2022 Takeaways

Confused by your reply, as I dont see an offense that seems to prioritize jam attempts from the side of the goal as "...an up-tempo, skills style of play"

Cornell95
Confused by your reply, as I dont see an offense that seems to prioritize jam attempts from the side of the goal as "...an up-tempo, skills style of play"

I've been beating this drum a lot, but I think what's happened is that we don't clear space in front of the net and defenses collapse. Those jam attempts are looking to make one more pass to an open guy on the doorstep, but there's no one open because there are three defenders there.

Cornell95
Confused by your reply, as I dont see an offense that seems to prioritize jam attempts from the side of the goal as "...an up-tempo, skills style of play"

Getting the puck low, not constantly cycling at the point. Trying to make things happen.

I'm not saying they're good at it, just that it's better than Let's Play Look For The Perfect Shot Until Somebody Stick Checks The Puck Away.

Dafatone

Cornell95
Confused by your reply, as I dont see an offense that seems to prioritize jam attempts from the side of the goal as "...an up-tempo, skills style of play"

I've been beating this drum a lot, but I think what's happened is that we don't clear space in front of the net and defenses collapse. Those jam attempts are looking to make one more pass to an open guy on the doorstep, but there's no one open because there are three defenders there.

Seems to me this style lives or dies by how well Max is playing and the second half he disappeared.

As an example of when it can work, think of the times Psenicka held the puck at his freakish arm's length, muscled in, and either got it to Berard who "could maneuver in a phone booth" or got it on net himself.

When those happen they are quality chances. They are also safe because even when the D wrestles it away, they've still got all of our guys between them and our goal -- there's no long rebound scooped by a cheating cherry picker.

Trotsky
Seems to me this style lives or dies by how well Max is playing and the second half he disappeared.

By what theory does the Ivy League not cause Andreev to disappear to some random grad program? Their logic in general is suspect but how can they make an exception to their "rules".

marty

Trotsky
Seems to me this style lives or dies by how well Max is playing and the second half he disappeared.

By what theory does the Ivy League not cause Andreev to disappear to some random grad program? Their logic in general is suspect but how can they make an exception to their "rules".

Don't the next three classes have the "5 years to complete 4 years of eligibility" thingamajig? I thought the ban on graduated players was suspended during that time, and the only bad thing was the Ivies dragged their senescent, cynical asses so long making the decision Donaldson, Galajda, et al had to split.

ursusminor
Nate McDonald has entered the transfer portal. [docs.google.com]

Mitch Benson too (Colgate).

jeff '84

ursusminor
Nate McDonald has entered the transfer portal. [docs.google.com]

Mitch Benson too (Colgate).

At the moment, every ECAC team except QU and SLU has someone on the list, led by Brown with 5.

Something very bad must have happened at Ferris.

ursusminor

jeff '84

ursusminor
Nate McDonald has entered the transfer portal. [docs.google.com]

Mitch Benson too (Colgate).

At the moment, every ECAC team except QU and SLU has someone on the list, led by Brown with 5.

Five Q players are listed as Graduate Students, so we can assume none of them are eligible to go into the portal again.

Jim Hyla

jtwcornell91
Russia's hockey program has been consistently infuriating for the last 25 years or so, even (espeically) when they're pretending to play under another name.

How about, rather they're given the chance to play under another name.

Let's put blame on the offender and the enabler.

Agreed. It's reasonable to allow individuals not implicated in the doping scandal to compete (the IOC has the category of "Independent Olympic Athletes" for olympians whose country doesn't have a recognized Olympic Committee), but it makes no sense to ban a country and then let their athletes compete as a team with coaches from the banned program.

Trotsky

marty

Trotsky
Seems to me this style lives or dies by how well Max is playing and the second half he disappeared.

By what theory does the Ivy League not cause Andreev to disappear to some random grad program? Their logic in general is suspect but how can they make an exception to their "rules".

Don't the next three classes have the "5 years to complete 4 years of eligibility" thingamajig? I thought the ban on graduated players was suspended during that time, and the only bad thing was the Ivies dragged their senescent, cynical asses so long making the decision Donaldson, Galajda, et al had to split.

The Ivy League's exception to the no-college-graduates rule was suspended only for the 2021-22 season. (And, yes, it took way too long for the Ivies to institute the exception.)

I believe — but I have no confirmation from any official source — that the workaround for remaining eligible in the Ivy League to compete for a fourth season in a fifth year is to avoid fulfilling all the requirements for graduation before the beginning of the fifth year. In the pre-Covid era, we'd see this happen when players took a year off to return to juniors or took a medical redshirt year.

If winter-sport athletes don't withdraw from school for the years in which they don't compete, returning for a fifth year comes at a steep cost of an extra year's tuition. Fall-sport athletes can return for a fifth year more easily if they withdraw for the second semester of their fourth year and return to compete and graduate in the fall of their fifth year.

Trotsky

Cornell95
I was sort of sitting on this question the whole second half of the season
From my perspective, the team has been much more fluid on the breakout (even with the departure of Kaldis)
and pushing in to the offensive zone with less D to D passing or waiting for line changes behind our own goal

But this season it seemed the primary offensive strategy was to get below the end line and then attempt a jam
It was so frequent I have to assume it is an intentional shift from the corner cycle/half wall attack that has been the hallmark of our stronger years

With Andreev, Berard, Betts, etc it seems like the team had the horses to continue with the old philosophy
Thoughts from those with more experience as players/coaches on the why ?
If this was a change in philosophy, do we expect it to stick heading forward?

I think this is the further evolution away from a defensive style which we have been pursuing for the last 6-7 seasons. Q proved this year that with the new rules you can limit the opponent's chances by relentlessly pushing forward. Whenever the D reacts to that with any kind of impedance it gets called as holding or interference. All you need is a great goalie to deal with the inevitable counter odd man rushes and you pile up goal differential.

Seems reasonable to me, and not just because I prefer an up-tempo, skills style of play. We evolve with the way the game is officiated.

I’m new here. Been watching Cornell hockey for the last 20 years or so, attended a slew of games this year including the quarterfinals.

My take on Cornell has always been that they are built with size and defense. I remember watching them 10-15 years ago and thinking they were modeled after 1990s New Jersey Devils. Against Colgate I felt like obviously that kid had a great weekend in goal for them, but also like Colgate, while smaller, was the faster, more skilled team. And I think going forward that’s what Cornell needs to lean on more in recruiting. Yes, size, defense and goaltending all matter. But I remember thinking especially this year that they really could use some purely elite skill guys who are offensive machines. I know at least one or two of our incoming guys in 2023 will add that in spades, and hopefully more. I just think speed and skill wins in this day and age because both of those things are so much better than they used to be. Just my .02.

Welcome, Pghas!

Pghas

Trotsky

Cornell95
I was sort of sitting on this question the whole second half of the season
From my perspective, the team has been much more fluid on the breakout (even with the departure of Kaldis)
and pushing in to the offensive zone with less D to D passing or waiting for line changes behind our own goal

But this season it seemed the primary offensive strategy was to get below the end line and then attempt a jam
It was so frequent I have to assume it is an intentional shift from the corner cycle/half wall attack that has been the hallmark of our stronger years

With Andreev, Berard, Betts, etc it seems like the team had the horses to continue with the old philosophy
Thoughts from those with more experience as players/coaches on the why ?
If this was a change in philosophy, do we expect it to stick heading forward?

I think this is the further evolution away from a defensive style which we have been pursuing for the last 6-7 seasons. Q proved this year that with the new rules you can limit the opponent's chances by relentlessly pushing forward. Whenever the D reacts to that with any kind of impedance it gets called as holding or interference. All you need is a great goalie to deal with the inevitable counter odd man rushes and you pile up goal differential.

Seems reasonable to me, and not just because I prefer an up-tempo, skills style of play. We evolve with the way the game is officiated.

I’m new here. Been watching Cornell hockey for the last 20 years or so, attended a slew of games this year including the quarterfinals.

My take on Cornell has always been that they are built with size and defense. I remember watching them 10-15 years ago and thinking they were modeled after 1990s New Jersey Devils. Against Colgate I felt like obviously that kid had a great weekend in goal for them, but also like Colgate, while smaller, was the faster, more skilled team. And I think going forward that’s what Cornell needs to lean on more in recruiting. Yes, size, defense and goaltending all matter. But I remember thinking especially this year that they really could use some purely elite skill guys who are offensive machines. I know at least one or two of our incoming guys in 2023 will add that in spades, and hopefully more. I just think speed and skill wins in this day and age because both of those things are so much better than they used to be. Just my .02.

We've got a lot more offensive firepower than the mid 00s teams, though this year we lacked polished finishers compared to 19-20, but that's a tough team to measure up against.

Here's what I think happened: we're still huge, but we've recruited big fast scorers. These are guys who dominated with skill in the juniors and are less used to physical grinding. We preach grinding defensive hockey at Cornell, even though we're more open now than we were 7 or 8 years ago. When we faced the best skilled teams, like Q or ND, we could skate pretty well with them. Q kind of an outlier because their defense was so good but bear with me.

When we faced big physical defensive teams, we struggled because our guys, despite their size, just weren't used to that game. They're all so new to playing with each other and playing at this level. All year, I've felt we've won when we control the net front and lost when we got outmuscled down low.

Another year of practice, conditioning, and learning to play together will really help. I think we have a very bright future.

And welcome!