#1 in the INCH Power Rankings (yeah right)

[BCrespi]

Always a fun sight to see, nomatter how meaningful. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/index

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]RichH Wrote:

 [Q2]DeltaOne81 Wrote:

We could always consider going to Alaska for one of their early season tournaments. Those don't count against the NCAA's limit, but I guess I don't know if they would count against the Ivy ones.

Might be a cool way to start off the season too, although that could be one of the few places that there wouldn't be a large Cornell contingent   [/Q]
Hogwash!!  I know I've been waiting for the Alaska roadtrip to get dropped onto our schedule.  That would be the ultimate litmus test to see how far some of us would go to watch our team...just to prove that we would.  I'd consider driving, VIA Rail, flying, hitching with the RCMP, or dogsled to get there, and I'd be twisting every Faithful arm I knew to join me.  The ushers in Kalamazoo a few years ago were in awe at how far some of us drove just for those hockey games.

[Q2]Cornell would probably have a large cadre of supporters if the game was held in Vladivostok.

â€" Mike Volonnino[/Q]
[/q]

I'd be keen to go see us play in Anchorage.  My uncle and his family live there, and I've always wanted to visit.

On the way back from this weekend's games, I managed to run into the ex-girlfriend of a recent Cornell hockey player, who was amazed to learn that there really were people who flew halfway across the country to watch the Big Red.

[Josh '99]

[Q]RichH Wrote:
True, but with HEA increasing to 10 teams next year, it makes sense in order to keep a balanced schedule. [/q]It's not a completely balanced schedule; 3 games against each team means that the home-road balance is off.  (It's equally balanced/unbalanced to what they play now, though.)

[Josh '99]

[Q]RichH Wrote:
Hogwash!!  I know I've been waiting for the Alaska roadtrip to get dropped onto our schedule.  That would be the ultimate litmus test to see how far some of us would go to watch our team...just to prove that we would.  I'd consider driving, VIA Rail, flying, hitching with the RCMP, or dogsled to get there, and I'd be twisting every Faithful arm I knew to join me.  The ushers in Kalamazoo a few years ago were in awe at how far some of us drove just for those hockey games.[/q]I'm so there.  :-D

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]jmh30 Wrote:

It's not a completely balanced schedule; 3 games against each team means that the home-road balance is off.  (It's equally balanced/unbalanced to what they play now, though.)

[/q]

Actually, it's slightly less balanced because each team will play an odd number of opponents and odd number of times and end up with 14 home and 13 away or vice versa, instead of 12 of each.

[Will]

How much does a plane ticket to Alaska cost usually?

[jeh25]

I'll drive; we'll only need to fill up 6 times. ::rolleyes::

You did say roadtrip, right?

[RichH]

[Q]jeh25 Wrote:

You did say roadtrip, right?[/q]

Yes, but only in the generic sense.  If you read what was written, you may have put the rolleyes back in your pocket.  One of the things I've always wanted to is take VIA Rail cross-Canada.
[Q]I'd consider driving, VIA Rail, flying, hitching with the RCMP, or dogsled to get there[/Q]

[AKMer \'08]

If you get them at the right time, about $400 Syracuse to Anchorage. If you get them at the wrong time, more like $600. Although now that Northwest is going to start flying into Ithaca, maybe we can get cheaper flights...

Also, there are usually off-season promotions, and October would definitely be off-season.

[mike]

All of you guys dont seem like you think this is meaningfull to be #1 in the nation. In my opionion it is. Not just because im a cornell fan but because the numbers prove it. How often do you see a team with the best defence in the league have the best powerplay in the nation also. Cornell has got a good combination here. They got an all american in dave mkee. They got one of the best goal scorers in the nation in matt moulson. And they have a defence that is outstanding. I think they will suprise many teams in the ncaa tournament and go far. Cornell is very deserving of this rank. You know what they say, Defence wins championships.

[Beeeej]

It's not that we don't think it's meaningful to be #1 in the nation.  We just don't think much of INCH, or of being #1 in a "power ranking" that basically amounts to nothing more than "Whatever the gang at INCH decided over breakfast."

Our #2 and #3 spots in the USCHO and USA Today polls respectively may be shocking as well given that our current unbeaten streak has been on the backs of an awful lot of relative patsies... but at least they're the aggregate results of dozens of knowledgeable voters making considered choices.

We know we've got a great team.  We also know we haven't had to play many other teams near the top of the polls this year, and come tournament time, the polls mean absolutely zilch.

Beeeej

[billhoward]

How is our PP against top fifteen teams as opposed to the halt and the lame of the ECACHL?

The stats were, I believe:
Vs BC, 1 for 12 Cornell on power play
Vs Maine, 3 for 4
Vs Harvard, 1 for 6 and 0 for 3
Vs Colgate, 0 for 3 and 2 for 3
Vs. Dartmouth (team flirting with top 15), 0 for 4 and 2 for 7

Sure, it is nice to see us ranked up there in the polls. It would be nicer to see one of the four #1 seeds. While there's all this discussion about how teams who played teams who played us are affecting our RPI, I believe a quarter of the RPI is your own winning record (?), and that's something Cornell is doing just fine at.

[CowbellGuy]

[Q]RichH Wrote:
One of the things I've always wanted to is take VIA Rail cross-Canada.[/q]
Did Rte. 1 across Canada once. Once. Between the mountains in BC and the CN Tower it's like Kansas. Without the exciting billboards.

[ninian '72]

[Q]Beeeej Wrote:

Our #2 and #3 spots in the USCHO and USA Today polls respectively may be shocking as well given that our current unbeaten streak has been on the backs of an awful lot of relative patsies...

Beeeej[/q]

Granted, but a number of the other top-ranked teams have been LOSING to teams they should have beaten.  It's not that Cornell's more talented than the others, but that they're the only ones that appear to be firing on all cylinders right now.  

[Trotsky]

Polls are fun but in the end they're brain-dead.  How often does a #1 stay #1 after losing if the teams below it win?  Now how often does that happen in standings?  That, in a nutshell, is why polling is silly.