2025 NCAAs: Flip the Switch, Flip the Script

[ugarte]

MSU has higher PPG and lower GA than us despite playing a WCHA schedule. But it's 60 minutes and the gap is much smaller than HC-Minnesota.

[Iceberg]

In many ways, this is reminiscent of 2017--a team with enough talent and leadership to will itself into the NCAA's but not quite good enough to keep up with a superior opponent on paper. Stranger things have happened, though, and we won't find out until Thursday

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

MSU has higher PPG and lower GA than us despite playing a WCHA schedule. But it's 60 minutes and the gap is much smaller than HC-Minnesota.

FWIW, MSU's non-conference opponents other than BC had a winning percentage of about 0.300.  Our non-conference opponents had a winning percentage of just under 0.600.

And they had a lot of games in the B1G where they gave up 3 or more goals and lost.  As I said, we don't want to get into a run and gun with them, but they are beatable.

[BearLover]

In many ways, this is reminiscent of 2017--a team with enough talent and leadership to will itself into the NCAA's but not quite good enough to keep up with a superior opponent on paper. Stranger things have happened, though, and we won't find out until Thursday

I don't really get what this means. Enough talent and leadership to get into the NCAAs but not enough to go farther? Does that mean our talent and leadership is good but not great?

Almost the exact same team nearly got to the frozen four last year. We lost our best player from that team but added Major who has come into his own lately and everybody else is a year older and more experienced. Then we were mediocre almost the whole season until we found our game the past few weekends.

I don't know why the team was so crummy for so long this season but that crumminess seems like the aberration more than the recent success does. And while we're less talented than MSU, we are not less talented than we were a year ago or the year before that (each time a goal short of the Frozen Four). And there shouldn't be much of a question as to the leadership. The reality is that MSU has a better team, but our odds are about as high as they'd be any other year we have to face a one seed.

[BearLover]

Cornell has made the NCAAs 7 of the last 8 years. (And, as I said yesterday, the only year they missed was the one after half the team left early/transferred out.)

No team in college hockey has done better and gone 8 for 8.

[chimpfood]

Schafer is 10-4 in first round games, I don't know the numbers but it feels like we're usually the underdog too. Agreed that MSU is good but we have a decent chance with the way we've been playing

[pjd8]

MSU has higher PPG and lower GA than us despite playing a WCHA schedule. But it's 60 minutes and the gap is much smaller than HC-Minnesota.

FWIW, MSU's non-conference opponents other than BC had a winning percentage of about 0.300.  Our non-conference opponents had a winning percentage of just under 0.600.

And they had a lot of games in the B1G where they gave up 3 or more goals and lost.  As I said, we don't want to get into a run and gun with them, but they are beatable.

MSU is 11th in PP%. Q is first. MSU is 18th in PK%. Q is third. MSU is fourth in GA/G. Q is fifth. MSU is seventh in G/G. Q is sixth.

If (a big if) those numbers translated well from conference to conference, we should be competitive with the Spartans. I'm more concerned about playing against a style of hockey we're not used to. I still have bad flashbacks from '91 when we got WCHA linesmen that kept calling intentional offsides on us. We just weren't used to that style.

Quinnipiac is a known quantity. We haven't played a Big Ten team since the Spartan games in Nov 2019.

Of course the reverse can be said of MSU. And we did sweep them in 2019...

[BlueSky]

I'm surprised that "they" would put MSU on the Plus. All the games should be on the Deuce, U, or News. Only 2 first round games get relegated to Plus.  Strange.

[The Rancor]

Are all the games on an ESPN platform?

[marty]

Are all the games on an ESPN platform?

Because there at so few - maybe one,  maybe none - live shows on ESPN-U today,  I can't figure out whether I have to upgrade my cable package to get ESPN-U or if the games will be available with the ESPN+ subscription.

Based on prior years I'm sure I have to upgrade to get the "U" shows live. Is that correct?

The good news is that Spectrum was forced into allowing subscribers to upgrade for a few days rather than month by month.

[ER]

Are all the games on an ESPN platform?

Because there at so few - maybe one,  maybe none - live shows on ESPN-U today,  I can't figure out whether I have to upgrade my cable package to get ESPN-U or if the games will be available with the ESPN+ subscription.

Based on prior years I'm sure I have to upgrade to get the "U" shows live. Is that correct?

The good news is that Spectrum was forced into allowing subscribers to upgrade for a few days rather than month by month.

I was able to watch the selection show on ESPNU with my ESPN+ subscription

[chimpfood]

I'd be surprised if the way we play doesn't disrupt MSU more than the way they play disrupts us. As a big ten team with a weak non con schedule they probably haven't really played tough, on the boards hockey all year. Hopefully they're not ready for it

[jtwcornell91]

Heads up from experience.  Sports bars need a special license to show games on ESPN+.  Check before you go.

A real turnabout from 20-25 years ago, where you had to go to a sports bar to see the games at all.  Now you can watch them at home, and the sports bars are the question mark.  (Of course, the question mark used to be, can you convince them to put something other than basketball on one tiny TV in the corner.)

[stereax]

Heads up from experience.  Sports bars need a special license to show games on ESPN+.  Check before you go.

A real turnabout from 20-25 years ago, where you had to go to a sports bar to see the games at all.  Now you can watch them at home, and the sports bars are the question mark.  (Of course, the question mark used to be, can you convince them to put something other than basketball on one tiny TV in the corner.)

As someone who frequented the Sports Bar In Ithaca during fall senester to drag myself out of the house for football that I honestly don't care about that much (the place is Uncle Joe's, good food and nice people), pretty sure hockey is the fourth most popular "big four" sport. We had one night with I wanna say 2 MNF games and a Bolts-Leafs game and you can guess which one got shut off despite there being a dozen TVs... :') still need to plan how to watch the MSU game, as I have class until 5. Is there going to be a watch party at CTB and should I bring my jersey to school in that case? (Folded, obviously...)

[Tom Lento]

Schafer is 10-4 in first round games, I don't know the numbers but it feels like we're usually the underdog too. Agreed that MSU is good but we have a decent chance with the way we've been playing

I'd just like to pause for a moment to appreciate that Cornell has made the NCAA tournament in half of Schafer's seasons behind the bench, and made the regional final 1/3 of the time.