Season's Over

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

I don't like setting a precedent for the creation of a custom banner. Unaccomplished teams will find things they can hang a banner for just to have something in the rafters.  No participation trophies please.

+100

[Jim Hyla]

So now I just got another "C of Red tonight" email from coach Schafer.

It was completely blank, aside from his sig at the end.

So nice to know how smoothly things work there.

[Swampy]

Still looks nice to go to the USCHO site and see those 2 CU symbols for #1 in Men's and Women's D-1.

Hope they stay there till next Spring.

Fixed.

Almost as comforting, in my grief, is the score of our last game of the season on the eLynah form.

For the first time in recent memory, we get to look at it all summer long and smile, but with a tear for what might have been.

[Swampy]

Still looks nice to go to the USCHO site and see those 2 CU symbols for #1 in Men's and Women's D-1.

Hope they stay there till next fall spring.

Sorry, didn't notice Trotsky beat me to it.

[ugarte]

Still looks nice to go to the USCHO site and see those 2 CU symbols for #1 in Men's and Women's D-1.

Hope they stay there till at least next Spring.

Fixed.

look if you're gonna fix it ...

[KenP]

Still looks nice to go to the USCHO site and see those 2 CU symbols for #1 in Men's and Women's D-1.

Hope they stay there THROUGH next Spring.

Fixed.

look if you're gonna fix it ...

Next iteration would imply either nonstop dominance through the end of college hockey as we know it... or acknowledgement that we are already there.

[BearLover]

Is Cornell going to claim a national championship? Not that I want us to do it but given how Alabama claims hilarious National Championships I could somehow see it.

I'd like to think we're better than that.

I would like to see Cornell commemorate this season in some way, including hanging a banner that recognizes we were the #1 team in the country when the season concluded.

He's back on the checking line folks...

It'd be one thing if they were undefeated at this point, but cmon, a banner would be absolute weaksauce, and I can't imagine the players and coaches would feel good about it.  NHL players know not to even touch the cup unless and until they've won it, right?

One of the best years in the history of Cornell Hockey cut short due to no fault of the team. They could have won the ECAC, they could have won it all. Other programs can, and do, put up whatever banners they want. If you finish the season #1 in the country, you deserve to be recognized. This team is deserving of recognition and appreciation and a banner is one way of showing it. And one for the women's team too while we're at it.

[Trotsky]

Is Cornell going to claim a national championship? Not that I want us to do it but given how Alabama claims hilarious National Championships I could somehow see it.

I'd like to think we're better than that.

I would like to see Cornell commemorate this season in some way, including hanging a banner that recognizes we were the #1 team in the country when the season concluded.

He's back on the checking line folks...

It'd be one thing if they were undefeated at this point, but cmon, a banner would be absolute weaksauce, and I can't imagine the players and coaches would feel good about it.  NHL players know not to even touch the cup unless and until they've won it, right?

One of the best years in the history of Cornell Hockey cut short due to no fault of the team. They could have won the ECAC, they could have won it all. Other programs can, and do, put up whatever banners they want. If you finish the season #1 in the country, you deserve to be recognized. This team is deserving of recognition and appreciation and a banner is one way of showing it. And one for the women's team too while we're at it.

Rebuttal:

[jkahn]

Here's Mike Schafer's season ending email:

Hello Everyone
This past week has been stressful and emotional for everyone, and with the NCAA announcement to cancel the post-season tournament, our hockey team is not excluded. Yesterday, it was very difficult to speak to our team and watch young men cry as their chance of achieving their dreams had disappeared. In my 34 years of coaching, nothing has been more painful than yesterday's meeting. In sports, the season starts with an unknown. Everyone invests with all their heart and soul, without knowing what the end result will be. That result can hurt, due to the disappointing fact that there are so many uncontrollable factors in every season's journey. Despite this, our team is all about pursuing this emotionally taxing journey. This is what brings the excitement and passion to hockey and all sports. During the season, a player doesn't know if he is going to get in the line-up, be a top scorer, or be on the best ranked team in the nation. One thing that is important to our program is its culture. Our culture is to pursue that unknown together, as a team. We work extremely hard to pursue our goals. We don't worry about how our play is judged by others, based on wins and losses. Our players judge themselves upon how hard they prepared, and how hard they played. Even when a setback hits our program, we understand that the only option is to stick together as a team and get back to work, without fear of the unknown to begin another journey.
To our Lynah faithful, alumni, and every fan who has cheered for the Big Red- I am so glad that you had the opportunity to watch these young men play hockey this year. They are a special group that truly committed to getting better each day and were never worried about how people judged them. They worked to pursue a dream, without fear of failure. This team is a very close group who were selfless, and played with pride for each other, proud to wear Cornell University's colors, and proud to have the best fan base in the country made up of all of you. Working for many years with many different teams, you start to get a sense of which teams are destined to accomplish great things. This is one of those teams. They accomplished an Ivy League Championship, ECAC regular season Championship, a fourth consecutive NCAA bid, and a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament. We were feeling really good about entering the tournament healthy and playing with a passion and a hunger to win both the ECAC and the National Championship. Despite not being able to have this opportunity, I am very proud of what our program accomplished this season, and of the season as a whole.  
I feel very fortunate and privileged to coach these young men. I am very proud of my team, our staff and to be coaching at Cornell University.
 Thank you so much for being a part of our team's success this year and LET'S GO RED!
Mike Schafer
mcs14@cornell.edu
607-327-1069

As much as we all feel the pain of the unfinished season, it's got to be extremely tough for those who worked hard to accomplish what the team (and the women's team) did this season.  I think Mike says it very well above. I'm proud to be a Big Red hockey fan and a Cornellian.

[Trotsky]

That's a genuinely great note by Mike.  Bravo to him but more importantly to the team for a great season.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Rebuttal:

Not sure they're the best representatives of what athletics should be.  Certainly they don't represent sportsmanship and fair play.

[ugarte]

My honest, no-joke, opinion is that a banner acknowledging that we finished The Season of The Plague in #1 in the polls is a reasonable hearkening back to the pre-playoffs college football era. This year's teams - men's and women's - deserve to be remembered, even if it's just a second accolade on the ECAC regular season championship banners.

[Trotsky]

If we're going to put a stupid banner up for this year (we shouldn't and hopefully won't) we HAVE TO put up a national championship banner for 1911.

[Dafatone]

My honest, no-joke, opinion is that a banner acknowledging that we finished The Season of The Plague in #1 in the polls is a reasonable hearkening back to the pre-playoffs college football era. This year's teams - men's and women's - deserve to be remembered, even if it's just a second accolade on the ECAC regular season championship banners.

Maybe just a banner with our record. Don't claim a championship or a title or a ranking. Just the record.

It's too good a year to not be honored at all.

[Trotsky]

My honest, no-joke, opinion is that a banner acknowledging that we finished The Season of The Plague in #1 in the polls is a reasonable hearkening back to the pre-playoffs college football era. This year's teams - men's and women's - deserve to be remembered, even if it's just a second accolade on the ECAC regular season championship banners.

Maybe just a banner with our record. Don't claim a championship or a title or a ranking. Just the record.

It's too good a year to not be honored at all.

Ivy Title banner.  They're honored.