Next Year's OOC Games & Other Stuff

[redGrinch]

The Niagara games never bother me because they're local.... but given our games limitation, maybe we only need one of those?  Excluding Florida, having no HE/WCHA/CCHA OOC games is ridiculous though.... and I can't remember the last time this happened.  At least in recent years, we had MSU, BU, WMU, OSU, among others.  I can understand from a budget standpoint not wanting to trek to Minneapolis, Grand Forks, and others in the WCHA.  And I can believe the elite hockey schools not wanting to put in the return trip to Lynah, which has been reported as a prerequisite.  But, is it that hard to schedule UMass (Amherst or Lowell) or Providence?  How about Vermont now?  Or even bring back OSU, or the other Ohio schools (Miami, BGSU).

[billhoward]

[quote redGrinch]The Niagara games never bother me because they're local.... but given our games limitation, maybe we only need one of those?  Excluding Florida, having no HE/WCHA/CCHA OOC games is ridiculous though.... and I can't remember the last time this happened.  At least in recent years, we had MSU, BU, WMU, OSU, among others.  I can understand from a budget standpoint not wanting to trek to Minneapolis, Grand Forks, and others in the WCHA.  And I can believe the elite hockey schools not wanting to put in the return trip to Lynah, which has been reported as a prerequisite.  But, is it that hard to schedule UMass (Amherst or Lowell) or Providence?  How about Vermont now?  Or even bring back OSU, or the other Ohio schools (Miami, BGSU).[/quote]

Imagine you're the other school and you're thinking about scheduling an ECACHL team. You'd like to promote your program ... get fans into the arena ... and you'd like to have a chance at winning. Niagara doesn't think it has a snowball's chance of beating most of the top ECACHL teams, so why not just bang heads with Cornell? But a UMass-Amherst might have a good chance against an RPI or Brown and a lesser chance against Cornell. So maybe they look to pick on somebody their own size.

[ebilmes]

Overall Records Last Year:

Wayne State 6-23-6 (3-11-1 OOC)
Niagara 20-15-1 (7-9-0 OOC)
Sacred Heart 21-12-2 (3-4-0 OOC)

[billhoward]

[quote ebilmes]Overall Records Last Year:

Wayne State 6-23-6 (3-11-1 OOC)
Niagara 20-15-1 (7-9-0 OOC)
Sacred Heart 21-12-2 (3-4-0 OOC)[/quote]

Wayne State isn't so much a classic ivy-clad university as it is a bunch of buildings stuck between an expressway offramp and a downtown Detroit casino. That said, its motto is exactly what the school does: Real Education for the Real World. The coach must have to really hustle to get kids interested in the school. Urban campus is one thing if you're Harvard or Brown, another when home base is Detroit.

[Will]

[quote billhoward]Urban campus is one thing if you're Harvard or Brown, another when home base is Detroit.[/quote]
At least they've got RoboCop. :-D

[jtwcornell91]

[quote Will][quote billhoward]Urban campus is one thing if you're Harvard or Brown, another when home base is Detroit.[/quote]
At least they've got RoboCop. :-D[/quote]

Only until Jack Bauer catches up with him.

[Will]

[quote jtwcornell91][quote Will][quote billhoward]Urban campus is one thing if you're Harvard or Brown, another when home base is Detroit.[/quote]
At least they've got RoboCop. :-D[/quote]

Only until Jack Bauer catches up with him.[/quote]

Hey, he theoretically has seven more hours to elude Bauer.  And in that same measure of time, Jack still has to prevent the release of nerve gas on the Georgetown campus, thwart an assassination attempt on the Secretary of State, uncover a plot to contaminate the water supply at the Pentagon, and resuscitate the Washington Capitals' power play. :-P

[Trotsky]

Schafer's clearly trying to give himself a shot at Ron Mason's win record.

[Townie]

[quote KeithK]

I'm still not thrilled to see it, and neither is Schafer it seems.

More and more I'm starting to think that the scheduling constraints have been forced on the program by the AD.[/quote]

Highly, highly doutbful, and based upon what?  The AD has no incentive to hold back the marquee athletic program.  If Schafer can raise the money (alums, boosters, etc), he can pretty much do what he wants, gender equity be damned.  More likely, the constraints lie with the opposing teams not the AD.

To be fair, you can credit the AD(s) and the University for keeping Schafer and doing a good job of stewarding the program.  We don't necessarily know how many competing offers for him and his assistants were fended off, or what those efforts cost.  Given Mike's (and his assistants') success during his tenure, I'd wager he's at least in the top 10 in compensation among his peers.  That money, and the decision to step up, comes from somewhere.  This isn't to say the administration is perfect, but at least give credit where it's due.  The program is in great shape and poised to move forward.

[Trotsky]

The one scheduling constraint which the AD almost certainly imposes is number of home games.  The coach's job is to build the program.  The AD's job is to make money (or lose less money, anyway).  A road game against a great program puts those goals into conflict.  And in the case of a conflict... well, the AD does still hire and fire the coach.  This isn't Duke basketball.  Yet.

[KeithK]

[quote Townie]Highly, highly doutbful, and based upon what? The AD has no incentive to hold back the marquee athletic program.[/quote]
[quote Trotsky]The one scheduling constraint which the AD almost certainly imposes is number of home games.  The coach's job is to build the program.  The AD's job is to make money (or lose less money, anyway).  A road game against a great program puts those goals into conflict.  And in the case of a conflict... well, the AD does still hire and fire the coach.  This isn't Duke basketball.  Yet.[/quote]I'm basing my thining on the home games requirement.  I just get the sense from the interviews I've read that Schafer isn't happy scheduling nothing but home games against AH/CHA teams.  This makes me think that the constraint is imposed by the AD. Regardless of fairness considerations, it would probably be better for the program to schedule some un-reciprocated big NC games than to have SH, WSU and Niagara come to Lynah. Sticking with the AH/CHA schedule strikes me as a financial decision and as such I place much of the blame on the AD.

You obviously see this differently.  If you're right that it's all a matter of other teams willingness to play against Cornell (and schedule constraints) then my accusation is unfair.  But since they're not likely to let me sit in Schafer's office to get the true story I'll have to stick with my estimation of the situation and we'll have to disagree.

I'll happily credit the AD for retaining Schafer.  But that's something of no-brainer - hard to give too much credit for a decision/action that had to be made.  Finding financing for and approving the Lynah renovation is more worthy, even if I don't like some aspects of it :-).  In the end though, the AD has doen a number of things that have pissed me off over the years and as a result I am more willing to be critical than supportive.

[Chris 02]

From an earlier thread on the 2006-2007 schedule.

Sat 10/21 Red-White (assumption since practice can't start before 10/15)
Fri 10/27 ? (exhibition?)
Sat 10/28 ?
Fri 11/3  @Brown
Sat 11/4  @Yale
Fri 11/10 Harvard
Sat 11/11 Dartmouth
Fri 11/17 @Princeton
Sat 11/18 @Quinnipiac
Fri 11/24 ?
Sat 11/25 ?
Fri 12/1  RPI
Sat 12/2  Union
Tue-Sat 12/26-12/30 UNH         
Tue-Sat 12/26-12/30 Maine/WMU
Fri 1/5  ?
Sat 1/6  ?
Fri 1/12  @St. Lawrence
Sat 1/13  @Clarkson
Fri 1/19  Yale
Sat 1/20  Brown
Fri 1/26  @Colgate?
Sat 1/27  Colgate?
Fri 2/2   Clarkson
Sat 2/3   St. Lawrence
Fri 2/9   @Union
Sat 2/10  @RPI
Fri 2/16  Quinnipiac
Sat 2/17  Princeton
Fri 2/23  @Dartmouth
Sat 2/24  @Harvard
3/2-3 ECAC 1st round
3/9-10 ECAC Quarters
3/16-17 ECAC Finals
3/23-25 NCAA regionals
4/5-7 NCAA finals

[ithacat]

Wayne State for 2 at home.
Sacred Heart for 1 at home.
Niagara for 2 -- one at home & the other TBD (I'm hoping for BCA in Rochester, again).
New Hampshire to open in Florida (likely) and then either Maine or WMU.

With a game against RIT having been announced for Oct 28th. I'm wondering if it's replacing the SH game or the TBD'd game against Niagara?

[Trotsky]

Fri 10/27 Robert Morris
Sat 10/28 RIT
Fri 11/03 @Brown
Sat 11/04 @Yale
Fri 11/10 Harvard
Sat 11/11 Dartmouth
Fri 11/17 @Princeton
Sat 11/18 @Quinnipiac
Fri 11/24 Wayne State
Sat 11/25 Wayne State
Fri 12/01 RPI
Sat 12/02 Union
Fri 12/29 vs UNH         
Sat 12/30 vs Maine/WMU
Sat 01/06 Sacred Heart
Fri 01/12 @St. Lawrence
Sat 01/13 @Clarkson
Fri 01/19 Yale
Sat 01/20 Brown
Fri 01/26 @Colgate
Sat 01/27 Colgate
Fri 02/02 Clarkson
Sat 02/03 St. Lawrence
Fri 02/09 @Union
Sat 02/10 @RPI
Fri 02/16 Quinnipiac
Sat 02/17 Princeton
Fri 02/23 @Dartmouth
Sat 02/24 @Harvard

[Liz '05]

Should there be a Sat 12/2 game against Union?