Cornell 4, Brown 1

Cornell is like the New York Yankees. 

If you're not a fan, you hate them. They've been a dominant force in the ECAC forever, and they have an arguably unfair recruiting advantage over other Ivy League schools in that they can offer athletes admission to the agricultural school. They have a historic arena which is always packed to capacity with the best fans in the league, and they always bring a big contingent of traveling fans that annoy the piss out of the hometown fans. 

Their uniforms are distinctive and haven't been changed in forever, and they operate like a cold, heartless machine, designed to win at all costs. 

I'm sick of them. I really am. 

But, just like the Yankees, it's impossible not the respect the hell out of them and envy them for every single one of the aforementioned traits (well, maybe not the aggie school). 

Tonight was a typical Cornell performance from a team that hasn't played Cornell hockey until recently. But boy, have they turned it on at the right time. 

The Big Red played an overwhelmingly physical, defensively flawless game and made the most of their offensive opportunities. Every bounce seemed to go their way because they made their own luck by doing all the little things right. 

And man, was it frustrating. 

The Bears played a solid game. They outshot and outpossessed the Big Red. But, missing the physical presence of Garnet Hathaway, the ogre-like Cornell defenders were able to simply outmuscle the smaller Brown forwards, who, to their credit, tried their hardest to hang in there with the big boys. 

Without a big bruiser to send a message to the CU defensemen, Cornell was able to dominate the defensive zone, despite all of Brown's possession. There was nary an open shooting lane, and when there was, goaltender Andy Iles was in good position to make every save but one. 

Overall, Cornell's defensive positioning, discipline, and physical play were the differences in this game. The Bears deserved better than a 4-1 result, but credit must be given to the Big Red. They were unbeatable on defense. 


Let's take a look forward at tomorrow's Senior Day game against Colgate. The Raiders overcame a 2-0 deficit at Ingalls Rink, taking a 3-2 lead in the third before ultimately falling to Yale in overtime. That helped Brown, because even if the Bears can't beat Colgate tomorrow, they can fall no further than 10th place. 

With that in mind, here's who we're rooting for tomorrow: 

Harvard over Princeton
Union over Clarkson
Yale over Cornell

(QU-DC and SLU-RPI are inconsequential to Brown)

This would leave the best-case standings looking like this: 

QU- 37 points
RPI- 27
Yale- 25
Union- 24
Dartmouth- 22
St. Lawrence- 22
Brown - 20
Clarkson- 19
Cornell- 19
Princeton- 18
Harvard- 16
Colgate- 15

This would give us a 7-10 matchup with Princeton, who we've outscored 11-3 this year. I'll take those odds. 

However, the most likely scenario, in my opinion, is this one (let's assume, for the sake of discussion, that Brown gets the job done against Colgate): 

QU over DC
RPI over SLU
Harvard over Princeton
Union over Clarkson
Cornell over Yale

Which would leave us with an unchanged top four, with the exception of Yale and Union swapping the 3 and 4 seeds. The top six have clinched spots. 7-12 would finish: 

7. Cornell- 21
8. Brown- 20
9. Clarkson- 19
10. Princeton- 18
11. Harvard- 16
12. Colgate- 15

This still gives us home ice, and a relatively favorable matchup against Clarkson, who we were 1-0-1 against this year. In any event, it's better than facing a surging Cornell team. I still think Harvard will beat Princeton, because they'll have momentum coming off their upset of Quinnipiac tonight. Should Princeton win, we'd host them in the 8-9 matchup, having compiled a 3-0 record against the Tigers this season (2-0 in the ECAC). 

We're in good shape to grab a home ice spot. All we need to do is take care of our own business tomorrow afternoon.