Cornell 1 RPI 2 (ot)

[css228]

Not really, SBN pays its writers (yes, I would know).

Not its fan posts

True, but that's not the main body of content on SBN sites and sbnation.com.

My point was more the'yre both semi-respectable.

[French Rage]

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.

As for how Harvard fared in the NCAAs, look down there

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[jtwcornell91]

In addition to what previous repliers have said about mirroring the tradition farther up the hockey food chain, the Cornell program has a history with Bill Cleary that is somewhat different from the classy, honorable image Harvard presents of him and that the ECACHL "honored" by naming the cup after him.

Cleary and his Harvard team won the 1989 Frozen Four, and it wasn't even that improbable a victory - they had a lot of great players on that team, including Hobey Baker winner Lane McDonald, and they had won the ECAC tournament in 1987 (though not in 1988 or 1989).  A number of very strong players returned for the 1989-1990 season, and expectations were high for at least a repeat appearance in the NCAAs, and it was all the more meaningful because everyone knew it would be Cleary's final season at the helm before he stepped into an administrative position as Harvard's Athletics Director.  Somewhere along the way, the wheels came off a bit, and they finished 6th in the ECAC at 12-9-1, and only 13-14-1 overall.

At the time, we were in the 10-team playoff structure, where 7 hosted 10 and 8 hosted 9 for the first round, and the top 6 got a bye, so with Cornell's #3 finish, we would host Harvard after the bye week no matter what happened in the first round.

Cornell's 1990 team included some pretty serious firepower themselves, including future NHLers Kent Manderville, Corrie D'Alessio, Dan Ratushny, and Ryan Hughes (though the latter three only had a cup of coffee in the NHL), plus the infamous scoring machines on Hughes's line, Trent Andison and Doug Derraugh.  When Harvard arrived at Lynah, Cornell pretty much shut them down, sweeping the "quintafinals" 6-2 and 4-2.  Cleary's coaching career was over, and it didn't end prettily.

If I recall correctly - and it's entirely possible that I don't, but this is how I remember it - after the second game, despite giving Cornell coach Brian McCutcheon a hug, Cleary directed his players to skate off the ice without shaking the Cornell players' hands.

And that is part of why we don't have much respect for Cleary, and part of the reason why we don't have much respect for the cup named after him.

Pedant alert: they were still quarterfinals in 1990, since the four winners went on to to the ECAC semifinals in Boston.  "Quintafinals" refers to the five series (1v10, 2v9, etc) whose winners went on to either the semis or the 4v5 playin game, which took place from 1998 to 2002.

The other thing about that 1990 quarterfinal series is that Cornell entered with an 11-game losing streak vs Harvard, dating back to 1985.  IIRC someone associated with the Hahavahd program provided some good locker room quotes about how lucky they were to have drawn Cornell in the playoffs...

[Beeeej]

Pedant alert: they were still quarterfinals in 1990, since the four winners went on to to the ECAC semifinals in Boston.  "Quintafinals" refers to the five series (1v10, 2v9, etc) whose winners went on to either the semis or the 4v5 playin game, which took place from 1998 to 2002.

Of course... I was confused by seeing the tourney results on TBRW? and noting the 7 vs. 10 and 8 vs. 9 matchups prior to the quarterfinals, which I barely remembered existing at all.

[Trotsky]

Pedant alert

The pedants are revolting.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Pedant alert

The pedants are revolting.

Bloody pedant!

Oooh what a giveaway!

[Give My Regards]

The pedants are revolting.

Revolting??  You're a fine one to talk -- you're pretty repulsive yourself.  :-)