OT (but not really): "Where Have All the Scorers Gone?"

[billhoward]

Is this possible, having common ground with RichS? Winning the ECACs is nice if you're a one-year-overachiever and new to this championship-level thing. But the real holy grail is the Frozen Four. That and winning it all. I've had enough of this ECAC-title-plus-heartbreaking-NCAA-Round-2-loss kind of existence.

[ugarte]

[quote cth95][quote Jim Hyla][quote ugarte]
Thanks a lot, jerk.[/quote]Jerk? Being funny, if so a smiley would help. If for real, to whom is it directed/[/quote]

I think he means me, since he said I made him doubt his original ideas.  I am assuming the use of jerk is in a humorous mode, though, as with the Beeeej posts.[/quote]Sorry it took so long to respond. I had to get my head back.

Yes, I was talking to cth95.

[Steve M]

[quote ugarte][quote Al DeFlorio][quote Trotsky][quote Drew]I hear ya, John and respect your opinion. I will concede the ECAC Championship, but I think you get the gist of my message, that these are all rungs in the ladder in the quest for the grail.[/quote]

No, there are two ladders and two grails.  I would rather win the ECAC title even if it meant being sent west in the regional than lose the final and stay home.[/quote]
Seems rather obvious to me, too.[/quote]I'll go you one better. I'd take an ECAC championship and a Round 2 loss (maybe even a Round 1 loss) over losing the ECAC's and making the Final Four.

I wouldn't care about the ECAC's if we made the Championship Game, though.[/quote]

In 1986 when the ECAC was a powerful conference, I'd agree with you.  Today I would much rather have a Frozen Four berth than an ECAC championship.

[Trotsky]

[quote Steve M]In 1986 when the ECAC was a powerful conference, I'd agree with you.  Today I would much rather have a Frozen Four berth than an ECAC championship.[/quote]

That's not Sophie's Choice.  The interesting and difficult question is: would you sacrifice an ECAC championship for one guaranteed advance in the NCAAs.  In other words, door number one is an ECAC title and an NCAA bid.  Door number two is no ECAC title but a guaranteed win in the round of 16.

For me, that's exactly 50/50.

[Beeeej]

[quote Trotsky][quote Steve M]In 1986 when the ECAC was a powerful conference, I'd agree with you.  Today I would much rather have a Frozen Four berth than an ECAC championship.[/quote]

That's not Sophie's Choice.  The interesting and difficult question is: would you sacrifice an ECAC championship for one guaranteed advance in the NCAAs.  In other words, door number one is an ECAC title and an NCAA bid.  Door number two is no ECAC title but a guaranteed win in the round of 16.

For me, that's exactly 50/50.[/quote]

If the question were: would you sacrifice an ECAC championship for one, and only one, advance in the NCAAs, the answer is easy for me: no.  But if it's a guaranteed advance, and then you're on your own, where Cornell has perennially had the ability to beat any team on any given night if they rise to the occasion, then yes.  I don't even have to think about it much.  I don't like not winning the ECAC tournament, but I like having the opportunity to prove we can make it to the Frozen Four again.  The last couple of years were agonizing quarterfinal defeats, but they were so damn close that I wouldn't mind getting another shot even if it meant not winning the ECAC title (like, for instance, last year).

[KeithK]

[quote Trotsky][quote Steve M]In 1986 when the ECAC was a powerful conference, I'd agree with you.  Today I would much rather have a Frozen Four berth than an ECAC championship.[/quote]

That's not Sophie's Choice.  The interesting and difficult question is: would you sacrifice an ECAC championship for one guaranteed advance in the NCAAs.  In other words, door number one is an ECAC title and an NCAA bid.  Door number two is no ECAC title but a guaranteed win in the round of 16.

For me, that's exactly 50/50.[/quote]I think I'd choose the ECAC title every time.  But I still value that title highly even if we never win the big one again.

Now if the choice were an ECAC title every or many years followed by a first round exit every time vs. a smaller number of titles followed by at least some NCAA wins I might be swayed.  Harvard's utter lack of success this decade in the tournamnet is not something to be envied, even with the Whitelaw Trophies.

Fortunately none of us is ever given this chocie for real.

Edit: On further reflection I'd take the ECAC title anyway.  I hope that when we do eventually win the long awaited national championship it's after winning the ECAC RS and tournaments.