ELynah Forum

General Category => Hockey => Topic started by: amerks127 on September 22, 2008, 09:14:36 AM

Title: "Harkness Brought Winning to Cornell"
Post by: amerks127 on September 22, 2008, 09:14:36 AM
http://cornellsun.com/node/31966
Title: Re: "Harkness Brought Winning to Cornell"
Post by: Jeff Hopkins '82 on September 22, 2008, 12:15:33 PM
Nice.  Very nice.

Well said.
Title: Re: "Harkness Brought Winning to Cornell"
Post by: TimV on September 22, 2008, 12:51:28 PM
I agree- well done.  Two observations though:

"By 1963, Harkness was searching for a better place to raise his family"

When Ned left RPI he wasn't reluctant to raise his family in the Troy area.  He made the move out of recruiting considerations, one of which was less time away from his family because he was geographically closer to the Ontario recruiting grounds where he had so many connections.  Another was that he recognized Cornell offered more curriculum choices than RPI, which at the time offered only engineering and business management.

"Harkness also ...challenged the assumption that Canadian-born skaters were always superior to their U.S. counterparts."

Is this an editor's error? Ned never had more than 2-3 US players on the Cornell roster as far as I can remember.  This changed somewhat when he went to Union.::wtf::
Title: Re: "Harkness Brought Winning to Cornell"
Post by: ursusminor on September 22, 2008, 01:25:47 PM
[quote TimV]When Ned left RPI he wasn't reluctant to raise his family in the Troy area.  He made the move out of recruiting considerations, one of which was less time away from his family because he was geographically closer to the Ontario recruiting grounds where he had so many connections.  Another was that he recognized Cornell offered more curriculum choices than RPI, which at the time offered only engineering and business management.[/quote] That's what I have heard on many occasions. He also may have been offered a higher salary. RPI did also offer various science majors and architecture, but not humanity majors (or hotel management. ;) )
Title: Re: "Harkness Brought Winning to Cornell"
Post by: TimV on September 22, 2008, 01:30:37 PM
I don't have any actual knowledge about the specifics, but I don't think there were very many Hotel hockey players.  Canada being so agricultural, I think most were in the Ag school, which RPI also doesn't have.  If anybody has any actual data on this I'd be interested in seeing it.
Title: Re: "Harkness Brought Winning to Cornell"
Post by: amerks127 on September 22, 2008, 09:19:46 PM
Quote from: TimV"Harkness also ...challenged the assumption that Canadian-born skaters were always superior to their U.S. counterparts."

Is this an editor's error? Ned never had more than 2-3 US players on the Cornell roster as far as I can remember. This changed somewhat when he went to Union

Well, the editors know very little about hockey, let alone any history of Cornell hockey, so it's my error.  I had to rush to put together this article Sunday afternoon because I was out of town this weekend (hence why I couldn't record any of my conversation with Dryden).

As I look through my research now, I realize I misinterpreted that part of Harkness' style.  He didn't challenge the assumption, rather he endorsed it and did in fact use all Canadian teams.  My mistake.
Title: Re: "Harkness Brought Winning to Cornell"
Post by: ursusminor on September 23, 2008, 05:05:32 AM
I doubt that it will surprise anyone here, but Harkness was getting into trouble for his use of Candians before he arrived at Cornell. Here is a 1961 article from the Harvard Crimson where the author looks down upon RPI's use of Canadians, specifically older Canadians: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=216054


Quote from: The Faculty does not have to look that far to find what it is worried about, however. RPI has more than its share of fishy Canadian-player situations. Of the 16 players on this year's RPI roster, nine are Canadians, including the co-captains as well as the bulk of the attack. Of the nine, four are 23 years old, one of whom is a junior (Trevor Kaye). Three of the nine are 22.




RPI will go to the tourney for sure, but not with a pure and innocent roster.
Title: Re: "Harkness Brought Winning to Cornell"
Post by: Josh '99 on September 23, 2008, 05:01:37 PM
I don't think he was really "getting into trouble," I think it's just that Harvard is snooty.
Title: Re: "Harkness Brought Winning to Cornell"
Post by: mnagowski on September 23, 2008, 06:50:46 PM
[quote Josh '99]I don't think he was really "getting into trouble," I think it's just that Harvard is snooty.[/quote]

In other breaking news, the Pope is Catholic.