Fortress Invitational

[andyw2100]

But once I realized it, I also realized I'd have to FF to search for the OSU/Cornell game. While doing so, about midway through and almost an hour before the game, one can hear two commentators discussing what "a pain in the ass" it is to live adjacent to a golf course and how golfers would get pissed when the commentators' dogs barked.

As a dog-owner but non-golfer, I found this more enlightening than lots of sports commentary. Never buy a house on a golf course!

I chuckled at this conversation too, but I'm pretty sure it took place just after the audio went live, which was just before the player introductions. I had left the video feed up after the Providence-Army game, and there was no audio for most of the time between games.

[scoop85]

Quote from the OSU coach on the OSU Athletics game story:

"To me, the bottom line is we found out what it's like to work hard. Facing Cornell is basically a one-on-one hockey game, and we lost a lot of the one-on-one battles. It was a compete game tonight and we didn't have enough of it. That's a really good hockey team over there."

[jkahn]

Important Heads Up:  Tonight's final is the First Game, at 5:30 Pacific with the Consolation game to follow.

[French Rage]

Important Heads Up:  Tonight's final is the First Game, at 5:30 Pacific with the Consolation game to follow.

Yeah we had to move around a dinner reservation, having assumed the championship game was the late game.

While we had a couple unforced errors last night, OSU has faaar more.  If you asked me which team hadn't played in a month, I would have guessed them.  Their passing was especially sloppy.

Good to see the cowbell and the "so and so called, they said" guys again!

[Swampy]

Important Heads Up:  Tonight's final is the First Game, at 5:30 Pacific with the Consolation game to follow.

Thanks. It's almost impossible to find out the time from the FI web site since it just lumps the Championship and Consolation rounds together.

To add to my earlier kvetching about having the two highest-ranked teams playing each other in the first round, how about having them play the late game the first day, followed by the early game the next? In my book, teams that EARN the higher ranking before the tournament (and arguably can be expected to play the more difficult game because their opponents are tougher) ought to have the benefit of a longer time to recuperate between games.

[osorojo]

I haven't been this stoked about Big Red Hockey in 50 years. GRIN!

[billhoward]

Cornell was fabulous the first two periods against Ohio State. A couple mistakes in the third. Would have rather had it end 3-0 than 5-2. I was hoping for the same six-point MOV as Clemson put up on the Buckeyes six days previously.

[Dafatone]

Important Heads Up:  Tonight's final is the First Game, at 5:30 Pacific with the Consolation game to follow.

Thanks. It's almost impossible to find out the time from the FI web site since it just lumps the Championship and Consolation rounds together.

To add to my earlier kvetching about having the two highest-ranked teams playing each other in the first round, how about having them play the late game the first day, followed by the early game the next? In my book, teams that EARN the higher ranking before the tournament (and arguably can be expected to play the more difficult game because their opponents are tougher) ought to have the benefit of a longer time to recuperate between games.

I'm okay with playing tOSU right off the bat because I don't really care about the tournament itself so much as the chance to play good opponents, but yeah, this is silly.

[billhoward]

The TOSU player did go into the boards and his head hit first. It wasn't super-violent. It gives Stienburg something to think about not doing. It didn't affect the outcome.

[billhoward]

Before the game, Mike Schafer spoke to the fans who took part in the pre-game reception. He said (and I missed some points when I was fetching a hot dog and mac & cheese for my all-you-can-eat/drink $50 and was behind the loudspeakers):
* MSG hockey fall 2020 will be Yale. Be so nice to see BC there. We've already done Penn State and Michigan, you want a big school with a sizable NYC alumni contingent. Maybe Wisconsin, they have hockey-crazed fans.
* North Dakota plays at Lynah. (Did I hear that right? Are we finally getting respect?)
* AIC (American International, the one in a lousy section of Springfield Mass., not American University in DC) plays.
* He does not expect Morgan Barron to be back for his senior year. I don't think that's a news flash.
* Schafer continues to hope the Ivies (Cornell at least) would emulate Stanford and go even bigger-time, with scholarships. And he'd like to see the teams play more games. Our son, an athletic trainer at a Connecticut prep school, says his school's U15 team (a HS w/ 4 hockey teams!) is something like 40-6 as of the end of year, vs. Cornell's 10-1 total games played. I know junior teams play way more games and so do non-ECAC teams, but still the difference is crazy. We could have played at least one game the weekend after Christmas, maybe one after exams ended assuming there was still something of a practice schedule.

Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik (Wisconsin '90), is making $440,000, salary and benefits. (Is Schafer making half that?) TOSU athletics budget of $110M is highest in the country.) Schafer made a joke about the LV tourney being good for him as he gets older so he can see retirement communities that are affordable. And then next year we play at (at a tourney at?) Arizona State. (We will not be back at Fortress Invitational 2021 if there is one; this is year 3 I believe.) He's also seen the Gulf Coast of Florida via the Estero tournaments.

Not noted among the contributions of the Cornell freshmen: Lucky #13 Jack Malone got to serve the 5-minute major penalty (& game misconduct) incurred by freshman Matt Stienburg (1G, 15 PIM). They also serve who sit for five.

If you buy a ticket, the box office wants to see a license, a credit card, and an email address, which the guy checks (mine came back as me being from Fort Worth, TX, FWIW), and then he prints out 2 8.5x11 sheets of paper, you sign one, you get one, and about 5 minutes later the next in line can buy a ticket.

Attendance was cited as 3735, or 0.21 of 17,500 T-Mobile Arena capacity. I think Cornell was the 3000 part. The upper level was draped, except for the corner with the Golden Knight, ah, statue or wall relief. TOSU had a rent-a-band. So did we using Desert Pines HS BUT Cornell had the Big Red alumni pep band, too. At least Cornell made the effort. (see photo)

[Swampy]

Important Heads Up:  Tonight's final is the First Game, at 5:30 Pacific with the Consolation game to follow.

Thanks. It's almost impossible to find out the time from the FI web site since it just lumps the Championship and Consolation rounds together.

To add to my earlier kvetching about having the two highest-ranked teams playing each other in the first round, how about having them play the late game the first day, followed by the early game the next? In my book, teams that EARN the higher ranking before the tournament (and arguably can be expected to play the more difficult game because their opponents are tougher) ought to have the benefit of a longer time to recuperate between games.

I'm okay with playing tOSU right off the bat because I don't really care about the tournament itself so much as the chance to play good opponents, but yeah, this is silly.

Yeah, but a bit of bad puck luck against #2 can pit #1 against the weakest team instead of #3.

And if you read about the home-field advantages Providence, the #4 seed in the Providence Regional, had last spring, when they kicked our ass and Minnesota State's (to a lesser degree), you'd understand why I don't want them to have any more unfair advantages. Admittedly, we were also decimated by injuries last spring, so maybe our relative health (Andreev's illness sucks) combined with PC's losses to the pros, will make up for their extra rest and the relative ease of playing Army. But tonight's time for payback, and I don't want any more administrative bullshit to get in the way.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

The TOSU player did go into the boards and his head hit first. It wasn't super-violent. It gives Stienburg something to think about not doing. It didn't affect the outcome.

The other thing was that Stienburg didn't run straight at him.  He crouched a bit as he skated in and came up at him, almost as if he was about to leave his feet and jump at him.  He didn't but it was close.

[Swampy]

SLB 4 LVK 4 w/ 3 to go in the 3rd. Don't count on Cornell-Providence starting on time.

[billhoward]

The TOSU player did go into the boards and his head hit first. It wasn't super-violent. It gives Stienburg something to think about not doing. It didn't affect the outcome.

The other thing was that Stienburg didn't run straight at him.  He crouched a bit as he skated in and came up at him, almost as if he was about to leave his feet and jump at him.  He didn't but it was close.

You see the kid from BU who goes into the boards 11 seconds into his college career (Travis Roy, 1995, who tussled with a North Dakota player and lost his balance without being pushed in) and is paralyzed, you can see why the referees err on the side of penalizing anything that a play that appears marginally aggressive. And if you know the referees call the close ones ...

Video: https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2017/06/26/turning-points-travis-roy.cnn

[Jim Hyla]

* North Dakota plays at Lynah. (Did I hear that right? Are we finally getting respect?)

It's old news Bill. UND played at Lynah in 2010. We went there the year before.

Not that I like them, or some things about them, but they do have the reputation of traveling anywhere and doing home and away equally. Last year they were at Canisius.