#1 defense

The Big Red, after last night's game, overtake Mich. St. for the NCAA lead in team defense (1.73-1.76).

Also, Underhill catches up with Ryan Miller's GAA (1.74) to move into a 2nd-place tie. LeNeveu's still comfortably in 1st place, of course (1.50), so now we've got a #1-#2 goaltending duo!

(We won't talk about dropping out of the NCAA top 20 in team offense...)

(Oh... one more thing... What is it about Cornell and 2nd periods?! The Red advantage in the middle "stanza" is now up to 46-17. (BTW, "stanza" is a silly word (in general, but especially when used in hockey... (and, for that matter, it ain't too cool as the name of a car, either...)).))

(Hey, quadruple-nested parentheses! Yeah!! I rock!!!)

(Oh... one more thing... What is it about Cornell and 2nd periods?! The Red advantage in the middle "stanza" is now up to 46-17.

This is a sore point for some of us long time season ticket holders. As I mentioned on another post, a number, too many I'm afraid, of years ago Cornell switched ends that they would defend for the first and third periods. The theory was that it was easier for goalies to see the puck with the scoreboard as the backdrop rather than the crowd. Thus our goalie would be at the closed end for 1 & 3.

This upset those of us who were at that end, and I also think made it harder for the students to torment the visiting goalie. A Business School prof and friend, who unfortunately left for U of Chicago but was back for the Harvard game this year, kept stats for a while showing that the strategy didn't work. I can't explain this years results, but wonder if it doesn't relate to how slow we seem to get started. What about period 1 vs. 3, and home vs. away?

Unfortunately I don't have time to look it up, having spent about 1-2 hours just catching up on all that's happened since I left last weekend. Wow, you guys are prolific.

I thought the motivation was that a goalie was supposed to be distracted by having to look over his shoulder to see the clock, plus the West end gives the Zamboni-door bounce.

With Lynah's boards being fixed last year, there really is no 'Zamboni door bounce' anymore (though I did hear it was originially part of the decision to switch). The players used to dump pucks in and aim for that thing (they worked on it in practice) but now it's pretty much gone. I've seen as many bad bounces at the east end as I have at the west end this year.

Not as bad as RPI, however, which has visible gaps in their glass.. trying to wing it around the glass results in the puck practically come right back at you, or dropping straight down against the goal line.

When did we switch ends? We definitely defended the closed end in periods 1 and 3 during the time I was in school. In fact, I remember accusations from other teams that we were skating downhill for 2 out of 3 periods.

In the sixties and early seventies Cornell always attacked the west goal during the first and third periods.

Sometime during the Bertrand era it was switched around so the opposing goalie would be surrounded--and harassed--by fans at the east end for the first and third periods. I think it was McCutcheon who switched it back--causing Jim such woe.

Continuing this line of thought, previously many had mentioned that the split-up of the student section by C really makes cheering less effective. Why not:

(1) Put at least a clock if not a full scoreboard up on the east end of Lynah, so that is not a factor.

(2) Move the student section to the West side. B moves to right on center ice in M; Bandies in (?) K or L. Townies get the south side. Grady gets more peace and quiet doing his broadcasts.

(3) Have opponent defend the east end in periods 1 and 3.

<i>(2) Move the student section to the West side. B moves to right on center ice in M; Bandies in (?) K or L. Townies get the south side. Grady gets more peace and quiet doing his broadcasts.</i>


I'll assume you mean the north side.

>BTW, "stanza" is a silly word <

Hmmm. Applied to football, I wonder then if we could call a half a couplet? Actually, I prefer a sextet.