Cornell Hockey In 2009-2010

I know, I know, all I blog about is hockey. And the season's been over for a couple of weeks. Still, people are starting to look ahead to next year.

There's a discussion about this over at eLynah. The most insightful comment so far:

I think that (depending on how Sean Whitney progresses over the summer) one or both of Braden Birch and Nick D'Agostino have the potential to be impact defensemen from the beginning. John Esposito and Erik Axell could contribute about as much as Locke Jillson and Sean Collins did this year. Based on their junior stats it may take Vince Mihalek, Chris Moulson, and Jarred Seymour a little longer to adjust to the college game.

I think the team's success next year will be dependent on which players are able to elevate their game(s). Evan Barlow definitely did this this year, Blake Gallagher did too. I expect much bigger years from Sean Collins and Patrick Kennedy. Let's hope Patrick can duplicate his brother's sophomore->junior breakout!

The New England Hockey Journal (of all places) labels Cornell the team to beat for next year:

If you have to handicap the 2009-10 ECAC Hockey season, it’s hard to pick against Cornell.

Despite losing some key players, including NCAA tournament hero Evan Barlow and forward Michael Kennedy, the Big Red remain almost entirely intact.

Ithaca Journal beat writer Brandon Thomas has an must-read recap of the season in today's paper, with a small glance towards next year:

On paper, this wasn't supposed to be the Big Red's apex -- the 2009-10 season is. If nobody leaves the team prematurely, Cornell will return its three leading and six of its top eight scorers (Riley Nash, Greening, Gallagher, Brendon Nash, Joe Devin and Mike Devin) and Scrivens, the starting goalie.

Of course that's not to suggest that there aren't areas that need improvement -- and they're not news to anyone. Scrivens will need to prove he can make the dramatic save at a game's pivotal moment all year instead of just the first 15 games. The defense needs to continue its improved puck movement. And the forwards will need to be even more opportunistic on their scoring chances.

What no one wants to mention is the possibility of Riley Nash or Colin Greening leaving early to turn pro. If one of them leaves, Cornell scores 10-15 fewer goals next season and has a lot less offensive clout. If both leave, Cornell loses (with the graduation of Michael Kennedy) its top three offensive players and seems destined to a middle of the pack finish in the ECAC.

Let's be optimistic and assume that Nash and Greening stay. On paper, then, next year's team will be better. But can they play better? I would love to see current freshman Mike Garman or incoming freshman Omar Kanji give Scrivens a run for the starting goaltender job. At the very least, it will push them all to play better. The defensive corps will still be a little thin, so we have to hope Justin Krueger and Brendon Nash continue to improve while everyone stays healthy. With Greening and Nash, I'm actually not too concerned about the offense. I just hope Schafer puts those two on the same line, since splitting them up down the stretch undoubtedly cost us some offense.

With everyone back, and healthy, we should be the favorite to win the ECAC. However, we have a tough out of conference schedule to deal with. I'm sure these games will help the team prepare for the big games in the playoffs, but a few losses will push us into a bit of a hole. If we lose to BU over Thanksgiving, lose to Colorado College down in Florida, and split with North Dakota in January, we're looking at a possible losing record in OOC games, and probably a losing record against the top 25 teams in RPI (which is part of the criteria for the NCAA tournament selection process). I don't think we'll have the luxury (as we did this year) of a strong out of conference record to fall back on if we start struggling in the ECAC. Might be another one of those years where we have to make it to Albany and win a game to punch our ticket to NCAAs.

Or, I could be wrong, we could romp through the schedule and earn a #1 or #2 seed to the NCAA tournament. The two eastern regionals are in Albany and Worcester, which would both be fantastic places to play. Fort Wayne, Indiana (to face Notre Dame) or St. Paul, Minnesota (to face Minnesota) would be less appetizing for obvious reasons.

It's still early. I'll find out next year's captains on Friday, and hopefully we'll get some confirmation soon about Nash and Greening's intentions.