Union 2 @ Cornell 1 (postgame thread 11/18/05)

[redhair34]

[Q]calgARI '07 Wrote:

 [Q2]Jacob 03 Wrote:

 in some bizarro world i could appreciate the fact that o'byrne has such an obvious pattern of making the same mistake over and over.  it's almost cute.  and mckee bailed him out of it about once a game over the past couple seasons.  but i guess now we're seeing that he can't cover o'byrne's ass forever.  i don't really know if coach can afford to bench him just to "send a message," though.  there has to be some better way of teaching him a lesson.  they eventually cured underhill of his weird dropping-the-stick-to-cover-with-the-blocker thing, right?  but then never cured murray of his tendency to let puck after puck after puck after puck after puck out of the offensive zone on power plays, and we seemed to look the other way on that one (well, except age, and i can't really blame him on that one).  maybe someday, somehow, they'll fix o'byrne.  

now, i'm the king of the mckee-has-always-been-overrated club, but i can't really fault him too much for tonight's goals.  he might've stopped them before, but we've seen most college goaltenders give up similar ones to cornell players before.  his second goal to harvard is still the easiest goal i've seen him give up all season (having missed the dartmouth game).  and like everyone said, the offense deserves responsibility for only putting up one goal tonight.  nobody wants to go back to our 2.00 gfa and 2.00 gaa season after the last few.  [/Q]
No way, the fourth MSU goal in the second game was the weakest he's let in.  It went under his left arm, much like the first goal tonight.  That is a shot that should be stopped in my opinion.  [/q]

  My dad sits right behind the goal in section J and had a perfect view of the first goal... He said it was NOT deflected, but it bounced off McKee's blocker into the net.  Talk about deflating considering our PK was phenomenal--it must suck when the first shot you allow on a PK after a number of PK's is a goal.

[TCHL8842]

Actually the GWG was both defensemens fault.  The first goal was a horrendous goal to give up, McKee should of saved it easily.  I think we have a clear lack of finishing skills on this team.  Time after time we would get a chance but not put the puck home ever.  Our PP sucks, it is the most predictable thing I have ever seen.  O'Byrne should not be on the PP, either have Salmela or Krantz.  I think Schaf should sit Krantz and Seminoff both are defensive liabilities.  Does anyone know the reason why Glover was not playing, because I consider him one of our better defensemen.  McKee of last year would of had a shutout in this game.  Our PP is still frustrating me, and I think it is mostly because it is too predictable which leads to lack of shots on it.  I want to see us cycle the puck a little more down low on the PP and then send it up top for the quick one timer with the forwards crashing the net.  I still did as much passion out there as I would of thought being only a 2-1 game.  We clearly dominated the game but not because we played better but clearly we are just that more skilled then Union.  If we dont find another natural goal scorer besides Moulson this year is going to be very long and I predict will only go 500.

[redhair34]

[Q]Tub(a) Wrote:

 [Q2]calgARI '07 Wrote:

 [Q2]Jacob 03 Wrote:

 in some bizarro world i could appreciate the fact that o'byrne has such an obvious pattern of making the same mistake over and over.  it's almost cute.  and mckee bailed him out of it about once a game over the past couple seasons.  but i guess now we're seeing that he can't cover o'byrne's ass forever.  i don't really know if coach can afford to bench him just to "send a message," though.  there has to be some better way of teaching him a lesson.  they eventually cured underhill of his weird dropping-the-stick-to-cover-with-the-blocker thing, right?  but then never cured murray of his tendency to let puck after puck after puck after puck after puck out of the offensive zone on power plays, and we seemed to look the other way on that one (well, except age, and i can't really blame him on that one).  maybe someday, somehow, they'll fix o'byrne.  

now, i'm the king of the mckee-has-always-been-overrated club, but i can't really fault him too much for tonight's goals.  he might've stopped them before, but we've seen most college goaltenders give up similar ones to cornell players before.  his second goal to harvard is still the easiest goal i've seen him give up all season (having missed the dartmouth game).  and like everyone said, the offense deserves responsibility for only putting up one goal tonight.  nobody wants to go back to our 2.00 gfa and 2.00 gaa season after the last few.  [/Q]
No way, the fourth MSU goal in the second game was the weakest he's let in.  It went under his left arm, much like the first goal tonight.  That is a shot that should be stopped in my opinion.  [/Q]
his second goal to harvard is still the easiest goal i've seen him give up all season (having missed the dartmouth game)[/q]


the first one tonight was WORSE (I hade a pretty good view of both)...he had all kinds of time to see their shooter and wasn't screened.

[aznxjz]

is it just me or did mckee look...well...depressed?

I saw that when he was preparing the ice in front of the net in the third, he was doing it very slowly and spent most of the game sluggish.  There didn't seem to be any fire in him, just trying to get by.  

And what was up with the Tuba tonight?  I think that summed up the game, though I did laugh a lot....

[Tub(a)]

The 3rd goal in the second MSU game has to be in the running as well.

McKee isn't making any big saves, and he is missing some easy ones.

[redhair34]

[Q]TCHL8842 Wrote:

I think Schaf should sit Krantz and Seminoff both are defensive liabilities.  [/q]

I thought Seminoff played excellent.  We must have been watching a different game.

[Jacob '06]

Lets all argue about which goal was our goalie's softest goal this season, because that is clearly a good topic of conversation in a post game thread about the union game.

[redhair34]

[Q]Tub(a) Wrote:

 The 3rd goal in the second MSU game has to be in the running as well.

McKee isn't making any big saves, and he is missing some easy ones.[/q]

I don't think most had a good view of the 2-1 shorthanded breakaway by Union at the end of the first, but McKee went down almost before their leading skater passed the puck.  The second Union skater lost his footing otherwise it would have been another goal.

[TCHL8842]

[Q]redhair34 Wrote:

 [Q2]TCHL8842 Wrote:

I think Schaf should sit Krantz and Seminoff both are defensive liabilities.  [/Q]
I thought Seminoff played excellent.  We must have been watching a different game.[/q]

I just want Seminoff to sit because he seems to be a bit slow in getting to the right spot and takes way way to many penalties.  Sitting him for a game or two will be a wake up call for him to realize if he still takes that many penalties he is going to be sitting

[Will]

Thoughts:

- In my opinion, except for ~18 seconds or so, I think Cornell played a pretty solid defensive game tonight.  Despite the loss, it was absolutely a step up from the craptacular Dartmouth loss.  The problem is, we really needed for this game to be three steps up.
- I've been pretty critical of O'Byrne for a while now.  I've always felt he's very hot and cold--either he's the best defenseman in the world or he's turning over the puck at exactly the worst time and place in a game.  For the first few games this season, he seemed to be 'hot'.  Tonight, though, he was frozen, and I'm not just talking about being partially responsible for the GWG.  All game he seemed to be very uneasy with the puck.
- Is it just me, or has Pokulok just not been very impressive ever since his injury last season?  Particularly on the attack, he just looked like he didn't know what he was doing.  I guess he's still solid defensively, but right now, that's not saying a lot.
- Mayotte stood on his head to steal the win for Union.  Nevertheless, there were more than a few times that he got really lucky.
- It's going to be a long season.  I'm afraid we're probably going to see a few more close losses like this before the season's over.  Hopefully, though, we'll still find a way to make everything click for the postseason.

[redhair34]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:


Cornell needs to work on its penalty kill - preferably by not getting called for so many -- and improve the power play. Cornell was what, 1x8 or 1x9 tonight?
[/q]

Our penalty kill (excluding McKee) was fabulous.  We looked as good tonight on the PK as we did last season.  Union didn't really have a single "A" chance on the PP all night.

[Q]
Does it seem like we have incredible sharpshooters at forward and we don't have, yet, the goals that should go with it? OTOH, Moulson does have a lot of points already. Are we expecting even more from him, like putting up WCHA kinds of point totals?
[/q]

I posted this on the USCHO game thread this afternoon, but I don't think we have enough goal scorers.  We have a ton of setup guys just not enough scorers.  And tonight it caught up with us.

[calgARI '07]

Cam Abbott has gotta start converting on his many scoring opportunities.  Cornell is not a very dangerous offensive team right now.

[redhair34]

[Q]calgARI '07 Wrote:

 Cam Abbott has gotta start converting on his many scoring opportunities.  Cornell is not a very dangerous offensive team right now.[/q]

I've never seen a player generate so much offense with so little to show for it.

[Sam \'06]

Yeah he was definitely beat, no question... they choked otherwise it would have been in.  I noticed that too, I thought then it might be almost Chabot time...

[calgARI '07]

Should also point out that the ice was maybe the worse I have ever seen it at Lynah, particularly in the first period in the zone at the scoreboard side of the ice.  Too much passing off the rush for Cornell considering the puck never ever stayed flat.