I have reviewed the Saturday (non)goal on tape (I got one from some local
TV broadcast today) and I am convinced that it was a goal.  It was
difficult to come to this conclusion, I have now watched the tape over 10
times.  However, I think this difficulty came from the fact that on the
tape, the puck loses definition as it hits in the crease, and the 2D nature
of the tape makes it difficult to retrace the path as it bounces.  However,
an analysis makes it pretty clear that the puck could not have hit the
post, but must have hit at least a few inches inside it.  My VCR doesn't
have frame-by-frame, which also complicated the analysis.  It may have been
a tougher call for Noeth than I initially thought.  However, the replay did
make it clear that 3 of 4 RPI players in the picture seemed to feel it was
a goal, as did the one Cornell player in frame.  (The 4th RPI player ended
up with the puck).
 
Sundays goal was less conclusive on the replay I saw, which I didn't have
the VCR ready for yet, so I've only seen that one once.  I didn't think it
was tipped, but the angle was bad, so I don't know.
 
Water under the bridge, though.  We'll have video replay at Placid for all
the good it did us last year when an RPI throw in goal had an
'inconclusive' replay.  If the replay I saw had been used on Saturday's
goal, I'm not so sure the play would have been reversed though.  If the
replay officials would have to have seen the puck definitively cross the
line, rather than infer from it's path that it did so, I'm not sure that
could have been done.  Of course it's not exactly possible to definitively
see a 3 dimensional event on a 2 dimensional screen.
 
Thanks for the compliments on our fans from the RPI folks, I want to say
that most RPI fans I encountered this weekend were pretty classy folks,
members of the RPI band we stayed with this weekend seemed genuinely
disturbed that such an eggregious officiating error was made.
 
Jeff Oates, we love ya'.  Brad Tapper may have scored 8 of his 13 against
Cornell this season, but Jeff Oates has 4 of his 7 for the year on the
weekend.  Way to go.
 
 
Larry Weintraub '98
Conductor, Big Red Pep Band
Chair, "Live at Lynah" CD Project
Cornell Beat Writer, ECHA Magazine
 
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