Cornell-Harvard postgame

No reason to unfairly accuse Welch of something. I for one don't need a reason to dislike the guy. He plays hockey for Harvard. That is enough.

Great weekend. Am I the only one who thinks O'bryne has been absolutely brutal carrying the puck out of his zone lately? He does a lot of other things well. But, when he's standing behind McKee waiting to start up ice with the puck, I get very nervous. And, it seems to be getting worse; like he's losing confidence.

I've done a search of the archives...some people reported that Welch gave Paolini the puck during the handshake, but there was also a pretty big rant by someone who was sure that Welch had kept it. I guess it's inconclusive...doesn't it seem odd, though, that the first thing this guy (supposedly) thought of after his team lost the championship was to retrieve the puck for the opposing goalscorer? Especially since they didn't play for the same team before college or anything.

[Q]redice Wrote:

Great weekend. Am I the only one who thinks O'bryne has been absolutely brutal carrying the puck out of his zone lately? He does a lot of other things well. But, when he's standing behind McKee waiting to start up ice with the puck, I get very nervous. And, it seems to be getting worse; like he's losing confidence.[/q]

Yes, he gave away the puck early against Vermont much like in Game 2 against Clarkson. However, besides that I thought he was outstanding. I'm pretty sure he led Cornell skaters in ice time both games. He was steady and far better coming out of the defensive end than Krantz or Pokuluk were.

[Q]Redscore Wrote:
What has Noah Welch done that has made Red fans take aim at him? I've always thought he was a pretty good guy. Am I missing something?[/q]A) Because he's flipped us off on more than one occasion.
B) Because he's wildly overrated. He was terrible this weekend. Gave the puck away left and right.

Speaking of giving pucks away...

I actually have something nice to say about Donato.

A bunch of us were gathered in the Crowne Plaza lobby Saturday night, waiting for the team to arrive. Unlike 2003, the band was not present, but we were still quite a crowd. I'm guessing there may have been 150 Cornell fans there, including perhaps 20-30 young ones. Donato came in and as he passed through the crowd he gave one of the young Cornell fans a puck.

As much as I enjoy despising Harvard hockey, and anything and anyone associated with it, that little gesture made an impression on me.
Andy W.

I second That !!!

That was a heads-up, solid "D" play and everybody around me noticed it too!

[Q]Al DeFlorio Wrote:

Something fitting about all three goals being scored by seniors.[/q]

Absolutely. That's why I wrote this -

[www.uscho.com]

(I'm not trying to self-promote or anything. It's just that the article got sort of hidden on USCHO, and I definitely wanted to credit the senior class.)

Random belated thoughts on the Championship game after being there in person and watching the rebroadcast on CSTV:

- G-M played an impressive game. The only thing he misplayed was the third goal. Cook’s shot went right into the heart of the net b/c G-M’s lateral move was excessive. But Cornell had been peppering him for a while by then and the Cornell pp was working like a well oiled machine so G-M can’t be faulted much for finally being out of position. If the score had stayed 2-1, I would have probably given G-M the outstanding player award.

- Geez, Harv came so close to scoring on the pp that immediately preceded Cornell’s first goal. That moment --Harv being denied on the pp and then Cornell getting the 2-on-1 goal-- was the elixir that the team and crowd needed. After that, Cornell was an unstoppable force.

- The crowd situation was so horribly unbalanced, I wish that any recruit that was entertaining both Cornell and Harv could be teleported back in time to that game and experience it. Scanning around in my section (and I was not in one of the school specific sections, I was in the upper tier), I saw exactly one fan wearing Harv apparel. The scattering of other people rooting for Harv near me were converted ‘Gate and UVM fans.

- The “Doc” and Jaffe were fine on the championship broadcast, but I would have rather had Adam and Bob Norton; those two did a very good job for the semis broadcast and just clearly love and know the college game.

- This game was just as satisfying but not as exhilarating as the 2003 championship (for fairly obvious reasons). There seemed to be a “taking care of business” attitude coming from the team --confident and determined to win. Their celebration was relatively subdued I thought. Did anyone else notice that Downs did a little fake like he was going to the do the sprint lap with the trophy a la 2003?

- Maybe time is playing tricks on me, but I feel that this team is every bit as potent as the 2003 squad. One-and-done is always a crap shoot, but I’m cautiously optimistic about the NCAAs.

- If Hobey voting occurs now before the NCAAs start (I believe it does), I think McKee has made about as strong of a case for a goalie as you can: top gaa, top save % (tied), 10 shutouts with most coming in the latter part of the season including two in the playoffs, giving up only 3 goals total in 4 playoff games, played every game for his team and never had a “meltdown” or anything that even seemed like an off night. Of course, my bias may be clouding my judgement...

I heard Welch retrieved the puck and gave it to Paolini himself, either in the handshake line or immediately afterwards, and it was actually a really classy thing to do. I don't know if they'd played together outside of the NCAAs at some point or if it was just a mark of respect for a rival, but it really doesn't matter.

Having said that, people dislike him because he takes a ton of penalty minutes, mixes it up with the fans, and plays for Harvard. Playing for Harvard is probably the biggest mark against him. If the guy played for Wisconsin or even Yale nobody would care about him.

[Q]JasonN95 Wrote:Did anyone else notice that Downs did a little fake like he was going to the do the sprint lap with the trophy a la 2003?
[/q]

I didn't notice the "fake" but at one point Schafer handed Downs the cup, and told him to do the little sprint lap, which he did, ending up, of course, in front of the Cornell end, to huge cheers.
Andy W.

[Q]JasonN95 Wrote:

- If Hobey voting occurs now before the NCAAs start (I believe it does), I think McKee has made about as strong of a case for a goalie as you can: top gaa, top save % (tied), 10 shutouts with most coming in the latter part of the season including two in the playoffs, giving up only 3 goals total in 4 playoff games, played every game for his team and never had a “meltdown” or anything that even seemed like an off night. Of course, my bias may be clouding my judgement...
[/q]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but - that tied the ECACHL record for goals given up in the tournament (although Paul Cohen for St. Lawrence in 1989 gave up 3 goals in 3 games. McKee of course accomplished the feat in 4 games.)

[Q]JasonN95 Wrote:
- Maybe time is playing tricks on me, but I feel that this team is every bit as potent as the 2003 squad. One-and-done is always a crap shoot, but I’m cautiously optimistic about the NCAAs.[/q]

They're a lot more even-keeled than '03. Just think about the '03 SF: 10 minutes of dominance, 20 minutes of being dominated, 20 minutes of dominance, 10 minutes of neck-and-neck -- a roller coaster ride. The '05 edition isn't like that at all. The '03 team scalded you. The '05 team inexorably increases the temperature until you're boiled.

I know it's all been said but I just have to add my 2¢ to this thread.

I am still on a high after witnessing and being a part of the crowd at the Pepsi Arena this past weekend. How proud I am to be a Big Red fan and I'm even prouder not only of our team...as that goes without saying...but of the FAITHFUL and all Big Red fans in general.

Talk about a "C" of Red! Red was everywhere in the stands. And the FAITHFUL...what can I say that hasn't already been said. The signs, the impromptu cheers, the relentless badgering of the opposing sieves...AWESOME! How could anyone not be impressed with our enthusiasm? My favorite cheer and one that was talked about in the newspaper the following day came during the second overtime period in the Gate/Sucks games when the FAITHUL started chanting..."Our team's sleeping!" I thought I'd heard it all til that one.

And the band. Our pep band is by far the best I've heard ANYWHERE! Who else would have thought about starting to sing the Canadian National Anthem after play had just gotten underway in the first period of the Cornell/Sucks game? Many of the fans joined in. The music was fantastic as always. And correct me if I'm wrong but did I see some of our pep band lending a hand to the Vermont band during their consolation game with Colgate? Those guys and gals played their hearts out for two back-to-back games. My donation to get you all out to Minneapolis is forthcoming as it just wouldn't be the same without our pep band there.

And on a hockey note...even though I'm no expert like y'all seem to be, but after this weekend, I'm convinced that our guys...provided they all show up in their "A" game jerseys...can go toe to toe with any team out there. Unfortunately I won't be able to physically make it to Minneapolis but you can take this to the bank...I'LL BE SEEING YOU ALL IN COLUMBUS!


LET's GO RED!!!

[q]Who else would have thought about starting to sing the Canadian National Anthem after play had just gotten underway in the first period of the Cornell/Sucks game?[/q]FWIW this is pretty standard road game behavior for the Faithful in rinks where the Canadian national anthem is not played. I can't speak to how often it is or isn't the pep band who starts it.

[Q]KeithK Wrote:

Who else would have thought about starting to sing the Canadian National Anthem after play had just gotten underway in the first period of the Cornell/Sucks game?[/Q]
FWIW this is pretty standard road game behavior for the Faithful in rinks where the Canadian national anthem is not played. I can't speak to how often it is or isn't the pep band who starts it.[/q]
There have been a few occasions where the band and the clump of Cornell fans have started it at slightly different times because voices don't carry backward very well. We're always there to start it if someone else doesn't.