Some random reflections, having just sifted through 200+ hockey-l
messages after returning from a week's vacation.
1. Cornell swept in the No. Country. The Red played a strong game at
Cheel, worked very hard, and demonstrated once again the anemia of
their offense, losing 3-1. The next night at Appleton they put together
the strongest first ten mintes of any of the dozen games I've seen this
year, then mailed in the last 50 in a hideous-to-witness 5-3 loss. The
Red's third goal was a gift - indeed, this game could easily have been 7-0.
2. Duffus is human. Cornell's sophomore goalie Parris Duffus has been
having a fantastic season, and he looked o.k. against Clarkson, but his
game was way off against the Saints. The majority of SLU goals were on
clear, unblocked shots from just inside the blue line - Duffus was
beaten like a rented mule. This is, how shall I put it?, A REALLY BAD
SIGN, because Parris has been holding this team together all year; if
he's burned out (having played all but 10 of the Red's minutes this
season) or just coming down to Earth, there's really not a heck of a
lot this team can do.
3. The Black Hole Cheer. This infamous cheer has been around longer
than anybody's given it credit for. In my experience, the cheer first
surfaced in the ECAC at Harvard (hardly a hotbed of hockey fan
originality) at least five seasons ago - the not-so-Bright-ers do it a
little differently than Cornell, Colgate, and the others who have
picked it up since, maintaining a longer pause between each line. I
don't know whether the Crimson fans thunk it up all by themselves, or
imported it from the West (the way Cornell adopted Michigan's
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh See-ya!" this year.)
4. On the migration patterns of cheers, in general. Clarkson's lovable
"I'm blind / I'm deaf / I wanna be a ref" caught on among the Cornell
contingent in the North Country (we immediately turned around and used
it the next night against SLU). I wouldn't be at all surprised to see
it well established at Lynah by this time next year.
5. The ECAC rookie of the year award. Is the official award for
"rookie" or "freshman"? More to the point, is Duffus, who played only a
token 37 minutes last year, eligible? Would a sophomore who had never
played before be eligible?
6. Gag me with Tim McCarver's boyish charm. I had the pleasure of
watching the Canadian network's coverage of the Canada - France game.
Those guys know how to cover a game, in sharp contrast to CBS'
laughable attempt - so what else is new?
7. Anne and I will be at the Harvard game - of course - and the Brown
game. Anybody needing any info about places to go, things to do in this
neck of the woods, see me at [log in to unmask]
8. "Skating" Saints? I thought SLU's name was the "Fighting" Saints.
(This is not a Lappin joke - I swear SLU used to be called the Fighting
Saints, then it seemed to drop to just plain Saints, and now this.
Somebody in Canton with an old media guide - am I hallucinating again?)
9. One man's opinion. I have attended more than 150 college hockey
games at 17 eastern rinks. Here is how I would rate them (my bias for
old-style venues is the product of my alma mater), on the basis of the
buildings alone (not the fans).
1. Lynah, Cornell
2. Matthews, Northeatern
3. Cheel, Clarkson
4. Snively, UNH
5. Appleton, SLU
6. Bright, Hahvahd
7. Houston, Troy
8. Achilles, Union
9. Gutterson, Vermont
10. Brown, BU
11. Conte, BC
12. Ingalls, Yale
13. Starr, Colgate
14. Baker, Princeton
15. Meehan, Brown
16. Thompson, Dartmouth
17. Tate, Army
I leave Boston Garden off, since my view of it is tainted by other events.
Greg
28 years and 364 days
Boston
Let's Go Red!
(Last Cornell win at Bright: 1984-5. Dave Shippel from the right circle
with 5:55 remaining in o.t. My second most unforgetable hockey memory.)
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