Cornell @ Aints

[Jim Hyla]

No coach is sacred. Ask Terry Francona.

Francona's fate said nothing about coaches and everything about the hub arm pit of the universe.

Your whining about Boston fans is getting to be about as predicable, novel and fun as a penalty against CU. I don't know which one of us ran over your puppy, but I'm sure they're sorry about it. We love dogs!

For what it's worth, my facebook feed shows me zero "shoulda been us" posts from friends.

I have no idea where he got "the arm pit of the universe" from. I think as a city it's really nice. However the fans, well, the truth hurts sometimes. It was one of the great things about going there in the 60s+, beating all those, we have the best hockey, fans. Somethings truly are priceless.

As an aside, beating BC when they had the "we only have Americans, we are better" mentality, that's the ultimate.

[Al DeFlorio]

No coach is sacred. Ask Terry Francona.

Francona's fate said nothing about coaches and everything about the hub arm pit of the universe.

Your whining about Boston fans is getting to be about as predicable, novel and fun as a penalty against CU. I don't know which one of us ran over your puppy, but I'm sure they're sorry about it. We love dogs!

For what it's worth, my facebook feed shows me zero "shoulda been us" posts from friends.

+1

[Trotsky]

I think as a city it's really nice. However the fans, well, the truth hurts sometimes.

That's fair.  Architecturally, Boston is pretty (well, everything built before 1960 is anyway).

[marty]

I think as a city it's really nice. However the fans, well, the truth hurts sometimes.

That's fair.  Architecturally, Boston is pretty (well, everything built before 1960 is anyway).

Tip of the hat to the architects - that isn't a sunset reflection in the glass.

[Chris '03]

Does Cornell have a higher percentage of 5- and-10 minute penalties than other teams? Personally I wouldn't count the 10-minute penalites in penalty minute totals, but I would count the 5s.

We have a shitload of GMs compared to years past.  Completely off the top of my head, I would say our average # GMs for a season of more than 30 games is maybe 2 -- it's a rarity.  This year we have 7 or even more in 21 games.  It's truly nuts.

Now it may be that this is happening across the league; that I would not know (and at that point all I have to go on is comparative PIM, where we are Jack the Ripper.)

Again purely anecdotally it seems to me our frequency of stupid, self-destructive penalties -- crap after the whistle, crosschecks, hits from behind, offensive zone penalties, Joel Lowry Faceoff Nut Spears -- is also through the roof.  This isn't a slow team rolling up impedance minors when they fall behind the play.  It's, for lack of a better word, goonery.  Where in years past we would have delivered a solid check, this year it's bitchy little stick play.

It's Bob Gaudet Hockey, and it's embarrassing.

I feel like "The Joel Lowry Faceoff Nut Spear Award" should be the name for a TBRW award for dumbest penalty of the year.

[dag14]

Give him a break.  He didn't intentionally jab a guy in the nuts during a faceoff at center ice in full view of 3 officials [the guy dropping the puck had his back to the extra curricular activities].  He did what guys in the faceoff do to distract an opposing player...he just did it a little better/worse than most because his aim was especially accurate or his opponent was not also jabbing with his stick so Lowry was more easily able to make contact, etc.  Yes, it sucked that he got caught/had a penalty called/whatever.  Joel Lowry is not a selfish cememt head who attacks opposing players without regard for the consequences.  HE MADE A MISTAKE and he has paid for it, and likely will for awhile in ways we cannot possibly know.  So let it go already.

[billhoward]

I think as a city it's really nice. However the fans, well, the truth hurts sometimes.

That's fair.  Architecturally, Boston is pretty (well, everything built before 1960 is anyway).

Tip of the hat to the architects - that isn't a sunset reflection in the glass.

Aim your cellphone there and mess up the QR reader.

[Johnny 5]

As fans we may ring our hands and lament the premature end to the season. But these guys are living it. Don't think for a minute they are content with where they are, or willing to throw in the towel. Maybe the fans should back off a little.

Give him a break.  He didn't intentionally jab a guy in the nuts during a faceoff at center ice in full view of 3 officials [the guy dropping the puck had his back to the extra curricular activities].  He did what guys in the faceoff do to distract an opposing player...he just did it a little better/worse than most because his aim was especially accurate or his opponent was not also jabbing with his stick so Lowry was more easily able to make contact, etc.  Yes, it sucked that he got caught/had a penalty called/whatever.  Joel Lowry is not a selfish cememt head who attacks opposing players without regard for the consequences.  HE MADE A MISTAKE and he has paid for it, and likely will for awhile in ways we cannot possibly know.  So let it go already.

So, dag.....are you the Forum apologist, or what?
I have a feeling that their fragile psyches can handle the criticism.
After all, their negative behavior hasn't been affected, neh??

::screwy::

[dag14]

As far as I know, the players don't read eLynah and if they do, they don't admit it.  So what is posted here is for the posters, not the players.

I just get tired of the whining sometimes.  There are pleny of whining fans on syracuse.com and I hate it when eLynah posters sound like those idiots.

[Trotsky]

There isn't a lot of whining here.  After a decade of winning there will be some entitlement, sure, but people either get over that fast or they don't last.  (Cold snaps are nature's way of getting rid of weak stock.)

Compared to a typical SB Nation or some of the worse USCHO threads, the population here is terrific.  If people want to float ideas that Iles Is Not the Answer or The Game Has Passed Schafer By or whatever, so be it.  Free expression and all that shit.

[Swampy]

There isn't a lot of whining here.  After a decade of winning there will be some entitlement, sure, but people either get over that fast or they don't last.  (Cold snaps are nature's way of getting rid of weak stock.)

Compared to a typical SB Nation or some of the worse USCHO threads, the population here is terrific.  If people want to float ideas that Iles Is Not the Answer or The Game Has Passed Schafer By or whatever, so be it.  Free expression and all that shit.

What he said (with one addition).

The thing that makes this season so galling is the success and high expectations from last year combined with the depths to which the team has fallen this year. Last year, playing without Ferlin, we made a decent run at the FF. This year we were a preseason top 5. We didn't lose much to graduation, and until Bardreau went down, injuries didn't seem as severe. Yet we're on track to have the worst season in 20 years. Not only is there an emotional difference between a season that begins 11-0 and ends 11-11 versus one that begins 0-11 and ends 11-11, there's an emotional difference between a season that begins ranked in the top 5 and ends completely unranked versus one that begins completely unranked and ends in the top 5. The drop-off this year is a killer.

To make things even worse, other than the penalties, there's no obvious reason for how bad the team's been, and there's no clear-cut help in sight!

[Trotsky]

To make things even worse, other than the penalties, there's no obvious reason for how bad the team's been, and there's no clear-cut help in sight!

The lack of discipline is a serious problem and can ruin any season (1987 comes to mind).  It's also one of those rare things that is entirely within the control of the team.

The inability to protect a third period lead which marred last season has also been killing us.  It's gotten to where when we blow a late lead it's disappointing... but hardly surprising.  Since this is a holdover from last year the "good" news it isn't some sudden mystery illness besetting us because somebody stole a Polynesian idol over break.  The bad news, of course, is it's unlikely to change -- there is a fundamental deficiency in the way this mix of players, particularly the upperclassmen, play with a lead.  It will probably not end until time changes the composition of the squad.

My suspicion is that random variation is also in there.  With some puck luck 3 of the 8 losses could have been wins and we'd be looking at a 4-5 stretch -- irritating, but not unprecedented or horrifying.  By the same token, we were inches from the 2012 season ending with an unremarkable loss to Michigan or even a soul-destroying crash and burn QF upset to Dartmouth.

Our number may just be up.

[Towerroad]

No coach is sacred. Ask Terry Francona.

Francona's fate said nothing about coaches and everything about the hub arm pit of the universe.

Your whining about Boston fans is getting to be about as predicable, novel and fun as a penalty against CU. I don't know which one of us ran over your puppy, but I'm sure they're sorry about it. We love dogs!

For what it's worth, my facebook feed shows me zero "shoulda been us" posts from friends.

I have no idea where he got "the arm pit of the universe" from. I think as a city it's really nice. However the fans, well, the truth hurts sometimes. It was one of the great things about going there in the 60s+, beating all those, we have the best hockey, fans. Somethings truly are priceless.

As an aside, beating BC when they had the "we only have Americans, we are better" mentality, that's the ultimate.

OK ask Joe Torre

[Ben]

To make things even worse, other than the penalties, there's no obvious reason for how bad the team's been, and there's no clear-cut help in sight!

The lack of discipline is a serious problem and can ruin any season (1987 comes to mind).  It's also one of those rare things that is entirely within the control of the team.

The inability to protect a third period lead which marred last season has also been killing us.  It's gotten to where when we blow a late lead it's disappointing... but hardly surprising.  Since this is a holdover from last year the "good" news it isn't some sudden mystery illness besetting us because somebody stole a Polynesian idol over break.  The bad news, of course, is it's unlikely to change -- there is a fundamental deficiency in the way this mix of players, particularly the upperclassmen, play with a lead.  It will probably not end until time changes the composition of the squad.

My suspicion is that random variation is also in there.  With some puck luck 3 of the 8 losses could have been wins and we'd be looking at a 4-5 stretch -- irritating, but not unprecedented or horrifying.  By the same token, we were inches from the 2012 season ending with an unremarkable loss to Michigan or even a soul-destroying crash and burn QF upset to Dartmouth.

Our number may just be up.

The combination of stupid penalties and inability to hold a lead (see, this year: Brock, Princeton, Dartmouth, Maine, Denver, Yale, St. Lawrence, Clarkson -- all games in which we had leads and tied or lost) suggest that the team is mentally weak.

[Trotsky]

OK ask Joe Torre

Can't hear him over Peter Laviolette.