Ben Robertson transfer

[ugarte]

He might not even leave! (whoops reading the Sun article now. looks like his choices aren't skimping on the academics, though Denver would probably be a more hockey-centric choice)

[fastforward]

It is amazing how the events of the past ten days have completely sullied our miracle run in the ECAC playoffs and vs MSU. Maybe not to others, but to me they have. I went from being over the moon after the MSU game to being completely dejected just a few days later. OT heartbreaker to BU, eighth straight regional final loss. Best player leaves for the pros. Most important member of the team for the next two years ditches the program. And there could be more where that came from. It is crazy how one can go from the happiest they've EVER felt as a Cornell hockey fan, to the absolute worst* they've felt.

*excluding 2020 playoffs getting canceled


Shoutout to the real ones like scoop85, Jim Hyla, ugarte, Dafatone, Tom Lento who are reasonable people and carry themselves like adults even when they disagree with me.

And also shoutout to my haters, you make posting on this website so much more fun. I would never be such a prolific contributor to this forum were it not for your massive freakout towards my posts, posts which are totally innocuous and at which none would bat an eye on any other sports forum or social media. Case in point: last week I was called a terrible person for saying Schafer didn't use the transfer portal!

Following this team for the last few days has been very upsetting, so it is time for good old BearLover to disconnect for a bit. What does that mean? Could be a month, could be a week, could be a day, could be forever. I'm putting osorojo in charge while I'm gone. If you'd like to reach out, my DMs are always open, though I do not check them. And with that...


...BearLover out.

I'll say this. If the last three years, which have had three NCAA bids, three big first round upsets over top teams, two ECAC championships, this past season's flip from "we suck" to "we're great" after everything looked hopeless, and a bunch of wins against ranked OOC teams aren't enough to bring you more happiness than pain, then you're never going to be happy unless we win a national title, and boy, that just does not sound like a pleasant way to go through life.

Given the size of our outgoing class, next year was always going to be something akin to a rebuilding year. A couple unexpected defections hurt, but we're still in better shape going forward than 10 ECAC teams and most of college hockey. Let's see what happens.

Totally agree with this assessment.
We had 10 new guys come in 23-24 and they performed well. We have a couple of extra spots this coming year, yes, but I have faith in the remaining guys to step up and for the incoming players to adapt well!

I'm excited to see what may come!

[stereax]

It is amazing how the events of the past ten days have completely sullied our miracle run in the ECAC playoffs and vs MSU. Maybe not to others, but to me they have. I went from being over the moon after the MSU game to being completely dejected just a few days later. OT heartbreaker to BU, eighth straight regional final loss. Best player leaves for the pros. Most important member of the team for the next two years ditches the program. And there could be more where that came from. It is crazy how one can go from the happiest they've EVER felt as a Cornell hockey fan, to the absolute worst* they've felt.

*excluding 2020 playoffs getting canceled


Shoutout to the real ones like scoop85, Jim Hyla, ugarte, Dafatone, Tom Lento who are reasonable people and carry themselves like adults even when they disagree with me.

And also shoutout to my haters, you make posting on this website so much more fun. I would never be such a prolific contributor to this forum were it not for your massive freakout towards my posts, posts which are totally innocuous and at which none would bat an eye on any other sports forum or social media. Case in point: last week I was called a terrible person for saying Schafer didn't use the transfer portal!

Following this team for the last few days has been very upsetting, so it is time for good old BearLover to disconnect for a bit. What does that mean? Could be a month, could be a week, could be a day, could be forever. I'm putting osorojo in charge while I'm gone. If you'd like to reach out, my DMs are always open, though I do not check them. And with that...


...BearLover out.

I'll say this. If the last three years, which have had three NCAA bids, three big first round upsets over top teams, two ECAC championships, this past season's flip from "we suck" to "we're great" after everything looked hopeless, and a bunch of wins against ranked OOC teams aren't enough to bring you more happiness than pain, then you're never going to be happy unless we win a national title, and boy, that just does not sound like a pleasant way to go through life.

Given the size of our outgoing class, next year was always going to be something akin to a rebuilding year. A couple unexpected defections hurt, but we're still in better shape going forward than 10 ECAC teams and most of college hockey. Let's see what happens.

Ding ding ding. And really, there's only one "defection" - Bancroft going pro isn't nearly the same discussion as Robertson entering the transfer portal, and Rayhill and Kovich aren't eligible to play year 5 for us anyway.

Que sera sera. I'm still excited for it. Already thinking up things to yell at the rink, haha.

Edit: speaking of, thoughts for making quips in next year's game day thread titles? Like, instead of, say, Cornell v Brown, Cornell v the Toilet Bowl; Cornell v Princeton -> Cornell v Paper Tigers. Stuff like that.

And yeah, if you want a national title, as I have said long ago, go cheer for Denver or some other true blue-blood team.

[BlueSky]

Just wow.  Theories on entering the portal?  Academics too rough or not a Casey fan?  This is a tough loss, but not a total game changer after a subpar sophomore season.

[BearLover]

Just wow.  Theories on entering the portal?  Academics too rough or not a Casey fan?  This is a tough loss, but not a total game changer after a subpar sophomore season.

It's a total game-changer IMO. I think you're over-indexing too much on one subpar season and forgetting his incredible freshman year/junior career. He was a beast in the playoffs this year. He was going to be the second best player on next year's team and, assuming Walsh goes pro after next year, the best player on the team in 2026-27. We are now left with 2 returning D. It was going to be up to next year's junior class to bridge the gap between the last three amazing seasons and the incoming new blood. Losing Robertson is devastating.

As to your question why this happened, I had the same two guesses (school/doesn't like Casey).

[billhoward]

He might not even leave! (whoops reading the Sun article now. looks like his choices aren't skimping on the academics, though Denver would probably be a more hockey-centric choice)

Ben Robertson was in ILR. That would not be the right choice if you wanted to live a hockey-centric, academics-lite career on the Hill.

We have two goaltenders returning: Remington Keopple and Justin Katz, but I don't believe he got playing time past the Red White game. Katz is the Johnson School. Great Quebec pedigree per Katz' bio: "... enrolled in the SC Johnson College of Business, where his cousin, Marti Fergenbaum, also graduated from."

[arugula]

It is amazing how the events of the past ten days have completely sullied our miracle run in the ECAC playoffs and vs MSU. Maybe not to others, but to me they have. I went from being over the moon after the MSU game to being completely dejected just a few days later. OT heartbreaker to BU, eighth straight regional final loss. Best player leaves for the pros. Most important member of the team for the next two years ditches the program. And there could be more where that came from. It is crazy how one can go from the happiest they've EVER felt as a Cornell hockey fan, to the absolute worst* they've felt.

*excluding 2020 playoffs getting canceled


Shoutout to the real ones like scoop85, Jim Hyla, ugarte, Dafatone, Tom Lento who are reasonable people and carry themselves like adults even when they disagree with me.

And also shoutout to my haters, you make posting on this website so much more fun. I would never be such a prolific contributor to this forum were it not for your massive freakout towards my posts, posts which are totally innocuous and at which none would bat an eye on any other sports forum or social media. Case in point: last week I was called a terrible person for saying Schafer didn't use the transfer portal!

Following this team for the last few days has been very upsetting, so it is time for good old BearLover to disconnect for a bit. What does that mean? Could be a month, could be a week, could be a day, could be forever. I'm putting osorojo in charge while I'm gone. If you'd like to reach out, my DMs are always open, though I do not check them. And with that...


...BearLover out.

I'll say this. If the last three years, which have had three NCAA bids, three big first round upsets over top teams, two ECAC championships, this past season's flip from "we suck" to "we're great" after everything looked hopeless, and a bunch of wins against ranked OOC teams aren't enough to bring you more happiness than pain, then you're never going to be happy unless we win a national title, and boy, that just does not sound like a pleasant way to go through life.

Given the size of our outgoing class, next year was always going to be something akin to a rebuilding year. A couple unexpected defections hurt, but we're still in better shape going forward than 10 ECAC teams and most of college hockey. Let's see what happens.

Ding ding ding. And really, there's only one "defection" - Bancroft going pro isn't nearly the same discussion as Robertson entering the transfer portal, and Rayhill and Kovich aren't eligible to play year 5 for us anyway.

Que sera sera. I'm still excited for it. Already thinking up things to yell at the rink, haha.

Edit: speaking of, thoughts for making quips in next year's game day thread titles? Like, instead of, say, Cornell v Brown, Cornell v the Toilet Bowl; Cornell v Princeton -> Cornell v Paper Tigers. Stuff like that.

And yeah, if you want a national title, as I have said long ago, go cheer for Denver or some other true blue-blood team.

Not sure I agree. When you make the final eight regularly, an occasional national title is not a crazy thought. Yale winning was crazy. Union winning was crazy. Not because they weren't good those years, but they did not have extended success.

[BearLover]

Rumblings that Roberson is transferring to Michigan. So depressing. Wishing him and them the worst of luck next season. Hope it's a one-off defection and doesn't start a trend.

[stereax]

Rumblings that Roberson is transferring to Michigan. So depressing. Wishing him and them the worst of luck next season. Hope it's a one-off defection and doesn't start a trend.

If that's true, it makes sense, sadly.

[cbuckser]

Ben Robertson has announced his commitment to Michigan.

[BearLover]

And now it's official. I'm honestly curious. We have had 0 decommits among the 20 or so kids who were committed at the time Casey took over. Nobody else on the team has transferred out. Robertson has almost no chance of an NHL career. He was on the first D pairing, first PP unit, and alongside Rego got more TOI than anybody on the entire team. His team won back to back league championships and was one goal from the frozen four twice in his two years. He was going to one of the best schools in the world. Whatever was troubling Robertson this year about his situation, it seems unique to him. Or maybe he is uniquely disloyal.

[Dafatone]

And now it's official. I'm honestly curious. We have had 0 decommits among the 20 or so kids who were committed at the time Casey took over. Nobody else on the team has transferred out. Robertson has almost no chance of an NHL career. He was on the first D pairing, first PP unit, and alongside Rego got more TOI than anybody on the entire team. His team won back to back league championships and was one goal from the frozen four twice in his two years. He was going to one of the best schools in the world. Whatever was troubling Robertson this year about his situation, it seems unique to him. Or maybe he is uniquely disloyal.

There's so much we're never going to know. Maybe he loves non-contiguous states. Maybe he had a bad breakup and wants to change time zones. Maybe he's just over Ithaca.

[ugarte]

And now it's official. I'm honestly curious. We have had 0 decommits among the 20 or so kids who were committed at the time Casey took over. Nobody else on the team has transferred out. Robertson has almost no chance of an NHL career. He was on the first D pairing, first PP unit, and alongside Rego got more TOI than anybody on the entire team. His team won back to back league championships and was one goal from the frozen four twice in his two years. He was going to one of the best schools in the world. Whatever was troubling Robertson this year about his situation, it seems unique to him. Or maybe he is uniquely disloyal.

There's so much we're never going to know. Maybe he loves non-contiguous states. Maybe he had a bad breakup and wants to change time zones. Maybe he's just over Ithaca.

i think the "no NIL in hockey" is probably overstated. especially if B1G wants to change that. beyond that though, i'll bet the facilities kick ass and his tuition payments are gone. Virginia isn't a hockey hotbed and idk enough about the USHL to know if his performance up to the time he committed here was good enough to get much attention (42A in 61G in his last season in Waterloo is nice though). i don't think much about loyalty. it's never a two-way street in sports. if you're going to speculate that he was uniquely unhappy, i'm going to counterspeculate that he wasn't unhappy at all but got a scholarship offer to a school on par with our own (hockey and classroom) that wasn't on the table two years ago.

[abmarks]

And now it's official. I'm honestly curious. We have had 0 decommits among the 20 or so kids who were committed at the time Casey took over. Nobody else on the team has transferred out. Robertson has almost no chance of an NHL career. He was on the first D pairing, first PP unit, and alongside Rego got more TOI than anybody on the entire team. His team won back to back league championships and was one goal from the frozen four twice in his two years. He was going to one of the best schools in the world. Whatever was troubling Robertson this year about his situation, it seems unique to him. Or maybe he is uniquely disloyal.

There's so much we're never going to know. Maybe he loves non-contiguous states. Maybe he had a bad breakup and wants to change time zones. Maybe he's just over Ithaca.

i think the "no NIL in hockey" is probably overstated. especially if B1G wants to change that. beyond that though, i'll bet the facilities kick ass and his tuition payments are gone. Virginia isn't a hockey hotbed and idk enough about the USHL to know if his performance up to the time he committed here was good enough to get much attention (42A in 61G in his last season in Waterloo is nice though). i don't think much about loyalty. it's never a two-way street in sports. if you're going to speculate that he was uniquely unhappy, i'm going to counterspeculate that he wasn't unhappy at all but got a scholarship offer to a school on par with our own (hockey and classroom) that wasn't on the table two years ago.

Agree with most of that except for the on par statement.   Michigan hockey > Cornell hockey by far.

[BearLover]

And now it's official. I'm honestly curious. We have had 0 decommits among the 20 or so kids who were committed at the time Casey took over. Nobody else on the team has transferred out. Robertson has almost no chance of an NHL career. He was on the first D pairing, first PP unit, and alongside Rego got more TOI than anybody on the entire team. His team won back to back league championships and was one goal from the frozen four twice in his two years. He was going to one of the best schools in the world. Whatever was troubling Robertson this year about his situation, it seems unique to him. Or maybe he is uniquely disloyal.

There's so much we're never going to know. Maybe he loves non-contiguous states. Maybe he had a bad breakup and wants to change time zones. Maybe he's just over Ithaca.

i think the "no NIL in hockey" is probably overstated. especially if B1G wants to change that. beyond that though, i'll bet the facilities kick ass and his tuition payments are gone. Virginia isn't a hockey hotbed and idk enough about the USHL to know if his performance up to the time he committed here was good enough to get much attention (42A in 61G in his last season in Waterloo is nice though). i don't think much about loyalty. it's never a two-way street in sports. if you're going to speculate that he was uniquely unhappy, i'm going to counterspeculate that he wasn't unhappy at all but got a scholarship offer to a school on par with our own (hockey and classroom) that wasn't on the table two years ago.

Robertson was if I recall correctly the second highest scoring D in the entire USHL (the best junior league) and ranked by NHL Central Scouting. He wasn't flying under the radar the year prior to matriculating. Maybe he was slightly under the radar at the time he committed, but that describes pretty much EVERY Cornell recruit. And yet it's only Robertson, not Walsh or Castagna or Malinski or whoever else, who decided to ditch the program. If Robertson was happy in Ithaca but decided to ditch for money and better facilities, then we're staring at an extremely dark future for Cornell Hockey because that same offer is on the table for EVERY good player of ours.