Reason #586 that Schafer rocks

Nothing is guaranteed, but from the way they stack up going into this year it looks like Cornell has a great chance to finish > .500 overall for the sixth consecutive season. The Big Red have not accomplished that since 1981 (24 seasons ago), the final year of an 18 season stretch of finishes > .500.

Likewise, Cornell comes into this year having finished at 4th or better in the ECAC for 5 consecutive seasons. The longest such streak ever in Cornell history was the 10 straight seasons from 1966-75.

First of all, I don't think you can name the other 585 reason why Schafer rocks. I think you came up with an arbitrary number.

The above notwithstanding, I could consistently coach a team in the ECAC to a > .500 season. That doesn't mean a thing if you have nothing to show for it. With the talent on our team last year, it is appauling that Schafer couldn't even motivate his team to take 2 of 3 from Clarkson. That is reason #586 why Schafer should be fired.

Other reasons include he can't control his team from taking undisciplined penalties, he can't control the Lynah croud, he can't control the officiating, he can't protect our student athletes, he recruited players like Ben Wallace, Todd Marr, and Ryan O'Byrne and he can't win out of conference games. Of 7 out of conference games, Schafer could only come up with 2 wins. If Schafer was any sort of respectable coach he would remove himself from an ECAC team and prove himself in a competative conference.

Simply put: Schafer is a vagina.

Let us give credit where credit is due. The real reason why Cornell has consistently been a + .500 team is because of Cowbell guy and the cowbell cheer.

It's worth noting that, other than the two stretches that Greg mentioned, I think the only other time Cornell finished at .500 or above for as many as five consecutive seasons was under Brian McCutcheon '71 (1988-1992). Of course, the ECAC is a vastly different league, relative to the rest of the nation, now than it was back then. ECAC teams have reached the Frozen Four in only two of the past eight seasons, as compared to seven consecutive seasons from 1985 through 1991.

ECAC teams reached the championship game in 5 of 6 seasons between 1985 and 1990, winning titles in 1985 and 1989 and coming within an overtime eyelash in 1988 -- the strongest period of ECAC competitiveness ever.

[www.tbrw.info]

If Schaefer is so good, how to you go from the frozen four to out of the tournament the next year in a weaker conference? The man is a hypocritical idiot who has worn out his welcome here. Just like you Greg.


20 bucks says the first person to respond to this is avash 05 (I know, i know, he won't respond to this now out of spite, however can't you all just picture him getting all angry and ready to type until he scrolled down a littler further? poor avash 05..........)

[Q]The man is a hypocritical idiot who has worn out his welcome here.[/q]

Pot. Kettle. Black.

And you lose 20 bucks.

Hey Jeff

[Q]Greg Wrote:

ECAC teams reached the championship game in 5 of 6 seasons between 1985 and 1990, winning titles in 1985 and 1989 and coming within an overtime eyelash in 1988 -- the strongest period of ECAC competitiveness ever.
[/q]

It's worth noting that this period came right after the formation of Hockey East in 1984, which came about in part because the teams that left the ECAC felt that restrictions imposed by that league were preventing them from being competitive. The NCAAs were dominated by Western teams from 1979 through 1984; the only Eastern team to appear in the championship game during that time was Harvard in 1983. So the Hockey East Super-League was formed, and during the 1985-90 period produced only one NCAA finalist -- Providence in '85.

Of course, once Maine won it all in 1993, the Hockey East deluge started, as since then the league has produced three other NCAA champs and nine other (non-winning) finalists.

Greg, a slight error on your Best NCAA Playoff graph -- the ECAC did not produce a finalist in 1994, as Harvard lost in the semis to Lake Superior.

Yeah, I know. I know.

But sometimes I just can't help myself. He's just so damn stupid!

[Q]Facetimer Wrote:

If Schaefer is so good, how to you go from the frozen four to out of the tournament the next year in a weaker conference?[/q]

If he's so bad, how did he manage to get us into the Frozen Four the previous year? As for going from the Frozen Four to out of the tournament, it's called a rebuilding year dumbass. Given what we lost in the '03 seniors and Leneveu, I don't think anyone who actually pays attention to the team, which apparently does not include you, expected them to repeat their performance. A majority of preseason estimates had us somewhere in the middle of the ECAC, so a late season run putting us in a 2nd was decent considering the youth and inexperience on the team.

Go back to Long Island.

how dumb can you be jeh25? Don't you know I live for your troll sign? You are "feeding" me by posting that you idiot, yet you have the nerve to mock jeff hopkins '82, a much more respected poster. Why would you do that? And could you please tell me what exactley you were thinking at the moment you decided to google search an image of a troll doll to show me up? That must be classic.

You're right French Rage, I know nothing about hockey at all. I really have no knowledge of the game, I just pretend I do to make myself feel good. I'm not familair with the term "rebuilding" either, I thought the team you root for every year has to win it all........... (dripping with sarcasm) He still had superior talent, and superior advantages. Bowling Green tied us at home. Bowling Green. He is not a good coach, his rotations are questionable, the team is undisciplined, HE is undisciplined and a hypocrite. The line pairings make no sense at all. If he was such a good coach why would he have wasted the abbots talents playing with hornby- having a down year- when he had the physical force in Hynes being wasted on a lower line? hmmm....... Why could O'Byrne not stay out of the pentalty box for one dam second even though he played soft out there? Why did he rotate point men on the power play to the point where lack of consistency had us killing our own powerplays with miscommunication and indecision? Yeah real good coach, and a good guy to boot. Now I don't know what your personal vandetta is against me (maybe if you had a date to the prom you wouldn't be so bitter) but when you make fun of long island that just really hurts. In the future please keep all personal attacks directed at me and away from geographic areas, thanks.

Even though I disagree with you on Shafer's merits as a coach, what are you expecting?

We've had awesome recruiting classes the past few years. He has a defensive system that works. He has four NCAA tournament appearances under his belt.

You might even be right about his game management being questionable, but the talent he brings to Ithaca is truly commendable. I don't think that is something you sacrifice or take lightly when you are in the budding metropolis of Ithaca, NY (and you have you hands tied with academics and scholarships). Jim Boeheim has never been regarded as a good "bench" coach, but the guys who can recruit -- and Shafer is one of them -- are going to get you a heck of a lot of Ws.

Even guys like York, Parker, and Lucia have down years -- and Shafer's not really in that class yet. Give him a bit more time with last years class, before you write his career off as a sham.

Also, who do you think wants to coach here? I don't think that Scotty Bowman is particularly interested in coming to Ithaca.

Hmm, I don't ever recall saying he was the greatest coach ever and infallible. The BG/OSU weekend wasnt the greatest in memory, but the team structure was still coalescing and we were up against western teams with a different playing style than Schafer and the team were used to. The which players on which lines arguments is something pretty much everyone is going to disagree on, so maybe your changes might have worked but hindsight is 20/20 and it's pretty easy for anyone to say when something goes wrong that is should have been done different.

Last year was defintely not Schafer's defining season, but it's somewhat close-minded to base his entire career on what was an off and rebuilding year. If he supposedly has great talent and does nothing, that doesnt explain the team performace in 2002 and 2003 (not to mention 96 and 97), which defintely exceeded everyone's expectations. Let's wait until March of this coming year and see what he does.

Can we put the "Blah blah blah" filter back on Facetimer? It really saved time in my day.