Cornell vs. UNH scores and updates- spoilers inside

You don't have to pay dues to criticize a hockey team; you just have to know what you're talking about (not that Avash does or doesn't).

In any case, at the rink, it was generally agreed among the fans to whom I spoke that while it may have been a bad break that the goal was waved off, the real impact was the long delay. Someone mentioned it was five minutes, but at the rink it seemed like 20. Prior to the delay, Cornell dominated play, so much so that the Maine fans I was sitting near were gasping with appreciation at the puckhandling and physical game we were playing. In fact, right before the non-goal, one of them said to me "I bet you couldn't be more happy with how things have gone so far".

The waving-off took some of the wind out of our sails, but more importantly, it was like an extended timeout for Umile to regroup his team. And credit to him and his players for taking advantage of the delay.

There were some other bad calls (both ways, although the calls against Cornell seemed inevitably to lead to goals or scoring chances for UNH), but to say we were robbed is unfair. Although not as powerful as last year, UNH is still a top team and just like last year, we showed we could play with them. But the time for moral victories is past and the fact remains that we did not play our best game (other than in the opening of the first period), although some of that has to be credited to UNH which played a good defensive game. Nevertheless, we had some good scoring chances and one or two of those could have turned the result around.

Many alums have lived through this before, although on a less-grand stage. The ECACs in '89-'92 (and the NCAAs in '91) were full of games where it seemed like we were inches away from taking that next step and due to one thing or another, we just couldn't get it done. The fans went home frustrated, just like last year in the NCAA quarterfinals and yesterday in the NCAA semis. And so, for me, yesterday was like a flashback to those ECAC games in Boston Garden.

Just as in the past, we feel bad for ourselves and bad for the seniors who will never have a chance to take that next step. And we worry about next season and the seasons after that and wonder if Cornell will be able to make it back this far, so they again have the chance to take that next step. But in wondering that, it's important to remember the effort it took to make it this far this year, and to appreciate it.

And I also agree with what Ninian '72 wrote, about how games this time of the year are inevitably going to be close.



Post Edited (04-11-03 10:16)

What irritated me (sitting at home in Colorado watching the game, so who am I to cast stones?) wasn't the play on ice, but our FANS.

We can't change our team, but we can change ourselves. Us Lynah Faithful need to yell loud when we're up. But we frickin' need to yell and cheer LOUDER when we're down. We need to support our team even more then. Of course it's tough in an arena where the Faithful are all spread out, but us fans have to overcome a little adversity too and just YELL YELL YELL and support our team. We are the Lynah ***FAITHFUL***

I am beyond grateful for the effort the '03 team put in. You saw the best season ever by a college goaltender this year, and I hope when tempers cool you'll remember that. What I saw in this game was a Cornell team that played hard, made one or two mistakes, and didn't have the bounces go their way. We've won a few down the stretch by being on the lucky side of those bounces. Not Thursday. Oh, well, it doesn't take anything away from our marvelous players and hard-working coaches.

THANK YOU SENIORS! THANK YOU SCHAFER! THANK YOU LENEVEU!

Tom: There were numerous chants of "Let's Go Red" when we were down. Perhaps they were hard to hear because the fans were so spread out, making the cheers sound sporadic. And, quite frankly, the fans were "tight" -- it was indeed a very tense game to watch. This phenomenom has happened many times in past neutral-site games. It's easier to overcome that feeling when we all sit together and cheers can be coordinated.

Maybe we should adopt the English soccer fan approach (singing throughout the game, not rioting in the stands).

Yeah Tom I agree. I did not hear a peep out of the fans at all the entire game, and I was shocked. During the second game, both sides never kept their mouth shut.

Were the Faithful in attendance quieted significantly because UNH jumped out to that 3-0 lead?



Post Edited (04-11-03 12:06)

I think a couple things probably lead to the Faithful sounding quieter than usual (and I'll post this since I was there and was actually surprised that we sounded quieter than the second game, on TV).

- Having our fan base spread out probably didn't help things any in a 19,000 seat arena. Additionaly, the areas where our fans were concentrated were made up of the, um, not so exuberant or cheer-knowledgable Faithful. Though I do have to say I was pretty happy to see Hunter Rawlings amongst them.

- The bands had microphones on them. Especially in Michigan's case, the bands were leading the cheers, which probably caused them to sound overly loud. In my opinion, the cheers were so long and complicated that it just sounded like a sea of mumbling by the end of them. By the way, our band was so much better than either of these two teams! They defintely sounded more like drum and buggle groups than pep bands. Play something!!! (no offense, I give them props for effort) And Minnesota's band needed to remember that they had cheerleaders to dance for them.

- As the game became more and more of a nail-biter, it was really hard to concentrate on cheering the Red on, unforunately. We'd start a cheer and then it would trail off as we got totaly distracted by the intensity on the ice.

Overall, I was pretty happy with our turn-out given the circumstances. I think we made a pretty good showing against the UNH fans. It was pretty tough seeing buses of them arrive (buses you know were arranged for them) and head up to their free buffet breakfast and rally Thursday morning in the lobby of the arena. The Faithful did pretty good for being on their own.

Kate

I have to say that the section I was sitting in (which had a number of Golpher fans, was pretty loud. However, the Glass is much Higher and I think that some of the sound dissapated to the very high ceiling. I certainly felt that
I nearly lost my voice cheering. I was at the second game and while the
section I sat in (again next to the "real" gopher) was pretty loud, I'm
not sure how they sounded through out the entire arena. Also, since the
team (Cornell) skated off ice immediately after they shook hands, we (the fans) were not able to give them a big cheer at the end.

In a way, I was lucky that I couldn't make the game since I'm sure it hurt more to have to watch the loss in person...but regarding the fans, I must say I thought they were pretty loud when I was listening to the radio. On E$PN I think they had the crowd noise "dimmed".
[Q] Author: CUlater '89
Date: 04-11-03 11:14 And, quite frankly, the fans were "tight" -- [/Q]
Yup. Pictures are worth a thousand words because, after the first UNH goal, every time they panned to the crowd as they headed into a commercial, the CU fans looked pretty shook up.

A lot of you are correct about different things. I think we can all agree that Palahicky's goal should have counted. We also would have liked to see Cornell keep up the intensity after it was disallowed, but you have to remember that a big part of our game is wearing the other team down, and UNH got a 10-minute break while the goal was being reviewed.

For those of you who insist on trashing the seniors and, of all people, David LeNeveu, get a grip. LeNeveu is the best thing that's happened to CU hockey in a long time. When was the last time another Cornell player shattered national records? Please don't convince him to leave for the pros, because he has proven that he's good enough. As for the Class of '03, yeah, it was a crappy way for them to go out. Still, they led the team to an ECAC Championship and a national semifinal appearance, which is better than any of the other senior classes for 23 years.

Finally, they played a pretty good game. But for a couple of dumb calls (the disallowed goal, the absurd goalie interference penalty on Moulson) and Ayers' facemask save w/ 20 seconds left, they may well have collected their 31st win (oh look, another milestone) and gone on to the final. Great season, Red, and thank you seniors!

PS- Don't EVER, EVER suggest that the players were doing anything less than playing their hearts out and trying the best they could.

Is it la-Neh-vue or Lena-vue?

Barbara wrote:
Also, since the
team (Cornell) skated off ice immediately after they shook hands, we (the fans) were not able to give them a big cheer at the end.

The group of 8 or so that I was in (adjacent to and slightly lower than the UNH band) did do a "Thank you seniors" cheer, but it got sort of drowned out as the Wildcats were celebrating at center ice.

the first one, with the emphasis on "Neh."

LeNeveu, by the way, means "The Nephew" in French. I'm sure that's been mentioned before though, and note how we would not emphasize the "The", but we would emphasize the "Neph" syllable. The pronunciation of David's name follows the same pattern.

The NEPH you

La NEV oo

I think that analysis made sense