Cornell vs Niagara 10/31

[RichH]

If I recall, didn't we lose early on to a weak Princeton team last year?  Not sure if we were blanked or not, but I recall the loss.

Cornell lost at Princeton 2-1 the 2nd week of the season. Princeton scored in the 4th minute on the PP, and then notched an ENG in the final minute. CU got back within 1 with 16 seconds left on a scrum. The most frustrating part of that game was that CU dominated play and outshot PU 41-20.  We did open the season on a roadtrip vs. a strong team, and got a 1-1 tie and a 2-1 loss vs. a UNO team that eventually made the Frozen Four.

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/box/final/20141107/cor/prn/

[nshapiro]

If I recall, didn't we lose early on to a weak Princeton team last year?  Not sure if we were blanked or not, but I recall the loss.

Cornell lost at Princeton 2-1 the 2nd week of the season. Princeton scored in the 4th minute on the PP, and then notched an ENG in the final minute. CU got back within 1 with 16 seconds left on a scrum. The most frustrating part of that game was that CU dominated play and outshot PU 41-20.  We did open the season on a roadtrip vs. a strong team, and got a 1-1 tie and a 2-1 loss vs. a UNO team that eventually made the Frozen Four.

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/box/final/20141107/cor/prn/

It was amazing how many Cornell shots hit the Princeton goalie right in the gut.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

If I recall, didn't we lose early on to a weak Princeton team last year?  Not sure if we were blanked or not, but I recall the loss.

Cornell lost at Princeton 2-1 the 2nd week of the season. Princeton scored in the 4th minute on the PP, and then notched an ENG in the final minute. CU got back within 1 with 16 seconds left on a scrum. The most frustrating part of that game was that CU dominated play and outshot PU 41-20.  We did open the season on a roadtrip vs. a strong team, and got a 1-1 tie and a 2-1 loss vs. a UNO team that eventually made the Frozen Four.

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/box/final/20141107/cor/prn/

It was amazing how many Cornell shots hit the Princeton goalie right in the gut.

And that game hit me right in the gut.  Set the unfortunate tone for the whole season.

[RichH]

And that game hit me right in the gut.  Set the unfortunate tone for the whole season.

And this is a weird thing: To me, last season didn't have this "what the hell is with this disastrous season" vibe until February. Yes, they started the season with 3 GF in the first 4 games, but by the time the December break hit, that slow start had been erased with a stretch of wins vs. Yale, Denver, and a shot-happy Penn State on the big stage. I mean, yeah, that was the high point of the season, but I felt more optimistic then than I do now.

January onward was just a model of inconsistency: that team last season swept the Union RS series, but was swept by Dartmouth. Took 3 points from a hyped-up Harvard, yet only got 1 from RPI. They posted 2 painful but encouraging last-minute 1-0 losses to the best team in the league, but also looked completely bulldozed by the surprising SLU. From mid-January to the end of the regular season, they didn't lose more than one game-in-a-row, but they didn't win more than one-in-a-row, either. I just felt if they could get on a 3 game winning streak, they could get that post-season confidence.  That didn't happen.  Through it all, they went into the last weekend of the regular season NEEDING wins (and still had a shot at a bye), and came away with an embarrassing Brown tie and got blown out at Yale. That last weekend was the only point I felt the wheels came off, setting up the terrible playoff exit. Remember, going into the final RS weekend, Gillam led the nation in GAA. The implosion of the last 4 games was the gut-punch for me.

This is why the entire hammering of the "worst season ever" and "loud personalities held us back" narratives seem weird, if not hollow to me.

[scoop85]

And that game hit me right in the gut.  Set the unfortunate tone for the whole season.

And this is a weird thing: To me, last season didn't have this "what the hell is with this disastrous season" vibe until February. Yes, they started the season with 3 GF in the first 4 games, but by the time the December break hit, that slow start had been erased with a stretch of wins vs. Yale, Denver, and a shot-happy Penn State on the big stage. I mean, yeah, that was the high point of the season, but I felt more optimistic then than I do now.

January onward was just a model of inconsistency: that team last season swept the Union RS series, but was swept by Dartmouth. Took 3 points from a hyped-up Harvard, yet only got 1 from RPI. They posted 2 painful but encouraging last-minute 1-0 losses to the best team in the league, but also looked completely bulldozed by the surprising SLU. From mid-January to the end of the regular season, they didn't lose more than one game-in-a-row, but they didn't win more than one-in-a-row, either. I just felt if they could get on a 3 game winning streak, they could get that post-season confidence.  That didn't happen.  Through it all, they went into the last weekend of the regular season NEEDING wins (and still had a shot at a bye), and came away with an embarrassing Brown tie and got blown out at Yale. That last weekend was the only point I felt the wheels came off, setting up the terrible playoff exit. Remember, going into the final RS weekend, Gillam led the nation in GAA. The implosion of the last 4 games was the gut-punch for me.

This is why the entire hammering of the "worst season ever" and "loud personalities held us back" narratives seem weird, if not hollow to me.

I get where you're coming from, but I never had a good vibe about last year's team, as they simply could not score with any regularity.  While the sample size is small, I already feel better about this year's team.

[ugarte]

And that game hit me right in the gut.  Set the unfortunate tone for the whole season.

And this is a weird thing: To me, last season didn't have this "what the hell is with this disastrous season" vibe until February. Yes, they started the season with 3 GF in the first 4 games, but by the time the December break hit, that slow start had been erased with a stretch of wins vs. Yale, Denver, and a shot-happy Penn State on the big stage. I mean, yeah, that was the high point of the season, but I felt more optimistic then than I do now.

January onward was just a model of inconsistency: that team last season swept the Union RS series, but was swept by Dartmouth. Took 3 points from a hyped-up Harvard, yet only got 1 from RPI. They posted 2 painful but encouraging last-minute 1-0 losses to the best team in the league, but also looked completely bulldozed by the surprising SLU. From mid-January to the end of the regular season, they didn't lose more than one game-in-a-row, but they didn't win more than one-in-a-row, either. I just felt if they could get on a 3 game winning streak, they could get that post-season confidence.  That didn't happen.  Through it all, they went into the last weekend of the regular season NEEDING wins (and still had a shot at a bye), and came away with an embarrassing Brown tie and got blown out at Yale. That last weekend was the only point I felt the wheels came off, setting up the terrible playoff exit. Remember, going into the final RS weekend, Gillam led the nation in GAA. The implosion of the last 4 games was the gut-punch for me.

This is why the entire hammering of the "worst season ever" and "loud personalities held us back" narratives seem weird, if not hollow to me.

I get where you're coming from, but I never had a good vibe about last year's team, as they simply could not score with any regularity.  While the sample size is small, I already feel better about this year's team.

I don't know if I feel good about 2015-16 being successful yet but I definitely feel this freshman class means the program isn't about to go into a tailspin.

[RichH]

I don't know if I feel good about 2015-16 being successful yet but I definitely feel this freshman class means the program isn't about to go into a tailspin.

Early returns are definitely good. Usually I'm happy if we find a freshman just earn a spot on the top two lines.

I love the contributions so far, but I hope we don't get to a point of relying heavily on freshman scoring. These guys are getting their first look at this level of the physicality and grinding play our league tends to see.  Not to mention that if Angello, Vanderlaan, & McCrea continue at this rate of success, they are going to get a lot more "attention" (shall we say) from keying opposing defenses. If they go too hard early on, I fear they could "hit the wall" come late January or worse yet, expose themselves to injury. Remember, they don't have the benefit of having a full year of Schafer-style strength and conditioning.

Kubiak, Willcox, and Bliss...fantastic start. They've been making things happen all over the ice. Let's get Hilbrich going and some contributions from a surprise source like Tiitinen, Rauter, or Yates. I'll feel better then.

[margolism]

My senior year was worst-season-ever.

Six wins.

Last year's team won almost 2x as many games.

[Dafatone]

My senior year was worst-season-ever.

Six wins.

Last year's team won almost 2x as many games.

We've beaten this topic to death, back to life, and back to death again.  But yeah, I do think it's easy to forget just how bad a really bad year looks.