NCAA QF - Denver

Hoping no early defections for the next two years at keast

Heads should be held high as it was a real battle.
10 freshmen-the sky is the limit for the next few years.

They had no business being this good with 10 freshmen.

They had no business winning the ecac.

What an impressive season. Their poise in both regionals was amazing. They’ll be back and better next year.

(I’m crushed)

BMac
They had no business being this good with 10 freshmen.

They had no business winning the ecac.

What an impressive season. Their poise in both regionals was amazing. They’ll be back and better next year.

(I’m crushed)

All of this. Team played real well.

I blame the guy in the Braves hat and shirt directly behind the bench.

I also blame him for the coffeeshop in my town being closed on Sundays, Citi Field switching from Carvel to Mister Softee, and global warming.

chimpfood
He was dropping that stick on anything, bullshit.

Two dropped sticks this game cost us a chance.

The goal at the end of the 2nd will haunt me. Hate when when you’re so so close from escaping a dire situation and don’t.

The team played well. They weren’t supposed to get this far this year. Young team, great experience for them and us.

Draining.

scoop85
We had as good a look as you could want. Unbelievable save against Walsh. Unbelievable.

shades of the 2003 semi

hard-fought finish to a very weird year. postseason felt like house money tbh.

look at that attachment. that's how we played down the stretch of the season. then we caught a huge break by having SLU take out Quinny; our road to a conference title wasn't materially harder than RIT's.

but once we won that title? we played our asses off in back-to-back games against the NCAA's elite. took one off of Maine and scared the shit out of Denver. pity that they snuck one in at the end of the second because I think that goal gave them life. We had a few golden chances in the third but so did they and i think it was probably our worst period of the tournament. i don't meant that as a dig, though, given the level of play these two games.

I can't believe how much talent we have coming back. i don't know how we replace Seger but it's sort of thrilling that he's literally the only senior we have to replace. feels like we've got some good years coming.

scoop85

chimpfood
I would’ve let them score at the beginning of the powerplay to give us 2:30 to get 2 instead of :30 to get one. But idk we got a great chance and didn’t get it. So frustrating.

That’s nuts, sorry.

+1,000,000. think nuts is too soft of a word.

toddlose

scoop85

chimpfood
I would’ve let them score at the beginning of the powerplay to give us 2:30 to get 2 instead of :30 to get one. But idk we got a great chance and didn’t get it. So frustrating.

That’s nuts, sorry.

I’m going to go get a screen grab & gif of Schafer’s disbelief face ESPN caught after the slashing call for posts like that.

+1,000,000. think nuts is too soft of a word.

Sorry, but please spare me with how we had a great year, how we were playing with house money, how fortunate we were to get here, how good a team Denver is, how bright the future is. This isn’t intended as a snipe at the posters on here, all of whom I respect, with few exceptions, like blackwidow, who is a loser, and abmarks, who has been stalking me for several years now. It WAS a great year, we WERE playing with house money, we WERE fortunate to get here, Denver IS a good team, the future IS bright. So, I don’t disagree with any of that.

But…

The NCAA quarterfinals, like all hockey games, exists in a vacuum. It doesn’t matter how you got there, or how good your chance is of getting back there in the future. Once the puck drops, that all goes out the window. Cornell played very well, against one of the best teams in the country, but, for the sixth time in a row in this game, we lost. It’s crushing and gutting and I don’t care how likely we are to be in this spot again because today we WERE in this spot, with an amazing opportunity, and it didn’t happen. There are no guarantees in hockey. Nobody knows what the future holds. All we know for certain is what just happened, and It absolutely sucks.

That second goal completely changed the complexion of the game. I sure wish they could have killed off that :38 to get to the intermission tied. Shucks.

This was a team that a few weeks ago was looking at a pretty steep climb to this point. They played two full NCAA games like they belonged. I believe that they were in a winnable regional so it hurts pretty bad. While it’s the same result of falling short, it was incredible experience to have gained as they build back up to a number one seed type of team.

the penalty hurt

the penalty on denver at the start of the PP lead to goal but didnt get called.

we had more than enough chances.

Denver got away with the same stick call on the goal that led to the D playing with no stick.

The only loser is you Bearlover

Big Dingus
The only loser is you Bearlover

Okay, moron. You add literally nothing to this forum

I think it’s possible to take both perspectives into account, and I actually think that everyone who has been along for the ride for the season is feeling both proud of how far this team came and pissed that we missed another good chance at a frozen four. I have never seen Cornell in the frozen four so I don’t know what the highs feel like but I’m still broken over this game, mostly because I want Schafer to get back there so bad.

All and all, not bad for a rebuilding year! Thank you for an exciting season! Let’s Go Red!

scoop85

i don't know how we replace Seger.

With Castagna!

Tough loss. Great year with a lot of positives. There’ll be better days for this group

BearLover
The NCAA quarterfinals, like all hockey games, exists in a vacuum. It doesn’t matter how you got there, or how good your chance is of getting back there in the future. Once the puck drops, that all goes out the window. Cornell played very well, against one of the best teams in the country, but, for the sixth time in a row in this game, we lost. It’s crushing and gutting and I don’t care how likely we are to be in this spot again because today we WERE in this spot, with an amazing opportunity, and it didn’t happen. There are no guarantees in hockey. Nobody knows what the future holds. All we know for certain is what just happened, and It absolutely sucks.

brother, i'm 53. this part of me has been dead for so long i barely remember it.

Schafer has become a better coach with age. The team has become more consistent and dynamic over the past few years. COVID robbed us of a real shot at the championship, and the last 2 years were special circumstances, but we powered through.

I have high hopes for us.

Look, the only year we really blew it was 2018. Sure, we’ve had other years in white jerseys in the regional final, but that was luck. (And bad luck.) We’ve had two #1 seeds since the 16-team tournament came into being. We made it once; potzed out the other time. I’m unhappy with the results, but, other than 2018, I’m happy just to be in the position at all.

Union won it when they were a #1 seed; same with QU. Yale caught fire, but they had recently blown a top seed two years prior. That’s why you dominate all season instead of losing to some of the teams we lost to this year.

They’ve learned this, I hope. My wish for next year is that we go bell to bell in a much improved ECAC. I want that top seed again.

ugarte

BearLover
The NCAA quarterfinals, like all hockey games, exists in a vacuum. It doesn’t matter how you got there, or how good your chance is of getting back there in the future. Once the puck drops, that all goes out the window. Cornell played very well, against one of the best teams in the country, but, for the sixth time in a row in this game, we lost. It’s crushing and gutting and I don’t care how likely we are to be in this spot again because today we WERE in this spot, with an amazing opportunity, and it didn’t happen. There are no guarantees in hockey. Nobody knows what the future holds. All we know for certain is what just happened, and It absolutely sucks.

brother, i'm 53. this part of me has been dead for so long i barely remember it.

I'm a Mets fan. Sports can't kill me because I'm already dead.

I didn't want to say this til now for woofing purposes, but we lost to two good teams all season.

Sure, we lost to some teams we should've beat, but we went 22-7-6. That's really good!

Doesn't mean losing doesn't suck, but this was a really strong year.

Also, how did Shane put up a 1.70 or so GAA on only 3 shutouts.

My point isn’t that this was not a strong year. It was a great year. The ECAC championship was awesome. I will look back on it fondly for a long time. My point is that all of this is meaningless in the context of today’s game. These tropes make us feel better about the crushing loss, but they don’t mean it’s not a crushing loss. Like, we could tell ourselves it was a great year in one month, or yesterday, just as easily as we could tell ourselves this today. There’s a reason why we do it today.

BearLover
My point isn’t that this was not a strong year. It was a great year. The ECAC championship was awesome. I will look back on it fondly for a long time. My point is that all of this is meaningless in the context of today’s game. These tropes make us feel better about the crushing loss, but they don’t mean it’s not a crushing loss. Like, we could tell ourselves it was a great year in one month, or yesterday, just as easily as we could tell ourselves this today. There’s a reason why we do it today.

Let me tell ya I didn't say shit like this in 2003. In 2003 I thought we had the best team in the country and 10 bad minutes in the first period against a mid-New Hampshire team that everyone knew Minnesota would eat alive undid all of it. THAT was crushing.

I'm 100% sincere when I say that I thought that the season was as good as over before the ECAC tournament started and that's the context for how my brain has processed every win since the Union loss. Today was a bummer, but ... man. I just don't feel the pain here that I would have with a better team or a later lead. We were chasing the whole third period and that's just different from when you get your guts ripped out.

BearLover
Sorry, but please spare me with how we had a great year, how we were playing with house money, how fortunate we were to get here, how good a team Denver is, how bright the future is. This isn’t intended as a snipe at the posters on here, all of whom I respect, with few exceptions, like blackwidow, who is a loser, and abmarks, who has been stalking me for several years now. It WAS a great year, we WERE playing with house money, we WERE fortunate to get here, Denver IS a good team, the future IS bright. So, I don’t disagree with any of that.

But…

The NCAA quarterfinals, like all hockey games, exists in a vacuum. It doesn’t matter how you got there, or how good your chance is of getting back there in the future. Once the puck drops, that all goes out the window. Cornell played very well, against one of the best teams in the country, but, for the sixth time in a row in this game, we lost. It’s crushing and gutting and I don’t care how likely we are to be in this spot again because today we WERE in this spot, with an amazing opportunity, and it didn’t happen. There are no guarantees in hockey. Nobody knows what the future holds. All we know for certain is what just happened, and It absolutely sucks.

I can’t disagree with any of this.

I would recommend watching Schafer’s post game interview on YouTube to feel a little better.

chimpfood
I would recommend watching Schafer’s post game interview on YouTube to feel a little better.

Y’know, some posters might’ve included a link.

Beeeej

chimpfood
I would recommend watching Schafer’s post game interview on YouTube to feel a little better.

Y’know, some posters might’ve included a link.

https://youtu.be/8MeIj72hJAc?si=ROTRcnZZZnKDC6Y7 my b

I thought we acquitted ourselves well, but from my view in the stands, it certainly felt like Denver was the better and faster team. Their forecheck was awesome, and it seemed we never had any time or space. I'd be curious what the possession numbers looked like for the game. Good season though, and looking forward to the future.

Additional vent: the parking situation with the arena was awful. For Thursday's game, street parking was easy and plentiful, because it was a 2 hour limit but only until 6 PM. With a 4 PM puck drop today, it seemed everyone used the free MGM Casino lot. I patiently waited about 45 minutes to make it to the main exit ramp, and of course a [profanity redacted] driver behind me managed to rear-end me in what was essentially stopped traffic. I was ok with the brutal lacrosse loss, the end of the hockey season, but this felt like too much. What a bummer.

Pleas cry

I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

Big Dingus
Pleas cry

Buddy, your posting is so bad that you make ME look good

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

I would agree with you if all the things you’re saying had been true for a while, but this is the first year that we have been super young and losing so few seniors in a while. We have been excited for the future for different reasons over the past few years and I would argue that being one of the last 8 teams standing 2 years in a row is plenty enough to have satisfied previous expectations.

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

We just won the league for the first time in 14 years you moron

Le Sigh.

Big Dingus

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

We just won the league for the first time in 14 years you moron

Ya I said like fifteen times on this forum how great that was

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

And yeah, there's a lot of optimism and talk about the future. But for a year after we lost a lot of big pieces, I'll take this year. It's less frustrating than last year for me. Partially cause we won the conference, and partially cause we really did look good.

Humans come in two types: half emphasize what is accomplished, half rue what has been left unaccomplished. No doubt the Vast Eternal Plan requires both types to immanentize. I've stopped comparing them. You are all my brothers and sisters in the Lynah Faith.

Dafatone

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

And yeah, there's a lot of optimism and talk about the future. But for a year after we lost a lot of big pieces, I'll take this year. It's less frustrating than last year for me. Partially cause we won the conference, and partially cause we really did look good.

Dr. Mrs., who knows nothing about sports and cares significantly less than that, listened patiently when I explained our Peculiar Institution, cocked her head to one side, and said, "Isn't it obvious those are the ceilings of a scholarship and non-scholarship hockey school?"

semsox
I thought we acquitted ourselves well, but from my view in the stands, it certainly felt like Denver was the better and faster team.

All of these hours later it’s still hard to be disappointed with the overall effort. They played with that high scoring team for sixty minutes. There were a few things that bugged me that didn’t necessarily cause them to lose but that I wish they had corrected at some point during the game. I felt like there were still too many backwards plays in all three zones (Bancroft early being the most glaring). There were multiple times after Cornell had established that they could forcheck DU into mistakes where one of the Big Red forwards just slid the puck into the zone to a waiting defender instead of putting it into a corner. I also lost count of how many times a puck was up for grabs near the offensive blue line and in the neutral zone where the Cornell defender didn’t even attempt to step up to make a play, instead they just backed off. In a game where opportunities weren’t overly plentiful I wished that guys were willing to take some chances in those areas of the ice. They gave Denver a lot of easy outs and entries those final two periods instead of trying to continue to take it to them like they were earlier on.

Dafatone

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

And yeah, there's a lot of optimism and talk about the future. But for a year after we lost a lot of big pieces, I'll take this year. It's less frustrating than last year for me. Partially cause we won the conference, and partially cause we really did look good.

One of the weird outcomes of us repeatedly losing in the same round is that the pressure comes on so abruptly. Going into the first round of the NCAAs this year, we were still basking in the glory of winning the ECAC. And even in the years we don’t win the ECAC, there’s still a mission-accomplished feeling that we made the tournament. I was going to be happy even if we lost to Maine. But then, when we beat Maine and were again face to face with the NCAA quarterfinals, the pressure jumped from 0 to 100. The same thing happened last year: first round I’m happy to be there; second round I desperately need a win. That feeling will never dissipate until Cornell does finally make it to a Frozen Four.

Dafatone

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

It means they won a game a bunch of times and that’s a terrific accomplishment. Cornell is usually the lower seed and not given much of a chance by anyone covering the games. The expectations have now shifted for this team based on this year’s run. It’s a year early so it gives this core extra time to push beyond this regional barrier. Keep stocking those cupboards Schafer. We are in for a treat.

BearLover

Dafatone

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

And yeah, there's a lot of optimism and talk about the future. But for a year after we lost a lot of big pieces, I'll take this year. It's less frustrating than last year for me. Partially cause we won the conference, and partially cause we really did look good.

One of the weird outcomes of us repeatedly losing in the same round is that the pressure comes on so abruptly. Going into the first round of the NCAAs this year, we were still basking in the glory of winning the ECAC. And even in the years we don’t win the ECAC, there’s still a mission-accomplished feeling that we made the tournament. I was going to be happy even if we lost to Maine. But then, when we beat Maine and were again face to face with the NCAA quarterfinals, the pressure jumped from 0 to 100. The same thing happened last year: first round I’m happy to be there; second round I desperately need a win. That feeling will never dissipate until Cornell does finally make it to a Frozen Four.

But by the end of the season, you are what your record says you are. Have we gotten our fair share of puck luck? probably not. But we're basically playing to our seeding every year. Could we have had some better lucK/puck luck? sure. But it's not like we we're blowing most of these games as the favorite.

Here's what I found after adding tournament seedings to Trotsky's chart.


In 9 of those 11 losses we were the underdog per the seeds.

-The first two of those losses were in 2 game total goal series where we got beaten up pretty good in the first game - and both of those were at the higher seeds campus site. Winning either of those series as the visiting team would've been real tough.


-6 of the 7 single-elimination losses as the 'dog were by 1 goal, but that look where those games were played - so many were basically home games from the bad guys.

Minny in Minneapolis
Wisco in Green Bay
BU in Manchester
UNH in Worcester.

taking our lumps 5-2 from UND in Grand Rapids can't be far off from that given the geography and the way UND travels.

-of the 2 losses when we were the favorite, one was the drubbing by Providence...played in Providence, and eh other against Bemiji there is simply no excuse for though.

THe one game we won, we were the seeded favorite vs BC in Providence in a thriller 2ot game. ANd anyone who was there wojld say that the faithful were loud, and a significantly bigger presence than the BC fans.



Location and fan support in the stands aren't exactly the biggest factor in determining outcomes. But we essentially lost the games we were expected to lose, especially given the game locations and opponents in so many of those. And when favored, we won one, lost one against a 4th seeded host who got to play at home, and blew only one- the Bemiji game.


SUre it hurts to lose over and over again in the QF. But by coming in as a lower seed so often, I can't find myself nearly as gutted as if we'd often been the 1 or 2 seed in the region and lost these games. Winning a QF as the 'dog is actually overachieving. I don't remember all these games well enough to judge, but if we were to apply the soccer terminology of "deserved the win" based on the run of play, were there any other games besides perhaps the Wisco loss where one could argue with a straight face that we'd had he better of it?


To be fair, you can't win a title without getting to the title game. But while we've seen some lower seeded teams go on a magical run to the title, it's not realistic to expect that we'd have any great chance at winning the whole thing if we did squeek out an upset here or there in a QF.

It’ll be interesting to see who is voted the preseason favorite in the ECAC next year. Qunnipiac has been the top dog for a few years now, but we have narrowed the gap and will be the defending champs with a mostly returning roster. I suspect it will be a closer vote than usual.

abmarks

BearLover

Dafatone

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

And yeah, there's a lot of optimism and talk about the future. But for a year after we lost a lot of big pieces, I'll take this year. It's less frustrating than last year for me. Partially cause we won the conference, and partially cause we really did look good.

One of the weird outcomes of us repeatedly losing in the same round is that the pressure comes on so abruptly. Going into the first round of the NCAAs this year, we were still basking in the glory of winning the ECAC. And even in the years we don’t win the ECAC, there’s still a mission-accomplished feeling that we made the tournament. I was going to be happy even if we lost to Maine. But then, when we beat Maine and were again face to face with the NCAA quarterfinals, the pressure jumped from 0 to 100. The same thing happened last year: first round I’m happy to be there; second round I desperately need a win. That feeling will never dissipate until Cornell does finally make it to a Frozen Four.

But by the end of the season, you are what your record says you are. Have we gotten our fair share of puck luck? probably not. But we're basically playing to our seeding every year. Could we have had some better lucK/puck luck? sure. But it's not like we we're blowing most of these games as the favorite.

Here's what I found after adding tournament seedings to Trotsky's chart.


In 9 of those 11 losses we were the underdog per the seeds.

-The first two of those losses were in 2 game total goal series where we got beaten up pretty good in the first game - and both of those were at the higher seeds campus site. Winning either of those series as the visiting team would've been real tough.


-6 of the 7 single-elimination losses as the 'dog were by 1 goal, but that look where those games were played - so many were basically home games from the bad guys.

Minny in Minneapolis
Wisco in Green Bay
BU in Manchester
UNH in Worcester.

taking our lumps 5-2 from UND in Grand Rapids can't be far off from that given the geography and the way UND travels.

-of the 2 losses when we were the favorite, one was the drubbing by Providence...played in Providence, and eh other against Bemiji there is simply no excuse for though.

THe one game we won, we were the seeded favorite vs BC in Providence in a thriller 2ot game. ANd anyone who was there wojld say that the faithful were loud, and a significantly bigger presence than the BC fans.



Location and fan support in the stands aren't exactly the biggest factor in determining outcomes. But we essentially lost the games we were expected to lose, especially given the game locations and opponents in so many of those. And when favored, we won one, lost one against a 4th seeded host who got to play at home, and blew only one- the Bemiji game.


SUre it hurts to lose over and over again in the QF. But by coming in as a lower seed so often, I can't find myself nearly as gutted as if we'd often been the 1 or 2 seed in the region and lost these games. Winning a QF as the 'dog is actually overachieving. I don't remember all these games well enough to judge, but if we were to apply the soccer terminology of "deserved the win" based on the run of play, were there any other games besides perhaps the Wisco loss where one could argue with a straight face that we'd had he better of it?


To be fair, you can't win a title without getting to the title game. But while we've seen some lower seeded teams go on a magical run to the title, it's not realistic to expect that we'd have any great chance at winning the whole thing if we did squeek out an upset here or there in a QF.

Somebody just needs to do the math:
What percentage of the time does a 2 beat a 1?
What percentage of the time does a 3 beat a 1? Etc.
Then, you can calculate Cornell’s expected win percentage in the NCAA quarterfinals over the years. That will show you how lucky or unlucky we’ve gotten (hint: extremely unlucky).

abmarks
taking our lumps 5-2 from UND in Grand Rapids can't be far off from that given the geography and the way UND travels.

6-2, but the point I came here to make is that UND had a bye since it was still a 12-team tournament, and we’d beaten Miami as an underdog the day before. UND were the #1 seed and eventual champion, so as much as I’d have liked to see us win (I made the trip to Grand Rapids), it wasn’t a shock or huge blow to lose. It was also Schafer’s second year as coach and we got a round further than his first year (I can still hear P.C. Drouin’s shot ringing off the crossbar late in our 5-4 loss to Lake State), so it was easy to think it was portentous of things imminently to come.

Beeeej

abmarks
taking our lumps 5-2 from UND in Grand Rapids can't be far off from that given the geography and the way UND travels.

6-2, but the point I came here to make is that UND had a bye since it was still a 12-team tournament, and we’d beaten Miami as an underdog the day before. UND were the #1 seed and eventual champion, so as much as I’d have liked to see us win (I made the trip to Grand Rapids), it wasn’t a shock or huge blow to lose. It was also Schafer’s second year as coach and we got a round further than his first year (I can still hear P.C. Drouin’s shot ringing off the crossbar late in our 5-4 loss to Lake State), so it was easy to think it was portentous of things imminently to come.

The sound of that shot off the post is etched in my mind. I have no doubt that we would've taken it to Vermont the next day.

As far as Grand Rapids went, going out there and losing to the eventual champion after holding them very close for two and a half periods was a perfectly satisfactory end to my senior year.

Dafatone

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

And yeah, there's a lot of optimism and talk about the future. But for a year after we lost a lot of big pieces, I'll take this year. It's less frustrating than last year for me. Partially cause we won the conference, and partially cause we really did look good.

It’s a mixed bag of emotions for me. The ECAC crown was exhilarating and does take a bit of the sting away. But unlike last year, when I didn’t think we were quite there talent wise against BU, yesterday we had every chance to win that game and to come up again short in the quarters is painful.

Big Dingus
Pleas cry

Big, you’re a day early! According to the Rochester D&C - “There's a saying that everyone is Polish on Dyngus Day, a Polish celebration held the Monday after Easter.”

abmarks

BearLover

Dafatone

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

And yeah, there's a lot of optimism and talk about the future. But for a year after we lost a lot of big pieces, I'll take this year. It's less frustrating than last year for me. Partially cause we won the conference, and partially cause we really did look good.

One of the weird outcomes of us repeatedly losing in the same round is that the pressure comes on so abruptly. Going into the first round of the NCAAs this year, we were still basking in the glory of winning the ECAC. And even in the years we don’t win the ECAC, there’s still a mission-accomplished feeling that we made the tournament. I was going to be happy even if we lost to Maine. But then, when we beat Maine and were again face to face with the NCAA quarterfinals, the pressure jumped from 0 to 100. The same thing happened last year: first round I’m happy to be there; second round I desperately need a win. That feeling will never dissipate until Cornell does finally make it to a Frozen Four.

But by the end of the season, you are what your record says you are. Have we gotten our fair share of puck luck? probably not. But we're basically playing to our seeding every year. Could we have had some better lucK/puck luck? sure. But it's not like we we're blowing most of these games as the favorite.

Here's what I found after adding tournament seedings to Trotsky's chart.


In 9 of those 11 losses we were the underdog per the seeds.

-The first two of those losses were in 2 game total goal series where we got beaten up pretty good in the first game - and both of those were at the higher seeds campus site. Winning either of those series as the visiting team would've been real tough.


-6 of the 7 single-elimination losses as the 'dog were by 1 goal, but that look where those games were played - so many were basically home games from the bad guys.

Minny in Minneapolis
Wisco in Green Bay
BU in Manchester
UNH in Worcester.

taking our lumps 5-2 from UND in Grand Rapids can't be far off from that given the geography and the way UND travels.

-of the 2 losses when we were the favorite, one was the drubbing by Providence...played in Providence, and eh other against Bemiji there is simply no excuse for though.

THe one game we won, we were the seeded favorite vs BC in Providence in a thriller 2ot game. ANd anyone who was there wojld say that the faithful were loud, and a significantly bigger presence than the BC fans.



Location and fan support in the stands aren't exactly the biggest factor in determining outcomes. But we essentially lost the games we were expected to lose, especially given the game locations and opponents in so many of those. And when favored, we won one, lost one against a 4th seeded host who got to play at home, and blew only one- the Bemiji game.


SUre it hurts to lose over and over again in the QF. But by coming in as a lower seed so often, I can't find myself nearly as gutted as if we'd often been the 1 or 2 seed in the region and lost these games. Winning a QF as the 'dog is actually overachieving. I don't remember all these games well enough to judge, but if we were to apply the soccer terminology of "deserved the win" based on the run of play, were there any other games besides perhaps the Wisco loss where one could argue with a straight face that we'd had he better of it?


To be fair, you can't win a title without getting to the title game. But while we've seen some lower seeded teams go on a magical run to the title, it's not realistic to expect that we'd have any great chance at winning the whole thing if we did squeek out an upset here or there in a QF.

This is far too rational. Reality is sometimes the lower seed wins. It’s not simply that the favorite wins everytime therefore this is to be expected. Yale won for gods sake. RIT went to the Frozen Four. I don’t think we should’ve beaten Denver, BU, Wisconsin, Minnesota, UND, etc etc. but I think we should’ve beaten at least one of them.

scoop85

Dafatone

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

And yeah, there's a lot of optimism and talk about the future. But for a year after we lost a lot of big pieces, I'll take this year. It's less frustrating than last year for me. Partially cause we won the conference, and partially cause we really did look good.

It’s a mixed bag of emotions for me. The ECAC crown was exhilarating and does take a bit of the sting away. But unlike last year, when I didn’t think we were quite there talent wise against BU, yesterday we had every chance to win that game and to come up again short in the quarters is painful.

The ECAC championship was awesome and made this a great year no matter the ending. But I still think that when you look at yesterday’s NCAA quarterfinals game as an isolated event rather than in the context of the broader season, it is one of the most crushing losses of the Schafer era.

BearLover
Somebody just needs to do the math:
What percentage of the time does a 2 beat a 1?
What percentage of the time does a 3 beat a 1? Etc.
Then, you can calculate Cornell’s expected win percentage in the NCAA quarterfinals over the years. That will show you how lucky or unlucky we’ve gotten (hint: extremely unlucky).

Because it's a day off, I have no interest in doing the math, but that percentage is going to be pretty low. We have a tendency to remember the upsets, but they don't happen very often. And when they happen, they're usually hockey factories putting it together at the end of a season rather than true, happy-to-be-here upsets--like RIT in 2010, that then gets squashed like a bug.

For example, in only one tournament that we've been in since the beginning of Schafer's tenure has a team other than one of the top 4 seeds won: 2018, when UMD showed up a year early.

Maybe there's something to this seeding thing? Last change?

I know we weren’t in the tournament that year but isn’t Yale a rather large exception and very good comparable?

Providence too

Quinnipiac last year?

Scersk '97

BearLover
Somebody just needs to do the math:
What percentage of the time does a 2 beat a 1?
What percentage of the time does a 3 beat a 1? Etc.
Then, you can calculate Cornell’s expected win percentage in the NCAA quarterfinals over the years. That will show you how lucky or unlucky we’ve gotten (hint: extremely unlucky).

Because it's a day off, I have no interest in doing the math, but that percentage is going to be pretty low. We have a tendency to remember the upsets, but they don't happen very often. And when they happen, they're usually hockey factories putting it together at the end of a season rather than true, happy-to-be-here upsets--like RIT in 2010, that then gets squashed like a bug.

For example, in only one tournament that we've been in since the beginning of Schafer's tenure has a team other than one of the top 4 seeds won: 2018, when UMD showed up a year early.

Maybe there's something to this seeding thing? Last change?

I meant less our literal win% and more our expected number of frozen four appearances, given the number of quarterfinals appearances and our matchups (by seed) in the quarterfinals. So, we are now 1-11 in the quarters. I think it is definitely the case that we should be at least 4-8, and probably better than that.

arugula
Providence too

Providence showed up a year early, and Yale showed up two years late. I don't want to bring up the specter of 2020, but that would've probably been our Yale-like echo of 2018 but playing a dominant hand.

2 in 27 years of tournaments. Not exactly counter examples; more exceptions that prove the rule.

BearLover
I meant less our literal win% and more our expected number of frozen four appearances, given the number of quarterfinals appearances and our matchups (by seed) in the quarterfinals. So, we are now 1-11 in the quarters. I think it is definitely the case that we should be at least 4-8, and probably better than that.

Oh, we're a little snakebit, but not as much as some people like to portray. I'll go with your 4-8. I definitely "feel your pain," but not as intensely as the irrationals.

chimpfood
Quinnipiac last year?

QU was a #1 seed, dude.

BearLover

scoop85

Dafatone

BearLover
I guess I’m just kind of tired of it. “The future is bright.” “This freshman class is gonna be really special.” “Cornell will be the favorite in the ECAC next season.” That’s all well and good but at some point you actually have to win. It took a crazy series of events for us to end up in the NCAA quarterfinals with a great chance to win, but we DID end up there, and we DIDN’T win. Feels like we’ve been “excited for the future” for a long time now. I’m just venting—it was a really good season.

Edit: this was posted before I saw BigDingus’s useless post and is not in any way a reply to that

I think it's particularly frustrating that we keep losing in exactly the same round. Which is its own bummer.

And yeah, there's a lot of optimism and talk about the future. But for a year after we lost a lot of big pieces, I'll take this year. It's less frustrating than last year for me. Partially cause we won the conference, and partially cause we really did look good.

It’s a mixed bag of emotions for me. The ECAC crown was exhilarating and does take a bit of the sting away. But unlike last year, when I didn’t think we were quite there talent wise against BU, yesterday we had every chance to win that game and to come up again short in the quarters is painful.

The ECAC championship was awesome and made this a great year no matter the ending. But I still think that when you look at yesterday’s NCAA quarterfinals game as an isolated event rather than in the context of the broader season, it is one of the most crushing losses of the Schafer era.

I think it's one of those things that's different for each person. For me, having a young team and ending strong, losing in an even game against a really good team, hurts less than a game where we shouldn't be in it on paper but manage to hang in there anyway.

But that's me. Valid to have this sort of loss hurt more.

Scersk '97

chimpfood
Quinnipiac last year?

QU was a #1 seed, dude.

Whoops. It’s confusing looking at the bracket even because they seed the 1 seeds 1 through 4 and nobody else.

"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

All the Wisconsin fans to RichH and me in Milwaukee: "That was the real championship. Here, let me buy you a beer."

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

One thing about 2005 and 2006 is that, even though we had really good teams those years, we were outmatched in the quarterfinals against Minn/Wisco. (At least, that’s what the box scores say—I wasn’t following Cornell hockey yet.) How many times have we been in the NCAA quarters and played well enough that we deserved to win (or at least been 50/50)? At least since I’ve been a fan, for Bemidji, Ferris State, and yesterday that was the case. To come away with zero frozen four appearances even just with respect to these three games is heartbreaking.

Scersk '97

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

All the Wisconsin fans to RichH and me in Milwaukee: "That was the real championship. Here, let me buy you a beer."

Same - every Wisconsin fan who saw my Cornell sweater said either that, or something like “That was the best game I’ve ever seen and it’s a shame anybody had to lose it.”

BearLover
One thing about 2005 and 2006 is that, even though we had really good teams those years, we were outmatched in the quarterfinals against Minn/Wisco. (At least, that’s what the box scores say—I wasn’t following Cornell hockey yet.) How many times have we been in the NCAA quarters and played well enough that we deserved to win (or at least been 50/50)? At least since I’ve been a fan, for Bemidji, Ferris State, and yesterday that was the case. To come away with zero frozen four appearances even just with respect to these three games is heartbreaking.

Wisconsin was a great team. Regarding Minnesota in 2005, I have anger. The last great home ice screw job.

BearLover

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

One thing about 2005 and 2006 is that, even though we had really good teams those years, we were outmatched in the quarterfinals against Minn/Wisco. (At least, that’s what the box scores say—I wasn’t following Cornell hockey yet.) How many times have we been in the NCAA quarters and played well enough that we deserved to win (or at least been 50/50)? At least since I’ve been a fan, for Bemidji, Ferris State, and yesterday that was the case. To come away with zero frozen four appearances even just with respect to these three games is heartbreaking.

If you can find video somewhere, watch the 2006 Wisconsin game. I don’t care what it looked like on paper.

BearLover

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

One thing about 2005 and 2006 is that, even though we had really good teams those years, we were outmatched in the quarterfinals against Minn/Wisco. (At least, that’s what the box scores say—I wasn’t following Cornell hockey yet.) How many times have we been in the NCAA quarters and played well enough that we deserved to win (or at least been 50/50)? At least since I’ve been a fan, for Bemidji, Ferris State, and yesterday that was the case. To come away with zero frozen four appearances even just with respect to these three games is heartbreaking.

Exactly.

So for whom to root today? Jack or Zach?

arugula
So for whom to root today? Jack or Zach?

This is why we needed Wisconsin to win last round.

arugula

BearLover

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

One thing about 2005 and 2006 is that, even though we had really good teams those years, we were outmatched in the quarterfinals against Minn/Wisco. (At least, that’s what the box scores say—I wasn’t following Cornell hockey yet.) How many times have we been in the NCAA quarters and played well enough that we deserved to win (or at least been 50/50)? At least since I’ve been a fan, for Bemidji, Ferris State, and yesterday that was the case. To come away with zero frozen four appearances even just with respect to these three games is heartbreaking.

Exactly.

It is, it is. But I don't feel the pain cumulatively. It's disappointing every time but not devastating beyond the immediate aftermath. 2003 still hurts. I feel Bâby's shot hitting that mask deep in my soul. 2006 too, tbh, but I didn't go into that one expecting to win. So it hurts too, but it isn't the same.

BearLover

arugula
So for whom to root today? Jack or Zach?

This is why we needed Wisconsin to win last round.

I’m going Jack. Several reasons. I hate Q,I don’t hate BC, a good client and friend is a loyal BC guy, two of my all time favorites-Leetch and Krieder went to BC, and when my daughter, CAS ‘25, was looking at colleges, she and we all loved BC.

Q students are fine, Q as an institution of higher learning sucks.

BC students suck, BC as an institution of higher learning is fine.

ugarte

arugula

BearLover

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

One thing about 2005 and 2006 is that, even though we had really good teams those years, we were outmatched in the quarterfinals against Minn/Wisco. (At least, that’s what the box scores say—I wasn’t following Cornell hockey yet.) How many times have we been in the NCAA quarters and played well enough that we deserved to win (or at least been 50/50)? At least since I’ve been a fan, for Bemidji, Ferris State, and yesterday that was the case. To come away with zero frozen four appearances even just with respect to these three games is heartbreaking.

Exactly.

It is, it is. But I don't feel the pain cumulatively. It's disappointing every time but not devastating beyond the immediate aftermath. 2003 still hurts. I feel Bâby's shot hitting that mask deep in my soul. 2006 too, tbh, but I didn't go into that one expecting to win. So it hurts too, but it isn't the same.

Agree. The flurry at the end yesterday gave me flashbacks to Mike Ayers' facemask.

I think the extent to the gut punch is a combination of expectations going in, opportunity at the time, and gravity of the situation. For me, I was happy to pull hard for Cornell and believe they could win while knowing that they were not favored and certainly wouldn't be favored to win either of the next two. It was less of a gut punch than:

2003 UNH (facemask and not a high stick)
2002 Harvard (Tyler kolarik)
2006 Wisco (jack skille)
2005 Minnesota (tallackson)

Each of those denied a bona fide championship opportunity.

I'd put 2009 Syracuse and 2007 Duke lax games on that list too. Both were worse to me than the Maryland game.

The loss yesterday feels disappointing on par with BU last year and UNH in 2002 in the grand scheme of things. Games against better teams we hoped were winnable, played tight to the end, and came up short. It hurts more because it was close. It wasn't a shocking outcome and comes on the heels of an ECAC Title and with extraordinary potential going forward just three years removed from a canceled season. Not many teams make back to back QFs. Fewer do it shortly after the season is canceled while 50 other teams play on.

Chris '03

ugarte

arugula

BearLover

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

One thing about 2005 and 2006 is that, even though we had really good teams those years, we were outmatched in the quarterfinals against Minn/Wisco. (At least, that’s what the box scores say—I wasn’t following Cornell hockey yet.) How many times have we been in the NCAA quarters and played well enough that we deserved to win (or at least been 50/50)? At least since I’ve been a fan, for Bemidji, Ferris State, and yesterday that was the case. To come away with zero frozen four appearances even just with respect to these three games is heartbreaking.

Exactly.

It is, it is. But I don't feel the pain cumulatively. It's disappointing every time but not devastating beyond the immediate aftermath. 2003 still hurts. I feel Bâby's shot hitting that mask deep in my soul. 2006 too, tbh, but I didn't go into that one expecting to win. So it hurts too, but it isn't the same.

Agree. The flurry at the end yesterday gave me flashbacks to Mike Ayers' facemask.

I think the extent to the gut punch is a combination of expectations going in, opportunity at the time, and gravity of the situation. For me, I was happy to pull hard for Cornell and believe they could win while knowing that they were not favored and certainly wouldn't be favored to win either of the next two. It was less of a gut punch than:

2003 UNH (facemask and not a high stick)
2002 Harvard (Tyler kolarik)
2006 Wisco (jack skille)
2005 Minnesota (tallackson)

Each of those denied a bona fide championship opportunity.

I'd put 2009 Syracuse and 2007 Duke lax games on that list too. Both were worse to me than the Maryland game.

The loss yesterday feels disappointing on par with BU last year and UNH in 2002 in the grand scheme of things. Games against better teams we hoped were winnable, played tight to the end, and came up short. It hurts more because it was close. It wasn't a shocking outcome and comes on the heels of an ECAC Title and with extraordinary potential going forward just three years removed from a canceled season. Not many teams make back to back QFs. Fewer do it shortly after the season is canceled while 50 other teams play on.

What adds to the frustration of a QF loss is that we miss out on the 2 full weeks of relishing the two wins in the Regionals and anticipating our next game against what is usually a blue blood opponent in the FF. As great as the Maine win was, now it seems almost like a distant memory.

semsox
I thought we acquitted ourselves well, but from my view in the stands, it certainly felt like Denver was the better and faster team. Their forecheck was awesome, and it seemed we never had any time or space. I'd be curious what the possession numbers looked like for the game. Good season though, and looking forward to the future.l

This. They were able to say, especially after they got up, "we'll let you take your time on your breakouts, because you're not going to generate any speed in the neutral zone and have effective rushes." Their team speed hampered our ability to play our game.

Scersk '97

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

All the Wisconsin fans to RichH and me in Milwaukee: "That was the real championship. Here, let me buy you a beer."

Every damn one of them. Wearing a CU sweater was a ticket to drinking for free all week. Probably the best true consolation prize ever.

Trotsky
Q students are fine, Q as an institution of higher learning sucks.

BC students suck, BC as an institution of higher learning is fine.

Why do the BC students suck? The few alumni I know are fantastic.

scoop85

Chris '03

ugarte

arugula

BearLover

Beeeej

ugarte
"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

One thing about 2005 and 2006 is that, even though we had really good teams those years, we were outmatched in the quarterfinals against Minn/Wisco. (At least, that’s what the box scores say—I wasn’t following Cornell hockey yet.) How many times have we been in the NCAA quarters and played well enough that we deserved to win (or at least been 50/50)? At least since I’ve been a fan, for Bemidji, Ferris State, and yesterday that was the case. To come away with zero frozen four appearances even just with respect to these three games is heartbreaking.

Exactly.

It is, it is. But I don't feel the pain cumulatively. It's disappointing every time but not devastating beyond the immediate aftermath. 2003 still hurts. I feel Bâby's shot hitting that mask deep in my soul. 2006 too, tbh, but I didn't go into that one expecting to win. So it hurts too, but it isn't the same.

Agree. The flurry at the end yesterday gave me flashbacks to Mike Ayers' facemask.

I think the extent to the gut punch is a combination of expectations going in, opportunity at the time, and gravity of the situation. For me, I was happy to pull hard for Cornell and believe they could win while knowing that they were not favored and certainly wouldn't be favored to win either of the next two. It was less of a gut punch than:

2003 UNH (facemask and not a high stick)
2002 Harvard (Tyler kolarik)
2006 Wisco (jack skille)
2005 Minnesota (tallackson)

Each of those denied a bona fide championship opportunity.

I'd put 2009 Syracuse and 2007 Duke lax games on that list too. Both were worse to me than the Maryland game.

The loss yesterday feels disappointing on par with BU last year and UNH in 2002 in the grand scheme of things. Games against better teams we hoped were winnable, played tight to the end, and came up short. It hurts more because it was close. It wasn't a shocking outcome and comes on the heels of an ECAC Title and with extraordinary potential going forward just three years removed from a canceled season. Not many teams make back to back QFs. Fewer do it shortly after the season is canceled while 50 other teams play on.

What adds to the frustration of a QF loss is that we miss out on the 2 full weeks of relishing the two wins in the Regionals and anticipating our next game against what is usually a blue blood opponent. to the FF. As great as the Maine win was, now it seems almost like a distant memory.

True. There were some really fantastic wins in the first round. Rodger Craig in OT to shock Michigan, Iggy’s flying GW goal vs OSU, the comeback vs Northeastern, Destroying bleach-blonde QU (in their AHA days). But those memories are often washed out and faded deeply by the heartbreak and gut-punches that all happened a day or two later. But we had good times there for the regional stay. Frustrating that the feeling is always so fleeting.

RichH
But those memories are often washed out and faded deeply by the heartbreak and gut-punches that all happened a day or two later. But we had good times there for the regional stay. Frustrating that the feeling is always so fleeting.

This quote needs to be held at the ready for these eventual situations:

Next time we finally win a QF game and then lose the Semi. Except the heartbreak and gut punches will be 2x what people are being now.

And just imagine making the final, but losing in a tight, winnable game that plays out just like most of these QF losses. Heartbreak and gut punch factor now 10x today.

And should we make a final and play a virtual replica game with Wisco... I can't even imagine how bad that one will hurt.

TLDR:
Getting to the semi isn't the answer.
Making the championship game isn't the answer.
The only thing that ends the "but if onlys", "why can't we make it to a damn semi" and every other repeated whine about luck will be winning the entire fucking thing.

Because winning is the only thing.

abmarks

RichH
But those memories are often washed out and faded deeply by the heartbreak and gut-punches that all happened a day or two later. But we had good times there for the regional stay. Frustrating that the feeling is always so fleeting.

This quote needs to be held at the ready for these eventual situations:

Next time we finally win a QF game and then lose the Semi. Except the heartbreak and gut punches will be 2x what people are being now.

And just imagine making the final, but losing in a tight, winnable game that plays out just like most of these QF losses. Heartbreak and gut punch factor now 10x today.

And should we make a final and play a virtual replica game with Wisco... I can't even imagine how bad that one will hurt.

TLDR:
Getting to the semi isn't the answer.
Making the championship game isn't the answer.
The only thing that ends the "but if onlys", "why can't we make it to a damn semi" and every other repeated whine about luck will be winning the entire fucking thing.

Because winning is the only thing.

This lacrosse only lacrosse has gotten to the sf and final and lost in crushing fashion.

abmarks

RichH
But those memories are often washed out and faded deeply by the heartbreak and gut-punches that all happened a day or two later. But we had good times there for the regional stay. Frustrating that the feeling is always so fleeting.

This quote needs to be held at the ready for these eventual situations:

Next time we finally win a QF game and then lose the Semi. Except the heartbreak and gut punches will be 2x what people are being now.

And just imagine making the final, but losing in a tight, winnable game that plays out just like most of these QF losses. Heartbreak and gut punch factor now 10x today.

And should we make a final and play a virtual replica game with Wisco... I can't even imagine how bad that one will hurt.

TLDR:
Getting to the semi isn't the answer.
Making the championship game isn't the answer.
The only thing that ends the "but if onlys", "why can't we make it to a damn semi" and every other repeated whine about luck will be winning the entire fucking thing.

Michigan has a streak of 8 Frozen Four appearances without a championship. A quarter century of coming back empty.

I think about the hell Miami fans have. They led the Final by 2 with 1 minute remaining.

[collegehockeystats.net]

A month later, we got to experience the same tragedy in the lax final.

The views in here have been really thought-provoking. As crushing as this loss was, I can't ignore the fact that these guys played better than I ever remember seeing us, including Buffalo in '03. One bad penalty and one shitty call while playing a side stuffed with talent is probably all that separates any quality team on any given year from taking the crown.

DL
One bad penalty and one shitty call while playing a side stuffed with talent is probably all that separates any quality team on any given year from taking the crown.

I would add one puck bounce.

So many games are decided by fluke events. Great teams can only put themselves into position where those events cut their leads rather than costing them their leads.

Trotsky
I would add one puck bounce.

Indeed, though that is perhaps more agonizing a thought, since it really is random. One has to have real faith in probabilities at that point to shake confirmation biases of curses and such.

Trotsky

DL
One bad penalty and one shitty call while playing a side stuffed with talent is probably all that separates any quality team on any given year from taking the crown.

I would add one puck bounce.

So many games are decided by fluke events. Great teams can only put themselves into position where those events cut their leads rather than costing them their leads.

This!!!


Winning a title or tournament in any competitive league, at any level, is brutally difficult. Pro, college, high school, even your average adult rec.league that's not riddled with ringers on playoff rosters.

You can't control luck.
You can't control outcomes
All you can ask for is to find yourself in that moment where you give yourself the opportunity to finish it off and win. Knowing that the game is yours for the taking if you simply execute/perform in the way or to the level that you've trained and sacrificed etc for so long to do.

That's why I'd rather be Michigan or BC in the abstract. They haven't won obscene numbers of titles; nobody has. But they have been so good that they can put themselves in legit contention to win the tournament year after year, showing deep run after deep run.

And come the semis and the finals, even if they are favored in a matchup, it's up to the fates. Hot goalies, puck luck, illness or injury, bad calls, the occasional bone headed play or blown assignment,etc, etc, etc. and the odds.on favorite is just not going to win that day.

And in NCAA play, it's one and done. It's not a best of 7 where the better team should take a series even after having bad luck or whatever on one game.

that's a long winded way of agreeing that there isn't much separating the teams on one single day.