Harvard at Cornell post-game thread

[billhoward]

Losing to Harvard took the wind out of our sails. Post volume seems nothing like it was last week. No postgame thread.

So why did Harvard win? Cam Abbott's it's-so-unlike-him five minute major? David McKee's not slidimg over in time to save one of the goals? Our failed 5x3 PP late in the third? Jared Seminoff's untimely trip turninig a 2-on-1 into a 2-on-0 breakaway?

We're still looking good for the playoffs and playoffs seeding. Would you rather be Colgate and be 1 point behind Cornell going into he final weekend? Dartmouth is also 1 point back but it finishes up vs. St. Lawrence (2 back) and Clarkson, which is going to be tougher than our Union/RPI weekend (on paper).

[edit adding] Maybe this gives Cornell incentive against Harvard in what is likely to be a meeting somewhere in the ECACs, perhaps the semis or the finals in Albany. (A best 2 of 3 quarterfinal in Lynah is unlikely but so delicious to ponder even if it would deplete offshore fisheries out to the 200 mile limit.) And it would generate 100% [what sportswriters and coaches call 110%] effort on the part of Cam Abbott.

I want the title game to be Cornell-Harvard or Cornell-Colgate. Yes, Colgate -- support upstate hockey. Colgate is one of those Colorado College of the East kinds of schools. You could say that about Union, too, except I think the CC administration honors hockey rather than treating it like an unwanted growth.

[daredevilcu]

I would certainly rather be Dartmouth this weekend, and have the home-ice advantage.  Every team in the ECAC has a better home record than away, and only Cornell has a winning record on the road.

But the burning question that I didn't find answered in the game thread... did you all throw the fishies?

[Rosey]

I wouldn't normally make statements this definitive about the precise reason for how a game went... but in this case, I'll say what I've said to several people over the past day: if not for Cam's 5 minute major, Cornell would almost certainly have won that game.  That's too bad.  Especially ugly as it came on senior night: a loss at home is never the way you want to end the regular season.

It was also the only Cornell loss to Harvard at Lynah that I have witnessed in my 11 years following the program, there having been no internet video in 1999, which is a personal letdown.

But there's still plenty of hockey to be played this season.  I'll be in Albany next weekend to cheer our guys on as they battle RIP and Union, and---praise the woofing gods---if Cornell manages to make it past the quarterfinals, I'll be in Albany for the tournament.  LGR!

Cheers,
Kyle

[Liz '05]

[quote billhoward]Losing to Harvard took the wind out of our sails. Post volume seems nothing like it was last week. No postgame thread.
[/quote]

Shhhh, Bill.  Sometimes I want to wallow in my misery. :-/ :`(

[calgARI '07]

I agree with Krose.

[canuck89]

Surprisingly, there doesn't seem much to analyze here.  For everyone who saw the game, there is no big question as to why we lost.  We weren't bad, we weren't great, and the Abbott penalty didn't help (big understatement).  Nonetheless, our subsequent 4 on 5 penalty kill could have done a better job with that.  Furthermore, giving up the other 4 on 4 goal was inexcusable too.  Unfortunately, the team seemed to look as deflated as the crowd was after the penalty.  Props to the team effort in the last few minutes, though, but it was just a little too late.  At least there's still more hockey to look forward to.

[Rich S]

[quote billhoward] Yes, Colgate -- support upstate hockey. Colgate is one of those Colorado College of the East kinds of schools. You could say that about Union, too, except I think the CC administration honors hockey rather than treating it like an unwanted growth.[/quote]

Come now Bill!

Clarkson has a lot more in common with Colorado College than Colgate ever will!

Once you acknowledge that, I hope you'll root for a Clarkson-Cornell final in Albany.  :-D

[Dpperk29]

i'm with rich on that one... clarkson cornell would be a cool final

[billhoward]

[quote Rich S][quote billhoward] Yes, Colgate -- support upstate hockey. Colgate is one of those Colorado College of the East kinds of schools. You could say that about Union, too, except I think the CC administration honors hockey rather than treating it like an unwanted growth.[/quote]

Come now Bill! Clarkson has a lot more in common with Colorado College than Colgate ever will!

Once you acknowledge that, I hope you'll root for a Clarkson-Cornell final in Albany.  :-D[/quote]

Richard, you and your alma mater actually flipped through my mind when I wrote the note. So did RPI (and I'm intrigued that you weren't concerned on their part). But I was thinking, which one or two Empire State schools -- not every bleeping possibility on the list whose feelings might be hurt in my spirit on non-inclusionism -- would service the argument (or in the present case, create one). So I went with two selective liberal arts colleges that map closely to the CC profile. More seriously if only for a moment, I wouldn't be unhappy to see Clarkson, RPI, or St. Lawrence (or at some future point RIT) in the NCAAs, although how they'd get in would be a challenge with a Cornell-Harvard or Cornell-Colgate final.

One can puruse an engineering degree at CC, intriguingly, by going to CC for a couple years and then transferring to RPI or Columbia. But not to Sodom on the St. Lawrence. Didn't Cornell loan you  a president for a couple years, but when he retired, he got the hell out of town?

Or is this the link you're thinking of?
Q: What do Colorado College and Clarkson have in common?
A: It's possible to get a respected engineering degree. You just have to transfer to RPI.

[Trotsky]

[quote canuck89]For everyone who saw the game, there is no big question as to why we lost.  We weren't bad, we weren't great, and the Abbott penalty didn't help (big understatement).  Nonetheless, our subsequent 4 on 5 penalty kill could have done a better job with that.  Furthermore, giving up the other 4 on 4 goal was inexcusable too.  Unfortunately, the team seemed to look as deflated as the crowd was after the penalty.  Props to the team effort in the last few minutes, though, but it was just a little too late.  At least there's still more hockey to look forward to.[/quote]

Yep, that accords with what I saw.

There were several points in the game where you just knew Cornell would take off and run Harvard out of the rink.

(1) Early emotion.  The Red came out hard and outplayed Harvard in the first.
(2) Pre-Cam.  Just at the moment of Cam's penalty, everything was going Cornell's way and they were really stepping it up.
(3) The final moments.  They threw everything they had at Daigneau in the last two minutes.

In the first case, they just couldn't get a huge second goal.  The latter two were defined by the Abbott penalty, which stunned them, and then left them too little time to mount a successful comeback.

The consolation is that Schafer is a great coach and he will use this to teach and motivate, and the team may be better for it when the "win-or-go-home" games begin.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote billhoward]Or is this the link you're thinking of?
Q: What do Colorado College and Clarkson have in common?
A: It's possible to get a respected engineering degree. You just have to transfer to RPI.[/quote]
::uhoh::

[las224]

[quote daredevilcu]But the burning question that I didn't find answered in the game thread... did you all throw the fishies?[/quote]

I threw a fishie!  I was really proud of myself b/c I was kind of scared to touch it, but I sucked it up and held it with my bare hands while waiting for the toss.  My other reasons to be proud of myself at Harvard were that I finally got up the nerve to start a Harvard Sucks cheer, and I made a sign that got featured on TV

My biggest disappointment with the game was the lack of goals in the 5x3.  My thinking was: Schafer should have pulled Dave just for the 5x3 and put him back in after.  Having 6x3, there's no way they could have made it to our net, and having DOUBLE the number of men on the ice would surely have led to a goal in that critical powerplay.  Assuming the rest of the game went the same (which I realize is a big assumption), we would have at least made it to OT.  But goals generally boost our morale and deflate theirs to give us the advantage, so we might even have scored another goal in regulation and won.  Disappointing.

[DeltaOne81]

[quote las224]But goals generally boost our morale and deflate theirs to give us the advantage, so we might even have scored another goal in regulation and won.  Disappointing.[/quote]

Of course, there's a good question as to whether we actually scored that third one at all. Not that it matters in the end.

[daredevilcu]

That's below the belt, bill, try to keep the gloves up next time.  Oh, wait... you go to Cornell.  Sorry, I'm sure the refs didn't notice the hit.  :-P

[Chris \'03]

[quote daredevilcu] I'm sure the refs didn't notice the hit.  :-P[/quote]

They were distracted by the Clarkson band's drumming during the play. :-P