Larry Weintraub writes:
 
>        Having played the away game at BU last year, I was expecting a
>reciprocating game at Lynah this year, but it does not appear on the
>schedule.  Does anybody know why this is so?  Was this a game we had to
>give up to play Ferris State twice?
 
No, the original scheduling agreement between BU and Cornell was actually part
of a "long-term arrangement" between BU, Cornell, and Harvard, in which BU
would play each of the Ivy schools every other year.  It looks like the agree-
ment started in 1992, with BU hosting Harvard.  Since then, these games have
been scheduled:
 
11/24/92  Harvard at BU
11/23/93  BU at Cornell
11/22/94  BU at Harvard
11/21/95  Cornell at BU
 
So this coming year, one would expect Harvard to play at BU, which they do on
November 26th.  We'll presumably see the Terriers at Lynah in the 97-98 season,
and if they continue to schedule the game the Tuesday before Thanksgiving,
that would be 11/25/97.
 
>  Finally, (no offense meant to Mike Machnick or any other
>Merrimack fans) but Merrimack is a step down from last years first round
>tourny game against CC.  I'd rather see us play top rate competition and
>gain the experience than play teams which aren't as good, but which have a
>reputation for beating top teams.
 
Well, perhaps, but I'm not sure what the Big Red learned from that 11-0
drubbing in the Denver Cup, except maybe the CC fight song.  Despite Merrimack's
disappointing showing in 95-96 (and the loss of McKenna), I expect this will be
a tough game for Cornell... and if the Big Red does win it, that will be an
added boost for a relatively young team.  And Merrimack has been known to pull
some shockers in the past, so the Big Red would be wise not to be looking for
a cakewalk (though the Army debacle in January should have cured them of that).
 
>  But a potential third game against
>Colgate looks like a lot of fun.  3 games in one month against your travel
>partner would certainly intensify an already building rivalry.
 
Unfortunately, I remember the 1990 Syracuse meeting between these two as well
as William Sangrey does.  Yecch.  Unless it were for the tourney championship,
I'd rather not see Cornell and Colgate meet in Syracuse.  I was going to
suggest that the only possible benefit, from the Cornell standpoint, of playing
Colgate at the SIT would be getting that first meeting between the two out of
the way early.  You have to figure that the Red Raiders are less than pleased
at how their season ended, giving up 16 goals in the quarterfinals at Lynah
and having to listen to the fans gloat.  I was also going to throw in some
praise for the Cornell and Colgate scheduling gurus for *finally* making the
regular-season games between these traveling partners a home-and-home series
(Fri. 1/17 and Sat. 1/18), rather than that stupid Wednesday-Saturday thing
they've taken to doing over the last few years.
 
I *was* going to say all this... but then I found out this morning that the
schedule is being changed, with Cornell and Colgate now meeting in two mid-
week games, one in December and the other in January.  The games are
tentatively, repeat, *tentatively*, scheduled for Tuesday 12/3 and Tuesday 1/14.Locations are unknown.
 
--
Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are
              strictly those of:
 
Bill Fenwick
Cornell '86 and '95
LET'S GO RED!!                                                  DJF  5/27/94
"I saw an ad for a set of dumbbells and a video tape on how to use them.  And
 I'm thinking, if you don't know how to use dumbbells, what are the odds you
 know how to use a VCR?"
-- John Mendoza
 
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