Home or Away for the Playoffs?

[Killer]

OK, first of all, let me just say that I'd love to see the Red sweep this weekend's games, get the first round bye, annihilate their second round opponent at home,  and go on to take the ECAC title in Albany.  And then...

But this isn't 2003.  This has been one strange, up-and-down season, that's sure to have yet a few more twists before it ends.

So, as I sit here playing with all the possibilities that could come out of the last RS weekend (and I probably don't have half of them, considering the tie breaks that may yet have to be determined), I got to thinking that it would be interesting to get people's takes on what the respective advantages and disadvantages would be of finishing in the top 4, versus finishing 5th (I don't think we can finish any lower), and having to play in the first round, then being on the road for the second round.

Anyway, looking at the home vs. road records this year, one might initially pick being on the road as being favorable.  Interestingly, how we do this weekend will not only determine where we are, it will reinforce where we may want to be.  If we win 2, we have a 4-game home winning streak.  Not a bad way to enter the playoffs.  On the other hand, if we lose, our home record becomes that much worse than on the road, so obviously, we'd want to travel (sorry, home crowd, but the idea is to get to Albany).  A split?  Who knows?

If we get 5th, we probably host Vermont or Princeton in round 1.  I can't see us losing to either.  Is it better to play a relatively easy opponent and stay game-ready, or get the bye, stay rested and let some aches and pains go away?

Getting 5th and moving on to round 2, we'd visit number 4.  There's a good chance that's either RPI or Dartmouth.  We beat them both on the road.  But if we got 4th and either of them got 5th, they'd come to play us at Lynah, where (gasp!), they both won this year.

I know there are lots of other possibilties, but I'm a terrible typist, so I'll let the rest of you guys expound on them and debate their relative merits.  I'm curious to hear what people have to say.

Let's Go Red!!!

[Will]

I think it's in the team's best interests to get a first-round bye, for no other reason than it will give the players an extra week to get healthy and be at full strength for whoever we end up playing the following week.  I can't believe Schafer isn't thinking the same thing right now.

[Jeff Hopkins \'82]

I agree completely.  An extra week to get healthy is just what this team needs.

JH

[Ack]

In addition to a first round bye helping injuries to heal, it would be beneficial to the team to have some momentum going into the playoffs. Worst case is we play terribly this weekend and go into a first round of playoffs with 3 straight losses, or we win a pair and have some confidence to build on in with 2 weeks of rest/practice before we play.

[Keith K \'93]

Regardless of whether you think we would certainly beat Vermont or Princeton (and I agree we probably would) it's always better to have to win fewer games.  It's not inconceivable for an upset in the ECAC.

The extra week off could be a detriment in some cases but I think this year it would be nothing but an advantage.

I think people are making too much of the home/road split this year.  It may be somewhat true that the team was pressing a bit at home and therefore not playing as well in Lynah (Vesce said something like this after a home loss earlier in the season).  But probably the disparity between home and away records (4-5-5 vs. 7-3-1) has a lot to do with random chance.  I do NOT think that we would have a better chance of beating RPI or Dartmouth on the road, regardless of the fact that we happened to lose against them at Lynah and win on the road.

[Killer]

Lest there be any confusion, I'm in the camp of getting the first round bye.  I don't think there's any tougher place for an opponent to visit than Lynah*.  So, let's kick some SLU and Clarkson butts and get a well-deserved week off.


* One could argue that when we used to play BU in the old Boston Garden in the ECAC and NCAA playoffs with 13,000 maniacal fans screaming, "Go BU!", it may have actually been more hostile.  Of course, that experience did have the distinction of adding "Screw BU" to our repertoire.  Still, we'd have preferred another championship over the cheer.

[Greg Berge]

The poor home league record is an artifact of our injuries coinciding with a string of home games, and (hopefully) with us not yet having the sub-.500 North Country teams at home.

Not counting the North Country opponents, our league record is:

4-3-2 Home (10 points)
6-3-0 Road (12 points)

If we sweep we will finish just 1 point shy of having the same record home and away in league games.

[Steve Marciniec \'85]

Our road record is actually 7-3-1 for 15 points.

You're right that our home record is skewed by the injuries not to mention the early season struggles in non-conference games.

I would much rather see us get the bye and only need to win at home to get to Albany.  How long has it been since we have lost a playoff series at home?

[Will]

Steve Marciniec '85 wrote:

How long has it been since we have lost a playoff series at home?

The end of the '98-'99 season, against Princeton in the season following their so-called "Cinderella" season, when our overall record was a meager 12-15-4 (9-10-3 ECAC).



Post Edited (02-26-04 10:32)

[Greg Berge]

[q]Our road record is actually 7-3-1 for 15 points.[/q]
I was comparing record against common opponents and thus dropped the 1-0-1 in the North Country.


[q]How long has it been since we have lost a playoff series at home?[/q]
The last time we lost a playoff series at home was 1988, when we lost to Clarkson in the minigame.  We lost the Princeton series in 1999 at Princeton.

Record of playoff series here: http://members.cox.net/tbrwmisc/games/cornellECACSeries.html

Record of playoff games here: http://members.cox.net/tbrwmisc/games/cornellPlayoffGames.html



Post Edited (02-26-04 10:45)

[Will]

Greg Berge '85 wrote:

[q]How long has it been since we have lost a playoff series at home?[/q]
The last time we lost a playoff series at home was 1988, when we lost to Clarkson in the minigame.  We lost the Princeton series in 1999 at Princeton.

Whoops, you're right.  Guess I tend to ignore those pesky "@"s in the USCHO archives. ;-)

[Give My Regards]

One of the guys who got revenge on Volonnino wrote:

Steve Marciniec '85 wrote:

How long has it been since we have lost a playoff series at home?

The end of the '98-'99 season, against Princeton in the season following their so-called "Cinderella" season, when our overall record was a meager 12-15-4 (9-10-3 ECAC).

Actually, we haven't lost in the playoffs at Lynah since 1988 against Clarkson, when the Big Red wound up having to play that god-awful mini-game, during which they had that god-awful line change resulting in a long uncontested pass from one Tretowicz brother to the other to set up that damn goal that I can STILL SEE IN MY DREAMS -- Prozac kicks in, ah, that's better.

Anyway, '88 and '78 are the only two times Cornell has lost in the playoffs at home.

Geez, two posts while I was writing -- I'm getting slow in my old age...



Post Edited (02-26-04 10:49)

[Killer]

OK, looks like the bye and home ice is the definitive winner, not that I ever really doubted it would be the choice.  But it's always fun to play devil's advocate and see if there are any dissenting opinions.  And I never could have posed this question last year, could I?

Personally, I think the guys will pull out all the stops in front of a raucous home crowd and pave the way to Albany.  I envy those of you who will be there to see the games.  But we're planning to be there at Pepsi Arena to watch them take the title.

[Al DeFlorio]

The fewer games you have to win in order to achieve something, the better.  The only advantage I could possibly see to playing an additional two or three games next weekend would be to give Mike additional time to sort out his lines--which right now seem to be in a bit of a jumble--before the key games in Albany.  On the whole, however, no thanks.

[Chris 02]

I was thinking this same sort of thing about a month ago.  But that was when when had just gone through the horrible stretch at home of 1-3-1 and away seemed better.  But then we had the 4 point home weekend and the 5 game winning streak.  Now I think we'd be better off with a bye and the home playoff.