Sat 2/21: Cornell 0 at Union 3, final.

[Ack]

Do I have this right?

For an ECAC regular season 1st place finish:

Colgate must lose both game next week
We must win both games
If we win both, Dartmouth can do as well as a win and a tie (3 points) (doesn't matter which happens against Brown or Harvard).
Brown, then can get (2 points) but can only beat Dartmouth if they lose to Vermont (yeah, that'll happen...despite UVM's winning streak). Ties against both teams are fine, and two losses wouldn't hurt either, provided Dartmouth doesn't pick up a win against Sucks.

[Chris 02]

In typical ECAC fashion, where everyone is tied in points at the end of the season and all kinds of tie-breakers I used, after several minutes of fiddling with the ECAC playoff possibilities script, and using the following results from the final week of play, this is the most jam-packed I could get the final ECAC standings.  Unfortunately for Cornell, they loose all the tie-breakers against the top teams.  It's kinda fun to play around with that thing though!  (BTW, I randomly chose goals just so I could get the results I wanted.  The GA and GF were never used in tie-breaking.)

Fri Feb 27
RP 0  Pn 1
Un 1 Ya 1
SL 0 Cr 1
Ck 1 Cg 0
Da 1 Ha 1
Vt 0 Bn 1

Sat Feb 28
RP 0 Ya 1
Un 0 Pn 1
SL 1 Cg 0
Ck 1 Cr 1
Vt 0 Ha 1
Da 1 Bn 0

1.  28 Colgate 
    28 Dartmouth  
    28 Brown 
    28 Cornell 
5.  23 Harvard  
    23 Yale 
    23 RPI 
8.  19 SLU
    19 Clarkson 
10. 16 Princeton 
    16 Union 
12. 13 Vermont

[jy3]

well not sure if anyone else is back from the game. went to pinhead susan's for some eats and drinks. McKee kept this game close. Cornell had some chances and looked good in spurts but Onion outplayed, outhustled, and did everything but have their fans outcheer Cornell. They looked like the team they are capable of being and I would hate to face them in the playoffs. cornell looked off. passes were not crisp, not on target. a lot of busted plays and just not good play. Dunn was a moron both ways and after calling a bunch of minors in the first swallowed his whistle. for some reason onion seemed to make A LOT of contact with McKee. The onion goalie had a hell of game. one less post and it probably wouldve ended in a tie. hopefully the team will work out the kinks and solve whatever went wrong 2nite before the weekend and then the playoffs. gotta love the onion fans who know two cheers and cannot make noise without the PA system. almost as dead as the RIP Morgue.  some idiot made fun of cornell for losing in the frozen four last night. wanted to ask him when the last time was that onion won a playoff series in D I hockey onion deserved the win 2nite. ::help::

[Ack]

I was at RIP last night, but couldn't get to the Onion game, so we listened to it on the radio.  We heard through the static that there was a Cornell breakaway which was disrupted and could have been whistled and called a penalty shot...from anyone who was there, what did it look like to you?



Post Edited (02-21-04 23:44)

[jy3]

yep mike - i thought he was hauled down and it shouldve been a penalty shot...

[Will]

Absolutely horrible game for Cornell earlier tonight.  While it's true that Dunn's rather crappy officiating didn't help things, the fact of the matter is that Union won because Cornell played like shit for most of the game.  The defense hung McKee out to dry on Union's lone earned goal.  Our boys managed to adequately penetrate Union's trap defense (a far cry from the game at Lynah earlier this season), but deficient puckhandling still gave Union a decisive advantage in controlling the game.  As a result, Cornell had very few quality scoring chances, and obviously all of those got screwed up.  All in all, it was Cornell's game to lose, and they did just that, horribly.

Can't wait to see Age's picture of the odd crossbar bounce, though.  I was sitting behind him, so I got a glimpse of the picture he got, but I wanted to get a closer look.  It certainly looked like it should have been a goal when it happened, though it bounced out so quickly that it was really anyone's guess.

[Dart~Ben]

[q]Our Ivy title hopes are fairly slim still. Dartmouth has to beat Brown, but then must either tie or lose to Harvard. Stranger things have happened...[/q]

What, like Dartmouth tieing Princeton then losing to Yale at home 2 years ago on Senior Night, when all they needed was 2 points to tie and 3 points to win the Ivy Title?

[Will]

Ben Flickinger wrote:

[q]Our Ivy title hopes are fairly slim still. Dartmouth has to beat Brown, but then must either tie or lose to Harvard. Stranger things have happened...[/q]

What, like Dartmouth tieing Princeton then losing to Yale at home 2 years ago on Senior Night, when all they needed was 2 points to tie and 3 points to win the Ivy Title?

Pretty much, yeah. :-D

Given that Brown is currently weakened on a three-game losing streak, but Dartmouth still struggles against Harvard, I don't think this scenario leading to Cornell getting a share of the Ivy title is all that implausible.  Of course, my picks in the ECAC this season have been far from successful to this date.

[marty]

I agree with your game wrap up.  Do you mean the first period off the cross bar non goal?  It made the highlights on ch 23's local newscast.  It is sure hard to make any conclusion from that video.

[marty]

One of the Union fans on USCHO agreed that they got away with a few.  But Union certainly was first to the puck tonight in an amazing display of speed and grit.  They looked like shit against RIP earlier this year in Troy and they looked slow back then.  I am amazed at the turnaround.

[Will]

Marty'74 wrote:

I agree with your game wrap up.  Do you mean the first period off the cross bar non goal?  It made the highlights on ch 23's local newscast.  It is sure hard to make any conclusion from that video.

Yeah, that's the one I'm talking about.  I'm not saying that Cornell got robbed of that goal necessarily, but I do think that another ref might have allowed the goal.

[pat]

[Q]
Adam thinks it could have even been a penalty shot. Bitz was hooked, shot over the crossbar, and no call.
[/Q]

I'm not saying whether it should or shouldn't have been a penalty since I didn't see it (or even hear it), but let's assume it should have been. If Bitz still gets off a good shot (and thus is not deprived of a "reasonable scoring opportunity"), then he wouldn't get the penalty shot, just the minor (Rule Reference 6-58-b).

[atb9]

A few of my thoughts from the Onion Game:

*Their fans suck.  They wave cheap cowbells to make noise and they only cheered after a goal.  The loud horns after a goal killed me!  Get a band!  They have no cheers what so ever during the game and I think for the first time this season, fans pumped up the Onion team--our fans, that is.  Whenever we did a "Let's Go Red" cheer the Onion fans just screamed "U" after the "Let's Go" to drown us out.  Pretty sad.  Age confused them by starting a "Go CU" chant!  We were able to get their blond haired mascot guy to walk away in shame after we started chanting "ugly"

*What is up with our breakout?  We used to do three guys behind the goal line with Vesce circling behind the net to the left.  We've been trying to switch it up recently so teams can't scout us prior to the game but it was disasterous against Onion.  We had FOUR guys behind the goal line with a fake to the left then a break out to the right, OR a break out to the left and then a pass across the crease.  It was scary!  We had a lot of trouble getting the puck out of the zone.

*Onion started the game with no real forecheck.  They allowed us to sit behind the net and set up our breakout during the first period.  We were held to four shots that period, which is counterintuitive.  Then, in the second period, Onion comes out with two forecheckers but we pepper their goal with 12 or 14 shots.  Maybe this is because the neutral zone is more open with two forecheckers?  But it was also because Schafer told the guys to get the puck to the net.

*McKee played well giving up very few rebounds.  On the goal, he went down too early, leaving the top open but he didn't have much of a choice.  He was on his heels and the goalscorer was going around him fast to his backhand.  I think McKee could have disturbed him and kept him from lifting the puck on another day.  Many times the D left McKee out to dry AFTER the shot and Onion had two guys crashing the net.  I thought the D did a good job blocking shots but they didn't protect McKee.  If McKee gave up more rebounds the score would have been 3-0 without the ENers.

*The puck fell to a crashing Bitz in the final seconds with an open net but he couldn't get enough wood on the puck to finish.

*It looked like a goal to me and Moulson certainly thought it was a goal by the way he reacted.  Moyette (sp? the Onion goalie) held his form for a second or two as if the puck went in but who knows...it was close and I'm a homer.  It was sick shot none the less.

*I thought it was a classic let down game.  Onion had just lost a nail bitter and we had just won a nail bitter.  Onion came out blazing and we came out tired.

See you all in Ithaca next weekend!



Post Edited (02-22-04 15:51)

[Lisa]

Does anyone know where the Cornell band was?? I thooght they went to all of the away games. Though I could be wrong. ::nut::

[Tub(a)]

Due to budget constraints, we were unable to be at either of the Albany area games. We will be at every hockey game for the rest of the season.