The Big Sheet

[Chief Albany Alum Bear]

Hi, All;

Now that our beloved Big Red has won the league regular season by the largest margin in the ECAC (over that "second place squad") since Hockey East split off, I have come out of "Bear hibernation" (for a number of reasons beyond my control), and have NO doubt the "Big Sheet" will not hurt us in L-P   :-D

If it does favor one team, that is likely to be RIP, as they always seem to have very fast skating teams, offensively oriented, and that is the case again this time around, except they have been able to limit other teams from scoring, of late. People around here are getting all flush and puffed up that RIP is 'peaking at the right time' and they are "not afraid of Cornell". We'll we shall see about that.

The BEST news of course, is that Mark Morris, the 'Snidley-whiplash' of ECAC coaches has been all but ignored in the Capital area press, while our very own Mike Schafer is getting all number of quotes in the sports news. Hurrayyyyyyyyyyy!!!! It's about time.

Normally, I loathe the thought of cheering for 'Vard, but given the circumstances inthe early game at L-P Friday night (yes, I will be in attendance), I am conflicted, but leaning toward cheering for the Crimson against the Golden Bites.

Am I mistaken in this leaning? Should I be forsaking our Ivy League poor cousin bretheren for the sake of the thrill of once again humiliating the North Country's tarnished conquistadors and thrill to the prospect of madness to Snidley causing him to shave off the infamous mustachio?

What be the opinion of these merry Big Red lads and lassies on which way to play that first semi-game?

Thanks MUCH to our Big Red team for finally putting together the potential that I knew they had last season (if the net had just cooperated more)... they really put on a hockey clinic for the hapless Dutchmen in front of their remarkably subdued home fans. It was a pleasure  to hear our Big Red Bandies at their finest too!

(if I were the onion fans, I'd run Sneddon out of town - Frosty Fridgen at least saved his but in the last ten games)

No comment on the RIP game, I couldn't see anything from where I was, but it sure was sweet to get a Capital Region sweep this year! :-)

Thanks Coach Schafer!!!!

                 Let's GO BIG RED!!!!

                          --- Chief AA Bear

[zg88]

Welcome back, Chief!  I knew that, eventually, the resurgent Big Red offense would bring you out of hiding!  :-))

[tml5]

Damn.  I knew there was a drawback somewhere.  Stupid charging penalties. . .

But hey, there's still less of a chance of a Game DQ for hitting from behind. . . that's gotta count for something, right?   ::help::

[tml5]

Baby is not really a hitter.  As someone pointed out on the USCHO boards, he's a playmaker.  He's big, he sees the ice very well, he has decent hands for someone his size, and as you would expect from someone with good ice sense he stays in position.  Not a great skater, not a big hitter, but a top quality defensive forward nonetheless.

McMeekin has just been amazing all year.  Murray might get DDOTY from the ECAC, but McMeekin is, IMO, the best defensive defenseman on the team.  After the Yale game I was actually wondering why he doesn't score more points, too.  Seems like he should at least have a few more assists.  Just bounces, I guess.

[jtwcornell91]

Beating Clarkson in the final would help us more in the selection criteria than beating Hahvahd (presumably because the Crimson are not a "Team Under Consideration"), and might even--I shit you not--get us a first-round bye.  I suspect losing to Hahvahd would also be worse, since going 2-0 would make them a TUC and add two losses and one win to our record vs TUCs.

[twh2]

...but every opposing fan who evaluated Cornell says three things: (1) they're good, (2) they're big, and (3) they're slow.

And (4) They beat our team.  

Bring on the big ice sheet, more terrritory with which to beat them into submission and on which to crush them!  LET'S GO RED!  Please God let Friday get here faster!!!

[judy]

Let them think we're slow. I don't really care. It may be more to our advantage this way and take them by surprise. Anyways, the same thing seems to get said every year.

[Jim Hyla]

And (4) They beat our team.

Except you know who in the east.:-(

[ugarte]

Hey CAAB. Welcome back. What could possibly have kept you away for so long? Did AOL cut you off?

[zg88]

> Let them think we're slow......  It may be more to our advantage this way and take them by surprise.

While the opposing fans might think we're slow, the opposing players know what the reality is.  Although it's possible that some (or even most?) of those players may indeed be of the opinion that the Big Red is "slow", they certainly won't be surprised (at least not at Lake Placid... I suppose we could surprise someone in the NCAA's...).


"Historical perspective" on team speed:  :-P

Not surprisingly for me, this is totally useless info....  But, I'm sharing it anyway...  My main memory of the '89 ECAC championships is watching the Big Red get thoroughly out-skated by eventual-ECAC-champion St. Lawrence and then also by eventual-NCAA-champion Hahvahd.  It was painful to watch (it looked like we were stuck in low gear).

I seem to remember McCutcheon saying afterwards, [loose paraphrase] "We've got to get some speed on this team".  I'll leave it to others to judge how successful he was in making that adjustment, but I'd say that the current situation (relative to the opposition -- not necessarily absolute speed) is significantly better than what it was 13 years ago.  ()