THE FROZEN APPLE 2024

[Iceberg]

Was there any tribute for Schaefer's last MSG game?

Other than his son John singing the anthem (quite well) wearing a 1986 Schafer jersey, no.

Much less Cornelliana than in past years.  No introduction of Athletic Department or other university administration except for head of Board of Trustees. Only Cornell celebrity intro was Niuwendyk.  Odd.

IIRC, he (Nieuwendyk) has a daughter attending Q. One of the broadcasts last season or maybe the one before mentioned it, so no surprise he'd be at the game

[scoop85]

Was there any tribute for Schaefer's last MSG game?

Other than his son John singing the anthem (quite well) wearing a 1986 Schafer jersey, no.

Much less Cornelliana than in past years.  No introduction of Athletic Department or other university administration except for head of Board of Trustees. Only Cornell celebrity intro was Niuwendyk.  Odd.

IIRC, he (Nieuwendyk) has a daughter attending Q. One of the broadcasts last season or maybe the one before mentioned it, so no surprise he'd be at the game

At a very nice pre-game reception, Nieuwendyk gave a nice speech and mentioned his daughter (who was at the reception wearing a Quinnipiac hat) was a recent QU grad.

[Carnelian]

There was a small pre-game reception to honor Coach Schafer to which donors to the Athletics Dept/Hockey team were invited. Director of Athletics Moore, Assistant/incoming Coach Jones, Nieuwendyk, and Schafer spoke.  All very nice speeches, Schafer spoke about how much Cornell has meant to him, very touching and heartfelt.

[Trotsky]

Was there any tribute for Schaefer's last MSG game?

Other than his son John singing the anthem (quite well) wearing a 1986 Schafer jersey, no.

Much less Cornelliana than in past years.  No introduction of Athletic Department or other university administration except for head of Board of Trustees. Only Cornell celebrity intro was Niuwendyk.  Odd.

IIRC, he (Nieuwendyk) has a daughter attending Q. One of the broadcasts last season or maybe the one before mentioned it, so no surprise he'd be at the game

Nieuwy was at the NoDak games too.

[BearLover]

Was there any tribute for Schaefer's last MSG game?

Other than his son John singing the anthem (quite well) wearing a 1986 Schafer jersey, no.

Much less Cornelliana than in past years.  No introduction of Athletic Department or other university administration except for head of Board of Trustees. Only Cornell celebrity intro was Niuwendyk.  Odd.

As for the game itself, I thought we had more raw skill but a more stagnant offensive setup. Q had a lot more movement in the offensive zone - especially on the PP - and more willingness to make interesting passes to skaters looking for space rather than trying to win one-on-one with the puck or making safe perimeter passes. I would love to see our PP try to emulate theirs.

I thought Cornell really outplayed Q 5x5. I couldn't tell how many lines Q was rolling but it seemed like Cornell dominated possession unless Quinnipiac's very top guys were on the ice. The second period was a string of Cornell penalties, many of which were stupid. That plus the bad PK cost Cornell the game. If the entire game had been played 5x5 Cornell would have won by multiple goals. It was another huge special teams let down. I really think that if special teams merely matched their opponent each game this season then Cornell would be undefeated. Instead, we lose the special teams battle every game, which turns wins into ties and ties into losses.

It's that simple: figure out special teams and get healthy, and this team will be great. Otherwise, the mediocrity will continue.

[arugula]

Q's pp whipped the puck around and had lots of man motion.  At the moment we do neither

[BearLover]

Q's pp whipped the puck around and had lots of man motion.  At the moment we do neither

Correct. Three possibilities:
1. Q PP unit is much more skilled than Cornell's
2. Cornell's PP unit doesn't understand how to follow coaches' orders
3. Coaching issue

[stereax]

3x3 sucks in the N, too.

They should go back to 5 minutes normal overtime and then a tie, full stop.  It was perfect.

Tbh I don't mind 3x3 in the N. I like the concept of opening up the ice for talented offensive players to go ham. The problem is I can't remember one NCAA game where this worked, in my admittedly limited experience.

We come out with the win, two points, woot. On to the next one. Colgate home and away should be easy right?

Also, what happened to captain

This was considered a NC game. It's a tie and zero conference points.

Really? Ugh.

[Iceberg]

Q's pp whipped the puck around and had lots of man motion.  At the moment we do neither

Correct. Three possibilities:
1. Q PP unit is much more skilled than Cornell's
2. Cornell's PP unit doesn't understand how to follow coaches' orders
3. Coaching issue

The big thing that sticks out to me is the lack of body movement. Cornell has the skilled guys to do better on the PP. If you look at Dartmouth, they have less skill up front and overall team speed but they move the puck and their bodies around, which opens up more opportunities down low and for their offensively-skilled D from the point.

[Trotsky]

had lots of man motion.  At the moment we do neither

This is the one thing about the team that makes me say unpleasant words to the cat.  We don't move with the puck on pp, we push passes back and forth while standing utterly still.  It really helps the penalty kill not to have to make those adjustments.

Typically you do that when your guys are low skill but come on, just look at this roster!

[arugula]

Yes.  If you're not going to use your skill, you should crowd the net and bomb away from the point. We dont do that either. Bancroft used to shoot.  Not anymore.

[VIEWfromK]

I saw some things in that game that I believe they could build off of.  It's just that after playing one of their best periods of the season in the first, it might be unfair to expect them to apply those lessons to next weekend when they weren't able to carry anything over into the second.  When things were going good they were attacking the zone and putting pucks to the net from a variety of angles.  I thought they met the moment of the stage they were playing on.  After nearly letting the game get away from them they rallied quite nicely with a solid third.  They even were the team in control at the end trying to win it in regulation where typically I think of them as having to hunker down and hang on to force OT.  It was a different team than the previous Friday in many good ways.  I'm looking forward to next weekend but first they'll need to figure out how to make it through a week of practices intact.

[VIEWfromK]

Also to hate on 3x3 again,

I wish that once you enter the zone in OT you weren't allowed to bring it back out voluntarily.  If they want to continue to allow those resets I wish that they would put in a shot clock.  It's not real hockey anyway

[CJ]

I would not call O'Leary reckless.  He may be a scrapper and he likes to stir things up, but not reckless.  He is an excellent leader and the other boys love him.  He garners respect from his teammates.  He brings energy to the ice for sure.

[sah67]

Also to hate on 3x3 again,

I wish that once you enter the zone in OT you weren't allowed to bring it back out voluntarily.  If they want to continue to allow those resets I wish that they would put in a shot clock.  It's not real hockey anyway

The "shot clock" for entering the offensive zone or a "back court" type violation for re-entering your own zone with the puck were some of the changes the NHL was considering for 3x3 OT, but they didn't make much progress and fell back on the tired old "well we don't want anything that creates more stoppages and faceoffs!"