Barry Melrose on ESPN2

[Petunia LiCicero \'95]

Anyone watching the Frozen Four?
Barry Melrose, ESPN NHL commentator says during the intermission he predicts McKee will win the Hobey Baker award.  He says he would have "loved to see Cornell make the Frozen Four."  He said if they played Minnesota anywhere other than Minnesota, Cornell would have won.  He says he saw McKee play against Union.  Was that at Schenectady?

Why is Barry Melrose so rah-rah Cornell?
Not that I am complaining, but I am kind of surprised.

Did Barry Melrose coach the LA Kings?

[ben03]

yes, yes, he likes our style and yes

[atb9]

[Q]Petunia LiCicero '95 Wrote:
He says he saw McKee play against Union.  Was that at Schenectady?
[/q]

Yup.  Melrose coached the old Adirondack Red Wings in Glens Falls and has a lot of connections in the Capital District and upstate NY.

[Josh '99]

[Q]ben03 Wrote:
 yes, yes, he likes our style and yes[/q]As for Ben's last yes, I think Melrose coached the Kings while Dave Taylor (Clarkson) was GM as well.  More ECAC connections there.

[ben03]

not to mention some guy named wayne something ...

[Josh '99]

[Q]ben03 Wrote:
not to mention some guy named wayne something ...[/q]That guy was alright.   ::nut::

(But he didn't have any college hockey connections, which is what I was going for.)

[ben03]

but he's the only reason we even know who barry melrose is, yup i said it, you made me say it ...  :-O  ::uhoh:: :-)

[atb9]

[Q]ben03 Wrote:

 but he's the only reason we even know who barry melrose is, yup i said it, you made me say it ...[/q]

Well, that and the mullet.

[ben03]

yes but that's another topic in itself :-D

[MattShaf]

Not only did he give Cornell props he outright stated McKee should win the Hobey. :-)
As a former defenseman, its no surprise he likes CU and our style of play. His second intermission quote stating the UND was going to punish Minnesota furthers support for a team that likes to play strong defensive hockey. I'm glad someone stood up for us and against al this run and gun hockey most of the western "big ice" schools like to play.

Melrose's career: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/players/data09/00003669.html

[RatushnyFan]

He definitely seconded my notion that the western teams are far better skaters (in general, not specifically compared to Cornell).   But he did flat out say that Cornell would have won the game on a smaller ice sheet.  I haven't agreed with this on other threads but he's the expert.  Good to see that he's taking notice.  UND should clobber MN, the weakest remaining team.

Melrose said that he was at the Cornell/Union game........how on earth did he end up there?  Loves Mckee's ability to control the rebound.  He definitely feels that the CC guys will split some votes which is in Mckee's favor.  Others on this board have disagreed.

Did you also see Sertich's mother?  So sad what's going on with her.  Denver scored a goal while they were interviewing her so they cut away.

[Beeeej]

[Q]RatushnyFan Wrote:
He definitely feels that the CC guys will split some votes which is in Mckee's favor.  Others on this board have disagreed.[/q]

It's not that we don't think there'd be some vote splitting between the CC guys, it's just that the voting has already happened.  If there were a new round of voting for the winner from among the Hat Trick, there might be a much more significant split, but there isn't.  The Hat Trick is the top three vote-getters, including the eventual winner, who has already technically won.

Beeeej

[Dpperk29]

I was at the Union game and met Barry Melrose, and besides coming across as a greaseball, he didn't know anything about cornell hockey other than that The faithful were amazing and that we had the best fans. He did seem interested when I started talking about Mckee and Moulson and how they were going to make noise come playoff time and they cornell was going to make even more noise...

[Will]

[Q]Dpperk29 Wrote:

 I was at the Union game and met Barry Melrose, and besides coming across as a greaseball, he didn't know anything about cornell hockey other than that The faithful were amazing and that we had the best fans.[/q]

Well, if someone's going to know only one thing about Cornell hockey, that's not a bad thing to know. :-D

[ithacat]

[Q]Beeeej Wrote:

 [Q2]RatushnyFan Wrote:
He definitely feels that the CC guys will split some votes which is in Mckee's favor.  Others on this board have disagreed.[/Q]
It's not that we don't think there'd be some vote splitting between the CC guys, it's just that the voting has already happened.  If there were a new round of voting for the winner from among the Hat Trick, there might be a much more significant split, but there isn't.  The Hat Trick is the top three vote-getters, including the eventual winner, who has already technically won.

Beeeej[/q]


Good point.

All bias aside, David should win running away. He's put up numbers that have historical implications. The 2 CC guys have had great years but their numbers aren't even close to the top 20 single season scoring marks -- 96 points gets one up to the top 20.

I'm always curious when I hear people seemingly dismiss the numbers put up by Cornell players as being a product of the system, yet never saying higher offensive numbers can also be a product of a system.

David had one of the greatest seasons ever. His season's save % is now tied for 3rd all-time & his goals against average is the 2nd best all-time. This shouldn't even be close. Bring Hobey home...