On Jan 15, 19:55, "Susan R. Sharrock" wrote: >Please, enough of the gratuitous insults to the Army hockey team! Just to follow up Greg Berge's reply, not everybody is dissing Army. (Pet peeve: "disrespect" is a noun, not a verb. But I digress) Cornell coach Mike Schafer said after the game last Saturday that he felt Army was better than five of the ECAC teams. And while I would probably put the number at three, the point is the same... this Army squad plays better than a lot of people might think. They skated pretty well against Cornell, and their physical conditioning was top-notch. This Army squad is easily better than any of the ones the Cadets fielded when they were members of the ECAC in the 80s and early 90s. On the other hand, although Army now sports a 9-9-2 record, they are 4-9-2 against Division I competition and only 1-8-2 (scoring 24 goals and allowing 51) against Division I teams that are eligible for the NCAA tournament. Ties against Princeton and Cornell are impressive (we hope), but looking at the numbers, one might understand the tendency to look for an explanation when things like that happen. I don't think Army should be considered a "decidedly lesser" squad, especially after seeing them play. However, I would still classify a tie or win against a decent Division I team to be at least "unexpected." (The win, by the way, was against Minnesota-Duluth in Army's first game of the season.) -- Disclaimer -- Unless otherwise noted, all opinions expressed above are strictly those of: Bill Fenwick Cornell '86 and '95 LET'S GO RED!! DJF 5/27/94 "So what's Cornell's strategy now -- go to the net?" -- Grady Whittenberg, Cornell (WQNY) play-by-play announcer, following the clean-up efforts after Providence goalie Dan Dennis got sick on the ice during the first round of the Syracuse Invitational HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.