playoffs

I just read some scary entries. We're playing Yale unless the gods intervene.

Of all the teams we could play in the 2nd round:

Yale (2-0-0)
Union (0-1-1)
Clarkson (1-0-1)
SLU (2-0-0)
Vermont (2-0-0)

Our record against Union is the worst and we seemed to have the most trouble with them. Vermont has been pretty hot lately (except for their loss to Brown tonight). Of the remaining teams (Clarkson, SLU, Yale) I would have no problem with any of them.

Round One:

Princeton at RPI
Vermont at Harvard
SLU at Yale
Clarkson at Union


We play:

Vermont if both Vermont and Princeton win the first round.
SLU if SLU and exactly one of {Vermont, Princeton} wins.
Clarkson if Clarkson and exactly one of {Vermont, Princeton, SLU} wins.
Union if Union and exactly one of {Vermont, Princeton, SLU} wins.
Yale if RPI, Harvard, and Yale all win.



Post Edited (02-28-04 22:34)

What i was trying to say was yale is a good draw: and to once again refer to the PWR, it is a big market sham.

Indeed, there are a bunch of lowly ranked teams that gave Cornell a scare -- heck, beat Cornell -- during the season.

But turn the pairings around: Which of the top four ECAC teams do you think the survivors of the bottom eight would least like to play? The champion Colgate? Lost 4 of the last 5 or something like that Brown? Or runner-up Cornell?

You skate into Lynah, recent history seems to suggest you'll score 1 goal, which means to win you have to hold Cornell to, um, no goals. And so you have to ask yourself if you're a Yale or a Union, Am I feeling lucky tonight? And will I be lucky two nights out of three? The best 2 of 3 games plays into Cornell's strength.

Come NCAA time, I think the rest of the country feels the same way (being nervous matching up to the Red). Would UND or BC rather see Colgate, or Brown, or Cornell be the ECAC representative? 2003 was Cornell's year to go all the way (why do we always get seeded against UNH?), not this year. But this could be Cornell's spoiler year. I think BC knows it could take Colgate. Could BC definitely take Cornell? What team outside the Top Fifteen would you least like to play? Sound the cowbell.

I was looking over the pairwise a little bit. Would it be helpful to play say RPI in the quarters, then Brown in the semi and Colgate in the final? Assuming we lose to Colgate, would there be an outside chance of an at-large bid. All the teams are TUC's. It would likely help our standing.

I'm still hoping for the auto bid and to erase any need for the at-large.

At large bid for Cornell if it doesn't win the ECAC? Cornell lost too many shoulda-beat-the-bottom-feeders games to get at-large sympathy from the NCAA. Of course, most were early in the sesason. Had it won the last eight in a row going into the playoffs that would have turned heads, for it meant Cornell hadn't lost since January. The 3-0 Union loss broke the streak and said, "Even now, once in a while, Cornell still can't find the net when it counts."

[Q]Would it be helpful to play say RPI in the quarters[/Q]


Not possible, since we play the 2nd worst team coming out of the first round, and RPI, if they to win, would automatically play at Dartmouth no matter what.



Post Edited (03-01-04 19:01)

Bill Howard wrote:

At large bid for Cornell if it doesn't win the ECAC? Cornell lost too many shoulda-beat-the-bottom-feeders games to get at-large sympathy from the NCAA.

Fortunately, sympathy is not one of the NCAA's selection criteria.

[www.uscho.com]



Post Edited (03-01-04 19:29)

Chris '02 wrote
[q]Would it be helpful to play say RPI in the quarters[/q]

Avash '05 wrote
[q]
Not possible, since we play the 2nd worst team coming out of the first round, and RPI, if they to win, would automatically play at Dartmouth no matter what[/q]

Duh...I should have been paying more attention here since in the 2nd post to this thread above I wrote:
[q]Of all the teams we could play in the 2nd round:

Yale (2-0-0)
Union (0-1-1)
Clarkson (1-0-1)
SLU (2-0-0)
Vermont (2-0-0)
[/q]

Bill Howard wrote:
And so you have to ask yourself if you're a Yale or a Union, Am I feeling lucky tonight? And will I be lucky two nights out of three?

"You've got to ask yourself one question. 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

Yes, that would be the literary allusion.

Perhaps a more important stat for the discussion is what the home team records are against their opponents. At least, I thought it would be interesting.

Princeton at RPI (2-0)
Vermont at Harvard (1-1)
SLU at Yale (2-0)
Clarkson at Union (1-1)

All it really tells us is that Harvard's the only team to have lost at home this year to their respective opponent.

In other words, don't hold your breath for an upset, though Vermont's done it what, 2 or 3 times recently? I'd pick 'em (if anybody) to do it again.

Chips '03 wrote:
In other words, don't hold your breath for an upset, though Vermont's done it what, 2 or 3 times recently? I'd pick 'em (if anybody) to do it again.

Yale's ripe for the picking, IMHO. Under Taylor, they've always underachieved in the postseason, and they go into the tournament on a seven-out-of-eight-game losing streak. SLU, as the #10 seed, came within a Ray Giroux last-minute miracle or two of knocking off #1 Yale in 1998.

So... assuming I make it out of rehearsal (at Yale Rep) in time and the game isn't sold out.... who should I route for? Yale or SLU(t)?

The one opponent I'd like Cornell to avoid in the quarters is Union, and we play them if exactly one of Yale, Harvard and RPI gets upset. So I plan to root for Clarkson over Union (which I'm happy to do on general principles anyway) and for all the other favorites as insurance. Of course, this will change if another upset has already happened.