Harvard 6 Cornell 1 ECAC post-game & site critique

[billhoward]

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In a nutshell, this was the game: The Cornell cavalry arrives too late to rein in a Harvard attacker who grabs the puck at the blue line and swoops in on Andy Iles. Wash, rinse and repeat. Here Alex Killorn making it 5-1 late in the third period.

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About to be Harvard 1, Cornell 0: Harvard freshman defenseman Patrick McNally gets a step on the Cornell defense (above) ... and from a poor angle gets the puck past Iles (below and below).

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Harvard's final goal, by Marshall Everson (21). Iles perhaps could have stopped a couple of the early goals (from my blue line viewpoint, halfway up the rink). Not ones like this.


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Some of us tried to recall the last time Cornell came back from a one-goal,two-goal, uh-oh three-goal deficit. By the third period I think we were wondering if we could avoid a shutout and Joel Lowry did just that with 1:06 remaining.  


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When you're the ECAC site selection committee and lie on your back at center ice looking skyward while a showgirl pops grapes in your mouth, the arched blue ceiling makes Boardwalk Hall seem like an exciting venue. 3,462 fans (total, both games Friday, announced attendance; capacity is 10,500) straggled in. This was late in the first period. NJ high school wrestling drew twice that two weeks earlier.


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The Big Red band showed up, of course.


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Elements of a Harvard band showed up. Their T-shirts read (on 2 lines)
CRIM
SON ... though ...
CRIM
PARENT ... would have been more accurate.


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In the same way that Cornell avoided a shutout (barely), the ECAC avoided a TV shutout (barely) when RPI TV provided a pretty decent webcast.


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Real band, real fans, above and below. Without Cornell in the late game Saturday, the Union-Harvard title match would safely fit in Hobey Baker Rink.

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Proof that Harvard fans did attend the game.


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The Atlantic City ECAC hockey champions banner looks as if there's room for a 10-year-plus run. Maybe it's just a warped sense of humor. This is year 2 of a 3-year contract. Will a two-thirds empty arena Friday, probably worse Saturday, get both sides to think again about abandoning year 3?


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Cornell red plus St. Patrick's green equals a Christmasy look.


It's disappointing to see Cornell lose badly but not heartbreaking the way it is to cough up a lead and then lose late or in OT, as Harvard did at our hands in the ECACs a decade ago. This was such a crushing loss it's hard to say Brian Ferlin and Rob Pannell combined would have made a difference. We could not cope with Harvard bottling up our breakout and repeatedly intercepting the puck before we got to center ice. I was rooting for a Harvard victory over Yale last weekend thinking they'd be beatable and it's always sweeter to take down Harvard than Colgate or Yale. It appears Cornell needs a consolation tie or win to make the NCAAs, else we're out no matter who else wins or loses. Let's hope Colgate is more accommodating Saturday than the Crimson.

[edit add:] I modified the end of the subject field as the thread shifted to a discussion of the merits and demerits of Lake Placid, Albany, Atlantic City, and the attendance at the sites.

[BearLover]

Great post, not much else to say.  This was by far the worst loss of the season in the season's biggest game.  Win and we're in, but I can't say I'm too confident about it.

[dbilmes]

Great photos Bill, as always. Too bad you didn't get a photo of the scoreboard early in the second period, when it showed us with 5 shots on goal and Harvard with 4 goals. That's not a winning combination!

[trainbow]

Great post, not much else to say.  This was by far the worst loss of the season in the season's biggest game.  Win and we're in, but I can't say I'm too confident about it.

Terrific post.  Thank you.
Terrible showing by Cornell.  My wife wondered whether the whole team were sick with the flu, given how lackluster they played in each phase of the game.
Re Saturday's game, we are about to learn a lot about this team's character.

[andyw2100]

Excellent photos, Bill. I particularly like the first one.

[Redscore]

Great post, not much else to say.  This was by far the worst loss of the season in the season's biggest game.  Win and we're in, but I can't say I'm too confident about it.

I can honestly say that this is the first time that I do not really care if they make it or not.  It's clearly wrong to feel that way and I know the team has achieved more, much more than could have been expected at the start of the season, but still....
That RPI loss and now this Harvard loss really makes me just want the season to be over and move on to a clean slate next year.

[Rosey]

when it showed us with 5 shots on goal and Harvard with 4 goals. That's not a winning combination!

I am reminded of the Wayne Gretzky quote, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Too much dicking around with the puck looking for the perfect shot; not enough throwing it on net and working for good things on rebounds.

[RM 08]

Agreed. This team didn't show up for the biggest game of the year. We'll learn a lot about their character tonight, against a team with absolutely nothing to play for other than spoiler.

Didn't discourage me from heading down today, just have to get a bit of an earlier start. Hope there's still a good sized crowd like last night.

[billhoward]

Great post, not much else to say.  This was by far the worst loss of the season in the season's biggest game.  Win and we're in, but I can't say I'm too confident about it.

Terrific post.  Thank you. Terrible showing by Cornell.  My wife wondered whether the whole team were sick with the flu, given how lackluster they played in each phase of the game. Re Saturday's game, we are about to learn a lot about this team's character.

We'll learn about Cornell's character. Also about the randomness of sporting event outcomes. No team wins 100% of its games (except 1970) and sometimes you can have your worst game at a bad moment. At this point, an attainable ending to the Cornell hockey season would be to beat Colgate, get an NCAA seeding within driving distance (Bridgeport never looked so good, games are Fri-Sat; Worcester is Sat-Sun), and emerge with a victory.

Part of me wishes for victories today by Cornell and Harvard so three ECAC teams make the NCAAs. It's a sign of my age and distaste for the aura (stench?) of big time college sports that I'd like to see three academically stellar schools in the NCAAs. I'd love to see Union make the Frozen Four. Root for academically inclined schools, root for New York State schools, root for itty bitty D1 schools that frost the NCAA, the NCAA's  thinking being that only mega-universities deserve to be D1 and it's so, somehow, unfair that a small school tries to focus its excellence on one or two sports only

[css228]

Wasn't even Harvard's band. They were stuck in Albequerque so they hired a faculty band from SJU to play for them. Kind of reminds me of this moment from the 2010 World Cup.

[billhoward]

Wasn't even Harvard's band. They were stuck in Albequerque so they hired a faculty band from SJU to play for them. Kind of reminds me of this moment from the 2010 World Cup.

I wondered about that especially because the band played in tune. They also struck up military anthems. The Harvard Mercenary & Hessian Dismounted Marching Band. When Cornell needs musically gifted help on the road, it calls on alums.

[Dafatone]

when it showed us with 5 shots on goal and Harvard with 4 goals. That's not a winning combination!

I am reminded of the Wayne Gretzky quote, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Too much dicking around with the puck looking for the perfect shot; not enough throwing it on net and working for good things on rebounds.

To be fair, every time we did just throw it on net, there were 3 Harvard guys in the way to block the shot.  Harvard managed to clog the defensive zone and then get open rushes.

[cbuckser]

when it showed us with 5 shots on goal and Harvard with 4 goals. That's not a winning combination!

I am reminded of the Wayne Gretzky quote, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Too much dicking around with the puck looking for the perfect shot; not enough throwing it on net and working for good things on rebounds.

To be fair, every time we did just throw it on net, there were 3 Harvard guys in the way to block the shot.  Harvard managed to clog the defensive zone and then get open rushes.

Cornell attempted 26 shots in the first period.  Harvard blocked 16 of them.

[Rosey]

when it showed us with 5 shots on goal and Harvard with 4 goals. That's not a winning combination!

I am reminded of the Wayne Gretzky quote, "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Too much dicking around with the puck looking for the perfect shot; not enough throwing it on net and working for good things on rebounds.

To be fair, every time we did just throw it on net, there were 3 Harvard guys in the way to block the shot.  Harvard managed to clog the defensive zone and then get open rushes.

Sure, but how many times did Esposito try to take it all the way into the Harvard end by himself and have it stripped and taken the other way after one too many attempted move? This was happening even toward the end of the game. You'd figure after a while of that not working the guys would try some other strategy.

[Give My Regards]

Without Cornell in the late game Saturday, the Union-Harvard title match would safely fit in Hobey Baker Rink.

Without Cornell, it's likely the title match would safely fit in the Hobey Baker Award.