Frozen Four Results

[BearLover]

It's not only that it will help us (which it will).  

Please enlighten me as to how?  Because it's only hurt us in past years.

[Rosey]

It's not only that it will help us (which it will).  

Please enlighten me as to how?  Because it's only hurt us in past years.

Someone's got to break the seal. The ECAC has been perceived as the weak sister for far too long. Recruiting will be a lot easier when recruits won't think they're wasting 4 years.

[Trotsky]

It's not only that it will help us (which it will).  

Please enlighten me as to how?  Because it's only hurt us in past years.

Huh?  That makes no sense.  This is new territory.

I suppose you can argue that the conference strengthening and shedding its image as uncompetitive will not help us.  Good luck with that.  But your argument that "it has only hurt us in past years" is self-contradictory.  The conference members have been hurt by substandard performance.  This is superlative performance, so prior years have no bearing (but are strongly indicative of the opposite of what you are saying).

[Trotsky]

It's not only that it will help us (which it will).  

Please enlighten me as to how?  Because it's only hurt us in past years.

Someone's got to break the seal. The ECAC has been perceived as the weak sister for far too long. Recruiting will be a lot easier when recruits won't think they're wasting 4 years.

There's way too much cognitive dissonance generated by agreeing with you.  Quick, mention the Paris Commune or something.  

[Jordan 04]

An all-ECAC final is a nice shove-it in the face of HE and WCHA fans, but it's definitely a tough pill to swallow that a non-Cornell ECAC team will win the title after all we've been through the last 10 years.

Play better. "All we've been through" (oh, the humanity!) does not win games.

Not sure what "oh, the humanity!" means.

Sometimes you don't play well enough. Sometimes you play well enough but still don't win. C'est la vie.

[marty]

It's not only that it will help us (which it will).  

Please enlighten me as to how?  Because it's only hurt us in past years.

I'm with Trotsky as I have no idea what when or where in the past anything similar to what has happened in this year's tournament has hurt Cornell.

[Jordan 04]

It's not only that it will help us (which it will).  

Please enlighten me as to how?  Because it's only hurt us in past years.

Someone's got to break the seal. The ECAC has been perceived as the weak sister for far too long. Recruiting will be a lot easier when recruits won't think they're wasting 4 years.

For QU and Yale, arguably.

While I don't openly root for these ECAC teams to get crushed as BearLover appears to, his position is not unreasonable.  It's fair to believe that the recruiting advantage/improvement gained by QU and Yale from their appearance in the championship game (and one of them being champions) is greater than any advantage gained by the 9th place team in the league.  And that results in a net loss for Cornell.

[Rosey]

4-1 Q!

[Rosey]

It's not only that it will help us (which it will).  

Please enlighten me as to how?  Because it's only hurt us in past years.

Someone's got to break the seal. The ECAC has been perceived as the weak sister for far too long. Recruiting will be a lot easier when recruits won't think they're wasting 4 years.

For QU and Yale, arguably.

While I don't openly root for these ECAC teams to get crushed as BearLover appears to, his position is not unreasonable.  It's fair to believe that the recruiting advantage/improvement gained by QU and Yale from their appearance in the championship game (and one of them being champions) is greater than any advantage gained by the 9th place team in the league.  And that results in a net loss for Cornell.

This site is unusableonbilelltry again later. .i m

[Trotsky]

St. Cloud starting to act frustrated.

[BearLover]

It's not only that it will help us (which it will).  

Please enlighten me as to how?  Because it's only hurt us in past years.

Huh?  That makes no sense.  This is new territory.

I suppose you can argue that the conference strengthening and shedding its image as uncompetitive will not help us.  Good luck with that.  But your argument that "it has only hurt us in past years" is self-contradictory.  The conference members have been hurt by substandard performance.  This is superlative performance, so prior years have no bearing (but are strongly indicative of the opposite of what you are saying).

The conference shedding its image as uncompetitive will obviously help us.  It will also help everyone else in our conference.  Yale, Q, and Union are going to reap the far majority of the reward.  The chances of Cornell winning the ECAC will significantly decrease (as they have the past 10 years, as the conference has gotten better).  That means fewer trips to the NCAAS.  That also means smart kids who are good at hockey will look elsewhere.  Altogether that results in a net loss.

[dbilmes]

While I don't disagree with the Cornell fans who say what's good for the ECAC is good for Cornell, on an emotional level, I simply can not bring myself to root for Q. I watched every minute of our three-game playoff series against them, and after being subjected to their front-running fans, their annoying thundersticks, the blaring music in their arena and the 25 minutes it took me to exit the parking lot after Game 1 -- not to mention their rub-it-in-your face behavior in their 10-0 rout of us --I simply can not root for them under any circumstances. I am also sick of reading stories about them every day in the local newspapers here in CT.

[scoop85]

It's not only that it will help us (which it will).  

Please enlighten me as to how?  Because it's only hurt us in past years.

Someone's got to break the seal. The ECAC has been perceived as the weak sister for far too long. Recruiting will be a lot easier when recruits won't think they're wasting 4 years.

I think this is the real point that BearLover doesn't buy into.  This pending all-ECAC final will allow our coaches to more easily sell recruits on the fact that they can take advantage of all that Cornell offers and play in a league that truly offers the top competition available at the college level. I've been saying for years that the ECAC teams were improving accross the board, and I'm pleased that this year the results bear that out.

The fact that Yale or Q will almost certainly win the title will be feathers in their caps, but I don't think that at all means we'll lose all recruits to them or anyone else.  I have every confidence that we'll get our share to top-shelf guys regardless who wins on Saturday, and our chances of getting the best academically qualified players can only be helped by the ECAC's stellar showing.

[Trotsky]

The conference shedding its image as uncompetitive will obviously help us.  It will also help everyone else in our conference.  Yale, Q, and Union are going to reap the far majority of the reward.  The chances of Cornell winning the ECAC will significantly decrease (as they have the past 10 years, as the conference has gotten better).  That means fewer trips to the NCAAS.  That also means smart kids who are good at hockey will look elsewhere.  Altogether that results in a net loss.

This assumes the overall pie stays the same, but it won't.  Minnesota and Denver winning NCAA titles didn't hurt the WCHA, it kept the conference in a position where they could attract talent and roll up 3, 4 or even 5 NCAA bids a season.

However, I can understand your argument now.  I think we are arguing at different points on the supply curve.  The ECAC is currently a "poorly exploited" resource.  True, a rising tide can't lift all boats forever -- eventually the conference maxes out and at that point your concerns start to affect a given member's chances.  But we are nowhere near there right now, having been wandering in the wilderness now for decades.  If Cornell loses a blue chip to Yale but picks up two who are no longer worried about coming to the ECAC, that's a net gain.

[scoop85]

While I don't disagree with the Cornell fans who say what's good for the ECAC is good for Cornell, on an emotional level, I simply can not bring myself to root for Q. I watched every minute of our three-game playoff series against them, and after being subjected to their front-running fans, their annoying thundersticks, the blaring music in their arena and the 25 minutes it took me to exit the parking lot after Game 1 -- not to mention their rub-it-in-your face behavior in their 10-0 rout of us --I simply can not root for them under any circumstances. I am also sick of reading stories about them every day in the local newspapers here in CT.

I'm rooting for Q now, but will definitely favor Yale on Saturday.  I too can't stand the thundersticks and the plastic corporate culture that seems to permeate their program -- and the hockey cheerleaders? Come on now!