Cornell 2 vs. WMU 3 FINAL Game 2

[Big Ben 03]

Goal just waved off on a WMU breakaway.  The WMU announcer is such a homer. . .

[Kyle Rose \'98]

Score! 3-2 with something like 20 seconds left...

[Chris 02]

SCORE!  EAG!  3-2!

[Kyle Rose \'98]

Oh well, that's it... but good attempt at the end there.  Too bad: first home loss in a season and a half. :-(

Cheers,
Kyle

[Big Ben 03]

3-2 WMU Final.

[Mike Hedrick 01]

Good effort, just came up a little short.  These young guys will only get better.   Anyone know the SOG?

[Greg Berge]

Coulda won, coulda lost... lost.

Schafer, OTOH, is not going to be so casual about it, and I think the team that goes into New Haven and Princeton next weekend will be pretty motivated.

[Al DeFlorio]

WMU:  11-5-9=25
CU:      7-12-14=33

[Mike Hedrick 01]

Thanks.   And plenty more missed the net - that was my main frustration tonight.

[Will]

My remarks:

- McKee definitely looked better tonight.  The third goal against him was masterfully done by WMU, though, and I doubt even Lenny could have stopped it.  McKee should definitely start at least one game next weekend, if not both.
- Alex Dell (the ref) should die a horrible, horrible death after this weekend.  Okay, I don't really want him dead, but I do wish he would suffer a bit.
- I believe the offense was more on top of their game tonight, and a lot of their shots barely missed, including one or two posts.
- Defense still needs work.  They really need to stop giving the opponent breakaways.
- Shane Hynes' goal was beautiful.

Anyone know why Marr didn't dress tonight?  I forget, did he dress last night?

[calgARI \'07]

I believe Marr is hurt.  He did not dress last night either.

[DeltaOne81]

One thing I'll disagree with One Of... though generally I agree. I thought the D was better today, not great, making a few mistakes that WMU capitalized on, but less than last night - at least until the late third, when they were pressing forward. The offense on the other hand, was not crisp. I can't remember how many times a pass back bounced out of the zone, or a pass through the middle (either in the neutral zone of the offensive zone) was broken up. We're playing more out system, we're just not playing it very well.

And yes, Dell sucks.
We want Gateway < clap clap clapclapclap >

[calgARI \'07]

My Notes:

- played a lot better game tonight than last night; more of the Schafer type game
- Dell set the tone for the game in the first period when there were six powerplays.  Cornell just could not get into a rhytm.  In general, the officiating was terrible, BOTH WAYS.  There was a play in the second period where Dell signaled a goal for Western Michigan but then changed his mind and called a penalty against Western Michigan.
- Vesce really struggled tonight.  Perhaps the most I have ever see him struggle.
- Hynes was the team's best forward tonight, getting a goal and an assist.  He still does not have the impact he can have on every shift.
- Team fell asleep and played very zero intensity from about the mid way point of the second period to a little after the mid way point of the third period.
- Special Teams were a huge factor.  Cornell just cannot execute on the powerplay.  They went 1 for 9 on the powerplay, including a short handed goal against.  Even though the second unit scored the powerplay goal, I thought they particularly struggled.  Neither McCutcheon nor Pegaroro shoot the puck and you need the pointmen to get pucks to the net on the powerplay.  McCutcheon and Pegoraro are not guys with huge shots so only one of them should be back there, probably Pegoraro.  McCutcheon should be down low with his strong playmaking ability.  O'Byrne should definitely be getting powerplay time just because he has a huge shot and that alone will generate a lot more chances.  Western Michigan I believe had at least one powerplay goal, but they executed their powerplay much better than Cornell which should make sense considering they've played a few games.
- McKee was better tonight.  He made one or two big saves.  Didn't have a chance on the third goal.  I thought he was absolutely brutal on Friday so it was good to see him improve a little.  He still overcommits a lot and looks pretty uncomfortable at times.
- Defensive zone coverage was better, but certainly not up to par with last year's.  I guess it's unfair to even compare to last year's considering the personel difference.  The bottom line is that the defense is not nearly as good this year as it was last year.  They are not clearing the front of the net and are making bad decisions in the offensive and neutral zones leading to odd man rushes.
- It was just not a good sight losing tonight.  Western Michigan was the better team.  They are not a very strong team and I am concerned about Cornell's outlook for the year despite the fact that they have only played a couple games.  None of the questions facing the team were answered this weekend.  I will say, if anything, the question marks became even bigger.

[min]

great game analysis!

it's too early to tell, but i wonder if the team (specially the defensive units and special teams) is also missing from jamie russell's departure to michigan tech...  

let's go red.

[Ben Rocky \'04]

Lets pray that Russell was not the only thing keeping the power play and defense together.  What we see here is young team that is going to have a rough first weekend (hopefully not 2nd) & is going to get a lot better in the next few weeks.  
So many new people, and such missing talent.  Shafer will find a way to bring this team together, he has only had a week so far.  
Compared to friday, they looked better as a whole tonight, but yea, Ryan was not on his game this evening.  Defense is getting better, and alot of the one-on-one plays by W. Mich were stopped by our defense with some great moves.
The GOD DAMN passing has got to improve.  W. Mich was just all over every missed pass; and with their turn around & offensive speed & breakaways, they seem like Princeton gone competent.

Nominations for my three stars of the game:
Cook, McKee & Hynes.

As for the shooting, they really walked all over W. Mich & foster quite often.  The setup was great, and passing, once in the zone, was spectacular.  The timing on the open nets was just always a little off, but this will improve with practice, I think.  We need to work on getting into the zone without dumping it.
And yes, dell seems awful blind, and sullivan was terrible about being a puck-tease.
-ben rocky