Box scores and lineups have already been posted, so I'll just confine
myself to some random thoughts...
 
As has been pointed out by everyone else, it was a big surprise for me
to see the Red skating the puck on offense as much as they did.  For
those of use used to the dump-and-chase-and-rely-on-the-goalie play of the
last few years, it was a breath of fresh air.
 
The power play looked, in general, as anemic as it did last season.  Only
rarely were the Red able to get any sort of consistant rhythm or setup going.
More often, the harassment in the Cornell zone by the Waterloo forwards
resulted an a lot of skating in circles.
 
I was very impressed with the play of the second line, particularly freshman
Scollan.  His pass to Hannah for the 7th (?) goal was a thing of beauty.
 
P.C. Drouin, the freshman first-line winger, also played well.  He forechecked
consistantly, something noticably lacking from the game on both sides, and
mostly stayed out of Hughes' way.
 
The Faithful seemed unusually quiet through much of the game.  Perhaps it was
due to the exhibition game.  Several times in the third period, Hughes and
Vogel banged on the boards housing the Cornell bench to try to rally the
crowd a bit.  It never really seemed to work.
 
Waterloo changed goalies in the 2nd -- Shane Mitchell (?) came in and
allowed 5 goals.  Starter James Organ was back in the 3rd, much to the
delight of the Faithful making fun of his name.  I thought the goaltender
play on both sides was ragged throughout.  Even though Banderski allowed only
one goal after the 1st, it made me quite nervous to see him flopping and
coming out after the puck, given the slow and relatively small Cornell
defensemen.
 
Banderski is really going to have to prove himself to the fans, who
normally *worship* Red goalies during the game.  His giving up the two
early goals scared the fans a little, who haven't seen much of him.  I
think it will be interesting to see if the "Faithful" turn on him if
he continues to play like he did in the 1st.
 
Eric
----
Eric Scheirer - Sun Undergrad Lab Consultant - [log in to unmask]
 
Any opinions expressed above are mine alone, and are not intended to
represent views of the Cornell CS Dept, or Cornell Information Technologies --
I don't even work for CIT!