Despite the fact that Cornell went 0 for 5 this weekend in Lynah, there are
some things that Cornell fans can take heart in.
 
The first is that the men skated with two nationally ranked teams for sixty
minutes.  When Harvard scored their fourth goal, I was very afraid Cornell
was going to give up.  They didn't.  This team has heart.  Unfortunately,
it wasn't enough to keep them going through Saturday night's game against
Brown, as they lacked any kind of intensity in the third period.  Perhaps
it would be best if the rivalry with the Crimson were toned down;  the Red
tend to wear themselves out emotionally and rarely put in a great performance
against Harvard's travel partner.
 
After those two losses, I was worried that the frustration level of the team
was starting to rise.  In the Brown game, they were showing signs of resur-
recting the team from last year that we've tried so hard to forget.  I
shouldn't have worried.  They had put the weekend behind them and showed BU
why these teams were once great rivals.
 
Let me pause for a brief history lesson.  Between 1966 and 1976, Cornell and
BU each won five ECAC championships, completely dominating the conference.
This led to the inspriation of the Screw BU cheer (which, by the way, was
played incorrectly all night last night), which is a standard on the East
Hill and has since been adapted to include any school we happen to be playing.
(We wouldn't want anyone to feel left out.)  Unfortunately, when Hockey East
was created, the teams went their separtate ways scheduling-wise and yet
another Cornell hockey tradition died.  It is my understanding that the two
schools have recently agreed to play each other every year (for I forget
how many years) in an attempt to revive the rivalry.
 
Despite the preseason touting of BU and the early lead they took, BU did not
dominate the game as I had expected them to.  Not only did Cornell skate with
the Terriers, they were tied with them going into the third.  This and the
Harvard game proved to me that Cornell can hold their own playing against the
best of them.
 
To beat these teams, however, they are going to have to work on several areas.
One is shots on goal.  With only 21 shots on net last night, it's amazing that
they got three goals.  This is most evident on the power play where they have
fallen back into the "let's spend two minutes setting up the perfect pass"
McCutcheon standard power play.
 
Another area is stupid penalties.  Cornell's penalty kill is good, but it's not
that good.  A third area is the defense which still makes the occasional
glaring mistake.  A have confidence that the remedy for the last two is nothing
more than experience.  This is a very young team, and I believe great things
will come from them.
 
Paulette Dwen
Cornell '89
Let's Go Red!