NCAA QF - Denver

[RichH]

"Can't we pull one damn upset" just doesn't rock my world the way "Clemsoning" became a synonym for choking until they finally won one. Yes, I want to win a championship but there have been two teams in my life that I thought were actually reasonably capable of it. One lost in the semifinals and one was taken away BY THE GLOBALISTS.

This is pretty much where I land too - with the exception that, maybe just because of how exactly it fell out, 2006 feels to me like the third great lost opportunity. Could we actually have beaten Maine and BC in Milwaukee?

One thing about 2005 and 2006 is that, even though we had really good teams those years, we were outmatched in the quarterfinals against Minn/Wisco. (At least, that's what the box scores say—I wasn't following Cornell hockey yet.) How many times have we been in the NCAA quarters and played well enough that we deserved to win (or at least been 50/50)? At least since I've been a fan, for Bemidji, Ferris State, and yesterday that was the case. To come away with zero frozen four appearances even just with respect to these three games is heartbreaking.

Exactly.

It is, it is. But I don't feel the pain cumulatively. It's disappointing every time but not devastating beyond the immediate aftermath. 2003 still hurts. I feel Baby's shot hitting that mask deep in my soul. 2006 too, tbh, but I didn't go into that one expecting to win. So it hurts too, but it isn't the same.

Agree. The flurry at the end yesterday gave me flashbacks to Mike Ayers' facemask.

I think the extent to the gut punch is a combination of expectations going in, opportunity at the time, and gravity of the situation. For me, I was happy to pull hard for Cornell and believe they could win while knowing that they were not favored and certainly wouldn't be favored to win either of the next two. It was less of a gut punch than:

2003 UNH (facemask and not a high stick)
2002 Harvard (Tyler kolarik)
2006 Wisco (jack skille)
2005 Minnesota (tallackson)

Each of those denied a bona fide championship opportunity.

 I'd put 2009 Syracuse and 2007 Duke lax games on that list too.  Both were worse to me than the Maryland game.

The loss yesterday feels disappointing on par with BU last year and UNH in 2002 in the grand scheme of things. Games against better teams  we hoped were winnable, played tight to the end, and came up short. It hurts more because it was close.  It wasn't a shocking outcome and comes on the heels of an ECAC Title and with extraordinary potential going forward just three years removed from a canceled season. Not many teams make back to back QFs. Fewer do it shortly after the season is canceled while 50 other teams play on.

What adds to the frustration of a QF loss is that we miss out on the 2 full weeks of relishing the two wins in the Regionals and anticipating our next game against what is usually a blue blood opponent. to the FF. As great as the Maine win was, now it seems almost like a distant memory.

True. There were some really fantastic wins in the first round. Rodger Craig in OT to shock Michigan, Iggy's flying GW goal vs OSU, the comeback vs Northeastern, Destroying bleach-blonde QU (in their AHA days). But those memories are often washed out and faded deeply by the heartbreak and gut-punches that all happened a day or two later. But we had good times there for the regional stay. Frustrating that the feeling is always so fleeting.

[abmarks]

But those memories are often washed out and faded deeply by the heartbreak and gut-punches that all happened a day or two later. But we had good times there for the regional stay. Frustrating that the feeling is always so fleeting.

This quote needs to be held at the ready for these eventual situations:

Next time we finally win a QF game and then lose the Semi. Except the heartbreak and gut punches will be 2x what people are being now.

And just imagine making the final, but losing in a tight, winnable game that plays out just like most of these QF losses. Heartbreak and gut punch factor now 10x today.

And should we make a final and play a virtual replica game with Wisco... I can't even imagine how bad that one will hurt.

TLDR:
Getting to the semi isn't the answer.
Making the championship game isn't the answer.
The only thing that ends the "but if onlys", "why can't we make it to a damn semi" and every other repeated whine about luck will be winning the entire fucking thing.

Because winning is the only thing.

[arugula]

But those memories are often washed out and faded deeply by the heartbreak and gut-punches that all happened a day or two later. But we had good times there for the regional stay. Frustrating that the feeling is always so fleeting.

This quote needs to be held at the ready for these eventual situations:

Next time we finally win a QF game and then lose the Semi. Except the heartbreak and gut punches will be 2x what people are being now.

And just imagine making the final, but losing in a tight, winnable game that plays out just like most of these QF losses. Heartbreak and gut punch factor now 10x today.

And should we make a final and play a virtual replica game with Wisco... I can't even imagine how bad that one will hurt.

TLDR:
Getting to the semi isn't the answer.
Making the championship game isn't the answer.
The only thing that ends the "but if onlys", "why can't we make it to a damn semi" and every other repeated whine about luck will be winning the entire fucking thing.

Because winning is the only thing.

This lacrosse only lacrosse has gotten to the sf and final and lost in crushing fashion.

[RichH]

But those memories are often washed out and faded deeply by the heartbreak and gut-punches that all happened a day or two later. But we had good times there for the regional stay. Frustrating that the feeling is always so fleeting.

This quote needs to be held at the ready for these eventual situations:

Next time we finally win a QF game and then lose the Semi. Except the heartbreak and gut punches will be 2x what people are being now.

And just imagine making the final, but losing in a tight, winnable game that plays out just like most of these QF losses. Heartbreak and gut punch factor now 10x today.

And should we make a final and play a virtual replica game with Wisco... I can't even imagine how bad that one will hurt.

TLDR:
Getting to the semi isn't the answer.
Making the championship game isn't the answer.
The only thing that ends the "but if onlys", "why can't we make it to a damn semi" and every other repeated whine about luck will be winning the entire fucking thing.

Michigan has a streak of 8 Frozen Four appearances without a championship. A quarter century of coming back empty.

I think about the hell Miami fans have. They led the Final by 2 with 1 minute remaining.

http://collegehockeystats.net/0809/boxes/mbu_mia1.a11

A month later, we got to experience the same tragedy in the lax final.

[DL]

The views in here have been really thought-provoking. As crushing as this loss was, I can't ignore the fact that these guys played better than I ever remember seeing us, including Buffalo in '03. One bad penalty and one shitty call while playing a side stuffed with talent is probably all that separates any quality team on any given year from taking the crown.

[Trotsky]

One bad penalty and one shitty call while playing a side stuffed with talent is probably all that separates any quality team on any given year from taking the crown.

I would add one puck bounce.

So many games are decided by fluke events.  Great teams can only put themselves into position where those events cut their leads rather than costing them their leads.

[DL]

I would add one puck bounce.

Indeed, though that is perhaps more agonizing a thought, since it really is random. One has to have real faith in probabilities at that point to shake confirmation biases of curses and such.

[abmarks]

One bad penalty and one shitty call while playing a side stuffed with talent is probably all that separates any quality team on any given year from taking the crown.

I would add one puck bounce.

So many games are decided by fluke events.  Great teams can only put themselves into position where those events cut their leads rather than costing them their leads.

This!!!


Winning a title or tournament in any competitive league, at any level, is brutally difficult.  Pro, college, high school, even your average adult rec.league that's not riddled with ringers on playoff rosters.

You can't control luck.
You can't control outcomes
All you can ask for is to find yourself in that moment where you give yourself the opportunity to finish it off and win.  Knowing that the game is yours for the taking if you simply execute/perform in the way or to the level that  you've trained and sacrificed etc for so long to do.

That's why I'd rather be Michigan or BC in the abstract.  They haven't won obscene numbers of titles; nobody has.  But they have been so good that they can put themselves in legit contention to win the tournament year after year, showing deep run after deep run.

And come the semis and the finals, even if they are favored in a matchup, it's up to the fates.  Hot goalies, puck luck, illness or injury, bad calls, the occasional bone headed play or blown assignment,etc, etc, etc.  and the odds.on favorite is just not going to win that day.

And in NCAA play, it's one and done.  It's not a best of 7 where the better team should take a series even after having bad luck or whatever on one game.

that's a long winded way of agreeing that there isn't much separating the teams on one single day.