Niagara Friday 12/7

Niagara does not seem to have as good a team as they fielded last year.
When I look at their overall record they seem very similar to
Alabama-Huntsville that we played earlier in the year but on this Friday
night they did not appear to be as complete a team.  They had no ability to
generate any offense against Cornell and did not even seem to try to
generate any offense.  Their game plan seemed to be circle the wagons in
the defensive zone and hope for a 0 - 0 tie.  Also in the game plan take no
penalties to avoid facing the Cornell power play.

In the first period they generated one shot but it was 0 - 0 at the end of
the period.  Once they were set up in the zone it was very hard to generate
good shots and their goalie was very technically sound.   The probably iced
the puck a dozen times often opting for the ice whenever they gained
possession.  Most of Cornell's quality shots seemed to be generated on the
transition game and while they were good in the defensive zone they could
not cope with Cornell's speed and passing allowing us good rushes and odd
man rushes with some regularity.

The second period the box score shows them out shooting us 12-9 but this in
not really a reflection of the play.  They did show what their offensive
concept which was sporadic flurries of furious fore checking.  This
actually seemed to work well for them but it did not generate many quality
shots.  We scored first on an 2 on 1 rush with David Kozier firing a
perfect bullet through the goalies 5 hole as he went to the butterfly.  On
a even rush where the goalie did not have to pay as much attention to the
pass I am sure he would have had a much better chance to make the save.  A
perfect shot and good goalie playing it as well as it could be
played.  They scored an unassisted goal late in the period in one of their
fore checking flurries. One of our defenders handed to puck to Rob Bumbaco
in the face off circle who quickly released a shot to the top shelf just
over Underhill's shoulder.  My line of sight was sort of over his shoulder
and Bumbaco had only this small top shelf corner to shoot at and he hit
it--excellent shooting.

The third period was somewhat like the second except that Niagara's
offensive bursts sort of died out while Cornell became steadily more
dominant.  By the mid point of the period Cornell was playing at a furious
pace and looked more like a team trying to tie up the game with the goalie
pulled in the final minute but while using all 4 lines.   Niagara goalie
Rob Bonk was making more difficult saves but never seemed to be
rattled.  Finally with 3 minutes left Mike Knoepfli scored on a perfect
pass from Krzysztof Wieckowski.  Again the score came on a rushing
situation but in this case Wieckowski turned what was a 3 on 3 to scoring
opportunity by skating past two defenders and taking the remaining defense
and the goalie to his right before passing back to the slot where Knoepfli
had nothing but net to shoot at.   Wieckowski had a very similar play to
this just moments earlier but Bonk was able to get back in position better
and Knoepfli missed the shot.  In the final minute with the goalie out
Niagara actually set up one play for a good shot but the shooter just could
not convert.

US under 18 Team  Saturday 12/8

I was interested to see what this would be like.  Most of the US players
will be Div. 1 players next year and probably most will be highly sought
after recruits.  They had played close games with other Div. 1 teams and
seemed like they would be a competitive foe.   The USCHO game recap says
"Although Team USA was clearly outmatched and outsized, the exhibition game
was closer than the score would suggest"  The reporter has the outmatched
thing right but this game was not close.  The US team has excellent team
speed and good height but they are lighter than older players of the same
stature.  They had excellent goaltending as would be expected and I think
their defenders are developmentally ahead of the wings.  They also like to
hit and mix it up but occasionally got a little hot headed and certainly
seemed to try provoke a reaction from the Cornell players.

Basically  the US team could not rush the puck against Cornell.  Unlike
Niagara they had an offensive concept but the Cornell defense consistently
took the puck away from them in the neutral zone or at the blue line.  It
was as if Cornell was quicker than any team they had ever played and they
could not adjust to it.  Cornell had a typical slow start and did not
generate a lot of offense in the first period but they really poured it on
for the 2nd & 3rd to outshoot the US team 37-12.  By the midpoint of the
second period speed, quickness and strength was taking its toll and the US
players were returning to the bench looking worn down.  The first goal from
Palahicky was generated on a rushing situation and the second goal from
Murray was from a set up situation moving the puck in the offensive
zone.  I think Cornell was on the verge of blowing the game open but the US
Team recovered a bit and kept the lid on for the first half of the third
period with good defense and goaltending.  At the mid point of the 3rd
period they took their 3rd penalty and Cornell scored like I expected since
we score on about one third of our power plays.  The score came from Mark
McRae moving in from the right point.  We scored again about 3 minutes
later and clearly ratcheted the intensity down even using players not
normally on the power play for two late power plays.

--Steve