ELynah Forum

https://cornellbigred.com/news/2025/10/30/big-red-bios-jane-mcnally-feature.aspx

Best thing I've read on the site in some time. Jane is a rock star!

It's increasingly difficult to stay emotionally invested in sports given the cesspool created by sports gambling and the overall influence of money, even at the college level. It's a given that the NBA arrests are just the tip of the iceberg and that there are many more gambling related scandals that will soon be divulged pertaining to all manner of professional and college sports. The pureness of our lax championship last spring may soon be seen as a relic of a bygone era.

The NCAA passed a welcome new rule making placing a hand on an opponent's face mask only a minor penalty; we saw the previous ridiculous rule resulting in a 5 minute major last year in the NCAAs when Walsh face washed a BU kid.

I've been informed by someone that knew her that a recent Cornell graduate (I believe class of 2020) was one of the victims in yesterday's NYC mass shooting.

The incoming class was recently released, with 4 freshmen and 2 transfers: https://cornellbigred.com/news/2025/6/10/mens-basketball-six-to-join-big-red-mens-hoops-for-2025-26-season.aspx

Sepp, the transfer from Valparaiso, has been an excellent rebounder his 1st two years and will provide some much needed muscle under the boards. Fishburn, the JUCO transfer, is a big guard who can score; we'll see how well he transitions to the D1 level, but he looks like a guy who can be in the rotation. Burbach, who is a shooting guard, is a 3 star recruit by 247 and had several other D1 offers, including Dartmouth; he might be Cooper Noard's heir apparent. Griffin is a point guard who looks to have a nice all-around game. Abalos projects as a versatile small forward whose game is well suited to the Ivies. Like a lot of bigger guys, Lecklitner probably won't see a lot of court time the 1st year or two as he'll need to bulk up.

Looking at the league as a whole, Yale again looks like the favorite, with Cornell, Princeton and Dartmouth probably taking a step back. Harvard lost some great recruits to NIL, while Penn seems to have gone all-in with Fran McCaffrey as their new coach, and a former top-25 recruit transferring in from UVA. Columbia also has a new coach, and Brown is always tough, although they lost their top guard Keno Lilly to graduation.

As has been speculated, AK Okereke is graduating this year and has entered the portal as a grad transfer. That's a big hit to our prospects for next season.

Given that Okereke is from California, I can see one of the high academic California schools like Stanford, Cal, or even UCLA being in play for him. He could be a real contributor for a power conference program.

Per Pete Thamel:

https://x.com/PeteThamel/status/1869380311878119916

I figured I'd start a separate thread to report on progress of our recruits in the pipeline (all stats from Elite Prospects; projected arrival year from Heisenberg's list, or my best guess):

• Xavier Veillieux (arriving either fall '25 or '26), 6'1" defenseman, Muskegon (USHL) (3 G, 12 A, 19 games) -- 1st team All-USHL rookie team in '23-24; Islanders' 6th round pick in 2024 draft; former Harvard commit  
• Reegan Hiscock ('25),  6'5" left wing  -- Victoria (BCHL) (8 G, 18 A, 21 games) former Northeastern commit
• Henri Ament ('27) -- 5'11: forward, Shattuck St. Mary's prep (3 G, 5 A, 19 games) and Team Shattuck St. Mary (2 G, 3 A, 13 games)
• Samuel Peckham ('27) -- 5'11" defenseman, Team the Base (1 G, 0 A, 3 games) and Edina HS (0 G, 1 A, 2 games)
• Luca DiPlacido ('27 or '28) -- 6'1" defenseman, St. Andrew's College U18 (prep) (1 G, 5 A, 19 games) and St. Andrew's College (PHC League) (1 G, 3 A, 5 games)
• Jack Broderick ('27) -- 5'11" forward, Yale Junior Bulldogs (16 G, 21 A, 35 games)
• Maddex Marmulak ('26 or '27) -- 6'0" forward, Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL) (7 G, 4 A, 20 games)
• Henry Major ('26 or '27) -- 5'8" forward, Chicago (USHL) (1 G, 6 A, 20 games)
• Michael Dec ('27) -- 5'9" forward, St. Andrew's College U18 prep (20 G, 21 A, 19 games) and St. Andrew's College (PHC League) (2 G, 6 A, 5 games)
• Erick Roest ('25) -- 6'0" goalie, Tri-City (USHL) (3.13 GAA, .886 sv pct., 15 games)
• Alex Pelletier ('25 or '26) -- 5'11" Left wing, Lincoln (USHL) (6 G, 6 A, 21 games)
• Cole Tuminaro ('26) -- 6'4" defenseman, Sioux City (USHL) (0 G, 0 A, 1 game)
• Aiden Long ('25) -- 6'2" forward, Madison (USHL) (6 G, 10 A, 19 games)
• Gio DiGiulian ('25 or '26), left winger, Lincoln (USHL) (10 G, 8 A, 21 games)
• Connor Arsenault ('26 or '27), left winger, Sioux City (USHL) (3 G, 0 A, 14 games) and Omaha (USHL) (0 G, 0 A, 2 games)
• Michael Sandruck ('25 or '26), 6'1" forward, Lincoln (USHL) (2 G, 1 A, 17 games)
• Hudson Gorski ('25 or '26), 6'3" defenseman, Chicago (USHL) (1 G, 3 A, 21 games)
• Donovan Hamilton ('26), 6'3" defenseman, Cedar Rapids (USHL) (0 G, 0 A, 8 games) and Salmon Arm (BCHL) (0 G, 2 A, 6 games)
• Chase Pirtle ('25), 6'2" forward, Victoria (BCHL) (13 G, 14 A, 21 games) - 2023-2024 BCHL rookie of the year

Overall, the recruits are producing, and we have more guys in the USHL then ever before (at least in my memory).

We have 5 graduating forwards. The forwards most likely to come next fall would be Hiscock, Pirtle, Long, Pelletier, and DiGiullian.  All of them are putting up solid numbers this year, with Pirtle and DiGiullian seemingly the cream of the crop. On defense we are losing 3 senior regulars, so I would expect to see at least Veillieux and Gorski arrive in the fall, with Hamilton a possibility. New recruit Veillieux is surely the standout.  Roest is putting up decent but not great numbers in the USHL, but with Shane departing he should be in the mix to compete with Keopple and Katz.

Of the guys further out in the pipeline, Dec looks like a big-time talent, with Marmulak putting up decent numbers in the Major Junior Canadian league. I think Henry Major will develop into a good player like his brother Charlie.

Time for a new recruit thread. 1st recruit of the new Schafer-Jones era, Jack Broderick from Rye, New York. Will play prep hockey at the Kent School this year, and was drafted by Tri-City of the USHL.

Time for a new recruiting thread.

Goalie Erick Roest, who's a 2024 recruit, was the starting goalie for Canada West who won gold at the World Junior A Challenge in Nova Scotia. Roest stopped 30 of 32 shots in the championship game as Canada West beat Canada East 7-2. Roest stopped 37 shots in Canada West's 4-3 OT upset over the U.S. in the semifinal.

Fellow Cornell recruits Aiden Long, a forward, and Nick Wolfenberg, a defenseman, also won gold, but I don't believe either of them got a point during the tournament.

So with the announcement of the 10 incoming freshman, the 23-24 roster appears set. Jack Lagerstrom is no longer on the roster; he appears to be the only early departure. The roster looks talented from top to bottom, and with 15 forwards and 10 defensemen, there will be a fierce competition for playing time. Of course injuries will likely happen, so the depth will almost surely come in handy.

While Shane is the presumptive starter in goal, Keopple hopefully improves enough to get some meaningful action. On defense I assume Suda, Rego, and Kempf will remain regulars. Of the new guys, Fegaras and Stanley seem most likely to be in the rotation. That leaves 1 or 2 regular spots, depending upon whether we go with 6 or 7 defensemen in a game. O'Brien looked decent in his limited action last year, and his experience may give him a leg up. That leaves Steele, Mosko, Robertson, and Rayhill. Rayhill has never played in 2 years, so unless he's taken a big step he would appear to be unlikely to crack the lineup. The other 3 guys all appear talented, so we'll see if any of them performs well in the preseason and secures a regular spot.

At forward I'd expect O'Leary, Donaldson, Seger, Bancroft, Mack, Penney, Psenicka, and DeSantis to be regulars. Of the other returnees, Kovich and Wallace seem likely to part of the regular rotation, although their spots would seem more tenuous. That would leave 2 or 3 slots available, depending on whether we go with 12 or 13 forwards in a game. Of the freshmen Walsh should plug right in based on his age and exceptional production in the USHL. By pedigree you'd think Castagna would be next guy up, but jumping from HS hockey to the NCAAs is a tough transition; hopefully he can do it as successfully as Barron did. The other guys all have junior experience, with Devlin or Kraft seemingly the most likely to make some noise.

This is probably the youngest roster we've had in years, but might be the most talented top-to-bottom in memory. It will be interesting to see where we are projected in the preseason ECAC coaches' poll. Harvard lost a ton and didn't bring in any apparent superstars this year; they should take a step back. QU will always be good, and although they lost some key guys, particularly Peretz, they will probably be picked as the presumptive league favorite to start the season. I think we'll likely be picked number 2 to start the year.

Big Red beats #23 Auburn 4-3 in 1st round of NCAA tournament. Likely will play #11 Duke in 2nd round.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Since I started the Union thread and that turned out halfway decently, I thought I'd give it another go. Colgate has been an enigma this season, getting swept against Niagara and losing to both RPI and Union at home, but beating QU and coming within a minute of a sweep against Harvard. Hopefully our guys will be ready to go and will have last year's poor results against Colgate as some extra motivation.

Without reflecting on a bit of history, it's easy to overlook that the depth of talent and level of skill on the team has taken a huge step forward the last half decade or so after seeing a dip following our great teams of the early 2000's. We've been without Stienberg for some time and Donaldson was out this past weekend, but there's no discernible drop off in our ability to roll four lines that can all generate offense. We had solid teams a decade ago, but other than our top line of Ferlin, Lowry, and McCarron, we had very little ability to score on a consistent basis. Guys like Rodger Craig and Armand de Swardt provided some physicality but were virtually no threat to score (and yes, I recall Craig scored the OT goal against Michigan, but that may have been his only goal that year). Around that time Union and Yale had already been recruiting for speed and skill, and we were routinely outclassed when facing those teams. While we struggled against Harvard last week, I think that wasn't a true reflection on our ability to compete with them, notwithstanding their 15 NHL draft picks. We went toe-to-toe with a very talented BU team, and as good as QU may be, we've shown we can play with them.

As has been mentioned before, credit to Schafer and the staff for recognizing the changing landscape and retooling our recruiting to reflect the new era. Not only do we appear better suited to compete on a national level for years to come, but the team is so much more entertaining to watch than a decade ago.

Since no one else has started the game thread.

Game underway. Not much going on our initial power play. Continuing our early season pattern of missing the net too frequently.

Friends who live in Ithaca are reporting an increase in violent crime in the city. I wasn't sure if that was just hyperbole, but this data seems to bear that out, as Ithaca is deemed safer (by this criteria) than only 5% of U.S. cities. But as per an Ithaca Times story from last year, the statistics don't appear so dire.

I'm curious what other folks in the area are seeing as to any recent increases in serious crime.

As per Bingo's president's most recent quarterly report, they are conducting a feasibility study about adding varsity hockey. Scroll down to the "Athletics" heading

Edit

Sorry for starting trouble.