I don't have much to add to Paulette's summary of the Cornell-Yale
game. Suffice to say that the Big Red played their hearts out,
outworked and out-thought (more on this in a minute) a clearly superior
team, and almost stole a point. To blow a two goal lead at Princeton
the next night and thus lose consecutive overtime games ranks down
there with the most heartbreaking weekends in recent team history.
A word about the officiating at Yale: it was fine. Just wanted to say
that, since I'm never spare with criticizing the zebras when they
have a bad night. I figure they deserve equal time when they're
competent.
On "out-thought". I was very surprised to see so many mental errors
from Yale - in my mind, these kept Cornell in the game for the first
two periods. The special teams were especially weak. The power-play
was the poster child of the "One Pass Too Many" school; the kill gave
Cornell far too many great chances. Mark Kaufmann won this game
single-handedly for Yale - if they're to go far in the post-season,
they'll have to do much better against less forgiving opponents.
Anyway, a pleasant little thought occurred to me. The last two times
that Cornell has gone to the ECAC championship game, they have failed
to make the playoffs in the following season.
1982 Lost to Providence, 1983 9th (tie) (8 make it)
1986 Defeated Clarkson, 1987 9th (8 make it)
1992 Lost to St.Lawrence, 1993 currently 10th (tie) (10 make it)
11th would, of course, be the worst finish for Cornell in their
tenure as an ECAC member. They also have a shot at finishing dead
last in the Ivies - something which I doubt they have done in the
last 30 years.
In many ways I think this season is the inverse of last. Last year,
the team won games that it had no business winning, finished the
highest it was capable of (5th), and then tore through the two best
teams in the ECAC before succumbing to SLU in the final. This year,
they are losing 1 goal games at a dizzying pace, and could be headed
for a deceivingly low standing. I still think, dispassionately
viewing the entire league, that this is the 6th or 7th best team in the
conference. The only thing they don't do is, well..., win. Or even
tie. If there is good news in any of this it could derive from the 1
goal game statistic. Sabermetrician Bill James uses record in 1 goal
games as one indicator of whether a baeseball team will improve in a
subsequent season. There's a "regression to the mean" effect going on
here (same underlying phenomenon as in the much-discussed and utterly
non-existent "sophomore slump"), and when a record in 1-goal games
deviates far from .500, it's overwhelmingly due to good (or bad)
luck. By my count, the Red are 2-6 in this category. Someday, an
issue of TBRW? will no doubt explore whether there's a like effect in
the ECAC.
Come out and cheer this weekend, Cornellians. If the sweetest
victories are those which are unexpected, we could all be dead of a
sugar high by Sunday.
Greg
20-something for just 1 more week.
But, on the other hand, happily unmarried *forever*.
Let's Go Red!
Wake the Echoes - sweep Clarkson and SLU.
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