Cornell at RPI 3/1

chimpfood
I think it’s gotta be keopple next week. Even though I don’t think he’s the better goalie he has definitely been more consistent this year and against a team as bad as Yale that’s all we need. Shane could put up a 30 save shutout but he could just as easily let in 3 softies and we go out with a whimper. But it’ll be interesting to see what Schaf does. Great win today, nice to end the weekend happy.

i thought about this but he's barely played. .940 in a SSS. the last two years in similarly limited action he was under .900 in net. i don't think a change is made unless Shane looks awful in practice.

ugarte

chimpfood
I think it’s gotta be keopple next week. Even though I don’t think he’s the better goalie he has definitely been more consistent this year and against a team as bad as Yale that’s all we need. Shane could put up a 30 save shutout but he could just as easily let in 3 softies and we go out with a whimper. But it’ll be interesting to see what Schaf does. Great win today, nice to end the weekend happy.

i thought about this but he's barely played. .940 in a SSS. the last two years in similarly limited action he was under .900 in net. i don't think a change is made unless Shane looks awful in practice.

Exactly why I wish they gave him more run this year, would be an easier decision that way.

I really don’t understand how the coaching staff handled the starting goalie situation this year. IMO it wasn’t very logically consistent.
1. Clearly the coaching staff felt Shane was the best goalie on the roster. He continued getting starts despite struggling throughout the season. The coaches see the goalies in practice, and I assume Shane was just much better in practice.
2. But several times this year Shane was pulled, Keopple came in and generally had good results. (Whether he played well/looked good is a different story—I didn’t watch enough to know.)
3. Based on Keopple playing well in relief of Shane, the coaching staff rewarded Keopple with the start the following night, where again he had good results.

IMO this doesn’t really add up. Shane struggled in the games, but kept getting starts because (presumably) he was much better in practice. But then Keopple played well in relief of Shane and was rewarded with a start. If watching them in practice weighed so heavily in the coaches’ evaluations, why would the coaches suddenly turn to Keopple after he played well in a fraction of a game in relief of Shane? If seeing him in game action was important, then why not get him more game action to properly evaluate him? The second game against Sacred Heart, once Cornell was <1% to get an at-large bid, was a great opportunity to give Keopple a start, but for some reason they went with Shane again???

Now the coaches are in an impossible position. They’ve backed themselves into a corner by simultaneously (1) strongly preferring Shane in general and (2) occasionally opening the door for Keopple to perform well, but (3) not in a large enough sample to have any degree of confidence.

BearLover
I really don’t understand how the coaching staff handled the starting goalie situation this year. IMO it wasn’t very logically consistent.
1. Clearly the coaching staff felt Shane was the best goalie on the roster. He continued getting starts despite struggling throughout the season. The coaches see the goalies in practice, and I assume Shane was just much better in practice.
2. But several times this year Shane was pulled, Keopple came in and generally had good results. (Whether he played well/looked good is a different story—I didn’t watch enough to know.)
3. Based on Keopple playing well in relief of Shane, the coaching staff rewarded Keopple with the start the following night, where again he had good results.

IMO this doesn’t really add up. Shane struggled in the games, but kept getting starts because (presumably) he was much better in practice. But then Keopple played well in relief of Shane and was rewarded with a start. If watching them in practice weighed so heavily in the coaches’ evaluations, why would the coaches suddenly turn to Keopple after he played well in a fraction of a game in relief of Shane? If seeing him in game action was important, then why not get him more game action to properly evaluate him? The second game against Sacred Heart, once Cornell was <1% to get an at-large bid, was a great opportunity to give Keopple a start, but for some reason they went with Shane again???

Now the coaches are in an impossible position. They’ve backed themselves into a corner by simultaneously (1) strongly preferring Shane in general and (2) occasionally opening the door for Keopple to perform well, but (3) not in a large enough sample to have any degree of confidence.

i wouldn't overthink the thought process going in to the last game of the season against RPI. For all we know they wanted to give Shane a game to clear his head before the do or die starts.

ugarte

BearLover
I really don’t understand how the coaching staff handled the starting goalie situation this year. IMO it wasn’t very logically consistent.
1. Clearly the coaching staff felt Shane was the best goalie on the roster. He continued getting starts despite struggling throughout the season. The coaches see the goalies in practice, and I assume Shane was just much better in practice.
2. But several times this year Shane was pulled, Keopple came in and generally had good results. (Whether he played well/looked good is a different story—I didn’t watch enough to know.)
3. Based on Keopple playing well in relief of Shane, the coaching staff rewarded Keopple with the start the following night, where again he had good results.

IMO this doesn’t really add up. Shane struggled in the games, but kept getting starts because (presumably) he was much better in practice. But then Keopple played well in relief of Shane and was rewarded with a start. If watching them in practice weighed so heavily in the coaches’ evaluations, why would the coaches suddenly turn to Keopple after he played well in a fraction of a game in relief of Shane? If seeing him in game action was important, then why not get him more game action to properly evaluate him? The second game against Sacred Heart, once Cornell was <1% to get an at-large bid, was a great opportunity to give Keopple a start, but for some reason they went with Shane again???

Now the coaches are in an impossible position. They’ve backed themselves into a corner by simultaneously (1) strongly preferring Shane in general and (2) occasionally opening the door for Keopple to perform well, but (3) not in a large enough sample to have any degree of confidence.

i wouldn't overthink the thought process going in to the last game of the season against RPI. For all we know they wanted to give Shane a game to clear his head before the do or die starts.

Sure, could be true. But seems like malpractice to just ride the guy with the .890 save percentage the whole season, never deviating even when the other guy has a .958 over parts of five games… At least give Katz a shot if you don’t trust Keopple.

There are 23 qualified goalies with a save percentage under .895. Only 1 has gotten more playing time than Shane, Jared whale of UNH, who was hospitalized last night so Shane may pass him. Not many other goalies get this kind long of a leash while having a season as bad as this. Thanks to Shane’s performance in previous years though, he has gotten it.

BearLover
Now the coaches are in an impossible position.

No. The coaches have no problem at all. They will do what they think is best because they are experts and this is their job.

We all have to stop looking at this through the lens of talk radio, where the (lucrative) act is the fans and the pundits are engaging in Serious Analysis. We aren't. We're idiot looky-loos.

The coaches see these guys every day and assess them in controlled conditions. They have real knowledge, not delusions fed by message boards to generate clicks.

The critical mode, applied to sports, by people pressing their nose against the window, is why fans have the reputation they do.

ugarte
For all we know they wanted to give Shane a game to clear his head before the do or die starts.

My assumptions, which are just as dumb and uninformed as everyone else's here:

1. What you said.

2. Give Keoppel a full game against a non-threatening opponent to build confidence for next year, and as a reward for patiently waiting three years only to go into a full-on job battle as a Senior.

Trotsky

BearLover
Now the coaches are in an impossible position.

No. The coaches have no problem at all. They will do what they think is best because they are experts and this is their job.

We all have to stop looking at this through the lens of talk radio, where the (lucrative) act is the fans and the pundits are engaging in Serious Analysis. We aren't. We're idiot looky-loos.

The coaches see these guys every day and assess them in controlled conditions. They have real knowledge, not delusions fed by message boards to generate clicks.

The critical mode, applied to sports, by people pressing their nose against the window, is why fans have the reputation they do.

Coaches make mistakes all the time. Also, practices aren’t “controlled conditions.” Game experience cannot be replicated. Coaches have to make best guesses under high levels of uncertainty, including in this case. Maybe this is not a particularly close call and Shane is clearly better. Or maybe it’s a very close call and the coaching staff would be better off if it had actually seen the backups in game action.

My untrained eye says Keopple doesn't come far enough out of the net to challenge shots.

BearLover

Trotsky

BearLover
Now the coaches are in an impossible position.

No. The coaches have no problem at all. They will do what they think is best because they are experts and this is their job.

We all have to stop looking at this through the lens of talk radio, where the (lucrative) act is the fans and the pundits are engaging in Serious Analysis. We aren't. We're idiot looky-loos.

The coaches see these guys every day and assess them in controlled conditions. They have real knowledge, not delusions fed by message boards to generate clicks.

The critical mode, applied to sports, by people pressing their nose against the window, is why fans have the reputation they do.

Coaches make mistakes all the time. Also, practices aren’t “controlled conditions.” Game experience cannot be replicated. Coaches have to make best guesses under high levels of uncertainty, including in this case. Maybe this is not a particularly close call and Shane is clearly better. Or maybe it’s a very close call and the coaching staff would be better off if it had actually seen the backups in game action.

Nothing in what I said implies coaches are omniscient. The stinger is the comparative: we can grouse (or grovel; it's the same effect) but in the end the coaches are all we have in terms of judgment. There just isn't another standard. If we played 100 games it would be the stats, but in college hockey it's always SSS. And hopefully we have all finally retired the "eye test."

I can see people may enjoy the game of playing Monday Morning Metternich, in which case, you do you. I think it's silly to fret about this. Root for them and then have a drink or 5 and forget until next week (or year, as the case may soon be).

Dafatone
My untrained eye says Keopple doesn't come far enough out of the net to challenge shots.

My untrained eye sees the same thing, but he's also bigger goalie, so he doesn't need to come out of the net as much. Sometimes he's out; otherwise, he plays a bit deeper, and I'm fine with that.

Coach in the past has said the team doesn’t have the luxury to not skate the best team it can assemble each game because there are no throwaway games. Every game matters for PWR, then when an at large bid was out of reach, the team is fighting for the first round bye. Last night for the first game neither of those were on the table so resting Shane, who the coaches must think gives them the best shot at winning, was cost free.

JasonN95
Coach in the past has said the team doesn’t have the luxury to not skate the best team it can assemble each game because there are no throwaway games. Every game matters for PWR, then when an at large bid was out of reach, the team is fighting for the first round bye. Last night for the first game neither of those were on the table so resting Shane, who the coaches must think gives them the best shot at winning, was cost free.

While not deterministically eliminated, Cornell went into the second game against Sacred Heart with a remote chance of getting an at-large bid. As the last non-conference game on the schedule, this would have been the perfect opportunity to get Shane some rest/the backups some playing time. But Cornell went with Shane, who ended up getting pulled during the game.

BearLover
I swear, I was gonna say before the game started: “this game is totally meaningless, so of course Cornell is going to win 6-0.” But I didn’t say it, because my posts were getting to be too negative even for me.

Well, I’ve learned a hard lesson about abstaining from posting. Never again!

But that post wouldn't have been too negative for you.

It's almost positive.

Give My Regards
I'm thinking the tripod or whatever that camera is mounted on is in need of some oil and is really hard to turn.

Nay, the camera viewfinder was on a two second delay.