ELynah Forum

Quote from: BearLover on March 31, 2026, 03:01:57 AM

Quote from: abmarks on March 30, 2026, 11:19:54 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 30, 2026, 09:26:34 AMI definitely do take solace in the fact that Robertson has been disappointing this season at Michigan. The fact he went to a team with twice as much offensive talent and quarterbacked PP1 (after their former top defenseman got hurt ten games into the season), yet somehow put up worse numbers than his freshman year at Cornell, is pretty funny. He gets little to no hype from scouts (he actually got far more hype two years ago). There will be no NHL career for Ben Robertson. I certainly hope getting to the NHL wasn't his reasoning for transferring, because from that perspective it was a clear failure.

I've only found 2 articles that discuss why he went to Michigan.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2025/11/26_Robertsons-Rare-Move-Brings.php

"A big factor in his decision was cost. Ivy League schools do not offer full-time athletic scholarships, so he felt that it was a lot to ask for his parents to pay for another full season of school. Meanwhile, the tuition kept increasing. "

No mention about getting to the NHL there.

https://mgoblue.com/news/2025/11/19/ice-hockey-scholar-stories-robertson-prepared-for-moment-making-seamless-transition-to-u-m

"Off the ice, Robertson is an economics major and would like to pursue a career in business after playing professional hockey. His parents have always preached the importance of academics, and Robertson believes that the value in earning a Michigan degree will only benefit him down the road."

Nor here.  And fair to say he will be able to play some level of pro hockey.

I can't tell if you're being intentionally obtuse or if you're actually unaware of the most common reason a player would transfer from the ECAC/CCHA/AH to the Big 10/NCHC/HE.

Hardly.  I simply posted the only reporting out there that quotes Robertson.  He definitely mentioned cost, and must have mentioned oro hockey.  But he was definitely not quoted as saying he thought it was a better way to get to the show.  It's certainly possible that he thinks it's a better path to the NHL, but he either didn't say it, or the writers didn't decide to include it if that's the case

You on the other hand are again (for the bazillionth time) assuming things and ascribing notices to players based solely on your world view, and not what's actually known.

Quote from: stereax on March 30, 2026, 05:27:17 PM

Quote from: Jeff Hopkins '82 on March 30, 2026, 05:25:35 PM

Quote from: stereax on March 30, 2026, 03:59:16 PMBeeeej, you gotta stop making me cry with "night-night for the season".

Fuck, I'm gonna think about that during the salute next year and cry more.

But yeah, agreed - getting trounced like that is way easier psychically than the overtime losses. And you can't expect constant miracles. Just gotta keep going. One step at a time.

...man, what the hell am I gonna do with seven whole months without Cornell hockey? Cup playoffs, draft, free agency... Banana Ball until September???

There's still a few months of Lacrosse left.

Yeah, but that'll last me until June/July. What do I do over the summer??? (Besides fail at finding an internship.)

World Cup?

Quote from: BearLover on March 30, 2026, 09:26:34 AMI definitely do take solace in the fact that Robertson has been disappointing this season at Michigan. The fact he went to a team with twice as much offensive talent and quarterbacked PP1 (after their former top defenseman got hurt ten games into the season), yet somehow put up worse numbers than his freshman year at Cornell, is pretty funny. He gets little to no hype from scouts (he actually got far more hype two years ago). There will be no NHL career for Ben Robertson. I certainly hope getting to the NHL wasn't his reasoning for transferring, because from that perspective it was a clear failure.

I've only found 2 articles that discuss why he went to Michigan.

https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2025/11/26_Robertsons-Rare-Move-Brings.php

"A big factor in his decision was cost. Ivy League schools do not offer full-time athletic scholarships, so he felt that it was a lot to ask for his parents to pay for another full season of school. Meanwhile, the tuition kept increasing. "

No mention about getting to the NHL there.

https://mgoblue.com/news/2025/11/19/ice-hockey-scholar-stories-robertson-prepared-for-moment-making-seamless-transition-to-u-m

"Off the ice, Robertson is an economics major and would like to pursue a career in business after playing professional hockey. His parents have always preached the importance of academics, and Robertson believes that the value in earning a Michigan degree will only benefit him down the road."

Nor here.  And fair to say he will be able to play some level of pro hockey.

Quote from: stereax on March 30, 2026, 09:43:06 PM

Quote from: abmarks on March 30, 2026, 09:41:40 PMMy prediction:

Bearlover wins powerball lottery in spring 2027, uses new-found wealth to convince Pelletier to make amends for Pelletier's foolish youthful indiscretions  by entering the portal and landing in Ithaca for the 2027-2028 season. 

Pelletier quoted by Jane as saying "yeah, got tired of beating up on weaksauce BU in puny buildings, want to get it done in the real Garden."

 

Least realistic part of this is that Jane's still with the Sun

Et tú with the assumptions? 🙀.

Could be the Hockey News.

Could be that the Sun gives fifth and sixth year of  eligibility for students enrolled in graduate programs?

🤣

My prediction:

Bearlover wins powerball lottery in spring 2027, uses new-found wealth to convince Pelletier to make amends for Pelletier's foolish youthful indiscretions  by entering the portal and landing in Ithaca for the 2027-2028 season. 

Pelletier quoted by Jane as saying "yeah, got tired of beating up on weaksauce BU in puny buildings, want to get it done in the real Garden."

 

Well played BL.

This needs an expectations poll plus one of your breakdowns on which of our commits is arriving and the league-wide analysis too.

It'll be a hoot to look back at this time in '28

Quote from: stereax on March 30, 2026, 07:03:51 PM

Quote from: Dafatone on March 30, 2026, 07:01:34 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 30, 2026, 06:54:05 PM

Quote from: Dafatone on March 30, 2026, 06:46:55 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 30, 2026, 06:38:34 PM

Quote from: Dafatone on March 30, 2026, 06:34:47 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 30, 2026, 05:58:55 PMY'all thought this year was the rebuilding year?

We lost more than half our active roster last offseason.

Yes, meaning that next year an overwhelming majority of our team is going to be underclassmen.

Maybe we're working with different definitions of rebuilding? I think replacing all those players from last year to this year was tougher than replacing a few top players from this year to the next. Especially given how good our freshman class looked this season.

Now, if you're looking for pessimism, I don't think there's been enough talk about the possibility that some players leave unexpectedly via transfer portal.

Fair enough - I guess I'm using "rebuilding year" as a euphemism for "down year," which I expect next year to be even more so than I did this past season.

As for possible transfers, well, yeah, that's always been a possibility. Given no one has transferred other than Robertson I'd think it's unlikely we lose any impact players that way, but obviously no one can say.

I'm more optimistic about next year than I was this year. Fewer guys to replace, and Casey is less of a question mark in my mind (if he ever was one).

Plus, our freshman (gah, I hate first-year, can't we say freshperson or something else instead?) class is now a sophomore class. Which is pretty important too, since now they know how shit works.

Now I'm wondering who gets the captaincy and alternates, especially if Walsh signs.

I think few things would terrify me as much as Fegaras with a letter 😂

Just give him the P already.

Robertson with the assist on the the game-winning goal for Michigan for the trip to Vegas. Go Blue!

Quote from: BearLover on March 30, 2026, 12:29:07 AMI'll say one thing about Castagna—this whole thing about Calgary sending a bunch of execs to his Colorado hotel and putting a full court press on him to sign feels rushed and a little unfair to him. He just got traded and was focused on the playoffs; he's barely had time to think about this! Most players know for most of the season if they plan to go pro when the season is over. We know from reporting that Castagna was NOT going to go pro with Utah this season, meaning he has only had the last two weeks—which, again, were focused on the playoffs—to figure out what he wants to do now. You'd think Jonathan would sit down with not just the Flames but also his family and current team and talk about this. But his team flew back to Ithaca yesterday morning and it's now just him and the Flames brass. I'm sure he's being as thoughtful as he can, but I don't know how you could possibly accurately weigh all the options under these circumstances.

Again all projection andd assumption;  just because you feel blindsided clearly by the rapidity of events doesn't mean he is.


You don't know whether his agent came into town or not. 
You don't know how much time he spent talking with his agent or his family since the trade and I think it would be naive to decide that he hadn't. 
You don't know whether he's talked to Casey in the last 2 weeks or even if Casey might have brought it up with Johnny after the trade came down if even in the informal "hey how you feeling about all this" sort of way.

You seem to believe this is all a complete surprise that Calgary would want to sign them as soon as we lost. It's plausible, though I certainly would not say more likely than not, that Calgary and his agent spoke about all sorts of possibilities and one of them was hey. Hey, let's talk as soon as they're out and if they happen to get knocked out in Denver we're going to be there a couple days later so let's all figure this out in Denver cuz we'd love to sign them and have them in the lineup on Tuesday if that happens.

And saying it's just him and the flame's brass implies that the three of them are going to be locked in a room where Calgary's not going to let him leave until he signs under pressure negotiation or something ridiculous like that.   Not having seen any reporting that said castagna is an idiot, kid will be smart enough to have dinner with the people from Calgary or whatever and get the sales pitch but completely defer to his agent to actually handle things.

And if his agent is any good whatsoever and had any concerns about the Calgary  representatives showing up in  Denver and the amount of pressure that might put on Jonathan, than the agent is going to tell Calgary not to show up And tell Johnny not to meet with them at all If they do.

Quote from: BearLover on March 25, 2026, 09:44:23 PM

Quote from: Trotsky on March 25, 2026, 09:17:39 PMPfft.  You've attacked and fought with and snarled at and pouted about half the members of the cafe.

"When you see an asshole on your way to work, you've seen an asshole.
When you see assholes all day long, you're the asshole."

Yes, but I think it's pretty clear who the asshole is this time, and it's not me. There's a reason why I've never snapped at Jim Hyla.

Clownlover..notice yet that, as so often is the case, not a single person here is coming to your defense or agreeing with your take?

Do the math. 

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 04:47:52 PM

Quote from: marty on March 22, 2026, 04:43:41 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 04:02:32 PM

Quote from: abmarks on March 22, 2026, 03:58:35 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 01:07:58 PM

Quote from: Al DeFlorio on March 22, 2026, 01:03:55 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 12:40:06 PM

Quote from: ER on March 22, 2026, 12:19:54 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 10:55:42 AM

Quote from: ER on March 22, 2026, 10:08:32 AM

Quote from: Pghas on March 22, 2026, 08:37:39 AMI don't know - would we rather be playing Denver in Denver first before having to beat the western Michigan to get to the frozen four, or playing in Albany but needing to go through Michigan to get there?

Who realistically expects us to make it to the FF?

Not I.

And so I turn to my secondary goals, namely not getting embarrassed in the opening round and Ben Robertson not winning a national championship.

I don't hate on Robertson. He doesn't owe Cornell anything. It's his life to live and it looks like he made a good choice. I have seen Michigan play and they could probably beat some NHL teams on a good day. Would be surprised if anyone beats them.

I "hate on" players who quit on my team. It's less a personal thing and more a sports fandom thing. I think that's a pretty common view. It's fine to feel the opposite way too, even if that's not the norm for most sports fans. Most of all, I think one of our best players transferring out is a terrible precedent for Cornell's long term success. My goal is to make the frozen four and maybe one day win a national championship, and if that's the goal then it is imperative that we retain  our best players. Anyway, if his goal was to make it to the NHL, this year didn't help him. No need to rehash this argument though. I very much hope he loses, badly. It would be so depressing if our best defenseman transfers to the Big 10 and immediately wins a national title.

Then why are you "rehashing" it...over and over? I hope someday you'll grow up.  Some kid makes a choice based on what he thinks is best for him and that "depresses" you.  You must be kidding.  Time to get a life.  Find an interest in addition to eLynah.

I suggest you find an interest in addition to replying to my posts on eLynah. What depresses me is not how his decision affects him but rather how it impacts Cornell, as I've already explained. Sets a brutal precedent if a kid leaves for greener pastures and immediately wins it all. As a Cornell fan, that would be very depressing!

How does it establish any sort of precedent?  You think a player is going to think to himself one day that "Robertson did it, so now it's cool for me to do it?"

Certainly. There are absolutely teams that have a culture of sticking around versus transferring out.

Forum members can consider leaving too. Others can gain an additional reason to root for Ben by sticking around.

Me leaving would de facto end your stay here as well given 100% of your posts are responding to mine

Marty was here for decades before you showed up.  His stay ends only when the reaper comes or Mars decides to stop selling snickers

Quote from: BearLover on March 25, 2026, 01:44:24 PM

Quote from: scoop85 on March 25, 2026, 01:27:41 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 25, 2026, 12:56:23 PM

Quote from: stereax on March 25, 2026, 12:24:02 PM

Quote from: stereax on March 24, 2026, 09:58:52 PMFwiw the Sportsnet announcers on tonight's Flames game during intermission seem reasonably certain they're signing Casty along with Wiebe once their NCAA seasons are over.

Buzz.

The Flames can plan whatever they like but ultimately it's Castagna's decision. Stating the obvious, but he could easily return if he wanted because I want him to.

Fixed your post

I'm really just saying it's not a foregone conclusion just because the team hopes he'll sign. In all likelihood he hasn't made up his mind on whether he'll stay. But yes, I do want him to.

In all likelihood you have no idea what you are talking about.       

Once again you project your thoughts and then declare them the obvious and definitive answer by using phrases that you consider hedges.

In all likelihood he has known what he's going to do within days after the trade went down.   He may not have exact dollar figures but his agent will know roughly what they are looking at, and more importantly I'm sure they already know where the flames would send him this year and the current thinking on a development plan.

When you are that close to grabbing the brass ring you may express some doubt publicly, but you know in your heart what you are going to do when it comes down to it. I can only conclude that in all likelihood bearlover has never been anywhere in the vicinity of the proverbial brass ring.

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 04:17:15 PM

Quote from: abmarks on March 22, 2026, 04:10:54 PM

Quote from: Mr. Niss on March 22, 2026, 04:04:35 PM

Quote from: chimpfood on March 22, 2026, 04:00:56 PMWhy are we so against intra conference matchups but we can play BU and Denver in the NCAA tourney every year?

I don't even mind if they want to avoid intraconference games if possible, but when the alternative is having the lower seed play a better team on the better team's turf, the prejudice to the lower seed seems to far outweigh whatever the harm of an intraconference matchup is.

[Counterpoint: don't lose to Princeton.]

Countercounterpoint: get a top 8 seed, not bottom 8.

Alternatively, be the top seed out of your conference.

Neither of these things fix the problem people are complaining about. See Providence in 2015 and 2019. They hosted as the lower seed. Where you finish in your conference is particularly immaterial to this issue.

It actually is material this year.  Something has to give with avoiding a Dartmouth Q or Dartmouth Cu first round game.  While there are other factors like geography, the top seed of the three is going to get more consideration than the lower two.  If we were the 6 and Dartmouth was the 11, Dartmouth would be the one going to Denver and we'd be the one playing in Worcester.


Being the top seed coming out of your conference out of 3 doesn't guarantee there's no other factor that gets you, but it certainly should reduce the possibility.

Quote from: stereax on March 22, 2026, 04:11:29 PMIn either case, I'm gonna go check the prices on buses and tickets and hotels now...

To Denver? That would be a nasty long ride...

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 04:02:32 PM

Quote from: abmarks on March 22, 2026, 03:58:35 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 01:07:58 PM

Quote from: Al DeFlorio on March 22, 2026, 01:03:55 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 12:40:06 PM

Quote from: ER on March 22, 2026, 12:19:54 PM

Quote from: BearLover on March 22, 2026, 10:55:42 AM

Quote from: ER on March 22, 2026, 10:08:32 AM

Quote from: Pghas on March 22, 2026, 08:37:39 AMI don't know - would we rather be playing Denver in Denver first before having to beat the western Michigan to get to the frozen four, or playing in Albany but needing to go through Michigan to get there?

Who realistically expects us to make it to the FF?

Not I.

And so I turn to my secondary goals, namely not getting embarrassed in the opening round and Ben Robertson not winning a national championship.

I don't hate on Robertson. He doesn't owe Cornell anything. It's his life to live and it looks like he made a good choice. I have seen Michigan play and they could probably beat some NHL teams on a good day. Would be surprised if anyone beats them.

I "hate on" players who quit on my team. It's less a personal thing and more a sports fandom thing. I think that's a pretty common view. It's fine to feel the opposite way too, even if that's not the norm for most sports fans. Most of all, I think one of our best players transferring out is a terrible precedent for Cornell's long term success. My goal is to make the frozen four and maybe one day win a national championship, and if that's the goal then it is imperative that we retain  our best players. Anyway, if his goal was to make it to the NHL, this year didn't help him. No need to rehash this argument though. I very much hope he loses, badly. It would be so depressing if our best defenseman transfers to the Big 10 and immediately wins a national title.

Then why are you "rehashing" it...over and over? I hope someday you'll grow up.  Some kid makes a choice based on what he thinks is best for him and that "depresses" you.  You must be kidding.  Time to get a life.  Find an interest in addition to eLynah.

I suggest you find an interest in addition to replying to my posts on eLynah. What depresses me is not how his decision affects him but rather how it impacts Cornell, as I've already explained. Sets a brutal precedent if a kid leaves for greener pastures and immediately wins it all. As a Cornell fan, that would be very depressing!

How does it establish any sort of precedent?   You think a player is going to think to himself one day that "Robertson did it, so now it's cool for me to do it?"

Certainly. There are absolutely teams that have a culture of sticking around versus transferring out.

Far too soon to draw that conclusion given where the pay for play model is today.  The new world has only begun.