Cornell 1 RPI 2 (ot)

[Aaron M. Griffin]

I know we have been speculating about if there is a superstition around winning the Cleary Cup and why one would not touch it. So, while I awaited comments regarding the Cornell-specific reasons for not acting Union-like upon winning it, I crunched the numbers to see if history warranted the supposition of a curse. Admittedly, the Cleary Cup has been awarded only since 2001 so there is a very small sample size. However, the following is the results of my analysis:

73% of the time the winner of the Cleary Cup loses the Whitelaw Cup

36% of the time the winner of the Cleary Cup makes the ECAC Championship Final

27% of the time winner of the Cleary Cup is eliminated in the ECAC Championship Semifinal

36% of the time the winner of the Cleary Cup is eliminated in ECAC Tournament Quarterfinal

Yale, in 2009, and Cornell, in both 2003 and 2005, are the only teams to have won both the Whitelaw Cup and the Cleary Cup since awarding of the Cleary Cup began in 2001.

But still slightly better than the odds of the second-, third-, or fourth-place teams winning the Whitelaw Cup as the ECAC tourament champion? The only immutable fact: Every year since 2001, Harvard ______.

I would happily continue my undergradute years if Cornell offered a course in the Statistics of Sport (and Reflections on the Real World). Maybe offered online via eLynah and we hired the Redcast Guy to do the video? Just tell the prof not to walk too quickly toward either end of the chalkboard.

Sucks.

Here's the breakdown by seed.

% of times that a given seed has won the Whitelaw Cup:
45% second seed
27% first seed
9.1% third seed
9.1% fourth seed
9.1% team outside of the top four seeds

[RichH]

and Union, with its status as a respectable program.

A shiver just went down my spine. :-}

A brief history lesson: After turning Division I in 1992, Union made their first advancement in the ECAC tournament in 2009.  Before that, over the course of 17 years and 11 tournaments, Union's playoff record was 2-21-0 (if my TBRW counting is accurate).  To include the recent successes since 2008, (7-6 in 3 years), that pulls their ECAC tournament record up to 9-27-0 over 20 years and 14 tournaments.  They've reached the ECAC Championship weekend once, losing the 2010 Championship game to somebody.

So I completely understand why they would go crazy and make a big deal about it. They won SOMETHING. There's actually something to look at in a trophy case now.  Even though that's about as weird to me as seeing banners now hanging in Ingalls and Baker.  At least Brown is still flying those Pentagonal league championship banners proudly.

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Now if Union fans could actually make noise without the help of bells or milk jug rattles, or just grunting "U!!" over other teams' cheers, I could think about respecting them.

[Chris '03]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Didn't Dartmouth win or share the regular season title recently?

[Beeeej]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Didn't Dartmouth win or share the regular season title recently?

Yes, they shared it with Colgate in 2006, and had the #1 seed in the tournament, losing in the seminfinals to Harvard 10-1.  It wasn't pretty.

[Trotsky]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Dartmouth won the RS title in 2006.

To be fair to Union, they have finished in the top 4 seeds in 4 of the last 5 years.  We oldsters think of them as awful, but that's a good run, and their roster is dominated by young players so they should continue it in the near future.

[Aaron M. Griffin]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Didn't Dartmouth win or share the regular season title recently?

2006. Dartmouth websites mention it probably. One example:

While at Dartmouth, the program has enjoyed a tremendous resurgence, capturing the 2005-06 Cleary Cup as the ECAC Regular Season Champions.

[RichH]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Didn't Dartmouth win or share the regular season title recently?

Yes, they shared it with Colgate in 2006, and had the #1 seed in the tournament, losing in the seminfinals to Harvard 10-1.  It wasn't pretty.

So they did. My mistake in quickly jumping between charts and hastily scanning data.

[Beeeej]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Dartmouth won the RS title in 2006.

To be fair to Union, they have finished in the top 4 seeds in 4 of the last 5 years.  We oldsters think of them as awful, but that's a good run, and their roster is dominated by young players so they should continue it in the near future.

They also beat us the first time they ever played us at Lynah, in 1991-92, their very first year in the conference when they were pathetically bad - one of their only two conference wins the entire season.  And that Cornell team didn't really lack for talent, either, though we only finished 5th (we lost in the ECAC title game to St. Lawrence).

[Chris '03]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Didn't Dartmouth win or share the regular season title recently?

Yes, they shared it with Colgate in 2006, and had the #1 seed in the tournament, losing in the seminfinals to Harvard 10-1.  It wasn't pretty.

The next night wasn't so hot either...

[Beeeej]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Didn't Dartmouth win or share the regular season title recently?

Yes, they shared it with Colgate in 2006, and had the #1 seed in the tournament, losing in the seminfinals to Harvard 10-1.  It wasn't pretty.

The next night wasn't so hot either...

For that year, I prefer to remember instead our improbable comeback against Colorado College the week after, followed the next night by one of the single greatest college hockey games ever played, our 3OT 0-1 loss to eventual national champions Wisconsin.

[RichH]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Dartmouth won the RS title in 2006.

To be fair to Union, they have finished in the top 4 seeds in 4 of the last 5 years.  We oldsters think of them as awful, but that's a good run, and their roster is dominated by young players so they should continue it in the near future.

They also beat us the first time they ever played us at Lynah, in 1991-92, their very first year in the conference when they were pathetically bad - one of their only two conference wins the entire season.  And that Cornell team didn't really lack for talent, either, though we only finished 5th (we lost in the ECAC title game to St. Lawrence).

I never want to be fair to Union. They've been the source of way too many "losing points to a cellar dweller" over the years.  In 1998, we gave them half of their league wins, the year before their infamous 4-point Season. I'm still trying to get momentum for my brilliant "Trade-Union-For-RIT" plan. Sell high!! :-)

[Aaron M. Griffin]

Good ECAC trivia: Current teams to never win either title?  Brown, Dartmouth, & Quinnipiac.

Dartmouth won the RS title in 2006.

To be fair to Union, they have finished in the top 4 seeds in 4 of the last 5 years.  We oldsters think of them as awful, but that's a good run, and their roster is dominated by young players so they should continue it in the near future.

They also beat us the first time they ever played us at Lynah, in 1991-92, their very first year in the conference when they were pathetically bad - one of their only two conference wins the entire season.  And that Cornell team didn't really lack for talent, either, though we only finished 5th (we lost in the ECAC title game to St. Lawrence).

I never want to be fair to Union. They've been the source of way too many "losing points to a cellar dweller" over the years.  In 1998, we gave them half of their league wins, the year before their infamous 4-point Season. I'm still trying to get momentum for my brilliant "Trade-Union-For-RIT" plan. Sell high!! :-)

We looked so good against RIT the last time we played them. Cornell would lose also the ability to claim that we were the last ECAC team to make the Frozen Four without conditionalities. I do like a Cornell-RIT travel partnership though.

[Swampy]

Two questions -- how many 3rd period leads have we blown this year and what is our record in those games?

Games in which we have blown third period leads:

Game # / Opponent / Result / Notes

1 / Merchyhurst / L / Led 4-3 with 10 mins to go, gave up 2 goals.
3 / at Brown/ L / Led 4-3 with 8 mins to go, gave up 2 goals.
15 / at CC / T / Led 3-2 with 30 seconds to go, gave up 1 goal.
17 / Princeton / T / Led 3-0 with 17 minutes to go, gave up 3 goals.
18 / Dartmouth / W / Led 3-2 with 11 minutes to go, gave up tying goal but won in overtime.
19 / Harvard / T / Led 2-1 with  minutes to go, gave up tying goal.
21 / at Colgate / L / Led 3-1 with 16 minutes to go, gave up 4 goals including an empty netter.
22 / at RPI / T / Led 2-0 with 18 minutes to go, gave up 2 goals (in 90 seconds).
23 / at Union / T / Led 4-3 with 3 minutes to, gave up tying goal.
26 / at Clarkson / T / Led 1-0 with 7 minutes to go, gave up tying goal.
27 / at St. Lawrence / W / Led 3-2 with 16 minutes to go, gave up tying goal but won in overtime.
29 / RPI / L / Led 1-0 with 3  minutes to go, gave up tying goal but lost in overtime.

So, the answers to your questions are 12, and 2-4-6.

In an alternative universe in which Cornell holds all 12 leads, they finish 20-1-1 in the ECAC and 25-3-1 overall.

In an alternate world where we hold even a reasonable proportion of those leads we're a national title contender.

The alternate world is called 2012-2013.

[Trotsky]

Two questions -- how many 3rd period leads have we blown this year and what is our record in those games?

Games in which we have blown third period leads:

Game # / Opponent / Result / Notes

1 / Merchyhurst / L / Led 4-3 with 10 mins to go, gave up 2 goals.
3 / at Brown/ L / Led 4-3 with 8 mins to go, gave up 2 goals.
15 / at CC / T / Led 3-2 with 30 seconds to go, gave up 1 goal.
17 / Princeton / T / Led 3-0 with 17 minutes to go, gave up 3 goals.
18 / Dartmouth / W / Led 3-2 with 11 minutes to go, gave up tying goal but won in overtime.
19 / Harvard / T / Led 2-1 with  minutes to go, gave up tying goal.
21 / at Colgate / L / Led 3-1 with 16 minutes to go, gave up 4 goals including an empty netter.
22 / at RPI / T / Led 2-0 with 18 minutes to go, gave up 2 goals (in 90 seconds).
23 / at Union / T / Led 4-3 with 3 minutes to, gave up tying goal.
26 / at Clarkson / T / Led 1-0 with 7 minutes to go, gave up tying goal.
27 / at St. Lawrence / W / Led 3-2 with 16 minutes to go, gave up tying goal but won in overtime.
29 / RPI / L / Led 1-0 with 3  minutes to go, gave up tying goal but lost in overtime.

So, the answers to your questions are 12, and 2-4-6.

In an alternative universe in which Cornell holds all 12 leads, they finish 20-1-1 in the ECAC and 25-3-1 overall.

In an alternate world where we hold even a reasonable proportion of those leads we're a national title contender.

The alternate world is called 2012-2013.

Here's hoping.

[Swampy]

I guess my frustration is that this team is so close to not just being good, but great, and the flaws that this team has are traditional strengths (PK and 3rd Periods). Its pretty clear that the team plays up or down to its opponent - six points against the bottom three proves that - so if we get past Ithaca in two weeks I feel pretty confident in a deep run. But when I look back on the regular season I'm frustrated by missed opportunities. We were so close to beating BU. If we could have held up for 34 more seconds we could have swept CC at CC. We blew third period leads to Mercyhurst, Princeton, Brown and RPI - all solidly in the twenty worst teams in the country. There is so much promise to this team and its so frustratingly close to being great (the only games we didn't hold 3rd period leads in were BU, Colgate at home, Clarkson at home, and UMass.I'm sure that some of the top 5 teams in the country can't even claim to have held a 3rd period lead in over 80% of their games. It just is hard to be optimistic about the result being different next time (even though logically these stretches don't last forever) when you repeatedly witness the same outcome. Anyone who grew up in Philly knows this kind of team. This team is just one of those teams that you can't help but have optimism about, but the moment you let your guard  down, they get gut punched. I know they're really young,but I'm just not ready to raise my expectations for them again. In 3 weeks maybe. Though I really hope not. We play better when I'm not optimistic

These are characteristics of a very talented YOUNG team.