1st round: Quinnipiac

[Al DeFlorio]

All true, Stewart, but we couldn't beat 'em in Lynah last year.  I just hope we come to play like we did Friday night.

[Greg Berge]

Some Q research (I'm on vacation -- the rest of you get back to work!
;-) )

1. The school name is spelled: "Quinnipiac."
2. Their nickname is the "Braves."
3. Their unis are blue and gold.
4. The school is in Hamden, CT.
5. They are officially listed as a University, though most people refer to them as QC.
6. Their 25/75 percentile SATs are 1020/1215, which puts them slightly below SLU in Safetytude.
7. Here are their stats: http://www.uscollegehockey.com/stats/team.php?season=20012002&team=93&gender=m

[Adam \'01]

Maybe neither here nor there but:

Freshman make up just about HALF of their team.  Impressive.

[Greg Berge]

A few comparisons:

+ PWR: 10. Cornell; 22. Clarkson; 23. QU; 24, Harvard.
+ RPI: 10. Cornell; 24. Clarkson; 25. QU.
+ KRACH: 17. Cornell; 49. Vermont; 50. QU.
+ KPWR (only Whelan understands it): 15. Cornell; 23. Dartmouth; 25. QU.

So, unless you buy that KRACH rating, QU is roughly a 4th/5th ECAC seed in quality.  Not at all a pushover.

[Josh '99]

Greg Berge wrote:

2. Their nickname is the "Braves."

Not quite...  their nickname WAS the "Braves".  That nickname fell prey to the same PC nonsense that caused the shortening of Colgate's nickname to "Raiders" and threatens UND.

USCHO article:
http://www.uscho.com/news/2001/12/03_003253.php

[Al DeFlorio]

Quinnipiac officially became QU last June.  

They did tie us at Lynah last year,  and our ability to make opposing goalies look good makes us vulnerable to a team like this, IMHO.::help::

[jkahn]

Instead of the usual E1 vs. W2 and W1 vs. E2 semis, the committee apparently also did an overall seed for the top four teams, and with UNH and BU being 1 and 4 respectively, decided that those brackets should meet in the semis.  See
http://www.ncaachampionships.com/staticfiles/d1_mhko_2002_bracket.gif
from the NCAA site and note the "overall" seeds on the bottom.  I don't know if this is a new procedure or perhaps it was introduced last year or before but wasn't noticeable as the brackets had 1 and 2 or 1 and 3 in the same region, which would still produce the E1 vs. W2 effect.

[RichS]

They may not be a pushover...but if cornell does not win this game, the same "EZAC" crap that Clarkson heard after losing to a stronger Colorado College team in '97 and '98 will be directed by the western folk at ALL of us in the ECAC!

FWIW, Clarkson beat Mercyhurst twice this season and they were the MAAC RS winners.

Anyway you look at it, I can't see cornell losing this game.

[Sarli]

Couple of points:
1) they tied us at home on 06jan2001...which was winter break so it was a very quiet Lynah.
2) last year we were not nearly the offensive "juggernaut" we are this year
3) after watching the hU-clarckson game I thought both teams looked bad and after how CU played on friday it seemed we had a really good chance to win. But look at the result. there is no reason the same couldn't happen against QU on Sat. except that CU usually comes out really strong on the 1st game of the weekend.  I believe Coach will get them very well prepared.  The team out to be ripsh!t about the result of the last game.  I don't think anyone is safe we we come out really fired up. see hahvahd (SUCKS) game in Lynah.


 amen to the making opposing goalies look good. some times I wonder if our guys aim for the logo on the goalies chest. But I prob can't stand on skates and swing a stick let alone skate and hit a moving puck and get a SOG. so I'll go gripe in a corner somewhere.

[Al DeFlorio]

I think it might be new this year, and this is the one new twist I don't care for.

It isn't clear to me that anyone or any computer algorithm can discern between UNH, Denver, Minnesota, and BU in terms of precise sequential seeding.  So why putz around with the traditional 1W vs. 2E and 1E vs. 2W pairings?  It would make for more interesting semifinals, and certainly travel is no longer a consideration when all the teams are in St. Paul.

[Tom Tseng]

Yeah, but who among us saw Cornell losing to Hahvahd (sucks) on Saturday?  No one!  My advice to all:  Play the game like Friday vs. RPI, or Saturday before vs. Yale.  Anything but vs. Harvard in November and vs. Harvard last Saturday.

[Keith K]

...or Dartmouth in January or in February, or NMU/OSU in Estero.  I actually saw or heard none of those games but frmo all reports they were lackluster efforts.  Basically when we've played our game and executed well we've won most of the time this year.  Hopefully we can do this from here on out but the opponents get harder from here on.

[Greg Berge]

Dartmouth in February and OSU did sound like lackluster efforts (as did the Union game at the enhd of the year, which Cornell actually won), but I think that the Northern Michigan and Harvard LP games weren't lackluster -- they were strong efforts in which the other team was even stronger.

OK, so they're the Quinnipiac University (No Nickname Designated Yet)'s?  Maybe they should just call them the Undecideds.

Anyway, Cornell ought to come out hitting hard -- that is their game.

[min \'97]

will the size the of ice sheet be a factor in worcester?

[DeltaOne81]

It's a standard sheet, so, uh, no... :-)

And as for the nickname thing... I've heard them referred to as 3 things... the Braves (still), the "Blue and Maize" (which is just simply descriptive), and this "Quahogs" thing floating around the USCHO boards - some Native American word for clam apparently. Not sure exactly where it comes from in relation to the team.