2006 TBRW Awards

[gregberge.blogspot.com]

I'm having trouble with the web site itself, so in the meantime, it's the latest blog entry.

This season marks a hyphenation of the TBRW awards, initially named after the members of the mid-80's teams of my bright college days. The new award names honor members of the recent Renaissance which, under the able direction of Mike Schafer, has restored the Big Red to regular NCAA contention.

Ordinarily these would debut on the Award page itself, but I'm currently having problems reaching the site, with it having just been moved to new servers. So, a little cross-marketing is a necessity.

Duane Moeser-Matt Moulson Award, Leading Point Scorer.
Matt Moulson (18-20-38), for the third straight season. For his consistent productivity, Moulson gains not only the award, but a share of its name.

Chris Norton-Mark McRae Award, Leading Scorer, Defensemen.
Ryan O'Byrne (7-6-13) and Sasha Pokulok (4-9-13) tie in scoring from the blue line and share this award.

Brian Hayward-David LeNeveu Award, Leading Goaltender.
David McKee (22-9-4, 2.08, .910) completes his outstanding career with numbers that only his 2004-05 performance could overshadow.

Peter Natyshak-Sam Paolini Award, Career Improvement.
Daniel Pegoraro. Pegs spent his first two seasons out of shape and in hot water. His growth in character and, secondarily, performance, is one of the most remarkable transformations of this or any era of Cornell hockey. In any other year, Mark McCutcheon's rise from obscurity to #3 goal scorer on the team would have locked up the PNSP. But Pegs' tremendous and, presumably, difficult personal journey is hereby recognized.

Randy MacFarlane Award, Transcendent Beauty and Skating Prowess.
Mark McCutcheon. On a team of muckers and plumbers, McCutcheon turned in several of the prettiest goals of the season.

Dave Shippel-Greg Hornby Award, Scrappiness and Effort.
Topher Scott. Scott followed up the welcome impression of his first season with another full year of hard work, routinely taking on and beating opponents considerably taller and stronger than he. Scott's award is all the more impressive given that virtually every member of this team could be said to personify the award's characteristics.

Terry Gage Award, Determination in a Supporting Role.
Mitch Carefoot. Carefoot's hustle and selfless effort perfectly represent the standard of prior winners of my favorite award.

Mike Schafer-Stephen Bâby Award, Leadership and Passion.
Chris Abbott. Abbott's leadership of the team was never more obvious than when he, and thus it, were absent, in the ECAC Final against Harvard. His return keyed the emotional and physical re-emergence of Cornell in the NCAA playoffs, which ratified this season as a success.

Belanger-Murphy Award (a.k.a., "The Pierre", Most Loathed Referee.
Peter Feola. Wrong place, wrong time? Maybe, but Feola was so often the object of the crowd's (and the analysts') disenchantment that it no longer seems to be a coincidence.

The award gets a non-disambiguous "Murphy" sobriquet to honor the whole clan of inept referees.

John Carter-Dominic Moore Award, Most Respected Opponent.
The Wisconsin Badgers. I've never chosen an entire team for an award, but this is more than a novelty pick. Cornell's six-period 1-0 loss to Wisconsin was not only the hallmark of this season, but in many ways (if a loss could ever be said to do so for such a successful period) of the first eleven years of the Schafer Era. Cornellians gained a second-favorite team, or at least a favorite western squad, in the wake of that contest, particularly in contrast to the bad taste that the 2005 Minnesota trip left for many. A class program, deserving of its 2006 national championship, and this unique recognition.

Kevan Melrose-Matt Nickerson Award (a.k.a., "The Clap", Least Respected
Opponent.
Bob Gaudet, Dartmouth (coach). This is as close to a Lifetime Achievement Award as the TBRW structure can accommodate. Gaudet's on- and off-ice personae are schizophrenic. In person, he's reported to be a charming, reasonable, respected guy. Behind the bench, his Brown and Dartmouth teams have marred the league with their chippy and undisciplined play, and Gaudet himself often appears to have less poise than Tom Cruise with a new booty call. Even this year, when Gaudet was arguably the best-qualified candidate for the ECAC COTY, "Badgering Bob" was up to his old shtick. Enough already!

Doug Dadswell-Ryan Vesce Award, Most Valuable Freshman.
Tyler Mugford and Jared Seminoff. Both frosh were impressive. Both played important, often subtle, roles in the team's success, especially when the defensive ranks were depleted by injury and illness during the latter third of the year. There is little to choose between them: both deserve recognition, and certainly neither deserves to be stiffed.

Joe Nieuwendyk-Doug Murray Award, Most Valuable Player.
Matt Moulson. Sometimes falsely maligned, often taken for granted, but always the guy who opposing coaches targeted as Cornell Enemy #1. Like Gary Cullen, Moulson continually foiled his detractors by doing the most important thing so well: he continued to produce goals and assists, often in key situations, despite being endlessly harried by opponents. His career-ending assist and goal fittingly contributed to two of the three Big Red goals during the Colorado College comeback.

In sum, it was the best of time, it was the worst of times, and happily, as Dickens was really saying, it was a time exactly like any other in that people caught up in the moment loudly insisted on the delusion of its exceptionalism. When the program has gotten to the point that being a hair-breadth from the Frozen Four elicits no more than a raised eyebrow of familiarity, we really have come a long way.

Trotsky
In sum, it was the best of time, it was the worst of times, and happily, as Dickens was really saying, it was a time exactly like any other in that people caught up in the moment loudly insisted on the delusion of its exceptionalism. When the program has gotten to the point that being a hair-breadth from the Frozen Four elicits no more than a raised eyebrow of familiarity, we really have come a long way.

Great job, Greg! Thanks!
Andy W.

Well done, Greg. Both choices and prose.

Bravo !

A great read !

What a season.