Thank you Mike Schafer

[ugarte]

Jeff Hopkins '82 wrote:

All rumors and hearsay, I know, but where there's smoke...

There is a lawyer drafting a defamation complaint. . .

[Jeff Hopkins \'82]

I'm related to three lawyers myself.  My defense will probably be pro bono.

JH

[Richard Stott]

I don't know that Bertrand's recruting went downhill.  In this 11th year as coach 1980-81 were were 19-11 and made the NCAA torunament.  I actually think recruiting was one of his strong points -- those teams in the late 70s were loaded with talent.

But he did recruit a lot of players.  Since he wasn't limited by scholarships, Betrand felt that he could get an edge if one or two of the less talented members of each class blossomed.  But it meant that he usually seem to have about 30 guys in the program, and I've always wondered how good that was for team morale to have so many recrutied palyers sitting in the stands each game.

[Jeff Hopkins \'82]

Not only was it bad for morale, but he tended to play head games on who would skate and who would sit.  Or tell you you'd skate in front of everyone, but when the time came he'd tell you wait in the locker room and get out of uniform ... after the team was on the ice.

I guess part of it my attitude was that the early 70s set the bar so high.  The ECAC playoffs were a given.  A run at the championship was expected.

And your're right. 78-79 was great.  Not only did we win, but we destroyed teams, like Harvard 11-3, or Princeton 10-4.  But after that things went downhill fast.  

I tend to think of 79-80 as the year we played like crap (0.500), and then pulled a major upset in the tournament.  I camped out for 24 hours in the snow for this?  How would you have felt if this year's team went 0.500 and just barely made the tournament by coming back to beat BU in OT?  

While 19-11 might be decent, compared to old expectations, it was a lousy year - we finished 7th.  7th for God's sake!  We made a good run at the championship, but got beat by #8.  We then went out to NMU for the playoffs and promptly got spanked.  81-82 we didn't even make the ECAC tournament.

I enrolled at Cornell when we were THE team to beat.  I graduated when we were just another middle-of-the-pack team.  IMO, Dick Bertrand contributed heavily to that decline.

JH

[Greg Berge]

Ask yourself, is any of this relevant to or does any of this help the Cornell hockey program today?

[Jeff Hopkins \'82]

I stand properly chastised.

Mea Culpa.

JH

[Richard Stott]

It's Cornell hockey history which Schafer makes the learn learn and the fans should learn too, because it is a  great (mostly) history. There was once a coach named Ned Harkness who left in 1970 to coach the Detriot Red Wings .  His successor was Dick Bertrand a player on the 1970 team who kept the winning tradition alive for another 10 years.

[CUlater]

Besides the "interesting history" factor, doesn't it also serve as a cautionary tale about how hockey success can be ephemeral?  Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it...

[Greg Berge]

The ECAC should thank Schafer as well.  Mike has won more NCAA games than the entire rest of the ECAC combined during his tenure, and Cornell has played in twice as many games as any other ECAC team.

NCAA records since 1995-96:

W G Team
4 8 Cornell
1 4 Clarkson
1 4 St. Lawrence
1 3 Vermont
0 2 Harvard
0 1 Colgate
0 1 Princeton
0 1 Yale
0 0 Brown
0 0 Dartmouth
0 0 RPI
0 0 Union

[Greg Berge]

And a measure of Schafer's success compared to other active ECAC coaches (records in all games): http://www.spiritone.com/~kepler/ecac/coaches2004.html

Note that Mike has 17 fewer wins than Bob Gaudet... in 7 fewer seasons!

[adamw]

Take out 1996, the first year, and the numbers are even more staggering.

[jtwcornell91]

Adam Wodon wrote:
Take out 1996, the first year, and the numbers are even more staggering.

Although I don't know why you'd want to.  1996, while it featured some blowouts in the first half of the season (MSU, BU, CC), saw a return to a packed Lynah and wins over the hated Crimson, and a great run to the finish.  After that stinky busride back from West Point, the Red went 14-3-1, including a valiant split in the North Country to secure home ice, a demolition of Brenzavich and Weder in the quarters, the first ECAC title in a decade, and a decent showing in the NCAAs.  And we all know Schafer got screwed out of ECAC CotY that season.

[Al DeFlorio]

Adam Wodon wrote:

Take out 1996, the first year, and the numbers are even more staggering.

One presumes you're referring to the ECAC's record in NCAA games (UVM's and Clarkson's sole wins were in 1996), not Schafer's 1996 record.  The hazards of not using "threaded view."

[jtwcornell91]

D'oh!  ::nut::

[CUlater]

Yeah, but what's Schafer's record against Gaudet? ;-)