Geoff writes:
> To his credit, McCutcheon is still a good tactical
>coach and a decent recruiter.
 
Decent recruiter?  Look at the talent pool he started with, and look at
what he's got now.  At one point Cornell had 14 players drafted by the NHL.
Cornell used to have All-Americans.  Not anymore.  Recruiting has suffered
greatly ever since Mike Shafer left.  Cornell used to have a fantastic
recruiting network in Ontario.  Not anymore.  Now we get our best players
from Australia and PA.  Sure you can get the occasionaly good player from
out of the way places, but it's much easier to get a large high-quality
talent pool from areas like Ontario and Mass. Everything I've heard about
recruiting says that players are interested inn Cornell, but McCutcheon
turns them off.
 
>As for Cornell being in a dire situation; far from it.
 
Even if McCutcheon leaves at the end of the season, next year's freshmen
will still be his recruits.  It will only be five years from now that the
team will be completely rid of his presence.  Even if someone new came in
today, it's going to be hard for him to recruit players to a school that
has done so poorly in recent years.  It's not impossible to turn a team
around in 1-2 years, but it is not something one can count on.
 
>and Lynah is still Lynah.
 
Lynah ain't what it used to be.  The rink has been half empty more often
than not, which means the noise level is not anywhere near what it could
be.
 
 Look where Herb Hammond left Brown and Mason
>left Dartmouth before you think Cornell sucks.
 
Cornell certainly not in the worst possible situation, but the program is
steadily sliding there.  A turn-around will not only require changes, but
it will require the right person to enact the right changes.  Brown and
Dartmouth are fortunate that they hired competant people.
 
 Will Cornell ever be a
>national power again? The Academic Index will make it tough, as will
>the erosion of its recruiting base by up-and-comers like Brown and
>Princeton. I still contend that Cornell has inherent advantages over all
>Ivy schools save Harvard. It also has a prestige value in hockey
>circles that outweighs every non-Ivy in the ECAC except Clarkson. So
>there is no reason why the Big Red can't climb into national contention,
>at least semi-regularly.
 
While there are reasons why it won't (ie the current situation), I agree
with you that the program has the potential of enjoying the success of the
Clarkson and Harvard programs of the past ten years or so.
 
Adam writes:
 
>Still, he was able to get talent in at first.  Is this because he was living
>off past reputation?
 
A big reason was Mike Shafer.  He's a great motivator.  A friend of mine
who took a hockey class he taught tells stories about his motivation. While
the students scrimmaged, he would sit on the bench and grab at players from
the other team to slow them down.  When a student asked him, "you don't
like to lose, do you?", he replied, "that's wrong, I *hate* to lose."
 
>Ryan Smart is a great player, but Cornell only got three players in this year
>on a team that was decimated in recent years by graduation.
 
This is probably the most disconcerting.  He's not only having problems
getting talent, he's having problems getting bodies.
 
 
Tom writes:
 How about simply asking for good, consistent hockey?  My
>wife and I paid $240 a year to watch Cornell hockey.  We used to be able to
>count on seeing games that were exciting, not always winning, but also not
>always hopeless, either.  In the last three years, including the current
>season, we have watched too many games where after losing three goals in
>the first ten minutes, you'd get the feeling that it'd be better to go home
>and do laundry on a Saturday night.
 
The team has greatly improved in recent weeks.  Since the anniversary
celebaration of the undefeated season, the team had put in solid efforts in
all but two games, Dartmouth (which I heard was aweful) and Clarkson (the
first period especially).  Note however, that Cornell won both those games.
In the games they lost, they worked hard and most of them were close, the
exception being SLU last night, but even then they dominated the play.
 
My point?  The true measure of the success of the Cornell hockey program is
the happiness of the players.  For the first time in years, they look like
they are enjoying the game.  I remember the frustration I used to see on
Ryan Hughes's face in the 92-93 season, and it broke my heart.  That
frustration was still with the team after they were blown out by Colgate in
January.  In recent weeks though, I haven't seen it.  Win or lose, these
players know they are playing good hockey.  They are working hard and can
be proud of it.  As things come together, they will raise their sights and
demand more and more of themselves.
 
My biggest worry is this state of satisfaction won't last.
 
Paulette Dwen
Cornell '89
Let's Go Red!