CU - tUMD postgame

[Dpperk29]

sounded like a good game. deffinatly got the impression it was wa slow game, but we got the tie/win

[Ben Rocky '04]

McKee MVP but not on the all-tourney team?  Does that make sense to anyone?

[Jim Hyla]

That's done. Allows for another player to get honored.

[Will]

[quote Ben Rocky 04]McKee MVP but not on the all-tourney team?  Does that make sense to anyone?[/quote]
They have to spread the wealth, which is lame, but it happens.

[Ben Rocky '04]

I guess I would have just picked Cam as MVP and put Mckee on the all-tourney team.  Its all good.  LGR!

[redhair34]

[quote Dpperk29]sounded like a good game. deffinatly got the impression it was wa slow game, but we got the tie/win[/quote]

wrong impression...It appeared pretty quick to me from the webcast.  Lots of odd man rushes on both sides of the ice.

[Trotsky]

McKee's now gone 4 straight with 1 or fewer GA.

[ebilmes]

Actually thought Cornell played a good game. It was not fast at all; tUMD had looked like a very fast team on Tuesday, but we made them play our game. The SOG were low--a lot of slow, physical play. McKee was solid again. Our kill was phenomenal tonight; we just shut them down. We had a lot of chances in the 3rd and a few good ones in overtime...too bad nothing worked out.

The powerplay unit was definitely our weakest link during the two games. We also took a few too many penalties, but nothing killed us. The UMD goal was a beauty, but you have to be happy that we survived the 5x3 and 5-min major without surrendering a goal.

From reading the game thread, it seems like the people at home didn't care too much about the shootout, but it meant a lot to those of us who were there. I definitely didn't leave the rink feeling like we had tied. Sure a win would have been nice, but we won the tournament; this is more than we did in 02-03 or 04-05.

Overall, an excellent job with so few defensemen. We took away their speed and began to show that we aren't that much weaker defensively when compared to the teams of the past few years. Hopefully this will boost McKee's confidence.

Good to see the eLf folks who made the trip. Thanks to Bill Howard for the pictures from the first game.

[jtwcornell91]

The game featured a good number of long passes and odd man rushes, but part of that was because tUMD did a good job of defending the blue line, and made it difficult to  gain the zone and set up.  So there was a lot of dump and chase on conventional plays.

We did have some really good scoring chances, including in OT.  After the OT ended I ran over to the tUMD fans we'd been hanging with the previous night and congratulated them on a hard fought tie.  The shootout was exciting and fun to watch, but in my mind it was for the Harkness Cup (yes!) and nothing more.

[Avash]

Who made the all-tournament team?

[Trotsky]

[quote ebilmes]we won the tournament; this is more than we did in 02-03 or 04-05.[/quote]
Cornell has now almost completely recovered from their early struggles in the tournament.  They are 5-6-1 lifetime at Estero, but 4-1-1 (with 2 championships) in the last three years: http://www.tbrw.info/games/cornellHolidayTournies.html

[Trotsky]

[quote Avash '05]Who made the all-tournament team?[/quote]

IIRC, the 3 Cornellians (in addition to McKee as MVP) on the All-Tourny team were Cam, Mou,son and O'Byrne.

[Trotsky]

Given that next year's field is Cornell, Maine, UNH and Western Michigan, it now appears certain that Ohio State has pulled out of the tournament for good.  

Heckuva job getting the Wildcats for next year -- that's a great pick up, and you have to think Schafer has a special desire to beat them.

[billhoward]

Positives from the UMD game:

- Cornell showed lots of poise on defense.
- Lots of contributions from the freshmen and sophomores.
- Cornell did not back down from a big, bruising CCHA/WCHA style team.
- If David McKee took a junior month abroad, he's back. Or McKee and the defense are back.
- Cornell did it without Pokoluk.
- O'Byrne did not turn the puck over in front of the Cornell net during the shootout. (Sorry, cheap shot.) He was solid. And my ears finally stopped ringing from the post he hit Friday night in the third period. If it was the Liberty Bell O'Byrne fired on, it would have two cracks now.
- Cam Abbott was awesome.

Disappointments:
- It went to a shootout to determine the champ, which means for post-season ratings purposes it was a 1-1 tie.
- Scary brief defensive lapses including more near breakaways allowed than should happen in a month of games.
- UMD figured out the Cornell power play, mostly by pressuring the point players.
- After Bitz missed a near-breakaway goal early in the OT, Cornell went flat and only had a few solid rushes and was lucky not to have given up a goal.
- Evan Barlow comes out of the penalty box, gets his hands on a home run pass, skates in alone ... and a UMD defender catches up and breaks up the play.
- For the weekend, two even-strength goals. Sheesh.
- Most of all, as the Cornell defense ratchets down the goals-allowed, the offense seems to ratchet down its goal production. Maybe they're related.
- We're at the midpoint of the season and Matt Moulson has, what, two (?) even-stength goals. Even blind squirrels finds some nuts. He's due. He also drew I believe three penalties on the weekend IIRC, which doubles his season total.
- Cornell seems to have an inordinate amount of almost/coulda/woulda/should opportunities that don't go in.
- Dumb / stupid / un-Schafer-like penalties against UMD: Abbott's retaliation after getting flattened in the first that negated the pending power play, and a Cornell player getting ejected for a dangerous play. OTOH, Cornell was invincible on PK over the weekend. The opponents were something like oh-for-eighteen including Cornell successful kill of the overlapping minor and five-minute major.

If listeners/webcast views got the sense it was a slow game – no, that was the first day. This was not high scoring and there were lots of penalties, but it seemed there was more hockey played, too.

Overall: This seems like a much improved team from a couple weeks ago. December's GAA is 0.73 (3 GA in 4 games plus 5 minutes of OT). The younger players are coming into their own, there's lots of poise on the ice, the defense is crisp (except for those near breakaways), PK is solid. So we're back to the circa 2003 and 2004 problem: If you only score 1-2 goals a game, you better have a darn solid defense. Plus the PP is no longer quite so scary to the other guys.

About the 2006 Florida tournament: If it's Cornell, Maine, plus UNH and Western Michigan, the tournament is 1 or 1-1/2 teams shy of a solid field in terms of attendance. But you've got 3 solid, likely top 20 teams playing. Bring back Ohio State and Notre Dame. They have nutso / loyal fans too, mostly old graduates, and they fill the arena. The UMD fans were decent but there weren't many of them. It would have been better for attendance if Maine was in the final.

[Harrier]

Is anyone else scratching their heads at the shootout selection??  OB?  Carefoot?

How about Moulson, Abbott, Abbott, McCutcheon, and Barlow?  May have not come down to the last shot if they threw that group out first.