ECAC Prelims

[upprdeck]

that explains why cornell had the same attendence as the other 3 games combined.. things were much worse before SS came and now we are just middling. but its far from bad. do we really expect to win every year? our off years we are top 8.. union was worse coming off a NT.

[upprdeck]

for all this game blow turns into.. we had 2 breakways turn into no goals and a penalty that turned into a goal for union.   we had a shorty empty net turn into new goal. thats a 4-3 game as bad as we played.. if we score the 5x3 never happens .  

flat out though we need to find guys who can score when our best player rarely score from all alone 5-10 ft out. zero goals this series and multiple all alone chances.

[MattShaf]

In '94 We were chanting "McCutcheon Must Go". I wouldn't be surprised if the undergrads will be calling for Shafer's job soon. It's a shame given how close his team's were in the early 2000's but either the game has passed his style of play by or his ability to recruit players capable of succeeding in his system has significantly diminished. Either way a dramatic change is needed to right the ship.

[BearLover]

Can we just make Doug Derraugh the men's coach?

[BearLover]

It's a shame given how close his team's were in the early 2000's

Not a shame at all!  We got to see Yale and Union win it all the past two years, so our excruciating near-misses have all been worth it.

[Dafatone]

It's all about skating and scoring. This system has been dead for years. Please bury it now.

Yep.  If this isn't rock bottom, what is?  If this doesn't convince them that their joke of a system doesn't work, what will?  Finishing dead last with the "#1 defense in the country?"  

Coach wants to know why students only show up for the Harvard game?  Why WOULD they go to the other games? To watch them have a hard time beating the worst teams in the league, and not even compete against the top ones anymore? To watch them shoot the puck wide of the net for 60 minutes?  To watch the dumb penalty parade?  To watch the coach embarrass the university by throwing a hissy fit after the game?  It's the same shit, year after year, only worse, without any improvement. No f'ing thanks.  

He needs to go, and they need to bring in someone that understands the modern game (speed, skating, getting the puck on net) and not someone that uses Slapshot as a base of reference.

Rock bottom?  Really?  Really?

We finished in 7th out of 12 in the ECAC.  Obviously not what we wanted, but how is that rock bottom?

Rock bottom is finishing in 12th.  Rock bottom is going 4-23-4, as Wisconsin finished this year.  And they're a big program that's used to success.

Whining that things couldn't possibly be worse because we went just under .500 and finished cold is absurd.

[BearLover]

It's all about skating and scoring. This system has been dead for years. Please bury it now.

Yep.  If this isn't rock bottom, what is?  If this doesn't convince them that their joke of a system doesn't work, what will?  Finishing dead last with the "#1 defense in the country?"  

Coach wants to know why students only show up for the Harvard game?  Why WOULD they go to the other games? To watch them have a hard time beating the worst teams in the league, and not even compete against the top ones anymore? To watch them shoot the puck wide of the net for 60 minutes?  To watch the dumb penalty parade?  To watch the coach embarrass the university by throwing a hissy fit after the game?  It's the same shit, year after year, only worse, without any improvement. No f'ing thanks.  

He needs to go, and they need to bring in someone that understands the modern game (speed, skating, getting the puck on net) and not someone that uses Slapshot as a base of reference.

Rock bottom?  Really?  Really?

We finished in 7th out of 12 in the ECAC.  Obviously not what we wanted, but how is that rock bottom?

Rock bottom is finishing in 12th.  Rock bottom is going 4-23-4, as Wisconsin finished this year.  And they're a big program that's used to success.

Whining that things couldn't possibly be worse because we went just under .500 and finished cold is absurd.

He meant rock bottom for our program.  Because it makes no sense in college sports, where success builds on success and coaches stay forever, to judge "rock bottom" by finish relative to everyone else.  Kentucky basketball hits rock bottom when they finish above .500.  Cornell Hockey hits rock bottom when they finish below .500 with a horrific ECAC tournament.  Moreover, when you judge "rock bottom" not by just the current year, but by the sum of all recent years, I would much rather be Wisconsin right now.

[Rosey]

It's all about skating and scoring. This system has been dead for years. Please bury it now.

Yep.  If this isn't rock bottom, what is?  If this doesn't convince them that their joke of a system doesn't work, what will?  Finishing dead last with the "#1 defense in the country?"  

Coach wants to know why students only show up for the Harvard game?  Why WOULD they go to the other games? To watch them have a hard time beating the worst teams in the league, and not even compete against the top ones anymore? To watch them shoot the puck wide of the net for 60 minutes?  To watch the dumb penalty parade?  To watch the coach embarrass the university by throwing a hissy fit after the game?  It's the same shit, year after year, only worse, without any improvement. No f'ing thanks.  

He needs to go, and they need to bring in someone that understands the modern game (speed, skating, getting the puck on net) and not someone that uses Slapshot as a base of reference.

Rock bottom?  Really?  Really?

We finished in 7th out of 12 in the ECAC.  Obviously not what we wanted, but how is that rock bottom?

Rock bottom is finishing in 12th.  Rock bottom is going 4-23-4, as Wisconsin finished this year.  And they're a big program that's used to success.

Whining that things couldn't possibly be worse because we went just under .500 and finished cold is absurd.

Are you even watching this game? It's a joke. At this point, I'm sick of making excuses for this program. This is my last year as a Coach's Club member until something changes. I just can't pretend I support how things are going.

[Dafatone]

It's all about skating and scoring. This system has been dead for years. Please bury it now.

Yep.  If this isn't rock bottom, what is?  If this doesn't convince them that their joke of a system doesn't work, what will?  Finishing dead last with the "#1 defense in the country?"  

Coach wants to know why students only show up for the Harvard game?  Why WOULD they go to the other games? To watch them have a hard time beating the worst teams in the league, and not even compete against the top ones anymore? To watch them shoot the puck wide of the net for 60 minutes?  To watch the dumb penalty parade?  To watch the coach embarrass the university by throwing a hissy fit after the game?  It's the same shit, year after year, only worse, without any improvement. No f'ing thanks.  

He needs to go, and they need to bring in someone that understands the modern game (speed, skating, getting the puck on net) and not someone that uses Slapshot as a base of reference.

Rock bottom?  Really?  Really?

We finished in 7th out of 12 in the ECAC.  Obviously not what we wanted, but how is that rock bottom?

Rock bottom is finishing in 12th.  Rock bottom is going 4-23-4, as Wisconsin finished this year.  And they're a big program that's used to success.

Whining that things couldn't possibly be worse because we went just under .500 and finished cold is absurd.

Are you even watching this game? It's a joke. At this point, I'm sick of making excuses for this program. This is my last year as a Coach's Club member until something changes. I just can't pretend I support how things are going.

Watching, no.  Listening, yes.

It's a bad end to a bad year.  I just think we should keep things in perspective.  This is the worst year we've had in what, 15 seasons or more?  (I'm putting this one below almost knocking out Q a couple years ago).  Plenty of teams have worse years.  In fact, very few haven't.

[billhoward]

Years from now people may recall how tough it is to defeat the previous year's national champions. Not that Union was almost at the bottom of the ECAC standings.

[Dafatone]

It's all about skating and scoring. This system has been dead for years. Please bury it now.

Yep.  If this isn't rock bottom, what is?  If this doesn't convince them that their joke of a system doesn't work, what will?  Finishing dead last with the "#1 defense in the country?"  

Coach wants to know why students only show up for the Harvard game?  Why WOULD they go to the other games? To watch them have a hard time beating the worst teams in the league, and not even compete against the top ones anymore? To watch them shoot the puck wide of the net for 60 minutes?  To watch the dumb penalty parade?  To watch the coach embarrass the university by throwing a hissy fit after the game?  It's the same shit, year after year, only worse, without any improvement. No f'ing thanks.  

He needs to go, and they need to bring in someone that understands the modern game (speed, skating, getting the puck on net) and not someone that uses Slapshot as a base of reference.

Rock bottom?  Really?  Really?

We finished in 7th out of 12 in the ECAC.  Obviously not what we wanted, but how is that rock bottom?

Rock bottom is finishing in 12th.  Rock bottom is going 4-23-4, as Wisconsin finished this year.  And they're a big program that's used to success.

Whining that things couldn't possibly be worse because we went just under .500 and finished cold is absurd.

He meant rock bottom for our program.  Because it makes no sense in college sports, where success builds on success and coaches stay forever, to judge "rock bottom" by finish relative to everyone else.  Kentucky basketball hits rock bottom when they finish above .500.  Cornell Hockey hits rock bottom when they finish below .500 with a horrific ECAC tournament.  Moreover, when you judge "rock bottom" not by just the current year, but by the sum of all recent years, I would much rather be Wisconsin right now.

Sure, but I think Wisconsin demonstrates that success doesn't always build on success and that we've been lulled, somewhat, into an assumption that other good teams always stay good because we've done that, for the most part.

I'm not saying that changes wouldn't be good (if it were up to me, Schafer would come back next year, but he's officially moved from "schafer4lyfe" to "worth keeping an eye on").  I just think a lot of us have lost perspective because of 15 very good years.

[BearLover]

It's all about skating and scoring. This system has been dead for years. Please bury it now.

Yep.  If this isn't rock bottom, what is?  If this doesn't convince them that their joke of a system doesn't work, what will?  Finishing dead last with the "#1 defense in the country?"  

Coach wants to know why students only show up for the Harvard game?  Why WOULD they go to the other games? To watch them have a hard time beating the worst teams in the league, and not even compete against the top ones anymore? To watch them shoot the puck wide of the net for 60 minutes?  To watch the dumb penalty parade?  To watch the coach embarrass the university by throwing a hissy fit after the game?  It's the same shit, year after year, only worse, without any improvement. No f'ing thanks.  

He needs to go, and they need to bring in someone that understands the modern game (speed, skating, getting the puck on net) and not someone that uses Slapshot as a base of reference.

Rock bottom?  Really?  Really?

We finished in 7th out of 12 in the ECAC.  Obviously not what we wanted, but how is that rock bottom?

Rock bottom is finishing in 12th.  Rock bottom is going 4-23-4, as Wisconsin finished this year.  And they're a big program that's used to success.

Whining that things couldn't possibly be worse because we went just under .500 and finished cold is absurd.

He meant rock bottom for our program.  Because it makes no sense in college sports, where success builds on success and coaches stay forever, to judge "rock bottom" by finish relative to everyone else.  Kentucky basketball hits rock bottom when they finish above .500.  Cornell Hockey hits rock bottom when they finish below .500 with a horrific ECAC tournament.  Moreover, when you judge "rock bottom" not by just the current year, but by the sum of all recent years, I would much rather be Wisconsin right now.

Sure, but I think Wisconsin demonstrates that success doesn't always build on success and that we've been lulled, somewhat, into an assumption that other good teams always stay good because we've done that, for the most part.

I'm not saying that changes wouldn't be good (if it were up to me, Schafer would come back next year, but he's officially moved from "schafer4lyfe" to "worth keeping an eye on").  I just think a lot of us have lost perspective because of 15 very good years.

Is it losing perspective, or seeing the light?  When two teams in our conference with awful tradition and awful fans win the national championship in back-to-back years while we regress, it becomes apparent that circumstances have changed.  Very few people on this forum are not extremely grateful for what Schafer has done.  But that does not equate to wanting him to stay.

[MattShaf]

Even if this isn't rock-bottom, there is no reason to wait to see if we reach that point before a change is made.

[BearLover]

And don't forget: during Schafer's entire tenure, we were NEVER able to beat the fast and skilled teams.  Sometimes we'd get lucky and Yale would get upset and we'd dodge them in the ECAC's, and sometimes we'd get paired against Michigan instead of Minnesota in the NCAA's.  But whenever we'd ultimately play against these quicker teams, we'd get horribly outplayed, just about every single time.  That is to say, there is an entire type of team that Cornell has never been capable of beating during Schafer's tenure.  It's a problem that never went away, and under this system it never will.

[Rosey]

Watching, no.  Listening, yes.

It's a bad end to a bad year.  I just think we should keep things in perspective.  This is the worst year we've had in what, 15 seasons or more?  (I'm putting this one below almost knocking out Q a couple years ago).  Plenty of teams have worse years.  In fact, very few haven't.

Let me be clear: losing by itself is not the issue. It's *how* Cornell is losing. If they lost a close-fought series on the backs of mostly shut-down defense and some tragically missed shots, that would be one thing; but they are getting blown away by teams that walk all over whatever our supposed system is.

Enough. Something has to change. I'm not even qualified to say exactly what that is, but I do know it doesn't look like what Cornell is running right now.