Cornell 5, Niagara 4 (Post-game Thread)

[Beeeej]

Who was that guy wearing McCutcheon's sweater?  :-}

He's been working awfully hard this season.  Sounded like he was finally hitting his stride tonight.

Beeeej

[min]

First SHG and first GWG for McCutcheon. Congrats!

[ithacat]

I'm anxious to hear some analysis from those attending the game. Reading the board it was nice seeing contributions from players other than Moulson & Scott. Defensively, however...

[DeltaOne81]

Alright, so some actual post game commentary

I'm glad to get the win, but not particularly impressed. Seem like the same team just with a bit more luck. The O showed up, but the D didn't. Would sure be nice to get both at once. The PK was bad, McKee came through big a few times which was very needed. Still not the Dave of last year.

Hopefully McCutcheon will spark something, but when all is said and done, can't say I feel much better now than coming into the night, other than it being nice to get a W.

[Jacob '06]

The team looked like they were trying to lose. If the D could actually learn to pass and we could get a solid breakout going, we would win every game. The freshman line out there had 2 or 3 really nice shifts which looked promising. It was nice to see McCutcheon get his first and second non-ENGs which I think will give him more confidence to score now.

The first goal was a result of not covering the guy in front of the net on the powerplay. The team really needs to watch that guy and lift his stick on a pass. The second goal was a 2 on 1 that was defended the way it was supposed to, and McKee messed up the save. The McKee of last year makes that save. The third was a 5x3 version of the first one, nothing you can really do about it on a 5x3. The fourth goal I didn't really see. McCutcheons SHG was beautiful.

[cth95]

I would like to know how McKee looked from some people at the game.  Tough to tell sometimes from the video feed without the benefit of instant replay.  The 4th goal wasn't even in the frame that I could see.  Hopefully, the spectacular series with about 6 1/2 minutes left when McKee pretty much saved the game will give him a good boost and carry him into tomorrow.  Something like that can be all it takes if somebody is just a little lacking in their confidence.

[2tkCornell]

Offense was great, defense and penalty killing were subpar.  Salmela did a great job filling in for Glover.  Gleed was injured and did not play a shift the entire 2nd and 3rd periods (maybe even the 1st).  Seminoff played great defensively.  Freshman finally stepped up offensively.  The line of Kennedy-Barlow-Kindret was outstanding all night long.  McCutcheon is starting to fill the void of Iggulden.  He was byfar the best player tonight.

Murphy made some questionable calls like the last penalty on Seminoff and the elbowing on Sawada.  Penalty kill got broken down completely by Niagara.  We were unable to hold our box on the 5 on 4 or our triangle on the 5 on 3 - missed Carefoot in that aspect.  None of the Niagara powerplay goals were McKee's fault, and he actually came up with big saves on a lot of them.  However, this really isn't the McKee of last year.  The 2 on 1 goal (cause by Krantz trying to pinch) should have been saved.  The 4th goal was a slapshot by a Niagara player coming off the bench that McKee was in position for but somehow got through him.  He has to learn to cover up his holes a lot better.  That said, the Niagara goalie was definitely using oversized pads - no wonder he had nearly 50 stops in the game.

Still very unimpressed with the team as a whole.  We can never have all facets of our game working at once.  Last weekend, our goaltending and offense did not produce, so far this weekend our defense and special teams faltered against a subpar opponent.

3 stars of the game on Cornell side:
1.  McCutcheon
2.  Salmela
3.  Sawada

[JasonN95]

Is it possible that Cornell's recent history of success has resulted in the team being able to recruit an arguably more individually skilled player that doesn't work as well in a puck control, hit-first-take-names-later system? Maybe this is some growing pains as the team and coaches have to adjust to a "new look" Cornell.  (If not this year, I think we could definitely see that next year with the buzz/rumors of the type of incoming class the Red have.)  Couple that with McKee having sub-stellar performances...

[RichH]

My first reactions:

It was very frustrating to see what the PP was doing.  Unlike the Union-RPI games, they weren't getting pressure up top.  NU's PK was giving them plenty of time and space to do something, but Cornell stubbornly stayed in the Umbrella.  On one specific PP in the 2nd, ALL the shots came from the extreme outside.  There was once where Moulson looked like he wanted to step in and get something happening on the inside of the defensive perimeter, but he backed off.

Great to see the freshmen appearing on the scoresheet more.

Can't say enough about McCutcheon.  Somewhere along the way without Carefoot, something went off in his head.  If he really steps it up this season, we can all point to this game where he really found his confidence.  The shorty was just magnificent, and that's a move we just haven't been doing this year.

Was Cam Abbott playing?  If so, he seemed invisible to me.

2nd and 3rd goals were more representative of "Cornell goals."  Throw it on net, and let the garbage men clean up in close.  It seems we haven't trusted ourselves to do that often this year.

What's with the defense?  I didn't see any bad defensive giveaways like we had last week.  Can't really stop that 5x3 backdoor play.  But I doubt anyone here is getting that dominant "get a lead and it's over" feeling that has been the hallmark of the dominant defensive teams of the last 5 years.  The quick answers by NU was telling that something isn't quite clicking.

Otherwise, glad to break the winless streak.

[Jacob '06]

[Q]2tkCornell Wrote:



Murphy made some questionable calls like the last penalty on Seminoff and the elbowing on Sawada. [/q]

Both of those were pretty clear and blatant penalties. Sawada had a nice clean check, but as he pushed back off he threw his elbow into the players head. The last penalty on Seminoff was a result of everyone trying to get McCutcheon the puck for a hat trick and it going out. Seminoff was going to get beat by his player and tried to put his body on him, but ended up just wrapping his arms around him and hauling him down, a pretty blatant penalty.

[Dpperk29]

The Offense was solid. Barlow and McCutcheon were spectacular, pegs looked good... Where was Moulson? I didn't see him have a good shift all game. Gleed was Taken out on his first shift, and never returned. Salmela was solid, got beat really bad once though, but nothing became of it.

Kindret also impressed me, he's finding his game... as is Seminoff.

Murphy did everything in his power to tie the game on us there towards the end. He missed a mugging in the corner, then got Seminoff at the blue line. The Seminoff call was a good call, but if he was going to call it, he needed to make the call when abbot got mugged in the corner.

McKee showed flashes of his old self, but he isn;t the same old Dave...


Edit...

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that Obryne should be benched a game to teach him to stop taking penalties and to have soft hands...

[JasonN95]

[Q]RichH Wrote:

 ...But I doubt anyone here is getting that dominant "get a lead and it's over" feeling that has been the hallmark of the dominant defensive teams of the last 5 years.  The quick answers by NU was telling that something isn't quite clicking...[/q]

Yeah, I was thinking after the quick NU goal to make it 3-2 that the last few years I would have considered a 2 goal lead halfway through the 2nd a near lock. But now...

[DeltaOne81]

[Q]RichH Wrote:
Great to see the freshmen appearing on the scoresheet more.[/q]

Great to see anyone on the scoresheet more :-P

[Jacob '06]

[Q]DeltaOne81 Wrote:

 [Q2]RichH Wrote:
Great to see the freshmen appearing on the scoresheet more.[/Q]
Great to see anyone on the scoresheet more  [/q]

Especially when Elynah's favorite Mr. O'Byrne has the 2nd most goals on the team.

[2tkCornell]

McKee's updated stats:

9GP, 5-3-1, 25 GA, 510 MIN, 2.94 GAA, 158 SV, O SO, .863 SV%

ouch!