Early Report On 2003-2004 Cornell Hockey Team

[calgARI \'07]

I've gone to three or four practices, so take the following in stride.  
Of the freshmen, two in particular stand out.  One reason they stand out is because they are both enormous.  Ryan O'Byrne at 6'5, and Byron Bitz at 6'4 could be dominant players sooner rather than later.  Bitz is the logical replacement for Baby on the first line.  He has the size, but skates a little better than Baby, although I doubt he is as strong as Baby was defensively.  He has a very high offensive upside.  Once O'Byrne fills out, he could be the best defenseman in college hockey.  He skates very well for someone his size and has pretty good puck skills.  I would expect to see him get some powerplay time this year as his rushing skills are not bad at all.  He is definitely the best of the four freshmen defensemen.  I'd imagine we will see him in Murray's old spot paired with Downs.  McCutcheon has good puck skills and is definitely a top line player down the road.  Glover looks pretty solid in defense.  The other freshmen have not stood out a great deal in the scrimmages although I am sure as they become comfortable, they will stand out more.
As for the returning players, Vesce and Cook have impressed me the most.  Cook has looked outstanding, in particular.  He has looked like Mark McRae on a lot of occasions.  He just looks a lot more confident out there.  I expect him to ascend the first powerplay unit and do well there.  The way he has played the last couple days, I am a lot less concerned about the defense than I was before.  He could be one of the top defenseman in the ECAC this year.  
If last year's freshmen continue to develop, I expect Cornell to have one of the top offenses in the country.  Hynes has the potential to be a dominating power forward who needs to evolve into a go-to-guy this season with the loss of Baby and Paolini.  He has the potential to be a bigger offensive weapon than both Baby and Paolini.  The Abbots as well as Pegoraro have been flying.  I expect Pegoraro to be the second line center and I think his offensive potential is very high as well.  The Abbots are very talented and very excited players who I expect will contribute a great deal to the offense.  Hornby has improved his skating and is looking very confident with the puck.  Iggulden has stood out on a couple of occasions as well.
In the scrimmages, there has not been a great deal of goal scoring.  The goaltending has been strong, but there really have not been that many scoring chances.  I guess that goes against my points regarding the potential of the offense, but I assume it will come along as it is early.
I will say that there are definitely two defense spots (Glover, Salmela, Stachurski, Gleed, Pajerski) and at least two forward spots (McLeod, Carefoot, Iggulden, Varteressian) that are WIDE OPEN.  Not to mention the goaltending situation which is also wide open.  
The team has a great deal of upside.  How well they do will depend completely upon how quickly the freshmen develop and how much the sophomore forwards step up.  And most importantly, how quickly the team adjusts to the system will dictate results for sure.

[atb9]

fun read, thanks for the effort put in

[Al DeFlorio]

Thanks a bunch for posting this, calgARI.  If you can spare the time, please keep us posted.  It will be very interesting watching how this year's line-up shakes out.

[Will]

When do the practices go on?  Maybe I'll come and watch for a bit too, if I have time.

[ugarte]

Thanks.  The scouting report is great.  Keep it up.

Query:  Why isn't the Sun covering the practices if they are open?

[calgARI \'07]

I plan on going to practice every day.   I talk to Vesce and Wallace pretty frequently and as far as I know, they are all open.  As long as I go, I'll be updating.

[calgARI \'07]

I think the practice schedule fluctuates a bit, but it's been like 4:30-5 each time that I've gone.

[Will]

On-ice practice is only for half an hour a day?  Is it just me or does it seem like practices should be an hour or longer each day?

[calgARI \'07]

no no, sorry.  what i meant is that they start between 4:30 and 5.  They usually go to 6-6:30.

[Adam \'01]

Thanks for the scouting report.  Hornby looks confident with the puck?  I hadn't realized that his role had anything to do with the puck!

[Jordan 04]

It (the puck) certainly became an added dimension to his game last year, I thought.

He showed some ability on that line with Cam and Chris.  For my money, (and it sure was a good chunk after the whole regular season, Estero, FF, etc.), that line was the most enjoyable to watch.  I expect them to only get better together this year (assuming they stay together, and I would be surprised if they didn't).

[calgARI \'07]

That was the only effective line in the New Hampshire game.

[Al DeFlorio]

For what it's worth, an assistant coach from another ECAC team told me in Buffalo (well, actually we were in Niagara Falls) that Hornby was the guy who really made the Cornell team go.  Wish I could remember his exact words.

[kaelistus]

Hornby sold me in that painful 2001 loss to Harvard championship game. The the team lost their legs and didn't look like they could even walk... except for Hornby who was throwing Harvard players around left and right.

The man almost single handledly took on the entire Crimson squad and managed to hold them for almost two overtime periods.

[rhovorka]

Great report, and it's good to talk about the team instead talking about us knuckleheads who watch them.  :-)

It's tough to say how the offense will be until they face some real competition.  I expect that any success will depend a lot on the development of that sophomore class, like CalgARI hinted at.  There will be some rookie adjustment and rookie mistakes from the freshmen.  Also, it'd be great to know that Vesce has some size and protection on his line to replace the size that graduated.

And I'll say this...the return of the Hornby-Abbott-Abbott line has been the thing that's kept me most excited this entire offseason.