Cornell @ Princeton 11/18/23

[Trotsky]

Psenicka and DeSantis are poster boys for the struggles we're going through as a team. Both guys have been solid contributors in the past, but neither guy can sniff a goal right now. Tonight Psenicka had several golden opportunities that he just couldn't bury. Mind boggling.

But it's also fair to say that Psenicka created those opportunities.  I think this was his best game since the first half of his Freshman season -- certainly the one in which he was the most significant presence.

Penney played well too.  Our faster skill guys made some plays where they circled the net Youngblood style ("you can't hit what you can't catch" ) but nothing came of those -- they had no way to face the net and move the puck to somebody with an angle.  The one time we had a beautiful high-low-high tic tac toe play we executed perfectly but Smith stopped it with a great save.

[Trotsky]

Tonight Psenicka had several golden opportunities that he just couldn't bury. Mind boggling.

I feel like the majority of Psenicka's goals in previous seasons were tips and deflections from the slot or right in front of the net, and yet he never seems to be positioned in those spots on the PP this year.

I'm also not sold on Rego getting as much PP time as he does, let alone quarterbacking it. Robertson and Fegaras seem like the only D-men posing any sort of offensive "threat" at the moment, but Fegaras seems a bit more "raw" and prone to turnovers, whereas Robertson is more of a playmaker in the mold of Yanni Kaldis or Joakim Ryan. Without any talented goal scorers besides Bancroft, his efforts are going to waste.

Yes. I am not seeing consistent playmaking from any D besides Robertson. I think that's why the offense is stalling. Bancroft/Castagna are offensively talented but many of their chances come from hero ball solo-efforts rather than cohesive passing plays. The lineup is 40% freshmen. Several of them would have spent another year in junior hockey or would not be in the lineup, if Cornell were allowed to retain/bring in grad transfers. Castagna is straight out of high school. The team is just too young and raw. This isn't really a knock on anybody, the freshmen could turn out to be great. That's not going to happen overnight, though.

This is 100% accurate.

[Trotsky]

Schaf may not be comfortable with it, but maybe a forward at the pp point. Castagna seems like could do it.

That would completely be selling out defense, though. And fans of a certain age remember Ryan Hughes and then sneak away whimpering.  Fegaras also terrifies me on pp -- I love him but he is a shorty counter rush-generating error vending machine.

Robertson towers above the other D as point.  Assuming the two units' anchors are Kempf and Suda, there just isn't another good option except Rego.  And Earlier Rego would be fine.  He's just having a bad year so far for whatever reason.  He has faded, like DeSantis.

LOL.  Let's put O'Leary on point and give everybody a heart attack.

[sah67]

Schaf may not be comfortable with it, but maybe a forward at the pp point. Castagna seems like could do it.

It seems like Schafer has always been hesitant to run a power-play with four forwards, although I recall them trying it occasionally in recent seasons (maybe with Barron, but I could be wrong?)

I also noticed that in 3-on3 overtime Schafer is consistently putting out 1 forward and 2 D whereas most other teams are going with 2 F and 1 D.

[Scersk '97]

Tonight Psenicka had several golden opportunities that he just couldn't bury. Mind boggling.

I feel like the majority of Psenicka's goals in previous seasons were tips and deflections from the slot or right in front of the net, and yet he never seems to be positioned in those spots on the PP this year.

I'm also not sold on Rego getting as much PP time as he does, let alone quarterbacking it. Robertson and Fegaras seem like the only D-men posing any sort of offensive "threat" at the moment, but Fegaras seems a bit more "raw" and prone to turnovers, whereas Robertson is more of a playmaker in the mold of Yanni Kaldis or Joakim Ryan. Without any talented goal scorers besides Bancroft, his efforts are going to waste.

Yes. I am not seeing consistent playmaking from any D besides Robertson. I think that's why the offense is stalling. Bancroft/Castagna are offensively talented but many of their chances come from hero ball solo-efforts rather than cohesive passing plays. The lineup is 40% freshmen. Several of them would have spent another year in junior hockey or would not be in the lineup, if Cornell were allowed to retain/bring in grad transfers. Castagna is straight out of high school. The team is just too young and raw. This isn't really a knock on anybody, the freshmen could turn out to be great. That's not going to happen overnight, though.

This is 100% accurate.

Just to pile on, all you have to do is look at the stats on CHN. The top of our scoring is Seger, Bancroft, Penney, and freshmen. Psenicka needs to get over his sophomore slump right about now, now, now; it would be great if DeSantis avoided one. We're not playing horribly at all 5-on-5. If the KRACH is to be believed at this time of the year, we've just played three of six league games against the other top teams in the league.

But our special teams are atrocious. Fix those, and it's going to be a great season. Our most important penalty killer is our goalie. I was more than pleased by how Keopple played vs. Princeton; I think he got hung out to dry a lot vs. Quinnipiac. He seems to have better rebound control than Shane right now. I'd like to see more. On the power play, all the typical old problems have crept in. Somebody needs to plant in front of the goalie until they take it away; somebody needs to shoot the puck until they take it away; somebody needs to work the low game until they take it away. We've got to be flexible. We're not... hopefully, yet.

All that being said, our lines aren't set whatsoever and a few guys are banged up. Perhaps this is the season for a good ol' fashioned second semester run? We'll see.

[scoop85]

Tonight Psenicka had several golden opportunities that he just couldn't bury. Mind boggling.

Just to pile on, all you have to do is look at the stats on CHN. The top of our scoring is Seger, Bancroft, Penney, and freshmen. Psenicka needs to get over his sophomore slump right about now, now, now; it would be great if DeSantis avoided one. We're not playing horribly at all 5-on-5. If the KRACH is to be believed at this time of the year, we've just played three of six league games against the other top teams in the league.

Psenicka is having a junior slump, which is even more perplexing.

[Iceberg]

I wonder who starts in net on Saturday at MSG given last night's result. I will not guess this time but BearLover is free to do so

[George64]

Need a greater sense of urgency on our power play.  Wasted way too much of the 5-minute major.

[Scersk '97]

Psenicka needs to get over his sophomore slump right about now, now, now; it would be great if DeSantis avoided one.

Psenicka is having a junior slump, which is even more perplexing.

For the record, I considered Psenicka's sophomore year as a slump and this year so far as a continuation thereof.

[Trotsky]

I wonder who starts in net on Saturday at MSG given last night's result. I will not guess this time but BearLover is free to do so

My guess based on Mike's history is a return to Shane.  He likes a clear #1 and changes only when a backup clearly tears the torch from the incumbent's grasp (as Shane did from Howe in 2022).  Keoppel has not done that, but he has proven himself a solid #2 if Shane is ill or injured, and that is good insurance.

Just as we weren't as good as we looked when we were #1 in PWR, we are not as bad as we look now at #21.  "It's a long season and you gotta trust."

[scoop85]

Psenicka needs to get over his sophomore slump right about now, now, now; it would be great if DeSantis avoided one.

Psenicka is having a junior slump, which is even more perplexing.

For the record, I considered Psenicka's sophomore year as a slump and this year so far as a continuation thereof.

Fair enough

[CU2007]

I wonder who starts in net on Saturday at MSG given last night's result. I will not guess this time but BearLover is free to do so

Shane

[sah67]

Still a big concern for me at the moment is how easily smaller teams are muscling our D around on the forecheck and forcing turnovers. This happened constantly during the Harvard game, and the game-winner at Princeton was a direct result of one of our D-men (Robertson I think) getting roughed up by a Princeton forechecker and coughing up the puck deep in our zone.

[RichH]

Still a big concern for me at the moment is how easily smaller teams are muscling our D around on the forecheck and forcing turnovers. This happened constantly during the Harvard game, and the game-winner at Princeton was a direct result of one of our D-men (Robertson I think) getting roughed up by a Princeton forechecker and coughing up the puck deep in our zone.

 I need help determining which goal was the winning goal

[VIEWfromK]

To start the 3rd period 5 on 3 last week against Harvard they had Bancroft-Seger-Psenicka up front and Walsh at the right point alongside Robertson.  Walsh got a shot away that was gloved by Mullahy.  On the ensuing face off Walsh took the draw with Roberson at the right point alongside Bancroft.  That's the one time for sure I've seen four forwards on a power play this season.