Congrats to the Big Red

Al, Jim, Arthur, Greg and the rest of Cornell Nation:

Congratulations on your weekend sweep of the Terriers. The Big Red are looking awfully good right now, and if you combine good team defense with good goaltending and good special teams, perhaps it's no mystery why the Terriers never were closer than 2 goals the entire weekend.

I expected more out of the Terriers, but truthfully, I thought with the game-to-game inconsistency they've shown, the best they could hope for was a 1-point weekend. Right now they're not playing good hockey at all, and perhaps this sweep will snap them back to reality and get them serious about salvaging the season. But, even if they do pick it up, the NCAAs may be a bridge too far.

I fully expect to see the Big Red skating in Providence or Worcester in the NCAAs at the end of March, fresh off ECAC regular season and postseason championships. And, if Cornell can improve just a bit on offense (in 5-on-5 situations) and not sacrifice anything on defense, I think you might have yourselves an HSBC Arena-bound squad.

Good luck down the stretch and have fun watching this Cornell team, which could go at least as far as your 1980 edition. Or, dare I say, your '67 and '70 teams?

I'm going to go read some clips from the '72 NCAAs and ECACs to get my mind off this f-ing weekend.

And congrats again on the terrific effort by your lads.

Wow.

Like I said last year, BU fans are the classiest group I've ever met (the faithful excluded of course). The insults always happen in the ice, and they should, but the BU fans I've met are one of few who keep it there.

I wish the Terriers the best of luck in the remainder of the season. Its far from over, and a perrenial power like BU won't be kept down for long.

In the same vein, after reading the many comments from Jack Parker on the uscho recaps, I have nothing but the highest respect for the legendary coach. I've been at all four BU-Cornell games these 2 seasons, and must say that I enjoyed the Parker-Schafer coaching matchups. Jack has been nothing but frank and honest in his answers to the media, giving his oppenent their due for one helluva weekend effort, knocking his boys for not stepping up to the challenge, and defusing most contraversy. Sounds like a shakeup in BU's lines is upcoming, and I agree with him that the only BU forwards who seemed to play with a fire this weekend were VanderGulik and Zancanaro (he may be a midget, but he's a fiesty, angry midget). In the rink, I got the impression that he likes that the students have fun at games. Unlike another Boston-area coach, Jack Parker handles himself in a very classy and unpretentious manner both in and out of the arena, and seems to demand a bit of humility and respect from his players. I can now see why he is so revered in New England.

[q]Unlike another Boston-area coach...[/q]

Rich, of whomsoever could you be speaking? Oh, I'll say it: that Bruce Crowder from Northeastern is one prissy little ninny.

We're seeing a pattern develop. The coaches and players of the teams the Red play have a lot of respect for Cornell. The rest of the hockey world remains highly skeptical that an ECAC upstart is all that.

Useful.

FWIW, "the rest of the hockey world" being skeptical of Cornell is not necessarily a bad thing. I have no problems with Cornell catching opponents off-guard, thus benefitting from their ignorance/arrogance.

I wonder if our position in the polls this week will reflect our wins this weekend. I'll go out on a limb and predict that we will remain at #7, but won't break into the top 6 in the uscho poll.

I'll agree with you on the poll. We probably will have narrowed down the point gap that existed. BC lost to Dartmouth, North Dakota won and tied, Denver and CC beat the crap out of Mercyhurst and Air Force, Maine only played once and beat Quinnipiac (a win that will no doubt woo the voters), etc... Beyond BC, no major upsets. I also think that we should be safe from being passed from behind wit hthe strength of the two wins we had this weekend.

-John

Eh, with our lousy luck, we'll probably slip down to #8 or something.

Parker first impressed me back in 1995, when he said he was pleased his 500th win came over a traditional rival like Cornell, especially after Doug Woog seemed unmoved that his 300th win came against Wisconsin.

Also, after the first game of last year's series, he expressed some displeasure that the Terriers' victory came as a result of Quinn's dubious call.

I agree that I don't see us moving up in the polls. We'll know in about an hour I guess. But check out where we ended up in the insidecollegehockey.com power rankings! #3!

1. Colorado College
2. Maine
3. Cornell
4. New Hampshire
5. Boston College
6. Denver
8. North Dakota
9. Ferris State
10. Miami
11. Harvard
12. Minnesota
13. Ohio State
14. Boston University
15. Massachusetts
16. Dartmouth

You've got to respect a man who says no to the Bruins, and wants to stay with the kids.

I also noted he lined up behind his players and participated in the handshake at the end of Sunday's game. That was pretty neat.

He seemed to pause with Marr longer than most of the other players... anyone have insight on that?

"Tell your dad to stop taking my goddam picture!"

Probably just knowing Marr from his days at Northeastern. Meeting during the HE regular season and Beanpot, Parker is probably familiar with Todd.