'05-'06 Hockey Schedule

Since the last schedule thread had 150 posts, I thought it was time to start a new one. Changes from the last schedule include the dates of the Florida Tournament, original Fri.-Sat. on the Cornell tentative schedule and Thurs.-Fri. on other teams' schedules - now Tues.-Wed. (I verified this on the arena website). Also the first round opponent, Northeastern, is based on the UMD and Maine sites both showing a UMD-Maine matchup. This makes sense too, as Maine wouldn't play NE in the first round, and since we played Maine last year, this maximizes the chance for meeting "new" opponents. I'm sure Maine didn't want to possibly play just Cornell and Northeastern, and it gives us a chance to meet both infrequently played Northeastern and UMD.

	'05-'06 Cornell Men's Hockey Schedule (Updated but still Tentative)

Sat	10/15/05	Exhibition	Red and White
Fri	10/21/05	Exhibition	U.S. National Team
Fri	10/28/05		Michigan State (nc)
Sat	10/29/05		Michigan State (nc)
Fri	11/04/05		@ Yale
Sat	11/05/05		@ Brown
Fri	11/11/05		@ Harvard
Sat	11/12/05		@ Dartmouth
Fri	11/18/05		Union
Sat	11/19/05		Rensselaer
Fri	11/26/05		Niagara (nc)
Sat	11/27/05		@ Niagara (nc)  at Roch.
Fri	12/02/05		Princeton
Sat	12/03/05		Quinnipiac
Tu	12/27/05	Florida Tournament (Northeastern)
W	12/28/05	Florida Tournament (UMD or Maine)
Sat	01/07/06		RIT (nc)
Fri	01/13/06		@ Quinnipiac
Sat	01/14/06		@ Princeton
Fri	01/20/06		St. Lawrence
Sat	01/21/06		Clarkson
Fri	01/27/06		Brown
Sat	01/28/06		Yale
Fri	02/03/06		Colgate
Sat	02/04/06		@ Colgate
Fri	02/10/06		@ Clarkson
Sat	02/11/06		@ St. Lawrence
Fri	02/17/06		Dartmouth
Sat	02/18/06		Harvard
Fri	02/24/06		@ Rensselaer
Sat	02/25/06		@ Union

	March
Fri.-Sun.	3-5	ECAC First Round Playoffs (best 2 of 3)
Fri.-Sun.	10-12	ECAC Quarter Final (best 2 of 3)
Fri	17	ECAC Semi-Final   Albany, NY
Sat	18	ECAC Consol./Championship
Fri./Sat.	24-25	NCAA 1st & 2nd round @ Worcester, Grand Forks
or Sat./Sun.  25-26                   @ Albany, Green Bay
	April
Th., Sat.	6, 8	Frozen Four at Milwaukee

Is it me or do we have fewer OOC games each year?

IIRC, we always have 7 nc games, 22 ECAC(HL) and the playoffs

It's just you. It's been 22 league and 7 OOC for a total of 29 every year since the 1995-96 season. It was between 3 and 5 games in the 15 years before that.

The number of games really isn't a problem. That number is right in line with WCHA and CCHA teams and will be pretty close to HEA now that they're up to 10 teams. The late start date probably has a lot more impact on scheduling tough OOC matchups.

it may seem like fewer since we play michigan state twice and niagara twice... that's four games right there. then there are the 2 florida games (can't wait!!!) and RIT. Not much diversity... but as keith mentioned, our late start doesn't help scheduling since most other leagues are into conference play by the first week of november.

rita

Games 5-15 of the ECAC schedule: 9 home and 2 away, with the road trip being Princeton/Quinnipiac. "Time to harvest yo' nuts, man."

[Q]KeithK Wrote: It's just you. It's been 22 league and 7 OOC for a total of 29 every year since the 1995-96 season. It was between 3 and 5 games in the 15 years before that.

The number of games really isn't a problem. That number is right in line with WCHA and CCHA teams and will be pretty close to HEA now that they're up to 10 teams. The late start date probably has a lot more impact on scheduling tough OOC matchups.[/q]Another problem is the quality of the OOC opponents. Victories against the likes of RIT and Niagara do not help a lot. Northeastern (game one of the Florida tourney) may not be a quality opponent, certainly not like BC was in Game One this past December. So an early season slip against Michigan State (anything other than two wins) -- no matter how well we fare in the ECAC season and postseason -- could flip us around in bracketing and we wind up as a No. 2 NCAA regional seed somewhere a long way away on a rink wider than it is long.

Could we have as few as three quality OOC games: MSU, MSU, and Florida Game Two?

I'm glad the return game with Niagara is in Rochester instead of Buffalo. That should be a fun trip and there's a chance BCA sells out -- not quite as big a deal as playing RIT would be (for the locals), but it'll be interesting to see if Rochester hockey fans turn out.

Hint: Get there early and have lunch/dinner at the Dinosaur BBQ. It's in a renovated train station overlooking the Genesee River, just a couple of blocks from the Arena.

[Q]ithacat Wrote:
Hint: Get there early and have lunch/dinner at the Dinosaur BBQ. It's in a renovated train station overlooking the Genesee River, just a couple of blocks from the Arena.[/q]

Well, Dinosaur is more of a Syracuse thing. If you're hardcore, you'll make your way to Nick Tahoe's on West Main for a garbage plate.

Mmmmmmmm, heart burn ...

[Q]billhoward Wrote:
So an early season slip against Michigan State (anything other than two wins) -- no matter how well we fare in the ECAC season and postseason -- could flip us around in bracketing and we wind up as a No. 2 NCAA regional seed somewhere a long way away on a rink wider than it is long.

Could we have as few as three quality OOC games: MSU, MSU, and Florida Game Two?
[/q]

We definitely have to be almost perfect next year to earn a #1 seed. Our non-conference schedule is just not very good - worse than this year with 2 Niagara + RIT. Our in-conference schedule will also be worse - Harvard looks to have a down year (bad for HE comparisons - they'll probably have at least 4 losses to HE teams) and we've replaced two games agaist recently decent UVM with Quinnipiac.

The good news, IIRC, is that all the regional sites next year are NHL size (Albany - check, Engelstad - check, Verizon - couldn't confirm, Resch Center - check). I'm predicting a 2 seed again next year - I just hope that the stars will align so that we'll need to stay East for the brackets to work out. The stars have to help us someday, right?

[q]Another problem is the quality of the OOC opponents.[/q]Yes, the OOC schedule strength could be better. My point was that the quality isn't really being driven by the number of games. If the Ivies upped their limit to 32 games, allowing 10 OOC, we'd be in the same boat (and maybe worse if we filled in with AH or CHA games). Being able to play games in October when other teams are playing non-conf games would make it much easier to get a good slate of games, even if we stayed at 29 total.

There's also the reciprocity thing, but we've beaten that to death too recently.

[Q]KP '06 Wrote:
If you're hardcore, you'll make your way to Nick Tahoe's on West Main for a garbage plate.
Mmmmmmmm, heart burn ...[/q]

if you do this you should know you'll be putting your life in danger ... and i'm not just talking about eating the food

[Q]KP '06 Wrote:

ithacat Wrote:
Hint: Get there early and have lunch/dinner at the Dinosaur BBQ. It's in a renovated train station overlooking the Genesee River, just a couple of blocks from the Arena.[/Q]
Well, Dinosaur is more of a Syracuse thing. If you're hardcore, you'll make your way to Nick Tahoe's on West Main for a garbage plate.

Mmmmmmmm, heart burn ...[/q]

Shaylor's is better and Fairport sucks