Phil Kessel

[ithacat]

Anyone know if Cornell is involved with him? He's from Madison so the chances of him not going to a CCHA or WCHA school are probably slim.

[French Rage]

According to INCH, BU, Minn, Mich, and UW are the top contenders.

[calgARI '07]

It's between Michigan and Minnesota last I heard.  Cornell doesn't have a chance on players of Kessel's caliber.

[ithacat]

Why not? Do you think it's the conference? The fact they play fewer games? They're only going to spend a couple of years, so the education doesn't really have an appeal?

[calgARI '07]

All of the above.  Cornell's program doesn't have the reputation that Michigan or Minnesota or North Dakota or Boston College have.  I believe that Cornell could beat out any other school in Division I for players except for those four schools.  So really the only players Cornell cannot get are the superstar types that are greatly covetted such as the Kessel's, Parise's, Vanek's, Tambelini's, etc.  They could get superstar types that are as good if not better than those players, but the guys that are highly publicized and heralded will almost always end up at one of those four schools

[atb9]

A friend of mine, AD, went to VT for football and he described his recruiting experience to me.  He was a top notch 200m sprinter that had one year of football under his belt after converting from soccer yet he was still recruited like a blue chipper.  After meeting with a few coaches, his last concern became his degree and his main concern was getting to the NFL.  In the end, if he didn't make it to the NFL and did get his degree, his degree wouldn't get him his first job, a booster would.

We have fewer games on national TV and almost none on regional tv.  Other conferences play better competition.  Our facilities and staff are good but are not at the level of a state school with a big time football program.  Minnesota and Michigan have both won two NCAA titles in the past ten years.  Minnesota and Michigan are both state schools (please don't jump on me for this but it's true, dammit) so they have crazy (more fun) campuses.  Those are some of the things a blue chipper looks at and with Ivy league hockey, the recruit can look at the fewer games as another negative.

And you're right, if a guy like Phil Kessel is still considering Cornell and Harvard with Minnesota and Michigan after considering the above, then he might think that an ivy league school is too difficult and might hinder his hockey development.

Don't get me wrong; I live Cornell hockey.  But we have serious handicaps in recruiting even with our packed house.

[ajec1]

[Q]atb9 Wrote:
Don't get me wrong; I live Cornell hockey.  But we have serious handicaps in recruiting even with our packed house.[/q]

Minnesota's Mariucci Arena (along with probably every other WCHA team outside of Michigan Tech) is always packed as well. The only difference is that there are about 7,000 more of them.

[atb9]

f Minnesota  ;-)

[Josh '99]

If Schafer keeps getting the Murrays and LeNeveus and Vesces that aren't on everyone's radar, then I have no problem with not getting the Vaneks and Parises.  He knows what he's doing and what circumstances he's dealing with.

[Greg Berge]

If a player would choose not to come to Cornell because it is too demanding, then that is absolutely the best decision for both him and Cornell.  The alternative would be for him to struggle academically and either be ruled ineligible or have a ton of off-ice difficulties that would very likely screw him up on-ice as well.

Schafer has said the first thing he looks for is the kind if player who would thrive in Cornell's environment.  He doesn't even bother with the others because, even if he could somehow sneak them past admissions, they'd hate it and either leave early or stink up the joint, one way or another.

[calgARI '07]

A very large portion of atheletes at all the Ivy league schools are "snuck past admissions"

[Robb]

That's okay - they offset the dorks like me who breezed through the admissions process and then walked onto a varsity sport that I'd never even SEEN before I got to Cornell.

[billhoward]

[Q]calgARI '07 Wrote: A very large portion of atheletes at all the Ivy league schools are "snuck past admissions"[/q]

You think? Or is it a couple wildcards who get in because they are so good ... plus a bunch of others who get a nice preferential boost ... and some who get a boost just like you'd get for playing tuba real well in the HS band.

Because for some of us the opposite is too sad to imagine, that the athletes are:
- better athletes than most all of us on the forum,
- they get better looking women to date them on campus,
- they're taller and in better shape physically (I think psychologists say that the attributes of male popularity in HS are sports, height, looks to some extent, and the ace in the hole for those of us who didn't qualify yet: sense of humor)
- they have decent social skills, and
- are able to carry Cornell's academic load more or less capably.

And a lot of them do well in life afterwards regardless of whether their average was 2.0 or 3.75.

[ben03]

let's take it easy here guys ... it's only been a week and we're already eating our own ... ::help:: ::screwy::  ::help::

[calgARI '07]

If Schafer wants a player, he'll get him.