Goalie Comparisons

[Keith K \'93]

There have been some comments about McKee's performance so far, whether he's been good or bad or "lived up to expectations".  By means of comparison I slapped together some stats for several other Cornell goalies through their first 6 games played (5 for JMP).

Goalie    Year   G W-L-T GA  Min    Sv  Avg  Sv%

Elliott   94-95  6 1-4-1 21 364:30 199 3.46 .904
Pelletier 95-96  5 1-2-0 15 179:xx  90 5.03 .857
Underhill 99-00  6 3-3-0 18 375:19 166 2.88 .902
LeNeveu   01-02  6 4-2-0 10 357:27 130 1.68 .929
McKee     03-04  6 3-1-2 13 368:45 146 2.12 .918

In comparison with these guys, McKee looks pretty solid.  Obviously the teams factor into this as well.  Elliott played on a mediocre 9th place team and JMP saw a lot of action in non-conf games against eventual tournament teams (BU, CC).  But I think the point still holds.

Maybe LeNevue would have us 6-0-0 right now (maybe not).  But McKee is doing just fine for a freshman.

[dsr11]

wow, looking at that comparison, McKee is terrible, horrible, awful, and will mean the end of CU Hockey as we know it if he keeps playing... ::nut::

[RedAR]

McKee is doing just fine, and is developing really quickly.  After the Yale game, a Yale fan (not ttnorm) asked crodge2k and me what year our goalie was.  He was disappointed to learn that McKee was only a freshman.

Just a side note, and not to take anything away from McKee, but if we had LeNeveu in net, SLU(t) probably would not have scored the first period goal, right?  But then again, LeNeveu had his series of fluky goals during the season.

[Josh '99]

RedAR wrote:
Just a side note, and not to take anything away from McKee, but if we had LeNeveu in net, SLU(t) probably would not have scored the first period goal, right?  But then again, LeNeveu had his series of fluky goals during the season.

And it seemed like every one of them spoiled a potential shutout.  :-/

[RedAR]

One thing, though, is McKee seems to have a tendency to leave the net and play the puck, even with opposing players in our zone.  Makes me really nervous.

[CowbellGuy]

Oh no. Not this again...

Ever watch Marty Brodeur? As long as the goalie remains a sacred cow, why not take advantage of the rules?

[ugarte]

Sorry, Age, after watching the Princeton game, I'm with RAR.  I really liked watching McKee, but there were times that the action almost beat him back to the crease because the Tigers beat him to the puck.

When I'm convinced that McKee is good enough to be mentioned with Brodeur, I'll be more comfortable with his forays into the corners.

[CowbellGuy]

You have to learn sometime, and if his puckhandling is good enough, why not. Underhill was the same way. Everyone screamed bloody murder every time he came out of the crease and he got burned on it, what, once in his whole time at Cornell? Compared to the number of times he gained posession for Cornell, I think he came out way ahead. Remember, if the goalie doesn't gain posession, there's at least a 50% chance of the other team getting it, deep in your zone at that.

[Jeff Hopkins \'82]

I don't mind if he leaves the crease to get a dump in, but I agree with B.R.A.  He came too far out when there was action in that end.  Playing the puck judiciously is a good thing.  Going into the corner to chase it is a whole different thing altogether.

JH

[dsr11]

Man, give the kid a break.  He's a FRESHMAN and Cornell is WINNING.  So he gives up rebounds (I saw the Yale game, and yes, he does play out of the net), they aren't costing Cornell games at this point.  He'll improve, cut him a little slack.

[ugarte]

Dan '01 wrote:

Man, give the kid a break.  He's a FRESHMAN and Cornell is WINNING.  So he gives up rebounds (I saw the Yale game, and yes, he does play out of the net), they aren't costing Cornell games at this point.  He'll improve, cut him a little slack.

We ARE giving him a break.  And we are showing him the respect of actually paying attention to the quality of his game without blindly praising him as if he were a gift from the skies.  

If we can't give an honest appraisal of McKee's game here, where should we do so?

[rhovorka]

I'm siding with Age on this one.  The first thing I noticed about watching McKee is that he is very confident and very good about handling the puck.  Not only in going back to play the puck, but he had a great poke check after a wrap-around attempt in the 2nd WMU game.

Maybe he'll goof and make a mistake someday.  But until then, I'm much more comfortable with him doing it than I was with Underhill.  It's just natural for fans to get anxious when the goaltender leaves the net.

[Keith K \'93]

I'd rather have a goalie that is confident enough in his puckhandling and skating skills to go after the puck than a guy who is afraid to leave the crease.  All else being equal...

Like Age said "Oh no. Not this again."  Same discussion with Underhill.

[RedAR]

Sorry to have brought this up again.

[Keith K \'93]

[Q]Sorry to have brought this up again.[/Q]
Consider yourself severely chastised. :-P

But seriously, it's certainly worth noting that mcKee has a tendency to play the puck.  I'm glad you did, since I didn't realize that before your post.  I just don't agree with the assertion or implication that playing the puck is a negative.