Cornell vs. Minnesota post game thread

[Rita]

start saving $$  and submit your request for vacation time now. with the nc$$ its more than possible....:-D

too bad the wcha can't lobby the nc$$ to do a  "flip-flop"  and put this year's FF in the pepsi arena and the 2008 (??) in columbus. but then again, travel expenses shouldn't be much of a problem if the participating conferences, oops conference, get the majority of the ff revenue.

[Rosey]

Sucks.

Why do I feel like a Red Sox fan all of a sudden?

Kyle

[Denison 71]

I hate to say it but I think that we were outplayed 2 periods to 1 so the score is not too far from reality.  

It has been a great year and I won't soon forget Iggy's flying goal yesterday--what effort after 2-3 minutes on PK

Thank you Coach & Big Red

[Brian]

O'Byrne should have been bench before we even started the ECAC playoffs.  Glover played better then he did when filling in for injured Gleed.  Don't forget that McKee bailed out O'byrne in the first period when he turned it over right in front of our goal.  I gasp everytime he touches the puck because I am afraid what foolish mistake he will make next.  I agree with the previous posts O'byrne should have a clue by now--he has no excuses!  Watching the game though you can tell that Minny was quicker than our fastest skaters.  I think Peggy, Scott, and the Abbotts should attend the skate camp that Vesce went too.  Vesce was a very powerful skater when he returned from that camp.  I applaud our team for a great season, thank you seniors!  O'byrne, quit stinking up the rink ::stupid::

[DeltaOne81]

I'm not going to blame the game on the ice size, it didn't lose the game for us, but it did change the game significantly. I have watched a number of Cornell hockey games this year and I have never seen games flow or move like that. I can't say we lost because of it and I will *not* make it an excuse - we have to learn to play on the surfaces we're given, and we did a very good job of adjusting by the end.

*But* to deny it makes a significant difference is to be blind. The movement, flow, and pace of the game were dramatically different from any hockey I've seen this year - well, except when I catch Gopher games on FSN-North.

It hurt us, its not the reason, but it did change things signficantly.

The good news, the next two years, it seems, all 8 regionals, and I have to assume the Frozen Fours, are on standard North American rinks (I can't confirm the Resch Center in Green Bay, anyone?). Its a shame UND gets home ice next year, but at least there's no concern over the rink changes.

Also, lay off O'Byrne. It wasn't just him on that play. A few guys were our of position and/or anticipated wrong. It was a shame, but shit happens. It'll be awesome motivation for our 37-0 season next year

[Dpperk29]

How long did we wait for Iggy to get his shit together?

[red4ever]

so o'byrne might have had a few bad plays....but we lost the game because the team as a whole couldn't get the puck to the other side of the rink to score more.  you can't pin the whole game on a few bad plays, where were our top scorers when we needed a few goals?!?!

[red4ever]

i agree lay off o'byrne....the whole team was out there to lose the game.  where were our top scorers when we needed a few goals?  the game isn't lost on one or two plays, the game is just ended by them.  the team lost the game

[redice]

It recently came out that Mike had David McKee looking at videos of all the goals that he allowed last year to focus on how to prevent them this year.   I hope he does that for O'Byrne this off season.

[DeltaOne81]

Hey, the team did great. When you go into OT, its a lot about luck. Sometimes it breaks your way, sometimes it doesn't. The team did great. You put us on a surface that we had to adjust to, haven't played on since 2002 (a game that ended similarly painfully), make us face 6 or 8 Power Plays of a high scoring team, in their home rink in front of 9000 fans.

We were and should have been better than them, but we overcame a lot. I'm damn proud of them for showing that even with just about everything against them, they were inches and minutes from being able to pull it off, and showing that they could adjust and learn to even dominate in such an environment.

I am damn proud of this team and they will be back. In Schafer we trust, but even He ( ;-) ) can't win them all.

[red4ever]

he probably does that to a lot of the players

[red4ever]

ditto

[billhoward]

[Q]rYe Wrote:  O'Byrne did make a terrible play mid way through, followed by a penalty but that did not cost a goal. I just dont see why he did not clear the puck off the glass. He had 2 chances to do so and then he gave up the puck and tried to tie it up behind the net. I thought McKee made a great save on the first shot but no help on the rebound and he had no chance. [/q]O'Byrne did not cost us the game. It looked like the line was tired and he wanted to freeze the puck for a faceoff. If he cleared it off the glass it would have gone to the Gopher at the point who would have taken a slap shot that would be tipped in and we'd lose anyhow (maybe). He didn't cost us the game any more than the rest of the skaters out there who weren't in position to clear away the rebound. Or than Mckee cost us the game by not having his stick down square in the middle of the second period.

Duffy Dougherty, the old Michigan State football coach, said something to the effect of, "Any damn fool can tell me the play I should have called, come Monday morning. It's harder when you've got 25 seconds to pick the right play on Saturday afternoon."

Amazing effort. Amazing effort by the ECAC despite going 1-3 for the weekend. Harvard and Colgate came close to knocking off their opponents. We came darn close here.

Earlier on in a different thread I said the 200x100 *home ice* surface of the Gophers shouldn't be an excuse for losing, but it could well be a reason. What do we think the score would have been at Lynah?

[Rosey]

I'm not going to say that Cornell was definitely outplayed, because I'm not willing to second-guess Schafer's system given my relative lack of experience.  E.g., I don't think shots on goal are necessarily a reasonable way of judging talent or effectiveness: it's perfectly reasonable for a team with a particular system to be outshot 2-1 or even 3-1 and still win consistently, if part of their system is being patient with shots.

That said... I don't think this was the case in the last two games.  To my eyes they were being badly beaten for two periods even when comparing defensive skills---the breakout especially.  I was worried every minute of the last two games, and this is almost never the case during ECAC play.  Something isn't working against these western teams, and I hope Schafer figures it out over the next year.

Cheers,
Kyle

[DeltaOne81]

Its called the room to move around on that ice.

I don't want it to be excuse, but that can be part of the reason. Our NCAA games in 2002 and 2003 looked nothing like these. We may not always have won, but at least the games looked like they usually do.

No big ice in the NCAAs until at least 2008, unless the Resch Center is.