We're a damn good ...

Lowell '99 · March 10, 2002, 11:36:48 AM

Woof woof. I DID think Yale had a chance. And you can be damn sure I'll be rooting hard for RPI on Thursday. Let's not be overconfident. In one (or two, or three) games, anything can happen. As we've been telling Clarkson for years, first place don't mean jack. Prove it when it counts.

Sorry, I'm just paranoid.

ugarte · March 10, 2002, 11:56:14 AM

It's hardly woofing after the fact, Lowell.

If the woofing gods are out, I am Lieutenant Dan in the crow's nest - come and get me! B-]

RichS · March 10, 2002, 01:22:42 PM

Al,

I did say quite clearly in more than one place, USCHO and on the Roundtable, that cornell deserved to win that game. They played better than Clarkson did and took advantage of more opportunities etc. Seems you have chosen to overlook that, as usual. I hardly consider commenting on a teams style as whining. Besides, if there was a beef that night, it was with Kotyra, not with the red's play.

I also have said that they will continue to play that style until calls that are "supposed to" prevent it are made! Physical play is fine, I'm all for it. Obstruction in the neutral zone, excessive pinning on the boards??? That stuff "belongs" in the NHL! Thats about the consensus of a lot of comments made the past two seasons Al...it didn't start with me.

I saw only the last 5 minutes of last night's game on NESN and heard Bob Norton comment at the time of a late cornell penalty, something like..."when you play the style cornell does, you're going to be called for interference penalties...." I think he summed it up pretty diplomatically there...

I see no need to rehash this Al...just am hoping for a Clarkson-cornell matchup next Saturday in LP. Both teams have work to do to get there.

As for Tim Taylor's comment, I have no problem with it...do you folks really expect him to downgrade his own team? I don't see why you should be critical for his approach. No one really expected Yale to pull an upset, I don't think, but certainly they made the red work hard for their two wins and that's what the playoffs should be about!

Greg Berge · March 10, 2002, 01:38:23 PM

> Sorry, I'm just paranoid.

Well, I'm not sorry, and I'm just as paranoid.

All the games at Placid are going to be close. The other four teams are closely matched, and while Cornell's had a much better season than they have, the Red aren't the kind of team that blows anybody out.

It is certainly possible for a PIG winner to win the next night -- Princeton won it all from the PIG in '98, and they weren't anywhere near as good as either RPI or Dartmouth are this season.

Certainly we start out with a *slightly* greater chance of a title -- we have to play a tired team and Cornell is the class of the ECAC right now. But:

+ Dartmouth has our number.
+ RPI is on a tear and has reason to hate us.
+ Harvard-Cornell games are always close.
+ I have no idea what to say about Clarkson in the PS when Cornell wins the RS. ;-)

Nobody should be cocky. If it was so easy to win as the favorite in the ECAC's, then Cornell probably wouldn't have rolled up titles in 80, 86, 96, and 97.

Al DeFlorio · March 10, 2002, 02:09:49 PM

>"I did say quite clearly in more than one place, USCHO and on the Roundtable, that cornell deserved to win that game."

Nope. Not true. Nothing but the usual whining on the Roundtable. Another RichS fantasy.

RichS · March 10, 2002, 05:33:12 PM

Gee that's funny Al...I seem to recall you even paraphrasing if not directly quoting my comments to that end.

I'm not going to look for it again or repost it...that's ancient history. Why are you so adamant about me saying over and over..."yeah, you're good"! Have already said it and anyone looking at the results thus far can tell...

Suggest we look ahead rather than back, eh?

Al DeFlorio · March 10, 2002, 08:55:31 PM

On USCHO yes, on the Roundtable no. Whiners-only on the Roundtable.

Erica · March 11, 2002, 09:38:00 AM

Am I the only one who wants to see a rematch with Dartmouth (other than the Cornell hockey team)? We shouldn't be "scared" to play a good team for the ECAC title. I think it would be most justified if we win the title knowing that we beat every team in the league at least once. And when it comes to the playoffs, RPI is just as much of a threat anyway. If you were an athlete, wouldn't you want to play Dartmouth again too, just to show them which win counts the most? Gosh, that would be such sweet revenge.

Al DeFlorio · March 11, 2002, 09:54:26 AM

From Monday's Sun"

"I don't care. Doesn't bother me who we play," Schafer said."

RichS · March 11, 2002, 10:16:11 AM

Al,

Too bad you couldn't find it...it's there!:-D

Onward and upward....please.:-)

jeh25 · March 11, 2002, 10:18:24 AM

I'm sending Al and Rich to the sandbox with matching majors.

RichS · March 11, 2002, 10:20:35 AM

Are we DQ'd from the games in LP? Wait, I didn't throw a punch...I SWEAR!!! :-D

Al DeFlorio · March 11, 2002, 10:54:25 AM

>"Too bad you couldn't find it...it's there."

Must be this:

"I did clearly see cornell's # 7, Cook, slashing at a Tech player who's # I could not see in front of the net. Was it Poapst or O'Flaherty...I've read both? (Cook got away with a number of infractions during the game...a few right in front of us)...Kotyra looked right at it and did zippo...he should have blown the whistle and sent them both off! A few seconds later the scrum broke out...surprise, surprise!

"He also missed Murray's 2 nasty cross checks to the back of a Tech er who was down on all fours in front of the Tech bench earlier in the third period. That could easily have been called an intent to injure penalty...and perhaps any call at all might have prevented the melee later.

"My brother, a former D1 and D3 lacrosse ref, and I, were "marveling" Kotyra's lack of calls earlier which predictably led to his losing control of the game. He probably blew the call on the waved off cornell goal, missed a blatant hook/trip on a Tech player coming in alone on Underhill in the second, and called Latulippe for taking town Murray who outweighs Jay by 65 pounds after Murray took a dive. Thats just a sampler!"

Real credit, pal. I prefer our comments on Yale and Taylor. Thanks for the lecture. Try some brie next time.

Greg Berge · March 11, 2002, 02:48:56 PM

> Am I the only one who wants to see a rematch with Dartmouth (other than the Cornell hockey team)? We shouldn't be "scared" to play a good team for the ECAC title. I think it would be most justified if we win the title knowing that we beat every team in the league at least once.

I absolutely agree. Championships are about proving you are the best by beating the best. Whichever team comes out of the PIG is by definition the 4th best team in the conference, and has earned the right to play the Red. Whoever they are, bring em on!

I'm sure the players are neither scared nor worried. "Quietly confident" and "businesslike" is how someone at the afterglow described them. Schafer has coached them well -- they've known how to act as underdogs, and now apparently they know how to act as favorites.

Beeeej · March 11, 2002, 02:57:26 PM

Yeah... the McRae brothers ate with us at the Afterglow and seemed both happy and confident. Among other things we talked a little bit about the COTY "controversy" and they agreed that nobody, including Schafer, seems to care about winning COTY as long as the team accomplishes what they set out to do.

Beeeej