Positives From the Albany Weekend

[Josh '99]

While we're all looking forward to Saturday's game against CC, I, for one, was too upset about the Harvard loss to think about any of the positive things that happened last weekend in Albany until now, so I figured I'd jot them down before starting to think forward...

-  McKee made some great saves against Colgate, and even stopped the first shot with his back before Harvard scored their fifth goal (the one where the dump-in kicked right out in front of th enet).  We all had faith that he had the skills, and I think we all still do.

-  The effort by Pegs in breaking free to score the SH ENG on Friday was great.

-  Carefoot's pass to set up the first goal on Saturday was a thing of beauty, and Kennedy's finish wasn't bad either.

-  McCutcheon played his heart out on Saturday, even in stretches when the rest of the team looked uninspired.

-  Bitz's faceoffs have improved tremendously, and it showed this weekend.

More randomly...

-  The new Hampton Inn is solid.  Comfortable rooms, good location, more affordable than the Crowne.  I was so impressed that I booked a room for this weekend in case we wound up in Albany again.  (It's not woofing if you can cancel the reservation.)

-  The bartenders at the Crowne Plaza hotel bar make a heck of a Long Island iced tea.

-  Always nice to meet new folks who I've seen posting online; this weekend's new faces included Killer (who I include here because I only met him in passing before this weekend) and Little Killer, Ack, Liz '05 and WillR.

-  Avash, who I'd only met briefly in the past, was kind enough to give me a ride back to NYC on Sunday.  Thanks!

-  We kept the volume up even when the game wasn't going our way.  Good job by us.  :-)

[cth95]

Mugford's effort to carry the puck to the Colgate goal with a defender hanging on him the whole way was awesome.  Not only did it eat up a lot of time on the late PK, but it kept Dekanich in the net when he was about to leave to get the 6-4.

Pegararo's face-off win and subsequent effort a few moments later to break down the boards and get the tough-angle ENG was amazing.  McKee was very sharp Friday and the team really hustled Friday.  Even before everything went downhill Saturday, I kept thinking it looked like we were skating with ankleweights as Harvard continued to beat our guys to the puck early on.  On the positive side, we looked very good and out-hustled them for most of the 2nd.  If the team of Friday night and the 2nd period Saturday shows up this weekend I think we will be in good shape.  

Some of the online articles I read said the 4th goal Saturday quieted our fans and that we were quiet during the 3rd period.  Having been there,  we may have been quiet relative to ourselves, but we were cheering constantly all through both the 1st and 2nd periods and even for most of the 3rd.  The cheers were not as energetic in the 3rd as they had been for our great rally in the 2nd, but what other fans would still have a good percentage still cheering for a 5-2 deficit in the middle of the 3rd period like we did?  Dartmouth's fans only cheered for their goals and for the last few minutes in the very good consolation game against Colgate.  The only other place I have ever seen support like ours when the team is down is at Fenway.  Two years ago everyone was still cheering balls and strikes with an 8-1 deficit in the 5th against Texas(from which the Sox rallied and ended up losing by only 1 run, possibly with some help from the fans' constant energy).  Many places have empty seats at stages like this, let alone fans still making noise.  The only time I thought we were really quiet was after the 6th goal.  Even then, we still managed a few unified cheers including a couple of good rounds of "Thank you seniors".  A large group in 127 and 128 also chanted "4 more wins" at the end of the game. Many of our fans stayed for awhile during the awards presentations as well.  I think many fan bases would have left to beat the traffic long before the night had gotten to any post-game stage after a game like that.

[CowbellGuy]

[quote jmh30]-  The bartenders at the Crowne Plaza hotel bar make a heck of a Long Island iced tea.[/quote]
But you'd better get in line now if you want one in time for next year.

[judy]

[quote CowbellGuy][quote jmh30]-  The bartenders at the Crowne Plaza hotel bar make a heck of a Long Island iced tea.[/quote]
But you'd better get in line now if you want one in time for next year.[/quote]

A Long Island iced tea? Or the room at the Hampton?

[CowbellGuy]

Ermm. The LI iced tea.

[RedAR]

As for Cornell fans being quieted in the articles, that's just cliches being used by  the writers who were not at the game.

AFTER the Saturday game (just prior to the awarding of the Whitelaw), I yelled out a "LET'S GO RED!" despite the fact that I didn't think it would catch on after we had just lost. Well, it caught on, and the crowd was loud for about 20-30 seconds.

If that's not a sign that the Cornell crowd refuses to be quieted win lose or draw, I don't know what is (well, actually, probably the crowd at the regular season Cornell at Dartmouth game is an even better example).

LET'S GO RED (against CC)!

[cth95]

I forgot to mention that cheer.  At the time, I  was thinking it must really suck to be a Harvard player.  They had just won the championship and are trying to celebrate, yet all they can hear is "Let's Go Red!" over and over.  Even in victory they can not shake us!

[RichH]

[quote cth95]I forgot to mention that cheer.  At the time, I  was thinking it must really suck to be a Harvard player.  They had just won the championship and are trying to celebrate, yet all they can hear is "Let's Go Red!" over and over.  Even in victory they can not shake us![/quote]

Yet, to be fair, there was a split decision in the CU crowd regarding whether we should boo or applaud Harvard during the awards ceremony.  The result of the game hurt like a bastard, but I had no problem giving Harvard a round of applause for playing their asses off all weekend.

My only problem with the post-game ceremony was that they gave the MVP award to a goalie who "won" a 10-1 game.  Judging by what I saw, Dylan Reese would've gotten my vote.  He was just all over the ice.

Yes, Harvard does suck to an extreme exponential power, but in all three games CU-HU has met this season, the H team were very respectful of the rivalry and our fans despite taking some of the best we can dish out.  In other words, they didn't act like MSU did in Lynah.

This isn't to say I won't be rooting with firey gusto for another Crimson first-round flameout, for the reasons jmh detailed in another thread.  Just that it's it can be good to hate a rival that you can also respect at the end of the day.  I felt this way about the great Clarkson teams of the mid-90s also.

[Trotsky]

[quote RichH]This isn't to say I won't be rooting with firey gusto for another Crimson first-round flameout, for the reasons jmh detailed in another thread.[/quote]

You wanna really hate a rival?  Root for them to advance to Milwaukee and an NCAA semifinal matchup with you-know-who.

I have nothing but respect for the Crimson team that knocked off Cornell.  They outplayed, outhustled, outwitted... Unlike the 2002 team, they weren't playing miles over their head on adrenaline, they were simply executing an intelligent game plan flawlessly.  Had Cornell come to play with the same amount of energy, that might have gone down as one for the ages.  Instead, just a missed opportunity and the better team won. :-(

I'd give quite a lot for a Round Four 2.5 weeks hence.

[cth95]

[Q] I have nothing but respect for the Crimson team that knocked off Cornell. They outplayed, outhustled, outwitted... Unlike the 2002 team, they weren't playing miles over their head on adrenaline, they were simply executing an intelligent game plan flawlessly. Had Cornell come to play with the same amount of energy, that might have gone down as one for the ages. Instead, just a missed opportunity and the better team won.  

I'd give quite a lot for a Round Four 2.5 weeks hence.[/q]

My thoughts exactly

[Q] Yet, to be fair, there was a split decision in the CU crowd regarding whether we should boo or applaud Harvard during the awards ceremony. The result of the game hurt like a bastard, but I had no problem giving Harvard a round of applause for playing their asses off all weekend.[/Q]

I don't think we should have booed Harvard.  They definitely deserved applause.  I just meant that it has to be pretty cool for our team to hear us cheering for them despite losing, while it has to be very frustrating for the Harvard players to not have enough fans to drown us out despite winning.

[KeithK]

[q]I don't think we should have booed Harvard. They definitely deserved applause. I just meant that it has to be pretty cool for our team to hear us cheering for them despite losing, while it has to be very frustrating for the Harvard players to not have enough fans to drown us out despite winning.[/q]I'm not sure I could have brought myself to applaud Harvard after Saturday's game had I been in the arena.  But they definitely earned at least respectful silence during the ceremony.

[cth95]

[Q]I'm not sure I could have brought myself to applaud Harvard after Saturday's game had I been in the arena. But they definitely earned at least respectful silence during the ceremony.[/Q]


I didn't think they deserved boos even when I was there, but I have to admit, I took the silent route, not giving Harvard any applause after we were done cheering LGR.  In hindsight they probably deserved polite applause, which some of our fans gave them.  That certainly doesn't mean that in the heat of the moment, many of us would have given it to them.

[Al DeFlorio]

Over the past seven ECAC tournaments, Harvard has been knocked out four times by us and won the other three championships.  Last time someone else knocked 'em out was RPI in '99.  Pretty impressive run on their part.

[cth95]

Unfortunately :-(

[billhoward]

Cornell's fans did not go quiet into the frigid night. The cheers kept coming all third period. When there was nothing else to say, there were a couple rounds of "Thank you, seniors," which sounded just a tiny little bit syrupy, but maybe the team appreciated it.

When the handful of Harvards started cheering, "Overrated," there was no immediate comeback. It probably would have been a good time to point to the H section and respond, "One and done."

No need to boo Harvard at game's end. Better to applaud Cornell and yell, "Let's go, Red." One of the nice touches at the end of game 1 Friday was that within a millisecond of the final buzzer of Colgate-Harvard, the next sound heard is the Cornell band and "Davy."