Perfection Returns to Lynah

[Swampy]

Tonight Cornell will honor the 1969-70 Cornell men's hockey team, the only team in modern NCAA D-I history to go undefeated for an entire season. The 50^th-anniversary celebration will be combined with the current team's game with Harvard. Not necessarily by plan, this is especially fitting since the 2019-20 Big Red men's hockey team currently has the highest winning percentage (86.1%) of any Cornell team since 1970.

Nonetheless, I am disappointed in this year's team, particularly in relation to the 1969-70 team. Last May, Dan Lodboa, a captain on the 1969-70 team, passed away. Here's what Dan's Wikipedia entry says about him:^*

Lodboa was a tri-captain of the 1969-1970 Cornell Men's Ice Hockey Team, the only team in NCAA history to complete a season with a perfect record, going 29-0. He was the first defenseman to ever become the top Cornell scorer for a season, with 61 points on 24 goals and 37 assists in 1970. Over this three-year varsity career he accounted for 134 points (52-82). He was named The Cornell Daily Sun Athlete of the Year for 1969-70. Lodboa's career highlight is scoring a natural hat trick in the third period of the championship game in 1970, winning the tournament MOP in the process. Lodboa died on May 11, 2019 at the age of 72.[1]

Dan's third goal in the championship game came at 52:17 and put Cornell up 6-3 against Clarkson. Clarkson scored another goal a bit over a minute later. Lodboa not only scored the winning goal, but it's not much of a stretch to say his hat trick, and his overall play, won the game for Cornell. Without Dan, Cornell may not have won the national championship that year, and we would not be commemorating and celebrating tonight.

When Dan Lodboa passed away last year, I hoped the men's hockey team would honor him this season. I envisioned them bringing his family in for an evening honoring him, wearing black armbands all season, and possibly retiring his number. Ben Tupker currently wears it (#14), and since he's a freshman he could have easily been assigned a different number. (Imagine the drama if Tupker were to switch jerseys tonight, and everyone watched as #14 is raised alongside Dryden's and Nieuwendyk's.) Especially with tonight's festivities, this would give testimony to the continuity of the tradition that's Cornell hockey. Wearing the armbands, in particular I think, would have been poignant motivation for this year's team. But instead, AFAIK, nothing has been done to honor this true Cornell hero.

I deliberately held off posting this because I did not want to look past the Dartmouth game. But now I hope the team can at least dedicate their performance tonight to honoring Dan Lodboa and that his heroics won't go unnoticed this evening.

^*Along with Peter Shier, who will be there tonight, Lodboa was one of only four defensemen in the team's history to lead it in scoring. His 61 points is still the highest of the four.

[Trotsky]

I am not a fan of retiring numbers and think we should hold it at 1 and 25 forever; in fact it would be great if those numbers eventually were returned and players could honor them by wearing them in memory.

This is notwithstanding Lodboa's amazing contributions.

[Swampy]

I am not a fan of retiring numbers and think we should hold it at 1 and 25 forever; in fact it would be great if those numbers eventually were returned and players could honor them by wearing them in memory.

This is notwithstanding Lodboa's amazing contributions.

I understand your point, and partly agree. There's much to be said of traditions like not retiring numbers. In fact, elsewhere here I've lauded Cam Donaldson for carrying forward the tradition of #7 as set by Doug Ferguson.

But the difficulty with relying on future players to honor past players by wearing their numbers is that future players may leave or be kicked out of the program, may wind up warming the bench for four years, may be injured repeatedly and create a 4-year gap in honoring the number, etc.

I'm not at all adamant about retiring #14. But then again, Cornell does retire numbers, and I don't think the only criterion for doing so should be that their professional careers put them in the HOF in Toronto, which focuses on the NHL. (This is especially so because former college players were exceptionally rare in the NHL before the 1980s, and because as an Ivy school Cornell is less likely to attract students who will succeed at the highest levels of both academia and pro hockey.) If there ever were a player whose performance while at Cornell by itself warranted this honor, it's hard to think of anyone more deserving than Lodboa.

[abmarks]

I like the ring of honor model, where your number and name plate go up in the ring, but your number also can still be worn be active team members.

[TimV]

I'm more with Trotsky on this.  Syracuse Lacrosse with #22 and Hill School with #45 traditionally have a number not retired but rather reserved for active players they deem worthy to honor the original iconic wearer.  I like that, and it avoids some of Swampy's concerns. It also avoids the situation where you get so many retired numbers you have a hockey team full of football numbers because 1-31 are all retired.

Agree that a black armband would be a great idea to debut tonight.  Or perhaps at the home game vs Clarkson.

[scoop85]

I like the ring of honor model, where your number and name plate go up in the ring, but your number also can still be worn be active team members.

Yes, this.

[Trotsky]

I like the ring of honor model, where your number and name plate go up in the ring, but your number also can still be worn be active team members.

I'm good with this.  25 year gap between final game and eligibility.

[Pete Shier'78]

I never got to meet Dan but was always so impressed with his legacy and what he did here. Got a chance to introduce myself to his son last night so he might appreciate the impact his father made to the program and for me in particular, how even being in the same sentence as Dan was truly humbling. And my $.02 - I think the idea of the Ring of Honor (or Rafters of Honor for Lynah?) would be a great idea.

[Swampy]

These are all great ideas. They honor not only legendary players of the past, but also current players. They could motivate and inspire players, who would be playing not only for themselves, the team, and the school, but also the memory of the heroes who came before. It takes Coach Schafer's practice of having the players learn about who wore their numbers in the past one step further.

I do not want to imitate tOSU at all, but maybe some special patch or mark on a uniform represented in the Ring of Honor could distinguish the players currently wearing such uniforms.

Two issues with a Ring of Honor idea: (1) what criteria do you use and how do you select who is so honored? (2) What do you do when two players who wore the same number are selected for the Ring?

Besides us kicking these ideas around, I wonder how they might work their way up the chain to Coach Schafer and Andy Noel. Obviously, if done right, they could be used for fundraising. The Ten21 Foundation in lacrosse might provide a preliminary prototype.

As for the black armbands, the idea is likely to take some time to percolate up through the coaches or administration to become team policy. If so, here's what I'd like to see instead: Ben Tupker takes it upon himself to start wearing a black armband with #14: leadership can start with a freshman; then perhaps other players follow suit; then the team's captains do the same, or they call a team meeting and the entire team does. The team then resolves to dedicate the rest of this season to honoring Dan's memory through their play, much the way the lacrosse team dedicates itself to Max Boiardi's memory every season. On the 50th anniversary of Dan's 1970 heroics, I could think of no better tribute than the team itself committing to play as hard as Dan did, from now through April 11.




Pete, I never saw you play, but from what I've heard, you're too modest. I'm really glad to learn Dan's family is here for the celebration. Maybe something is planned to honor his memory that we don't know about, and I will be pleasantly surprised tonight. I'm also really glad you will be there.

[andyw2100]

I'm really glad to learn Dan's family is here for the celebration. Maybe something is planned to honor his memory that we don't know about, and I will be pleasantly surprised tonight.

During the ceremony for the 1970 team between the first and second periods there was a special tribute to Dan Lodboa, which included a moment of silence.

[abmarks]

Two issues with a Ring of Honor idea: (1) what criteria do you use and how do you select who is so honored? (2) What do you do when two players who wore the same number are selected for the Ring?

As for the black armbands, the idea is likely to take some time to percolate up through the coaches or administration to become team policy. If so, here's what I'd like to see instead: Ben Tupker takes it upon himself to start wearing a black armband with #14: leadership can start with a freshman; then perhaps other players follow suit; then the team's captains do the same, or they call a team meeting and the entire team does. The team then resolves to dedicate the rest of this season to honoring Dan's memory through their play, much the way the lacrosse team dedicates itself to Max Boiardi's memory every season. On the 50th anniversary of Dan's 1970 heroics, I could think of no better tribute than the team itself committing to play as hard as Dan did, from now through April 11.

Two players with the same number means you put the number up twice, just with a different nameplate next to each one.

Personally I think black armbands for are a bit dramatic and overwrought.  If you want an armband for someone that has been around the program, like Mike Teeter, sure.   Someone who was a legendary player but no sustained connection to the team- go with the black sticker dot with his number on the helmet.

[Swampy]

I'm really glad to learn Dan's family is here for the celebration. Maybe something is planned to honor his memory that we don't know about, and I will be pleasantly surprised tonight.

During the ceremony for the 1970 team between the first and second periods there was a special tribute to Dan Lodboa, which included a moment of silence.

Didn't know that. I don't think they showed that on ESPN+. Thanks.

[redice]

Does anyone have any insight into Brian Cropper's absence last evening?   I hope he's in good health!

[marty]

Does anyone have any insight into Brian Cropper's absence last evening?   I hope he's in good health!

I also hope he is doing well.  Perhaps he has heard the legend of the undefeated team so many times that he forgot it wasn't Ken in goal that year.::burnout::

[Swampy]

Does anyone have any insight into Brian Cropper's absence last evening?   I hope he's in good health!

I also hope he is doing well.  Perhaps he has heard the legend of the undefeated team so many times that he forgot it wasn't Ken in goal that year.::burnout::

+1