

[Trotsky]

Effective special teams are a necessity when we get deep into the tourneys, though, because the great teams will find a way to exploit weakness there, and then that will live in our heads and affect our game style.

[Trotsky]

The NHL record for number of goals given up during a five-minute major is 4.

Anyone know the college hockey record?

Not sure, but I do know the record for shorthanded goals during the same penalty (3, a natural hat trick by CJ Young of Harvard, although the period break was between the first and second ones).