Cornell Hockey Mid-Season Grades

Now that the hockey team has recovered from its horrendous Sunshine State performance by winning big in New Hampshire, I'm not quite so "down" on this team. This more level-headed mindset makes it a good time to do some mid-season grading. Players are listed in alphabetical order, grouped by position.

Forwards:

Erik Axell - B
Axell's got some size at 6-4, and with some practice he can develop into a solid checking-line player. He's been platooning with Nicholls, but at this point Nicholls is the more effective player. Axell came in as the least heralded of the three freshmen who played together on St. Michael's, and he's at least met expectations.

Sean Collins - B+
Collins scored his third goal of the season at UNH, and it turned out to be the game-winner. As long as Blake Gallagher and Riley Nash are still on the team (i.e. rest of this year), Collins will play on the third line. With his size and occasional offensive flair, I thought at the beginning of last year that he might develop into a Colin Greening-like physical player. Hopefully he'll develop enough to be a solid top-line center next season.

Joe Devin - A
Third on the team with 14 points, including two game winning goals. It's not clear how much of this is due to line mates Greening and Gallagher boosting his point total, and how much is due to his own improvement. To Devin's credit, he's also stayed out of the penalty box. With Gallagher, Greening, and Nash (likely) gone next year, he'll lead the team in goals.

John Esposito - C
A factor in the Riley Nash conundrum, Esposito is showing a Tony Romano-like stubbornness at understanding what he's expected to do with the puck. I don't know how many times I've seen Esposito take the puck over the blue line, try some stupid spin move to get around the two defenders parked between him and the net, and lose the puck. He's fast, but looks smaller than his listed 5-10. Yes, yes, he's only a freshman, but it's never too early to start improving. Schafer has tried him on the checking line a couple of times, but I don't think that's a good fit.

Blake Gallagher - A+
Okay, so he's cooled off a bit in recent games, but his torrid start is the main reason why Cornell was ranked No. 4 in last week's poll. Eleven goals this season, including seven on the powerplay. Greening led last year's team with 15 goals. Barring injury, Gallagher should eclipse that mark in February.

Colin Greening - A-
He's the most dominant player on the ice and his 6-13-19 line shows that he's had a hand in around 40 percent of the team's goals this year. He works hard, can do amazing things like score that solo goal against Princeton, and tires out opposing defenses. But that idiotic hit from behind against Quinnipiac, which resulted in Greening's ejection from a huge game in the first period, is inexcusable for a team captain. That's why he gets the minus from me.

Locke Jillson - B-
Someone else who hasn't quite developed into the offensive player he could be. One goal in 30 games last year, and one goal in 13 games this year. Maybe Schafer will figure out a player or two with whom Locke plays well, and his production will go up. Nice goal against BU. Perhaps things are looking up; someone on eLynah said after the UNH game "I thought Jillson had the best game of his Cornell career today. He made a number of excellent passes, and finally seemed to be on the same page with Riley Nash."

Jordan Kary - Incomplete
Like Axell, Kary seems destined for a checking role. He's only played in five games this year, but he hits big and can get the crowd fired up. Perhaps he can be groomed into a penalty killer to replace Scali for next year.

Patrick Kennedy - B-
Looked great at the start of the year, got injured at Yale, and hasn't seemed the same since. He's coupled undisciplined play (10 minors) with limited offense (5 points in 13 games). For someone who's seeing a lot of ice time with Riley Nash, he should be generating more offense. And stop mouthing off every time the whistle blows.

Vince Mihalek - Incomplete
The only American among the freshmen hasn't seen any ice time.

Greg Miller - A-
Perhaps the happiest surprise among the newcomers, Miller has played in every game this season. He might not be the answer to the question of who's going to play with Riley Nash, but he's shown some offensive flair and will only get better as the season progresses.

Chris Moulson - Incomplete
Unfortunately for Chris, Lynah will never know him as anything other than Matt's brother unless Schafer gives him some ice time.

Riley Nash - C+
I'm basing this grade on expectations. First-round NHL draft pick Riley took forever to get his first goal of the season, penalties are up, and he doesn't seem to have improved since last year. Good news: he's still tallied 13 points, and there's plenty of time for him to get going. Can someone please make Nash practice some two-on-ones?

Dan Nicholls - B+
Your typical checking line Big Red hockey player, Nicholls hasn't quite earned himself a starting job. He's played in about half of the games, and needs to stay out of the box a bit more (6 minors in 8 games). Remember that time Nicholls scored two goals at Dartmouth?

Tyler Roeszler - C-
Like Jillson, he makes you scratch your head. Why the lack of production? Roeszler has one goal in 40 career games, and none this season. He scored the first two goals against Windsor in the first exhibition game, but hasn't found the net since. Undersized Cornellians like Topher Scott, Even Barlow, and Gallagher managed to figure out ways to create offense; it's puzzling why Roeszler hasn't progressed much. Not sure what his faceoff numbers are, but that shouldn't be enough to keep him in the lineup.

Joe Scali - A
Scali is the kind of player you need to win championships. He works hard to kill penalties, seems to love forechecking, and has found a way to get a little offense (3 G) this year.

Defensemen:

Braden Birch - B+
Birch showed off his speed during the Red-White scrimmage, and I thought that might help on breakout plays, but he seems to be focusing more on positioning and solid defense than offense this season. His line with Krueger has been solid, and he should be a pretty reliable defenseman in a year or two.

Nick D'Agostino - A-
I like this guy. Leads all freshmen with 7 points, and like Birch, he'll only get better.

Mike Devin - B+
Still too many giveaways and blue line bobbles. His shot from the point seems more accurate this year.

Justin Krueger - A
Especially in light of the next guy, it's important to consider how much Krueger has improved since his freshman year. He's reliable, and has played in more games than everyone except Greening. He knows the Cornell style and works well within it.

Brendon Nash - D
Tied for the team lead (with brother Riley) with 11 minor penalties. He goes to the box at the worst times (start of the period, end of the period-BU!!!), and it's usually because he lets guys get past him. Nash gets tons of ice time and starts every game he plays, but it's not clear why. Good for Schafer for benching him after the BU game. No noticeable improvement since 2006. Every time he's on the ice for a Cornell goal, regardless of who scored it, he goes first in the fist-pounding line. Sometimes I think I'm too hard on him this year. When he scores an own goal against BU... when he makes error after error at Yale... when he abandons the puck in front of our net against Colorado College... when he sets the tone for an abysmal Florida weekend by going to the box 44 seconds into the first game... (the following night he waited almost 14 minutes before going to the penalty box)... is it just that I'm looking for reasons to criticize him? Or is he really this bad?

Keir Ross - B+
It seems like Schafer prefers putting Whitney out there with B. Nash; looks like a wash to me, except that Ross makes fewer mistakes.

Jarred Seymour - Incomplete
I believe he's been injured for the whole season, or at least he was earlier in the fall.

Sean Whitney - B+
Playing on the dream team defensive line with Nash. Whitney has seemed more confident handling the puck this year; unlike his line-mate, he hardly ever commits penalties.

Goalies:

Mike Garman - Incomplete
Assuming Andy Iles comes in 2011, Garman will have one year as the starting goalie. Hopefully, when he committed to Cornell, he knew that Schafer doesn't like to give backup goalies ice time just for the sake of keeping them fresh.

Omar Kanji - Incomplete
Following the proud tradition of Louis Chabot and Dan DiLeo, Kanji will play a few minutes during his senior night in March 2013, assuming Cornell has a three-goal lead late in the third period.

Ben Scrivens - A
He still has plenty of detractors in the fan community ("Sievens"), but he's turning in a solid Cornell career. He's not as technically sound as Leneveu, and his numbers (and the team in front of him) aren't as good as McKee's era, but he's kept the team in a lot of games by making some big saves when the defense collapses. His job is more difficult than Leneveu's or McKee's; he faces more shots, and better shots. His positioning has improved, and he doesn't leave the net as often as he used to. He's let in some weak goals, especially from the blue line against Yale and BU, but he hasn't needed to be pulled in any game. Hopefully he'll avoid the second-half struggles which destroyed any hope of consideration for the Hobey Baker last year. With mediocre results so far, Cornell can't afford another late-season slide. Scrivens's numbers this season aren't good enough for Hobey hype (.923 2.20, 8-4-2, 1 SO), so maybe that will take some pressure off his shoulder pads.

Coach Mike Schafer '86 - B
The team, with National Championship potential, has only won eight of fourteen games. Schafer hasn't figured out a good fit for Riley Nash, and sometimes seems desperate to find working lines (Scali with Riley Nash? Really?). The team is undisciplined, and it's costing them games. Except for brief stretches, the players looked slow and unmotivated in Florida. The powerplay hasn't developed a good third option (besides shot from the point and Gallagher one-timer from the left side), and that might explain its recent troubles. Schafer broke his wrist pounding a wall after the BU game; on the ice that night, the team settled for a tie because the offense disappeared in the third period. Recruiting is good, but that's not really his department. Still, the team has avoided losing any ECAC games to bad teams, and they have maybe a 1-in-3 chance to make the NCAA tournament. We'll see whether he can pull out a nice stretch run, or if the season will end as a bust.