Cornell-Union Post Game Thread

[min]

Mostly useless end-of-regular-season trivia (all data taken from TBRW and are from 1987 on):

1. Dartmouth becomes the fourth Ivy to win the ECAC RS title.

2. This season is the second time that the there is tie at the top of the standings (last time: 1988 Harvard and St. Lawrence at 36).

3. This season ties the 2004 season for the lowest points total needed to win the ECAC RS: 30.

4. In the 20 seasons since 1987, Ivy league teams have captured the RS title eleven times (Harvard 6; Cornell 3; Yale 1, Dartmouth 1).

5. In two of the eleven years that an Ivy league team has won the ECAC RS, the RS winner was NOT the Ivy champion (1992 - Harvard (ECAC) and Yale (Ivy); 2006 - Dartmouth (ECAC) and Harvard (Ivy))

6. The 2005-06 season is the third time since 1987 that Cornell has finished a single point behind the RS winner(s) (1991, 2004, 2006). In the past five seasons, Cornell has either captured the RS, or finished one point behind the winners.

None of the above matters. Let's now go for the tourney title #12!

[billhoward]

Who says insomniacs can't be productive members of society?

>>> 6. The 2005-06 season is the third time since 1987 that Cornell has finished a single point behind the RS winner(s) (1991, 2004, 2006). In the past five seasons, Cornell has either captured the RS, or finished one point behind the winners.

[Cactus12]

Considering the D-men out, I thought we played pretty well. This entire year has been somewhat strange... not just in the ECAC but in all of the leagues... upsets all over the place. Not really sure what to expect from the playoffs except that there are probably 6 teams who could take the ECAC championship. On a positive note, I think getting our defense back should provide a real morale boost to the team, and hopefully give the offense some more confidence and aggressiveness. It was nice to see Moulson teach Union tonight why teams don't let him have time with puck.

[French Rage]

Check this: each group of 4 in terms of the standings contains two groups of travel partners.

[atb9]

-- I noticed in the USCHO recap of the Colgate-RPI game http://www.uscho.com/recaps/20052006/m/02/25/col-rpi.php that the goal judge might have missed an RPI goal that would have tied up the game midway through the third period.  The missed call on the goal might have been the difference between 2nd place and 3rd place (ignoring the fact that a win Friday would have made this irrelevant).  The goal judge in front of Section 1 was mistake prone Friday night.  

-- The Cornell-Union game will be replayed in the Albany area on Channel 3 at noon today.

-- A kid in the Union student section deemed "Fatty" really took a verbal beating.  Another cheering highlight was the beeping on remote control goalie when Mayotte backed into his goal while finishing his routine during stoppages!

-- During the second intermission, a young girl was able to shoot the puck into the middle slot from between the circles for a gift certificate to a barber.  Enjoy!  I'm sure the barber will be more than willing to use a "two blade" to give her a proper Schenectady mullet.

-- I was really disappointed that I couldn't get a reservation for Cornell's restaurant Saturday morning.  The novelty of eating at a restaurant in Schenectady that shares the name of the University is still cool to me. ::screwy::

[marty]

[quote Cactus12]Considering the D-men out, I thought we played pretty well. This entire year has been somewhat strange... not just in the ECAC but in all of the leagues... upsets all over the place. [/quote]

I became convinced this year that the upsets are due to a parity in talent which in turn may be due to an uptick in the youth hockey programs.

Overall when you remember that RIP had one recruit for this year when we played them last year, and we all felt that they would have a crappy freshman class, the obvious conclusion is that even with a third rate bunch of freshmen, they have enough talent that when playing well and maturing (something not all that common during a 4 year stint at the "Tute"), they can and did give the top teams in the league a good fight.

As quoted above this is happening in all the leagues and it bodes well for fans of good hockey - though it will cause nail biting for the Big Red and for other teams who expect to dominate their opponents.

[ursusminor]

[quote marty]Overall when you remember that RIP had one recruit for this year when we played them last year, and we all felt that they would have a crappy freshman class, the obvious conclusion is that even with a third rate bunch of freshmen, they have enough talent that when playing well and maturing (something not all that common during a 4 year stint at the "Tute"), they can and did give the top teams in the league a good fight.[/quote]

RPI has until this year not jumped on the bandwagon of recruiting early. There were also two other factors hurting recruiting last season. One was the complete turnover of assistant coaches, and the other is that there were relatively few athletic scholarships available last year. The latter is still a consequence of the NCAA mandated change in number of scholarships (from 21? to 18) after 92-93. The class of 1993 was small and RPI was not able to offer any scholarships for the class entering in 1993 (Class of '97). Slowly, due to players leaving early and other factors, the classes of '01, '05, and now '09 have been getting bigger, but apparently there still is less money around every four years.

A new problem is arising, namely an imbalance in the defense corps. RPI has four Senior defensemen and an additional defenseman left during the season. Thus five of eight defensemen that RPI usually carries will probably be Freshmen next season. To date four are known, but I expect that there will be one more. This is also not a good situation.

[Dpperk29]

another fine example of Union fans was on tv... they did a close up up a guy giving the cornell fan's the finger with both hands... priceless...

[dbilmes]

After a long drive back from Schenectady in the snow, a few more post-game observations:

 -- McKee was solid in both games over the weekend. On Union's SH breakaway goal, the kid made a hell of a shot, especially considering he had only scored one goal all season! Perhaps McKee should have saved it, but he came up big time after time the rest of the game.

 -- Pegararo was outstanding, and logged a ton of minutes.

 -- During one of our early power plays, our second unit looked awful. Kennedy was on the point and twice failed to keep the puck in the zone at the blue line. Watching the struggles of some of our players to keep the puck in the zone makes you appreciate how good Sasha and O'Byrne are at doing that.

 -- It's pathetic that Union doesn't have a pep band!

 -- It's nice to end the regular season with a victory, especially with the way we've been struggling the past few weeks.

[billhoward]

[quote Dpperk29]another fine example of Union fans was on tv... they did a close up up a guy giving the cornell fan's the finger with both hands... priceless...[/quote]
It's the jealous guy's way of saying, "I don't like your date, either."

(Adaption of Sitting Bull/Custer sideways-finger joke.)

[cp20]

I think "fatty" was the finger guy on tv they kept his hands busy after that with pizza.

[Josh '99]

[quote dbilmes] -- During one of our early power plays, our second unit looked awful. Kennedy was on the point and twice failed to keep the puck in the zone at the blue line. Watching the struggles of some of our players to keep the puck in the zone makes you appreciate how good Sasha and O'Bourne are at doing that.[/quote]Sasha and who?

[Rosey]

[quote jmh30]Sasha and who?[/quote]
We all understood he meant O'Brom.

Kyle

[Trotsky]

[quote jmh30][quote dbilmes] -- During one of our early power plays, our second unit looked awful. Kennedy was on the point and twice failed to keep the puck in the zone at the blue line. Watching the struggles of some of our players to keep the puck in the zone makes you appreciate how good Sasha and O'Bourne are at doing that.[/quote]Sasha and who?[/quote]

You know.  From "The O'Bourne Identity."

[Give My Regards]

[quote min]5. In two of the eleven years that an Ivy league team has won the ECAC RS, the RS winner was NOT the Ivy champion (1992 - Harvard (ECAC) and Yale (Ivy); 2006 - Dartmouth (ECAC) and Harvard (Ivy))[/quote]

Following up on this, there has never been a season in which one Ivy team won the Ivy League championship, a second won the ECAC regular-season title (or was the #1 seed in the playoffs), and yet a third won the ECAC tournament.  Let's hope Cornell makes history this year!