Cornell 5, Niagara 4 (Post-game Thread)

[Will]

[Q]Dpperk29 Wrote:

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

I think that's how I'd describe his play tonight as well.  There were one or two times when he got really lucky that our D was able to bail him out.

Other thoughts:
- Way to go McCutcheon!  From my admittedly bad view of it, his shorthanded goal looked beautiful.  It'd be great if he could make an Iggulden-like turnaround, and then become one of our best players for his senior year.
- Our D was weaker than it should've been.  I'm thinking it can mainly be attributed to Gleed's absence for most of the game.
- Salmela looked not as bad as I had sorta expected him to be, given that he hasn't dressed much yet this season or much at all last season.  I hope he continues to not suck and dress for the lineup more often.
- Special teams need a LOT of work.
- In the end, a W is a W, no matter the goal margin.  Keep it up, Red.

[Doug '08]

Overall, I was not very impressed by our performance.  That being said, the bottom line is we got a W and hopefully this will give us some steam.

Freshies played great, glad to them finally making contributions to the game other than sitting in the box.  I thought our offense played well and created lots of chances.  We easilly could have scored more than 5 if not for a few a few unlucky bounces, posts, etc.

Our defense played sloppy, as seems to be par for the course this year.  I thought McKee let in 1 soft goal, but he definitly made some amazing saves late to keep the game close.  

However, the worst part of our game tonight had to special teams... definitly not impressed.  Will post more thoughts later.

LGR!!

[calgARI '07]

Offense was a ton better than last week, albeit against an inferior opponent.  McKee is simply not making the big saves as far as I'm concerned although he made a huge side to side save late in the third period to preserve the one goal lead.  Maybe that will be the turning point of the season for him.  It should be noted that Gleed got hurt the first shift of the game and the team was playing with five defensemen the entire night, including Salmela who was playing his first game of the season.  I really liked how Salmela was constantly jumping into the play; the first goal against was his man though.  Except for his idiotic penalty to put the team two men down, O'Byrne was excellent.  Pokuluk played his best game since Yale.  The lines at the end of the game were:
Moulson-Bitz-Scott
Abbott-Pegoraro-McCutcheon
Mugford-Abbott-Sawada
Barlow-Kennedy-Kindret
I thought the all-freshman line was really impressive and exciting to watch.  Moulson needs to do a lot more.  He is falling down every time he gets touched and not making great decisions with the puck.  I just want him to do more than just score goals and step up and lead this team.  To me, the team lacks leadership and character, especially compared to last year's team.  I think Pegoraro has done well in this regard.  Need more from the Abbotts and I really don't understand why Schafer won't put them together, considering Cam has struggled mightily in the early going.  

[Andy \'07]

I thought Barlow really stood out tonight, much moreso than in previous games.  Mccutcheon was impressive, but i've liked the way hes played all year.  Moulson was invisible.  I thought Bitz looked good as well but maybe thats just me.  Seminoff looks to be settling in and I like Salmela, but maybe because hes just a new face.  I thought we dominated for portions of teh game, and then let one stupid play cost us a goal.  Nice to see Kindret get a goal, if only because now i know how to say his name.  It should have been 6-2.  Heres to blowing the roof off of the blue cross arena

[Brian]

Wow, everybody needs to sit in section K to watch the perfect view of McKee.  McKee is absolutely lost out there, bad positioning and he's letting in soft goals.  Not only that but I noticed last night for the first time that he holds his head down after every goal instead of forgetting about it and moving on, McKee get your head in the game!  He clearly has lost his focus.  O'byrne played like he has all season, good skills, no common sense, he continued to make horrible plays at the blue line on the power play, he just didn't get caught as badily, but there was a few close calls.  Murphy, the ref, was horrible as usual, calling penalties one sided.  I saw several charging and boarding penalties that should have been called against NU that were'nt.  Oh, and the first goal by NU with the pass that crossed right in front of McKee to a player waiting openly, they tried that three or four times before and just missed it so it is clear that our defense is not picking up what the other team is doing!  I'm worried about this year's team only because they are not learning from their mistakes, thus far, usually there is a progression throughout the year!

[Harrier]

This team needs to Challenge themselves to grind their opponents into submission on every inch of the ice - they way the recent successful team have been doing.  It looks like a team wide thing with a few consistent bright spots...namely McCutcheon all year, Carefoot all year, usually Pegs, and flashes of brilliance from some of the Freshmen - though still developing and not without the breakdowns and bad penalties.  Barlow and Seminoff will probably have awesome careers if they keep coming along at this rate.  This team needs to get hungrier and a bit meaner top to bottom.  That will hopefully bring everyone's play up including McKee.  Other teams used to come into this barn and seem shocked at how hard Cornell was actually willing to play.  The talent is certainly there, they just need to ratchet up the effory every game!

[Trotsky]

Even watching on CSTV, it was noticeable that every time the fourth line took the ice, the pace picked up and things began happening.  There was a lot of frantic energy -- not much planning :-D  -- but hey, it's very good to see some boyish enthusiasm.

The three big disappointments are the special teams, McKee (it's true, he doesn't look right), and the absence of the hitting and intimidation that the Red used to wear like battle armor.  There's no legitimate physical presence on the team.  Not headhunting -- that just gives them 2 minutes to kill -- but there's little open ice hitting and the corner game is no longer automatic.

A win's a win, especially after 0-2-1.  Deposit it and improve.  The season has hardly begun.

[calgARI '07]

[Q]Brian Wrote:

 Wow, everybody needs to sit in section K to watch the perfect view of McKee.  McKee is absolutely lost out there, bad positioning and he's letting in soft goals.  Not only that but I noticed last night for the first time that he holds his head down after every goal instead of forgetting about it and moving on, McKee get your head in the game!  He clearly has lost his focus.  O'byrne played like he has all season, good skills, no common sense, he continued to make horrible plays at the blue line on the power play, he just didn't get caught as badily, but there was a few close calls.  Murphy, the ref, was horrible as usual, calling penalties one sided.  I saw several charging and boarding penalties that should have been called against NU that were'nt.  Oh, and the first goal by NU with the pass that crossed right in front of McKee to a player waiting openly, they tried that three or four times before and just missed it so it is clear that our defense is not picking up what the other team is doing!  I'm worried about this year's team only because they are not learning from their mistakes, thus far, usually there is a progression throughout the year![/q]

Murphy was bad both ways, but I thought he let far more go for Cornell.  The Niagara coach was infuriated and rightfully so.  

[Brian]

[Q]calgARI '07 Wrote:

 [Q2]Brian Wrote:

 Wow, everybody needs to sit in section K to watch the perfect view of McKee.  McKee is absolutely lost out there, bad positioning and he's letting in soft goals.  Not only that but I noticed last night for the first time that he holds his head down after every goal instead of forgetting about it and moving on, McKee get your head in the game!  He clearly has lost his focus.  O'byrne played like he has all season, good skills, no common sense, he continued to make horrible plays at the blue line on the power play, he just didn't get caught as badily, but there was a few close calls.  Murphy, the ref, was horrible as usual, calling penalties one sided.  I saw several charging and boarding penalties that should have been called against NU that were'nt.  Oh, and the first goal by NU with the pass that crossed right in front of McKee to a player waiting openly, they tried that three or four times before and just missed it so it is clear that our defense is not picking up what the other team is doing!  I'm worried about this year's team only because they are not learning from their mistakes, thus far, usually there is a progression throughout the year![/Q]
Murphy was bad both ways, but I thought he let far more go for Cornell.  The Niagara coach was infuriated and rightfully so.  [/q]

I'll agree to disagree with you on this one.  I saw a lot of nasty boarding calls and elbows to the head by Niagara that were blatant, even the Niagara players looked back at the refs to see if they were going to get called.  However, I can only see one end of the ice so maybe we retaliated on the other end.

[schoaff]

[Q]2tkCornell Wrote:

 McKee's updated stats:

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

ouch![/q]

I think this drives home the point of just how spoiled we are after the last few years that a GAA under 3 merits an "ouch!"

[redhair34]

[Q]calgARI '07 Wrote:

 Pokuluk played his best game since Yale.    [/q]

Pokoluk telegraphed a number of clearing passes in the first period.  The Niagra forecheckers picked off three of them, one of which they skated to the net and forced us to take a penalty.  It was on that PP that Niagra scored their first goal.  

I agree with the rest of your post, especially your comments about Moulson and Pegoraro.  I thought this was Moulson's worst game of the year (note: I didn't see @ Brown or @ Yale).  He seemed to be pretty selfish with the puck and seemed to be going through the motions on his shifts.  He reminded me of Moulson 2 years ago--shying away from all physical contact etc.  Granted it was one game and it was nice to see the rest of the team pick up the offensive slack.  It is beyond me why Pegoraro isn't wearing a letter on his sweater.  

[redhair34]

[Q]calgARI '07 Wrote:

 [Q2]Brian Wrote:

 Wow, everybody needs to sit in section K to watch the perfect view of McKee.  McKee is absolutely lost out there, bad positioning and he's letting in soft goals.  Not only that but I noticed last night for the first time that he holds his head down after every goal instead of forgetting about it and moving on, McKee get your head in the game!  He clearly has lost his focus.  O'byrne played like he has all season, good skills, no common sense, he continued to make horrible plays at the blue line on the power play, he just didn't get caught as badily, but there was a few close calls.  Murphy, the ref, was horrible as usual, calling penalties one sided.  I saw several charging and boarding penalties that should have been called against NU that were'nt.  Oh, and the first goal by NU with the pass that crossed right in front of McKee to a player waiting openly, they tried that three or four times before and just missed it so it is clear that our defense is not picking up what the other team is doing!  I'm worried about this year's team only because they are not learning from their mistakes, thus far, usually there is a progression throughout the year![/Q]
Murphy was bad both ways, but I thought he let far more go for Cornell.  The Niagara coach was infuriated and rightfully so.  [/q]

I remember the one time when their coach went off on one of the officials--it was on a hit by Mugford that should have been called.  I don't think Murphy saw the hit, but it was right next to a linesmen who their coach wanted to make the call.  

From my view that hit on Sawada shouldn't have been called--it looked to me like his elbows were down, but I didn't have a particularly good view of the hit.  Just our luck though, the one time we actually hit someone it gets penalized.  I don't understand why our guys aren't hitting this year.  I find it hard to believe that Vartaressian and Hynes did 90% of our hitting.  Sawada, Gleed, O'Byrne, Pokoluk need to step up the physical play.  

[Harrier]

People know that Ray (Ray train) is coming and dish it before he can get a hit in.  Mugford is getting some physical play in, funny that despite his stature - Barlow is always trying to bang out there -gritty guy with offensive skill.  

[DeltaOne81]

Honestly guys, there's a lot less hitting cause a lot of hitting is illegal now, and not just the 'dirty' type. Anything that gets in the way of the progress of another player is interference. If an offensive player is coming down the rink, dumps the puck (or is carrying it) into the zone, and is hip-checked into the wall... that's now interference. The video the NHL released explaining the new rules made that painfully clear.

Hitting is basically still allows when a player has just let go of, or is carrying the puck, and isn't particularly going in one direction (i.e. when cycling down low or clearing, etc).

Now, who knows if the college refs would call it, nevermind consistently, but perhaps that was one cause for our hugely penalized games against Yale and Brown and they've had to lay off.

[duffs4]

This seems to be a team without identity, one that is defined by the polls.  I have been waiting to see who on this team would be the one to step up and give this team the leadership and identity that it soo badly needs.  Last night I saw three things that were signs of an upside:  

(1) McCutcheon??  I have been waiting soo long to see him gain the confidence to use his amazing skillz.  after his first goal everytime he touched the puck it wasn't immediately taken off his stick, instead he had the patience and confidence to make a move.  Hopefully the team can grow from his effort and newfound patience.

(2) Even Samela - This kid comes off the sidelines and makes by far some of the most educated plays of the night.  He was the only defenseman I felt completely comfortable with breaking the puck out of our defensive end.  He made some other great clutch plays as well.  

(3) Freshman line -These guys were what I have become accustomed to from a cornell team in the last few years.  They go to the corners with reckless abandon, buzz in the corners, and fill each others holes with great efficiency.    

I hope that our forwards can follow mccutcheon and gain confidence, the defense can follow samela and gain patience, and the team can look to the freshman and gain drive.  Lets hope these three positive aspects of last nights game become contaigous tonight.  LGR!!!