1/31: Cornell 1 Colgate 2, final

[Greg Berge]

I guess Adam wanted to get it over with.  ::help::

[Kyle Rose \'98]

I'm guessing Coach Schafer is going to have all his players doing stair climbing this week.  Not a very inspiring weekend, despite McKee's all-too-frequent incredible saves: the defense seemed to be okay for the most part, but the offense didn't show up.  I guess that's understandable considering how many forwards are injured, but excuses don't win games.  These guys are going to be The Team(TM) for several weeks, so working on the forecheck and odd-man rushes shouldn't wait until the starting lineup is intact.

[Grad \'77]

Watched the game on the web, and I think they'll all be stair-climbing.   McKee gave up lots of rebounds, and on the game-winner he didn't come across the crease fast enough on a regular back-door play.

He stopped a lot of shots, but 20-something shots isn't that many.

[Dart~Ben]

Union had the benefit of John Murphy reffing. PIM's were 31-0 by the 7 minute mark of the 2nd. Murphy decided to call 3 minors, 1 major, 1 game misconduct, and 1 10-min misconduct on Dartmouth before he saw a single infraction by Union. Oh, and 29 of those 31 PIM's came in an 8 minute span. Even the asst refs got in on the action, calling penalties on things that Murphy had to have seen but didn't blow the whistle on.

What a joke. I'm betting the ECAC gets another complaint from a head coach, though Gaudet probably won't go public with it like Schafer did.

[jy3]

let me say that i thought the overall play by cornell was bad at some points earlier in the season...but 2nite was just aweful. VERY out of sync, couldnt get out of their own zone, couldnt get out of the neutral zone, couldnt get shots on net. defense was not horrible but both goals were due to neutral zone turnovers by players attempting to skate instead of pass thru the neutral zone. mckee was solid as usual and i do not think that the game winner was a routine cross the ice pass. he has the shooter on that play, the D has the other man. 'gate was quicker to the puck, forechecked very well and played the trap very well. the way to beat cornell this year seems to be to run the trap. cornell did have key players out...hansen sucks. he called a better game but still called a bad game.

i hate going to starr. they oversold gen admission tix so there was no place to sit. then we had the fratholes come over and stand on the stairs and grab one of the female band members  - and of course the security did nothing. the fans did show up for gate this year, but where were they last year? oh yeah, the sucked last year so the fans didnt show up. the physical threats are getting old. oh and pay for some damn snow removal, colgate.

Cornell, PLEASE show up and play next weekend. Give me some solid 6 periods on the long road trip. play like you are capable of playing.

[Tub(a)]

[q]i hate going to starr. they oversold gen admission tix so there was no place to sit. then we had the fratholes come over and stand on the stairs and grab one of the female band members - and of course the security did nothing.[/q]

In all fairness security did the best they could considering the amount of people. I alerted them to the problem, and after kicking one person out, he warned the guy who had grabbed the band member. That guy then left on his own, probably because he was only interested in harassment.

[Section A Banshee]

Something positive....

I was extremely pleased with our fans tonight (except for that same guy from section A I mentioned in another post who yells random things.... though today the fans reacted with "That guy sucks!"....  glad I'm not the only one who thinks so).  They had something to say for everything the Colgate fans could come up with.  Cheers were inventive, witty, and highly variable.  LGR went on for a lot longer and kept a steady beat.

Now if only we could get the Lynah student section to be that organized....

[Will]

Section A Banshee wrote:

Cheers were inventive, witty, and highly variable.  LGR went on for a lot longer and kept a steady beat.

Now if only we could get the Lynah student section to be that organized....

You have to understand, the people who make the road trip are going to be composed mostly of good fans, hardcore fans, those who know the cheers and know how to keep things going.  It'd be great if we could get 1500 students at Lynah doing the same thing week in and week out, but after what I've seen so far this year, I have very little faith in this particular group of students on the whole.  Nevertheless, I was there tonight and I agree with you, I thought we did a damn good job, compared to all of Colgate's facetimer fans.  (I know I'm just invoking the 'wrath' of Facetimer by saying that, but seriously, almost all of those Colgate students were what we'd call facetimers!)  Maybe that's why I've been so eager to get to away games this year as opposed to in the past--I'm just so much more impressed by the group of students (and alumni et al) who make the trips and support the team rather than the great majority of the students at Lynah this season.  You know, the ones who throw shit on the ice when it isn't the beginning of the game, and the ones who seem to want to perpetuate the new phone number goalie taunt.  Argh.

[Section A Banshee]

A friend of mine has phone number guy in one of his classes (he announced himself on the first day, apparently.... what a jerk).  I suggested my friend look up that guy's phone number and chant it in class.

[dss28]

I'm not sure I understand why one of the Colgate fans threw the giant... um... "toy"... on the ice after their second goal.  Hell of an arm, though....

And were their fans (and little kids) actually bribed with pizza for chanting "Cornell Sucks?"  (hehehe... "past your bed-time! *clap clap clapclapclap*")

One Colgate guy behind me was actually really funny -- I had to give him props for some of the stuff he was shouting about his own mother.  Made me laugh, at least....

[sockralex]

Their fans showed up for free pizza.  
Funny moments included the ref trying to pick up the "toy" and the frat boys in our section who had NOTHING creative to offer.   One of them stood in front of me and said "look at you" three times in a row before he could even conjure a thought.
Who is the guy with eye chart?  That was hilarious.  
I thought the Cornell fans tonight were awesome... I only wish the hockey team was too.
Hope everyone made it home ok,
Alex

[Báby_Fan]

Let's not forget the slice of pizza hurled at us by the lame-ass-excuse-for-a-fan.

Your fans suck.
Your fans suck.
Your fans suck.

[Ack]

The guy with the eye chart (green jacket I think), usually sits in the middle of N at home. His eye chart blew ours out of the water when we first saw it come out at the second RPI playoff game last year. He has it often, and is the man.

[tml5]

Didn't see Saturday's game, but Colgate was not trapping on Friday.  Colgate consistently had one forechecker coming in low to stop the drop pass from the forward to the D on the breakout, and flushing that forward to the second forechecker coming in at an angle towards the boards.  The trap typcially features a single forechecker that flushes the puck carrier towards the outside, into the teeth of the trap waiting in (or near) the neutral zone.  

Lots of Cornell turnovers in the first game were a result of botched passes from the puck carrying forward to the D (trying to run the standard breakout play even though Colgate's forecheck was tailor made to stop it).  The rest of the turnovers on the breakout came on blind "oh crap here it comes chuck it behind the net" passes.  Credit to the Colgate forecheck, which executed perfectly and finished its checks on Friday, but I think a more experienced team would've figured it out - or at least would've stopped turning it over in the bottom of the faceoff circle before the first intermission.

One problem, which is consistent on the breakout and the power play, is a lack of puck movement.  Cornell moved the puck better than anyone in the ECAC last year.  This year, well. . . when Cornell was scoring goals, the puck movement was better.  Obviously not as good as last year, but still pretty good.  Now it's awful.  Losing Gleed/Wallace/Cook/Hynes was a big blow there.  I remember Cook having horrible problems moving the puck on the breakout against Clarkson (they ran a weaving forecheck that nobody else in the league used at the time) when he was a freshman, and I guess it takes time to learn how to run the breakout at this level and adjust to different forechecks.

Give Colgate credit, though:  they were dominant on the forecheck, and never really allowed Cornell to get a forecheck or cycle going in the offensive zone (again, this was Friday, but it sounded like Saturday was much the same).  Colgate's a good team this year, and I'll be surprised if the Raiders don't finish in the top 4 and make a run at Albany.

[Mike Nevin]

I doubt Coach Schafer will have anyone climbing stairs after that one.  There is a good write-up on USCHO, in which he talks about how proud he was of the team for staying in the game, and how extensive the injuries are.   Wallace apparently scored with casts on both arms.

Colgate has got to be a tough place to play with 10 forwards, and basically 4 defensemen.  This might be the most undermanned team since the one that played at SLU a few years back after being poisoned at the Potsdam Pizza Hut.

I think now the hope would be to limp into the  fourth home playoff spot, and try to nurse a full team back to health in time for the playoffs.  

Maybe its time to ease up on the systematic approach a little bit too, and find a way to score some goals, even if it means taking a few more chances.