4-Point Weekend

[Trotsky]

We are spoiled.  A four point weekend on the road is an achievement, yet fewer fans are celebrating than wondering why Cornell didn't blow these teams out.

This was Cornell's 42nd 4-point weekend during the Schafer era, and their 14th on the road: http://www.tbrw.info/games/cornell4ptWeekends.html

[Will]

Two Ws are better than one or none.  And those Ws are all that'll really count in the end.

[ithacat]

You're right...though part of it may be due to Colgate beating both teams silly, while Cornell seemed to struggle. Add a 2nd SH goal in 3 games & the fact that Cornell gave up the same number of goals in their first 4 games last year as they gave up in the 2nd period of last Saturday's MSU game, and it somehow feels a bit sobering after 2 weeks. Crazy.

[KeithK]

Like Greg said, we're spoiled.

FOUR POINT WEEKEND!!!!!

[Mike Hedrick 01]

Agreed.   Also, someone mentioned in the game thread that we only got two points out of our first TWO road trips last year.  It may be healthy for the team not to waltz through its first weekend of conference play and realize that there is plenty of room for improvement.

In addition, they've only played four real games and are likely still trying to find their skating legs and gel as a team.  The freshmen are getting significant ice time and can only improve.   So, I think we should be optimistic--I believe this team has a lot of potential.

 

[billhoward]

It's blind luck, bounces of the puck, and the butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo that 14 hours later leads Cornell to win a game in OT rather than the opponent. But the mark of a good and definitely a great team is the ability to do it again and again, and then it's not luck. Like the OT win at Union last year. And like the 1969-70 season.

Too bad those bounces did not go Cornell's way on the football field. We got blown out by Yale and its incredible passing game, but we could have, maybe should have beaten Princeton and could have beaten Brown, and with that we'd be tied for the Ivy League lead with just one loss.

[dadeo]

well last year we had army and sacred heart to start the season.
Thats alot different than MSU.

[jy3]

[Q]dadeo Wrote:

 well last year we had army and sacred heart to start the season.
Thats alot different than MSU.[/q]

i was thinking the same thing but you beat me to it

[JDeafv]

4 points is great!  We also have to get used to the idea of teams playing up to our level.  The Brown announcers kept making a point that Brown was playing much better against the #4 team in the country than they did against unranked Colgate.  

Everyone is shooting to beat Cornell.  Next weekend, Dartmouth will think they won the league title if they get their first win.

[redhair34]

[Q]JDeafv Wrote:

 4 points is great!  We also have to get used to the idea of teams playing up to our level.  The Brown announcers kept making a point that Brown was playing much better against the #4 team in the country than they did against unranked Colgate.  

Everyone is shooting to beat Cornell.  Next weekend, Dartmouth will think they won the league title if they get their first win.[/q]

From Brown's Athletic site:

[Q]After the game Brown head coach Roger Grillo said, "there wasn't a guy out there tonight that didn't play his heart out. It's a shame we didn't come away with at least a point."  [/Q]

So yeah, everyone is gunning for us every time we get out on the ice.  Although this won't show up in the PWR, at least it will force us to play hard every night and perhaps make up for us not consistently facing topshelf talent like the teams out west do.  Come tournament time I think we'll be a better team for it.

[Trotsky]

[Q]JDeafv Wrote:
We also have to get used to the idea of teams playing up to our level.  The Brown announcers kept making a point that Brown was playing much better against the #4 team in the country than they did against unranked Colgate.[/q]
Some MSU people said as much, that they saw their team playing up to our level,and this was after games against NoDak and Michigan!

The subject of an upcoming TBRW? analysis will be the history of ECAC teams which have attained "ECAC golden child" status.  The Brown announcers half groused, half salivated over this; it's been a while since Cornell was described as being The Annointed.

Say the Crowd Collective Memory goes back five years (the experience of the students and their immediately preceding mentors.  Say, if a team has posted at least three dominant seasons within that period, including the most recent one, that they acquire the label of invincibility.  Call 15 league wins "dominance."

These are the teams which satisfied those conditions (grouped by overlapping seasons):

BC, 66
BU, 68, 71-73, 76-80
Clarkson, 79, 82-83
Clarkson, 99-00, 02
Cornell, 69-73, 76, 79-80
Cornell, 06
Harvard, 65
Harvard, 73, 75-76
Harvard, 87-90
UNH, 76-78, 80, 84
SLU, 90, 92-93
SLU, 01


The teams which satisfied those conditions *and* turned in a dominant performance:

BU, 71-72, 76-79
Clarkson, 82
Clarkson, 99
Cornell, 69-72, 79
Harvard, 75
Harvard, 87-89
UNH, 76-77
SLU, 92

As shown, the latter is an exclusive club, In the last decade, there is just one member:

69 Cornell
70 Cornell
71 BU, Cornell
72 BU, Cornell
75 Harvard
76 BU, UNH
77 BU, UNH
79 BU, Cornell
80 BU
82 Clarkson
87 Harvard
88 Harvard
89 Harvard
92 SLU
99 Clarkson

This also helps demonstrate why "Screw BU" is so burned into the Cornell hockey culture.  It's hard to imagine two teams operating at such a high level, simultaneously, like that.

[heykb]

[Q]This also helps demonstrate why "Screw BU" is so burned into the Cornell hockey culture. It's hard to imagine two teams operating at such a high level, simultaneously, like that. [/Q]

I graduated in '77 and I can tell you from firsthand experience that when BU came into Lynah, it felt like they were the Bruins, not the Terriers. Cornell could score 6 or 8 or 10 against other ECAC teams but when BU came to town, the general tone was more along the lines of "I hope we have a chance this year."

Here are the Regular Season and Tournament Champions of the ECAC for my 4 undergraduate years:

1976-77  Clarkson                   Boston University  
1975-76  Boston University          Boston University  
1974-75  Harvard                    Boston University  
1973-74  New Hampshire              Boston University

Notice any pattern?

I was lucky enough to stay in Ithaca (with yummy section M redline tickets) for an additional 3 years. The 1980 trip to Boston for the ECAC tournament finally ended 7 years of futility (and, as a fan, frustration). I moved away about 3 months later. But I got to see CU win the ECAC tournament! I'm a helluva lot older now, but it was almost as much fun to be in Albany last March as it was to be in the Gahden in '80.

GBR!

Karl B.

[ithacat]

[Q]dadeo Wrote:

 well last year we had army and sacred heart to start the season.
Thats alot different than MSU.[/q]

True enough, though last year's team gave up 3 goals in 2 games at Munn (vs 4 goals in one period at Lynah). Last year was a special year.

[BMac]

Speaking of BU, this is something I've always wondered, and perhaps you old-timers can put it to rest: When playing BU, what happens during the "screw BU" cheer? "Screw BU...BU too!?"

I'm losing sleep over this.

[billhoward]

[Q]BMac Wrote:Speaking of BU, this is something I've always wondered, and perhaps you old-timers can put it to rest: When playing BU, what happens during the "screw BU" cheer? "Screw BU...BU too!?" I'm losing sleep over this.[/q]It's truncated to "Screw BU." You mean it's not on the admissions essay anymore? Now get some rest.