Cornell at RPI 3/1

[chimpfood]

There are 23 qualified goalies with a save percentage under .895. Only 1 has gotten more playing time than Shane, Jared whale of UNH, who was hospitalized last night so Shane may pass him. Not many other goalies get this kind long of a leash while having a season as bad as this. Thanks to Shane's performance in previous years though, he has gotten it.

[Trotsky]

Now the coaches are in an impossible position.

No.  The coaches have no problem at all.  They will do what they think is best because they are experts and this is their job.

We all have to stop looking at this through the lens of talk radio, where the (lucrative) act is the fans and the pundits are engaging in Serious Analysis.  We aren't.  We're idiot looky-loos.  

The coaches see these guys every day and assess them in controlled conditions.  They have real knowledge, not delusions fed by message boards to generate clicks.

The critical mode, applied to sports, by people pressing their nose against the window, is why fans have the reputation they do.

[Trotsky]

For all we know they wanted to give Shane a game to clear his head before the do or die starts.

My assumptions, which are just as dumb and uninformed as everyone else's here:

1. What you said.

2. Give Keoppel a full game against a non-threatening opponent to build confidence for next year, and as a reward for patiently waiting three years only to go into a full-on job battle as a Senior.

[BearLover]

Now the coaches are in an impossible position.

No.  The coaches have no problem at all.  They will do what they think is best because they are experts and this is their job.

We all have to stop looking at this through the lens of talk radio, where the (lucrative) act is the fans and the pundits are engaging in Serious Analysis.  We aren't.  We're idiot looky-loos.  

The coaches see these guys every day and assess them in controlled conditions.  They have real knowledge, not delusions fed by message boards to generate clicks.

The critical mode, applied to sports, by people pressing their nose against the window, is why fans have the reputation they do.

Coaches make mistakes all the time. Also, practices aren't "controlled conditions." Game experience cannot be replicated. Coaches have to make best guesses under high levels of uncertainty, including in this case. Maybe this is not a particularly close call and Shane is clearly better. Or maybe it's a very close call and the coaching staff would be better off if it had actually seen the backups in game action.

[Dafatone]

My untrained eye says Keopple doesn't come far enough out of the net to challenge shots.

[Trotsky]

Now the coaches are in an impossible position.

No.  The coaches have no problem at all.  They will do what they think is best because they are experts and this is their job.

We all have to stop looking at this through the lens of talk radio, where the (lucrative) act is the fans and the pundits are engaging in Serious Analysis.  We aren't.  We're idiot looky-loos.  

The coaches see these guys every day and assess them in controlled conditions.  They have real knowledge, not delusions fed by message boards to generate clicks.

The critical mode, applied to sports, by people pressing their nose against the window, is why fans have the reputation they do.

Coaches make mistakes all the time. Also, practices aren't "controlled conditions." Game experience cannot be replicated. Coaches have to make best guesses under high levels of uncertainty, including in this case. Maybe this is not a particularly close call and Shane is clearly better. Or maybe it's a very close call and the coaching staff would be better off if it had actually seen the backups in game action.

Nothing in what I said implies coaches are omniscient.  The stinger is the comparative: we can grouse (or grovel; it's the same effect) but in the end the coaches are all we have in terms of judgment.  There just isn't another standard.  If we played 100 games it would be the stats, but in college hockey it's always SSS.  And hopefully we have all finally retired the "eye test."

I can see people may enjoy the game of playing Monday Morning Metternich, in which case, you do you.  I think it's silly to fret about this.  Root for them and then have a drink or 5 and forget until next week (or year, as the case may soon be).

[Scersk '97]

My untrained eye says Keopple doesn't come far enough out of the net to challenge shots.

My untrained eye sees the same thing, but he's also bigger goalie, so he doesn't need to come out of the net as much. Sometimes he's out; otherwise, he plays a bit deeper, and I'm fine with that.

[JasonN95]

Coach in the past has said the team doesn't have the luxury to not skate the best team it can assemble each game because there are no throwaway games. Every game matters for PWR, then when an at large bid was out of reach, the team is fighting for the first round bye. Last night for the first game neither of those were on the table so resting Shane, who the coaches must think gives them the best shot at winning, was cost free.

[BearLover]

Coach in the past has said the team doesn't have the luxury to not skate the best team it can assemble each game because there are no throwaway games. Every game matters for PWR, then when an at large bid was out of reach, the team is fighting for the first round bye. Last night for the first game neither of those were on the table so resting Shane, who the coaches must think gives them the best shot at winning, was cost free.

While not deterministically eliminated, Cornell went into the second game against Sacred Heart with a remote chance of getting an at-large bid. As the last non-conference game on the schedule, this would have been the perfect opportunity to get Shane some rest/the backups some playing time. But Cornell went with Shane, who ended up getting pulled during the game.

[Jim Hyla]

I swear, I was gonna say before the game started: "this game is totally meaningless, so of course Cornell is going to win 6-0." But I didn't say it, because my posts were getting to be too negative even for me.

Well, I've learned a hard lesson about abstaining from posting. Never again!

But that post wouldn't have been too negative for you.

It's almost positive.

[Jim Hyla]

I'm thinking the tripod or whatever that camera is mounted on is in need of some oil and is really hard to turn.

Nay, the camera viewfinder was on a two second delay.