2006-7 Schedule

[KeithK]

[quote mikee293]wait so coaches get to pretty much pick who their non-conference games are against (assuming the other coach agrees as well?)

If this is the case, I wish Cornell would pick higher ranked teams, because our strength of schedule just kills us in the PWR rankings[/quote]Yes, Mike Schafer can just say "I want CC, Minnesota, Michigan, BC, Maine, North Dakota, and BU to play at Lynah this year."  Those teams are then legally bound to show up...

All snarkiness aside, I'll give a real answer on the assumption that your comment is sincere (and not snarky).  The schools do decide non-conference games on their own.  There is no NCAA scheduling body to organize non-conference games.  Scheduling non-conference games is a balancing act which has to take into account willingness of the opponents to play you, venue (everyone wants to play at home when possible) and available dates.  Cornell has disadvantages due to the late start (a lot of non-conf games are played in October when Cornell can't), limited games (Cornell plays 29 according to Ivy rules as opposed to the NCAA limit of 34) and small rink capacity (Lynah is 1/3 or 1/4 of the size of some of the biggest western arenas and those teams would rather get the big gate at home).

[bothman]

Well, Harvard managed to get a home and home with UND, UNH, and Maine in recent years....they haven't been scheduling the likes of RIT and Canisius ::rolleyes::

[heykb]

This is spot on.

This year's Michigan St. set was reasonable. I can even understand a game with RIT to help RIT fill out their D-I schedule. But Niagara and such?

There was a time where we scheduled BU every other year or so. We should be playing top tier non-conference opponents. BU/BC/UNH in the east, Mich/Minn/CC/UND in the west.

I understood when we had Western Mich because the coaching staff had solid ties to that program. But even then I thought that was pretty marginal.

It's reached the point of being silly.

Karl B. '77

[Robb]

[quote heykb]
There was a time where we scheduled BU every other year or so. We should be playing top tier non-conference opponents. BU/BC/UNH in the east, Mich/Minn/CC/UND in the west.[/quote]

Um, no there wasn't.  We've only played BU 8 times since the Great Divorce, 4 @ Lynah, 1 neutral site at the Syracuse Invitational, and 3 @ BU.  2 of those games were in 1989, 2 in 2002, and 2 in 2003.  So there have only been 5 seasons since 1984 that we've played BU - more like every 4 years.  We've played BU far more frequently in the last 4 years than in the 20 years before that.

[Jacob '06]

[quote Robb][quote heykb]
There was a time where we scheduled BU every other year or so. We should be playing top tier non-conference opponents. BU/BC/UNH in the east, Mich/Minn/CC/UND in the west.[/quote]

Um, no there wasn't.  We've only played BU 8 times since the Great Divorce, 4 @ Lynah, 1 neutral site at the Syracuse Invitational, and 3 @ BU.  2 of those games were in 1989, 2 in 2002, and 2 in 2003.  So there have only been 5 seasons since 1984 that we've played BU - more like every 4 years.  We've played BU far more frequently in the last 4 years than in the 20 years before that.[/quote]

And they won't play us anymore after they got embarassed in the 02-03 season.

[Chris \'03]

[quote bothman]Well, Harvard managed to get a home and home with UND, UNH, and Maine in recent years....they haven't been scheduling the likes of RIT and Canisius ::rolleyes::[/quote]

To be fair, you have to look at geography. Harvard has the advantage of playing in the middle of HEA country. Cornell's closest non-conference opponents are RIT, Canisius, Niagara, Mercyhurst, RMU, and Army probably. It's a far cry from BU, BC, UNH, Maine, etc.

The economics do play a role. It's easier financially to take a hit and play in a small barn on the road when it's near by than when it's cross country.

The UND series is a good pick up. They've shown a surprising willingness to play in ECAC rinks (see, Princeton & Yale a few years back. That was the series that included the ND radio guy having a fight with the fan on the air and Chris Higgins getting the gate for fighting).

[jtwcornell91]

[quote Robb][quote heykb]
There was a time where we scheduled BU every other year or so. We should be playing top tier non-conference opponents. BU/BC/UNH in the east, Mich/Minn/CC/UND in the west.[/quote]

Um, no there wasn't.  We've only played BU 8 times since the Great Divorce, 4 @ Lynah, 1 neutral site at the Syracuse Invitational, and 3 @ BU.  2 of those games were in 1989, 2 in 2002, and 2 in 2003.  So there have only been 5 seasons since 1984 that we've played BU - more like every 4 years.  We've played BU far more frequently in the last 4 years than in the 20 years before that.[/quote]

We did play them at Lynah in 1993 and WBA in 1995, so some of us optimistically extrapolated and were disappointed when they didn't come back in 1997.

I don't think we can dictate our non-conference slate like some seem to assume we can, but I wish we could get the BU rivalry restarted on a more regular basis, and I'm hoping Schafer and Sandelin came away from the Florida tournament with a good enough vibe to get something started with tUMD.

[dadeo]

ANd on the flip side, the chances of restarting something with Michigan State seem long as I can imagine Schaefer's repore with their coaching staff is not so hot.

[The Rancor]

but awesome win percentage has gotten us in in past years.....

[mikee293]

"I'll give a real answer on the assumption that your comment is sincere (and not snarky)"


it was sincere.....but i guess poorly worded haha

[Robb]

Prepare to be really depressed...  :-/

Since 1985 (when there were reasonable Eastern non-conference opponents to play), Cornell has only played 26 non-conference games against teams that made the NCAA tournament, my arbitrary criteria for what is a "good" team.  That's 26 in 21 seasons, for 1.24 per season.  That's pretty sad, but not depressing.

The depressing part is that in those 26 games, we've gone 4-20-2.  Yep.  For those of you scoring at home, that's 0.192.  Our wins were BU twice in 2003, BU in 2002, and OSU in 2003.  We managed ties against Maine in 2000 and Michigan in 1997.  The only years that we've had more than 2 NC games against tourney teams were 2003 (3-2-0) and 1996 (0-3-0).

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.   ::yark:: ::barf::

[bothman]

Wow is all I have to say.  Someone should send that stat to Schafer.  Almost unbelievable.  Maybe that starts to give the EZAC chants a little more credence and provides a solid backdrop for an ECAC team not winning it all since Harvard did in 1989.

[heykb]

[quote jtwcornell91]{BU stuff snipped}

I don't think we can dictate our non-conference slate like some seem to assume we can, but I wish we could get the BU rivalry restarted on a more regular basis, and I'm hoping Schafer and Sandelin came away from the Florida tournament with a good enough vibe to get something started with tUMD.[/quote]

I think this gets to the heart of the matter. A sustained non-conference rivalry would be very good for the program. But it needs to be a suitable opponent. It doesn't make sense for it to be a doormat; that's not a rivalry. Having Maine show up at the Fla tourney every year is a good start, and I thought tOSU might have been on that track as well.

We could use a BU or UND or UMich weekend every year, alternating locations. I'm sure it's not a slam dunk to arrange but somehow there's gotta be a way.

Karl B. '77

[French Rage]

[quote heykb]This is spot on.

This year's Michigan St. set was reasonable. I can even understand a game with RIT to help RIT fill out their D-I schedule. But Niagara and such?

There was a time where we scheduled BU every other year or so. We should be playing top tier non-conference opponents. BU/BC/UNH in the east, Mich/Minn/CC/UND in the west.

I understood when we had Western Mich because the coaching staff had solid ties to that program. But even then I thought that was pretty marginal.

It's reached the point of being silly.

Karl B. '77[/quote]

Well put.

Even with WMU, at least it was against a Big 4 team, who thus has a better chance (than AH/CHA) of having a NCAA season, and gives us a CO-OP for the PWR.  An Army/SHU/Niagara/etc weekend does nothing along those lines.

[jtwcornell91]

[quote Robb]Prepare to be really depressed...  :-/

Since 1985 (when there were reasonable Eastern non-conference opponents to play), Cornell has only played 26 non-conference games against teams that made the NCAA tournament, my arbitrary criteria for what is a "good" team.  That's 26 in 21 seasons, for 1.24 per season.  That's pretty sad, but not depressing.

The depressing part is that in those 26 games, we've gone 4-20-2.  Yep.  For those of you scoring at home, that's 0.192.  Our wins were BU twice in 2003, BU in 2002, and OSU in 2003.  We managed ties against Maine in 2000 and Michigan in 1997.  The only years that we've had more than 2 NC games against tourney teams were 2003 (3-2-0) and 1996 (0-3-0).

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.   ::yark:: ::barf::[/quote]

Is it really fair to go all the way back to 1985?  Why not limit attention to the Schafer era (which is also the last 10 seasons), which includes all the non-losses?