Quinnipiac at Cornell 11/22

[stereax]

Dare I say it. We dropped 8 spots in pairwise to 16. This one really took something out of me.  I had very high hopes for this year but sentiment won't get you far.  Schaf has had some mediocre seasons and maybe this it's what's going to happen this year.

Otoh how often have we gotten off to great starts in the fall only to fade down the stretch.

It's November. Take a breath. Have some faith. Princeton tomorrow. Shouldn't be tough, right? And then we spank Q on the national stage. Faith.

[BearLover]

Cornell was outshot 23-16 at home by what appears to be a modestly above-average team.

The expectation this year was the we could compete for a national championship.

This would be a bad start to the season under normal standards. But factoring in expectations, this is one of the worst starts in Schafer's 30 seasons as head coach.

[BearLover]

Dare I say it. We dropped 8 spots in pairwise to 16. This one really took something out of me.  I had very high hopes for this year but sentiment won't get you far.  Schaf has had some mediocre seasons and maybe this it's what's going to happen this year.

Otoh how often have we gotten off to great starts in the fall only to fade down the stretch.

The PWR situation will get much worse when Dartmouth and other Ivies start playing teams out of conference.

[arugula]

Dare I say it. We dropped 8 spots in pairwise to 16. This one really took something out of me.  I had very high hopes for this year but sentiment won't get you far.  Schaf has had some mediocre seasons and maybe this it's what's going to happen this year.

Otoh how often have we gotten off to great starts in the fall only to fade down the stretch.

It's November. Take a breath. Have some faith. Princeton tomorrow. Shouldn't be tough, right? And then we spank Q on the national stage. Faith.

I have to remind myself what faith is.

[chimpfood]

Everything about that game was embarrassing, the band and the play.  All of our issues are the same things and nothing is getting fixed. The powerplay was absolutely dreadful, the PK let up on the final seconds again, and we gave up so many pucks in our own end which led to their GWG. Not to mention we got stifled by their defense. I believe in this team but Jesus Christ, if we keep this up we're going to be worrying about even having a bye in the ECACA tournament soon.

[BearLover]

Everything about that game was embarrassing, the band and the play.  All of our issues are the same things and nothing is getting fixed. The powerplay was absolutely dreadful, the PK let up on the final seconds again, and we gave up so many pucks in our own end which led to their GWG. Not to mention we got stifled by their defense. I believe in this team but Jesus Christ, if we keep this up we're going to be worrying about even having a bye in the ECACA tournament soon.

At some point it's less about belief that the team can ultimately be good and more about the fact we've dug ourselves too big a hole. 3-2-2 against average opposition is a terrible start; even if we start playing better, this team is likely going to need to go on a crazy winning streak to accomplish anything this season.

[Dafatone]

It's much too early to know much of anything about most teams, including us.

Edit: CHN has us as having the 7th toughest schedule so far. Make of that what you will.

[scoop85]

I just caught the game on demand and to say we were underwhelming hardly does that term justice. QU played a structured, disciplined game, but we just seem to be missing the spark that we've typically had over the last many years. Still plenty of time to turn things around, but the last few weeks have been concerning.

[stereax]

Dare I say it. We dropped 8 spots in pairwise to 16. This one really took something out of me.  I had very high hopes for this year but sentiment won't get you far.  Schaf has had some mediocre seasons and maybe this it's what's going to happen this year.

Otoh how often have we gotten off to great starts in the fall only to fade down the stretch.

It's November. Take a breath. Have some faith. Princeton tomorrow. Shouldn't be tough, right? And then we spank Q on the national stage. Faith.

I have to remind myself what faith is.

Sending a hug your way. <3

I know I must sound like a relentless optimist, and I admit I don't know that much about NCAA puck, but. It's fine. Things work out, you know?

And I'm just sitting here like - I had to roll off my couch, where I passed out the night before at midnight, at 4 in the morning because I needed to be on a video call with an NGO in Europe and then I was pounding out most of a memo for lawyering before 9:00. Made myself a microwave spaghetti from Wegmans for breakfast, stained my white sleeve a little bit, and then had to haul ass uphill in the rain to the annoying bus stop because I was a smidge too late to go to the nice one. Rolled up to conlaw and started feeling incredibly sick like 10 minutes in, fucking spaghetti, so the minute I got out of class I booked it to the bathroom. Finally got home at like, 1:30, back to the bathroom, got out and immediately got dragged onto more phone calls because people think I know things. Get off call around 5:30 and book it to get out of the apartment on time. Forget my bus pass, so I pay with change to get up to Lynah. Watch my team play and freeze my ass off doing it because apparently three layers isn't enough. Watch my team lose and yell at them enough to shoot the fucking puck my voice goes a little shot. Get out around 9:30 after the salute and because I forgot my fucking bus pass like an idiot I gotta haul ass all the way down the hill while thinking of this post in my head and praying I don't lose my teeth tripping over the sidewalk. Treat myself to a cookie on the way cause the only thing I had to eat all day was that fucking microwave spaghetti and a few sips of Arizona iced tea. Get home around 10:10 and back to the bathroom to write to people on E-Lynah because I don't have friends who I can talk about Cornell hockey with.

All this to say, I could be fucking MISERABLE. On some level, I am. But it's just - it's just not worth it, for me at least, to spend my days complaining about how terrible this hockey team is and how we need to fire the coaches and the staff and the players and whatever else. I yell at them enough during games. They don't listen anyway. I'd like to feel I'm helping though. I'm probably not.

But on the other hand - I sit just behind the tunnel. I come to watch warmups. I get to see all the silly things these guys do, like Walsh and Keopple stretching together, or Shane bending so far back that I'm worried for his knees, or Walsh spraying the ground by the bench with water, or Fegaras and Kempf (I think) doing their buddy-buddy close passes, or Walsh's fight strap hanging out over his tailbone protecter and it looks like a puppy tail, or Castagna always waiting for Penney before leaving the ice, or Walsh bringing a fucking banana onto the bench before the game and eating it at the beginning of the first period while getting re-hoofed by the equipment manager. Um. I watch Walsh a lot. He's always doing something ridiculous so it's highly entertaining.

It's just - finding the joy in what happens, finding the joy that's there. You know? We might win the national championship. Far more likely we don't, just statistically. It's Schafer's last year, but just because it's his last year doesn't mean God is going to give us a championship for it. Ask the Bruins about how that went for them and Bergeron. But if we don't win, it doesn't mean it was all for nothing, though. The world keeps spinning. There's always next year. The sun also rises.

And like - I hope Psenicka gets to sign with the Devils after the season's over; they seemed to like him in dev camp last year and I will cry tears of joy. I hope someone picks up O'Leary. I hope Shane has a kickass year but also gets some fucking rest (Katz is gonna have to be our future in net) and an NHL/AHL contract. I hope we win the national championship too, but what can I do to make that happen?

And again, the sun also rises. Tomorrow is a new day and a new game. Forget tonight, focus on the next thing. Things have a funny way of working out, I think. We can't change the powerplay. We can't recruit Gavin McKenna for next year's team. There's no point in getting too upset over the attendance at Lynah unless you're willing to buy tickets and bus people in. Just. All we can do is support the team, yell red during the anthem, and keep on top of all our hockey rituals. And it might not be enough. Probably not, statistically. And that's okay.

Have faith. And another hug.

(Also, hi, if you're on the team or related and reading this, I'm sorry I must be a pain in the ass to have to listen to yapping just above the tunnel. I mean no harm! ...But shoot the puck.)

[BearLover]

Still plenty of time to turn things around.

If we want an at-large bid, we do not have time.

[sah67]

Postgame comments from Schafer in the Sun recap: https://cornellsun.com/2024/11/22/no-8-mens-hockey-bested-by-no-18-quinnipiac-3-1/

[Tom Lento]

Still plenty of time to turn things around.

If we want an at-large bid, we do not have time.

They've got four games left before the holiday break, which I suspect is what the team will need to get it together. It's tough to practice effectively between games when the lines are getting disrupted due to injuries every week, there just isn't enough ice time.

2-2 in those 4 games leaves an at large as a reasonable possibility with a strong post-holiday run. 0-4 leaves them almost no margin for error.

Try to enjoy the ride. Remember, this team is no longer a squad that returned its whole roster save one player. It's a team that returned a lot of young talent but lost its top center and at least 4 impact players, which is tough enough in rebuilding but even worse when a lot of those guys were in preseason practices and suddenly aren't there anymore. Adjust expectations accordingly and hope they get healthy while a solid run is all it takes to remain in contention.

[Trotsky]

Self-care for us all.

It helped.  We'll get Princeton tonight.  Let's Go Red.

[CU2007]

Dare I say it. We dropped 8 spots in pairwise to 16. This one really took something out of me.  I had very high hopes for this year but sentiment won't get you far.  Schaf has had some mediocre seasons and maybe this it's what's going to happen this year.

Otoh how often have we gotten off to great starts in the fall only to fade down the stretch.

It's November. Take a breath. Have some faith. Princeton tomorrow. Shouldn't be tough, right? And then we spank Q on the national stage. Faith.

I have to remind myself what faith is.

Sending a hug your way. <3

I know I must sound like a relentless optimist, and I admit I don't know that much about NCAA puck, but. It's fine. Things work out, you know?

And I'm just sitting here like - I had to roll off my couch, where I passed out the night before at midnight, at 4 in the morning because I needed to be on a video call with an NGO in Europe and then I was pounding out most of a memo for lawyering before 9:00. Made myself a microwave spaghetti from Wegmans for breakfast, stained my white sleeve a little bit, and then had to haul ass uphill in the rain to the annoying bus stop because I was a smidge too late to go to the nice one. Rolled up to conlaw and started feeling incredibly sick like 10 minutes in, fucking spaghetti, so the minute I got out of class I booked it to the bathroom. Finally got home at like, 1:30, back to the bathroom, got out and immediately got dragged onto more phone calls because people think I know things. Get off call around 5:30 and book it to get out of the apartment on time. Forget my bus pass, so I pay with change to get up to Lynah. Watch my team play and freeze my ass off doing it because apparently three layers isn't enough. Watch my team lose and yell at them enough to shoot the fucking puck my voice goes a little shot. Get out around 9:30 after the salute and because I forgot my fucking bus pass like an idiot I gotta haul ass all the way down the hill while thinking of this post in my head and praying I don't lose my teeth tripping over the sidewalk. Treat myself to a cookie on the way cause the only thing I had to eat all day was that fucking microwave spaghetti and a few sips of Arizona iced tea. Get home around 10:10 and back to the bathroom to write to people on E-Lynah because I don't have friends who I can talk about Cornell hockey with.

All this to say, I could be fucking MISERABLE. On some level, I am. But it's just - it's just not worth it, for me at least, to spend my days complaining about how terrible this hockey team is and how we need to fire the coaches and the staff and the players and whatever else. I yell at them enough during games. They don't listen anyway. I'd like to feel I'm helping though. I'm probably not.

But on the other hand - I sit just behind the tunnel. I come to watch warmups. I get to see all the silly things these guys do, like Walsh and Keopple stretching together, or Shane bending so far back that I'm worried for his knees, or Walsh spraying the ground by the bench with water, or Fegaras and Kempf (I think) doing their buddy-buddy close passes, or Walsh's fight strap hanging out over his tailbone protecter and it looks like a puppy tail, or Castagna always waiting for Penney before leaving the ice, or Walsh bringing a fucking banana onto the bench before the game and eating it at the beginning of the first period while getting re-hoofed by the equipment manager. Um. I watch Walsh a lot. He's always doing something ridiculous so it's highly entertaining.

It's just - finding the joy in what happens, finding the joy that's there. You know? We might win the national championship. Far more likely we don't, just statistically. It's Schafer's last year, but just because it's his last year doesn't mean God is going to give us a championship for it. Ask the Bruins about how that went for them and Bergeron. But if we don't win, it doesn't mean it was all for nothing, though. The world keeps spinning. There's always next year. The sun also rises.

And like - I hope Psenicka gets to sign with the Devils after the season's over; they seemed to like him in dev camp last year and I will cry tears of joy. I hope someone picks up O'Leary. I hope Shane has a kickass year but also gets some fucking rest (Katz is gonna have to be our future in net) and an NHL/AHL contract. I hope we win the national championship too, but what can I do to make that happen?

And again, the sun also rises. Tomorrow is a new day and a new game. Forget tonight, focus on the next thing. Things have a funny way of working out, I think. We can't change the powerplay. We can't recruit Gavin McKenna for next year's team. There's no point in getting too upset over the attendance at Lynah unless you're willing to buy tickets and bus people in. Just. All we can do is support the team, yell red during the anthem, and keep on top of all our hockey rituals. And it might not be enough. Probably not, statistically. And that's okay.

Have faith. And another hug.

(Also, hi, if you're on the team or related and reading this, I'm sorry I must be a pain in the ass to have to listen to yapping just above the tunnel. I mean no harm! ...But shoot the puck.)

Seek help

[VIEWfromK]

I thought Cornell started to find their game the last five minutes of the first and at least the first five minutes of the second.  They just couldn't sustain it.  Sure would like to have the Rego open net chance back from the second period.  The past couple of weeks he sure has picked his spots to activate.  It was nice that they controlled a few of those offensive zone face offs after they had pulled Shane.  It gave them a chance to get some good looks.  Quinnipiac blocked a ton of shots, especially late when trying to protect the lead.  The puck sure had a lot of english by the time it got to Castagna with the chance to tie it up.  This felt like their best game taking the body.  Bancroft had a handful of hard hits.  Walsh chipped in with a couple of his own.  It's hard to get used to a Cornell team that shies away from playing below the goal line.  There were a few times where from the half wall the puck carrier had a choice to put the puck into the open corner but instead chose to try and get it to the point where it seemed that Quinnipiac outnumbered Cornell all night. These guys most often choose to try and carry the puck into the zone over dumping it in and going to get it.  So many of their possessions ended at the blue line.