Frozen Four Results

[DL]

Better an East team than not.
Better an ECAC team than not.
Better an Ivy team than not (ok, with the exception of Harvard).

That was a great game. Any team that can play that cleanly, with such a "short memory", and run the gauntlet that Yale did deserves what they got.

Throw "New York State" into the equation. Better Union wins than a non-NYS non-Ivy team which would mean better Union than Q. You'd sort of have to root for Syracuse against Hopkins in an NCAA lax final, or Syracuse not Michigan in a hoops final excepting that Louisville-Michigan was darned entertaining.

I'd be inclined towards any of the other NYS teams in the ECAC except Union, but then I think this actually manifests itself in supporting the other teams that have been in the ECAC since before the Great Divorce, which is now down to Colgate, RPI, CCT, SLU, and the other five ivies.

BTW, if Hockey Least wants to poach Quinnipiac, I'm sure RIT would love to take their spot, although it would probably leave Princeton and Colgate as travel partners...

I'm with you on this (not "U"). And if it has to come down to only NY staters, I'd pick the classiest team+fan combo with the longest history and the longest drought. I guess it's about loyalty first, then spreading the love to those who represent well.

[jtn27]

Quinnipiac T-shirts said Beat Yale. Yale T-shirts said Yale. Far fewer Yale alums wore jerseys or sweatshirts than Cornell alums. There is the argument you shouldn't wear a team jersey past age 29 or chest size 48.

I know that Quinnipiac considers Yale to be their biggest rival and Yale's reaction is "You're not Harvard." I really hope this game doesn't change that dynamic because it amuses me. If Quinnipiac had won, it might have, but I think a Yale victory seals the lack of rivalry.

[Trotsky]

There is the argument you shouldn't wear a team jersey past age 29 or chest size 48.

You'll pry my team jersey from my cold, dead fingers.

(Really it's one of many things you can get away with again once you pass 50 without it being creepy.  50 is liberating -- it's like being a grandfather (all too close in actuality) and suddenly you're wauint rather than skeevy.)

[judy]

Quinnipiac T-shirts said Beat Yale. Yale T-shirts said Yale. Far fewer Yale alums wore jerseys or sweatshirts than Cornell alums. There is the argument you shouldn't wear a team jersey past age 29 or chest size 48.

I know that Quinnipiac considers Yale to be their biggest rival and Yale's reaction is "You're not Harvard." I really hope this game doesn't change that dynamic because it amuses me. If Quinnipiac had won, it might have, but I think a Yale victory seals the lack of rivalry.

Well, the Yale crowd did start a "Harvard sucks" chant. We managed to pick it up and join them after 1 round.

[tretiak]

Cops monitor Goleta beach hourly now - I'm a grad student a few months away from getting out of this Elysian gulag for good. 3 undergrads already cliff-dove off DP this year. Looks like we're in for a shitstorm circa Cornell 2010.
 
What's the difference between Cornell and UCSB? When a Cornell student dies, people assume the Cornell student did it on purpose. People assume UCSB was an accident.

[RichH]

Quinnipiac T-shirts said Beat Yale. Yale T-shirts said Yale. Far fewer Yale alums wore jerseys or sweatshirts than Cornell alums. There is the argument you shouldn't wear a team jersey past age 29 or chest size 48.

I know that Quinnipiac considers Yale to be their biggest rival and Yale's reaction is "You're not Harvard." I really hope this game doesn't change that dynamic because it amuses me. If Quinnipiac had won, it might have, but I think a Yale victory seals the lack of rivalry.

This article is a really detailed expansion of your comment, and an interesting read on the topic.  Personally, I laughed at the description of how "busloads of eternal Quinnipiac spring breakers are disgorged from minibuses from which they stagger, bathed in glitter and clad in high heels and little else, to Toad's" because I've seen it with my own bemused eyes.

In a sense, Quinnipiac-to-Yale is a more lopsided "rivalry" than Cornell-to-Harvard and Colgate-to-Cornell in terms of one caring much more.  I'm always curious about the level of interest in the Union-RPI rivalry, which I believe has been elevated in recent years, mostly thanks to a media attention-shift to Schenectady.  With Clarkson an easy target of RPI hate, Union used to seem to be an afterthought to the Engineer fans.  For Union's campus, they had to find a new foe after moving to D-I...IIRC, Union used to do the whole "orange toss" thing vs. Hamilton College in their D-III days.

A high point for me last night was that as it became apparent in the final ten minutes that Yale would ascend the mountain, the Yale section broke into a loud "HARVARD SUCKS!" chant, during which we in the Cornell pocket all happily joined in.  

My favorite quote regarding the Q-Y rivalry comes from this article (already linked somewhere on eLF this week):

As one Yale alumnus and hockey fan told me, the only thing this traditional rivalry lacks is a feeling of rivalry and a sense of tradition.

Zing.

[ugarte]

I know that Quinnipiac considers Yale to be their biggest rival and Yale's reaction is "You're not Harvard."

Something feels very familiar about that formulation.

[jkahn]

One of the great things that make the Frozen Four is that everyone is there for the love of the game. And people don't get into arguments about who you should root for - there's an understanding that it's the personal choice of the other.
Post-game last night I had the opportunity to speak with Tucker Mullen, this year's Humanitarian Award winner.  In the long run, that kind of stuff is more important than whether you win or lose. I got introduced to Tucker by Ryan Adler, brother of Cornell hockey player David Adler '00.  Ryan, a two-time Humanitarian finalist while at Hobart, saw my Cornell jersey and the next thing I knew I was in a conversation with Ryan, Tucker and a couple of others.  Two of the group took my picture so they could send a picture of the jersey to Cornell friends (obviously had nothing to do with the guy who was wearing it).  It was pretty funny to me that I was the one whose picture was being taking, especially since one of the other guys our small conversation circle was Brian Leetch.

[Tom Lento]

Am I the only person who really loves our style of Hockey? The vision I have of the 2003 team was not our good goal scoring, it was watching a player shoot the puck and then seeing three Cornell skaters slide into it's path as if we had four goalies. It was fantastic, and I've never seen another school be so dynamic at defense.

I'll take that over high scoring breakaway heavy games any day. 5 on 5 hockey with all the strategy that entails is where it's at. What's so interesting about a breakaway?

No, you're not, but I'm pretty sure we're in the minority. I love watching the positioning and communication* that goes into making defensive hockey work, but most fans don't seem to get into it. From what I can tell most (American) sports fans prefer to see scoring and scoring opportunities to brilliant defensive execution, and honestly I can get that. Goals are exciting - the light goes on, the horn blows, that damn bell rings, Deer Tick fans clap their thunderstix, the band plays Davy, whatever form it takes there's cheering and celebration. Even when the puck doesn't go in the net something *nearly* happened, and it gets the blood flowing. That's also what's so interesting about a breakaway - it's a single event with a high potential for changing the outcome of the game.

Yale's style is entertaining to watch for me, not because it's focused more on transition to attack (although that is interesting), but because of the puck movement. Cornell has *never* had that kind of passing under Schafer. I'm not in the "Cornell must abandon defensive hockey" camp, not by a long shot, but if I could pick one aspect of Cornell's game to improve it would be puck movement. They don't have to turn into Yale, but something a bit more dynamic through the neutral zone and on the PP could make a huge difference in both entertainment value and - far more importantly - offensive output.

* I think the thing I miss most about Lynah is being close enough to actually hear the guys on the ice talk to each other. That and every time it got so loud I couldn't hear them talk to each other.

[Trotsky]

I may be saying the same thing, but I would like us to work on getting the puck off the stick one beat quicker.  Yale accentuates their team speed by moving the play along quickly.  Cornell always seems to be deliberate, if not tentative, so even our fast players (Ryan comes to mind) allow the opponent to reconstitute the defense position and pen them in.

One of the best things about Bardreau is that he does the give and go very quickly.  It's not just fast twitch muscle tissue - it's a style of play we can practice and get better at.

Wouldn't hurt the power play any, either.

[scoop85]

I may be saying the same thing, but I would like us to work on getting the puck off the stick one beat quicker.  Yale accentuates their team speed by moving the play along quickly.  Cornell always seems to be deliberate, if not tentative, so even our fast players (Ryan comes to mind) allow the opponent to reconstitute the defense position and pen them in.

One of the best things about Bardreau is that he does the give and go very quickly.  It's not just fast twitch muscle tissue - it's a style of play we can practice and get better at.

Wouldn't hurt the power play any, either.

I agree that this is the biggest difference between Cornell and a team like Yale -- speed of puck movement.  This is one area where we need to pick-up our game, and it really shows on the power play.  I see glimpses of quick puck movement with guys like Ferlin and Lowry, but I'd like to see it more consistently among the entire roster.

[MattS]

I may be saying the same thing, but I would like us to work on getting the puck off the stick one beat quicker.  Yale accentuates their team speed by moving the play along quickly.  Cornell always seems to be deliberate, if not tentative, so even our fast players (Ryan comes to mind) allow the opponent to reconstitute the defense position and pen them in.

One of the best things about Bardreau is that he does the give and go very quickly.  It's not just fast twitch muscle tissue - it's a style of play we can practice and get better at.

Wouldn't hurt the power play any, either.

I agree that this is the biggest difference between Cornell and a team like Yale -- speed of puck movement.  This is one area where we need to pick-up our game, and it really shows on the power play.  I see glimpses of quick puck movement with guys like Ferlin and Lowry, but I'd like to see it more consistently among the entire roster.

I couldn't agree more. The passing on the PP is horrible at best. I think 10 year old kids could make quicker, crisp passes than what was on display the past couple of years or so.

[Josh '99]

Yale's style is entertaining to watch for me, not because it's focused more on transition to attack (although that is interesting), but because of the puck movement. Cornell has *never* had that kind of passing under Schafer. I'm not in the "Cornell must abandon defensive hockey" camp, not by a long shot, but if I could pick one aspect of Cornell's game to improve it would be puck movement. They don't have to turn into Yale, but something a bit more dynamic through the neutral zone and on the PP could make a huge difference in both entertainment value and - far more importantly - offensive output.

One thing that struck me this weekend was Yale's* knack for moving the puck out to the wing and then quickly back to the center while moving through the neutral zone.  This seemed to be awfully effective at enabling them to carry the puck into the other team's zone in a position to quickly generate a good scoring chance.  I don't think I've ever seen any team make quite that same pass quite so regularly at any level of hockey; my suspicion is that if a team tried it in the NHL, it'd get intercepted more often than not, but it was still impressive to see Yale execute it.

* I say "Yale's knack" but I can't say for sure whether it's something that they managed throughout their lineup or whether it's just their top line or two that can pull it off.

[Rosey]

I may be saying the same thing, but I would like us to work on getting the puck off the stick one beat quicker.  Yale accentuates their team speed by moving the play along quickly.  Cornell always seems to be deliberate, if not tentative, so even our fast players (Ryan comes to mind) allow the opponent to reconstitute the defense position and pen them in.

One of the best things about Bardreau is that he does the give and go very quickly.  It's not just fast twitch muscle tissue - it's a style of play we can practice and get better at.

Wouldn't hurt the power play any, either.

I agree that this is the biggest difference between Cornell and a team like Yale -- speed of puck movement.  This is one area where we need to pick-up our game, and it really shows on the power play.  I see glimpses of quick puck movement with guys like Ferlin and Lowry, but I'd like to see it more consistently among the entire roster.

The defense frequently given for Cornell's boring power play is, "They're just setting it up and waiting for the other team to be out of position." That IMO misses the point: of course that's the way a power play works, as man-to-man defense is not possible, and I don't think anyone disputes that.

The problem isn't getting five guys and the puck into the offensive zone, it's that Cornell seems to have one option: a slow pass to a guy at the point who takes a slap shot into the shin guard of a defender who's repositioned himself (and possibly gone to the bathroom to take a leak) in the copious time it takes the puck to move to the predictable shooter.

What successful power plays do is move the puck more quickly *and* less predictably *and* actually set up plays in which cycling players (with defenders having to transition between men in a zone defense) making a couple of quick passes in succession put the defense out of position without their having any time to react. You'll cough up the puck more often this way, but that's not much of a danger in a man-up situation, and the tradeoff is a much higher likelihood of catching the other team off-guard when you do have possession in the offensive zone.

The results for other teams with more imaginative power plays seem to speak for themselves.

[RichH]

I may be saying the same thing, but I would like us to work on getting the puck off the stick one beat quicker.  Yale accentuates their team speed by moving the play along quickly.  Cornell always seems to be deliberate, if not tentative, so even our fast players (Ryan comes to mind) allow the opponent to reconstitute the defense position and pen them in.

One of the best things about Bardreau is that he does the give and go very quickly.  It's not just fast twitch muscle tissue - it's a style of play we can practice and get better at.

Wouldn't hurt the power play any, either.

I agree that this is the biggest difference between Cornell and a team like Yale -- speed of puck movement.  This is one area where we need to pick-up our game, and it really shows on the power play.  I see glimpses of quick puck movement with guys like Ferlin and Lowry, but I'd like to see it more consistently among the entire roster.

The defense frequently given for Cornell's boring power play is, "They're just setting it up and waiting for the other team to be out of position." That IMO misses the point: of course that's the way a power play works, as man-to-man defense is not possible, and I don't think anyone disputes that.

The problem isn't getting five guys and the puck into the offensive zone, it's that Cornell seems to have one option: a slow pass to a guy at the point who takes a slap shot into the shin guard of a defender who's repositioned himself (and possibly gone to the bathroom to take a leak) in the copious time it takes the puck to move to the predictable shooter.

What successful power plays do is move the puck more quickly *and* less predictably *and* actually set up plays in which cycling players (with defenders having to transition between men in a zone defense) making a couple of quick passes in succession put the defense out of position without their having any time to react. You'll cough up the puck more often this way, but that's not much of a danger in a man-up situation, and the tradeoff is a much higher likelihood of catching the other team off-guard when you do have possession in the offensive zone.

The results for other teams with more imaginative power plays seem to speak for themselves.

When I saw the Colorado College series this season, I noted mentally, "hey, it looks like we're finally figuring out a creative passing scheme on the PP!" And it showed in the box scores.  By the time January rolled around, that had completely vanished, and we were doing the same ol' umbrella schtick (or giving it to Ferlin to carry in and take a shot alone) that our league knows so well.  I don't know what happened.  

There are two things I think Cornell has always been poor at: neutral zone passing, and clearing the puck on the PK.  For the last regular season game in New Haven, I thought the passing looked better than in recent games, but during the 10-0 drubbing in Hamden in the QF series, even the passing in our defensive zone was weak and INCREDIBLY tentative. Almost like they were trying to delicately deliver the puck to one another and hoping that it would work out.  Hard, fast passes right to the stick blade are what you see in April.  CU just didn't have that confidence. As for the PK, how is it that we always seem to send the puck RIGHT AT a waiting opponent at the blue line who can easily glove the puck?  It drives me batty how bad we are with easy PK zone clears.