There are many truths in sports. An unchallenged truth is that the University of Minnesota draws the largest crowds for women's ice hockey in the nation. Mean attendance data over the last five seasons creates a confusion about this reality. In the last five seasons, Minnesota ranked first in average attendance for women's hockey only twice. Attendance at Golden Gophers games dipped below that at Cornell Big Red games for the 2010-11 season with Cornell climbing to fourth in overall attendance. Minnesota registered as the fifth-most attended women's program that season.

The most common team to hold the first-place position over that five-season span? Mark Johnson's Wisconsin Badgers enjoy that distinct honor. The wearers of the W have drawn an average of 2,365 people to their games over the last five seasons. The Lynah Faithful need to take note. Cornell should not abide lingering behind the Badgers. Beat the Badgers should become a rallying call to draw greater crowds from hockey-obsessed East Hill and Upstate New York.

Nevertheless, one other easily recognizable truth emerges from general attendance data. For four years of the last half-decade, Cornell has remained unassailable as the greatest draw in Eastern women's college hockey. Desiring a more nuanced analysis, this writer tabulated the attendance data for all Cornell home games between the beginning of the 2009-10 season through the close of the 2013-14 season. The results follow.

The women of Cornell hockey have played host to 98 games at Lynah Rink since the Fall of 2009. Big Red partisans have cheered on as their skaters in carnelian and white have registered an astounding 0.842 winning percentage at home over the program's modern resurgence. The first graph above shows the reported attendance for each game over the stated span. Dividers are included to enable better discernment of when each season began and ended.

Somewhat predictably, the red diamond data points indicate the occurrence of The Game at Lynah Rink each season. For seasons in which the Harvard was not the best-attended regular-season contest, another data point of the colors of the opponent Cornell hosted in that contest is provided. Those include games against Clarkson during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, and the home game against Princeton in the 2011-12 season. 

Interestingly, Clarkson, not Harvard, was the opponent for Cornell's best-attended regular-season contest at home. That contest between eventual national champion-winning program Clarkson and perennial national contender Cornell drew 2,326 members of the Lynah Faithful to college hockey's greatest barn. Two goals from Catherine White, one marker from Brianne Jenner, and a shutout from Amanda Mazzotta ensured the largest crowd in Cornell's regular-season history enjoyed the affair.

The second graph merely appends a crude mean trendline to indicate what many already know: attendance at Cornell women's hockey games is increasing steadily from the program's modern rise during the 2009-10 season. What both graphs, perhaps more apparently in the first, illustrate is that attendance generally increases when the playoffs arrive on East Hill. Only in the 2013-14 season did one game surpass the attendance peak reached during the playoffs. Even the 2010-11 regular-season game against Clarkson was dwarfed by the crowd that assembled to witness Cornell's successful defense of its first ECAC Championship. 2,711 attendants watched as Mazzotta delivered another shutout and the Lynah Faithful set its still standing attendance record.

This inspired the graphical opening and analysis of this entire endeavor. Rarely is it written which programs draw the best for the playoffs. The preceding data indicate that Cornell is a program with a clear penchants for supporting the playoffs. This writer decided to tabulate the attendance at each playoff game over the last five season for the nation's premier and oft-praised women's hockey programs. The findings may be somewhat unsettling for boosters of certain corners.

For the cases of this analysis, home playoff games were defined not merely by location, but by a two-part examination. Firstly, the game must have been played at the program's primary home venue or an on-campus home venue used by the university's other hockey programs. Secondly, the right to play that game at home, in front of favorable fans, must have been earned on the ice rather than designated. 

The second prong ensures that programs that happen to appear at events like the Frozen Four in their home arenas do not benefit from an unrepresentative increase in attendance from non-partisan fans who attend for the mere spectacle of such high-profile games. The purpose is to measure the zeal of a program's fans during the playoffs, not the ability of its athletic department to market a marquee event effectively.

The programs included were Boston University, Clarkson, Cornell, Harvard, Mercyhurst, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The programs that draw the best are unsurprising. The East and West each have two representatives in the top four. What may be shocking to some unfamiliar with the goings-on on East Hill is the order in which the top four fall. Minnesota and Wisconsin both trail behind Cornell in terms of average playoff attendance over the last five seasons.

Minnesota finishes third behind the Big Red and the Badgers. The gap is not enormous, but over 10% more people on average attend playoff games at Lynah Rink than they do at Ridder Arena. Cornell University with an enrollment of 21,000 students in a city of 30,000 inhabitants outdraws its nearest attendance rivals with university bodies ranging from 43,000 to 52,000 students in cities of 250,000 to 600,000 residents. The near-religious fervor of the Lynah Faithful is obvious.

The Lynah Faithful draw the most consistent playoff crowds of the top three as well. Minnesota and Wisconsin experience far wider fluctuations in their playoff attendances, manifested in large standard deviations, while the Lynah Faithful are dedicated and constants. Both characteristics prove the propriety of the descriptor "faithful."

It is true that Minnesota and Wisconsin typically outdraw Cornell in average attendance over the course of the season. However, no program has a more dedicated, consistent, and fearsome fanbase when the playoffs arrive than does Cornell hockey. The Lynah Faithful pack their sanctuary to cheer on the Lady Rouge like no other fanbase in college hockey can. 

The playoffs are the institutionalized focus of Cornell hockey. They are the time when trophies are hoisted and banners raised. It is for what the Lynah Faithful wait months and, sometimes, years. In a distinctly Cornellian way, Cornell hockey is the best program in women's hockey, saving its most ardent, uplifting, and impassioned moments for the time when they matter the most.

The marketing wing of Madison Square Garden posted a promotional video for Cornell's second hosting of the Frozen Apple at Cornell's now-most common home away from home. 211 days remain until the Big Red and Nittany Lions take the ice at Lynah Southeast. It is not too early to look forward to this de facto homecoming. Tickets for the Lynah Faithful are available.

The Racker Rivals Big Red game will take center ice tonight at 7:00 pm at Lynah Rink. More appropriately one should view it as an all-star game of Cornell and college-hockey greats for a more than deserving local cause. Racker Centers are dedicated to improving the educational and overall quality of life of those with special needs in the Central New York area. Their mission is to ensure that all members of Central New York, Cornell's host community, feel welcome and included in all aspects of culture and life of their corner of Upstate New York. Their mission is a great one and Cornell hockey's involvement should be lauded. This event will present not only a great spectacle, but will raise awareness, create opportunities, and help support one the region's most beneficent community organizations.

The hockey will not be too shabby either. Taking the ice will be former Cornell hockey players including Wayne Stokes, Mike Schafer, Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Derraugh, Danielle Bilodeau, Jeremy Downs, Jon Gleed, Dan Pegoraro, Dave McKee, Jan Pajerski, Brianne Schmidt, Topher Scott, Taylor Davenport, Michael Kennedy, Chris Fontas, Matt Hedge, Tyler Roeszler, Jordan Kary, and Sean Whitney. Joining the Cornell hockey alumni will be coaches Ben Syer and Edith Racine, goaltending coach Matt Michno, and skate-sharpening extraordinaire Sean Schmidt.

Now, most media have almost myopically emphasized the alluring NHL accolades of celebrity participants Joe Nieuwendyk and Mike Richter. The savvy Lynah Faithful know better. To us, Nieuwendyk is much more than three Stanley Cups and a gold medal won. He is an alumnus who left a year too soon, but fell in love with the Cornell University community so much that since his first year in the NHL ranks he has owned a constant home on Cayuga Lake and given generously to the communities of Central New York. 

Nieuwendyk's number has hung from the rafters proudly since February 2010. He recalled fondly in his Hockey Hall of Fame induction speech how Mike Schafer, a junior captain, took him as a talented freshman under his wing. In return, he helped propel Cornell to its seventh Whitelaw Cup in 1986 during Schafer's senior season. In Cornell's 1986 NCAA Tournament victory over Denver, Joe Nieuwendyk contributed two goals and an assist on the game-wining goal in the victory in Colorado. His playing legacy ended at Lynah Rink as he tallied hat tricks in each of his last two games for Cornell. Cornell won both games with his final goal in carnelian and white being the completion of a natural hat trick with the game-winning goal.

The Lynah Faithful know how Nieuwendyk connects to Cornell University and Central New York as a legendary player and one-time captain. What some may not know is how Mike Richter is connected to Cornell. The legendary Wisconsin Badger, who now serves as the namesake for the award given to college hockey's greatest goaltender, has trained at Lynah Rink during some of the off-seasons of his career. It was Nieuwendyk who invited Richter to join others to practice at famous Lynah Rink. Even though the Badgers have never braved Lynah Rink, one of their famous netminders will tonight.

What about the other Cornell greats that will take the ice? Some enjoyed careers even more decorated than that of Joe Nieuwendyk. Three distinct eras of Cornell hockey are represented among the former players who will take part in the Racker Rivals Big Red game: 1973-76, 1982-91, and 2001-12. Wayne Stokes, the lone representative from the first era, served as captain of the Big Red during its 1975-76 campaign.

The group in the aggregate represents 13 Whitelaw Cups won by individuals. That number explodes to 49 ECAC Hockey tournament champions if one includes the current women's hockey roster that is rumored to participate. Among the 13 Whitelaw Cup champions are three two-time Whitelaw Cup champions Jeremy Downs, Dan Pegoraro, and Jon Gleed.

A member from one-third of Cornell's ECAC Hockey Championship-winning teams will take part in the contest tonight. The four championship years represented are 1986, 2003, 2005, and 2010. Postseason success for these legends was not limited to the East Coast. The Cornell squads on which these alumni played accumulated nine wins in the NCAA Tournament. Perhaps more importantly, teams to which these skaters contributed notched 29 victories against Harvard.

Not excited yet? Are you sure your veins course carnelian? Students can imagine and alumni can reminisce about great events in Cornell hockey history as their program's legends and other greats battle for on-ice supremacy. 

Sean Whitney will take the ice for his first competition at Lynah Rink since his eating of the famous rink's ice. Recent alumni will not soon forget his goal against Union for Cornell's last championship. 

Dave McKee brought Cornell not only a championship, but battled eventual national champion Wisconsin through three overtimes in the 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional Final a year later. Will McKee fare better in his own barn if squared off against another Badger in Richter? 

Who cannot think fondly of the overtime-winning goal that Topher Scott scored against Clarkson in 2005 continuing Cornell's rush to its 11th Whitelaw Cup? 

Doug Derraugh's antepenultimate outing in a Cornell sweater witnessed his assisting on the game-winning goal for Cornell's 1991 NCAA Tournament victory over Michigan. Will he still have his famous scoring touch that carried him to a 66-point, 30-goal senior season placing him among the top-ten all-time point producers for the Big Red?

Then, the question everyone wants answered: Will Mike Schafer treat the Faithful to a reenactment of his pregame routine from his famous December 10, 1983 game that The Harvard Crimson characterized as "a special flourish, cracking his stick over his helmet and shaking the pieces furiously at the Crimson?" Considering his wife, alumna Diane Schafer, is on the other bench, we know that she will be spared Bill Cleary's fate. These questions need answers. Find them. Tonight at Lynah Rink.

Placing all anticipation and zeal aside, it is important to remember that this event is at the heart of what it means to be a Cornellian and member of the Lynah Faithful. This event is about camaraderie and sense of family. Cornell University forges us into a cohesive whole. Our University, as a land-grant institution and an extension of Ezra Cornell's vision, must remain committed to enriching the lives of those in our surrounding community. That is what this event does.

So, be there tonight, not just for the great hockey and the great memories that we have to share and make, but because it will give you a chance to make a small gesture through extending an open, welcoming hand and greeting those who too often are ignored into one of our homes. Far beyond championships and unwavering loyalty, that is what it means to be Lynah Faithful and a Cornellian.

Another season that Cornell failed to make the national tournament means that WAFT can engage in another bought of intrablog competition. Below are the two dueling brackets of two of WAFT's contributors. The first is accompanied by explanations that follow. Last year was not a great year for either set of predictions, but we will see how we do in predicting the road to and through Philadelphia.

Vermont - Union: East Regional Semifinal, 2:00 pm March 28, 2014 
Vermont has been idle since the second round of the Hockey East Tournament. Union is less than one week removed from winning a third Whitelaw Cup. The Catamounts went 3-10-1 over the entire season against teams that are in the national tournament. Sneddon is good, despite his alma mater, but I doubt he will be able to right his team's course that drastically with a week of layover and while staring down one of the best teams in the tournament's field. Union wins. 

Colgate - Ferris State: Midwest Regional Semifinal, 4:30 pm March 28, 2014 
Ever since watching Colgate play in the Mariucci Classic, I have adopted one common refrain: Colgate is going to stun some people in the national tournament. Two addenda usually followed that statement. The first was so long as the Raiders do not meet Minnesota again in the first two rounds. As good as Colgate is, Minnesota's raw talent alone, when irritated by an embarrassing shootout loss at home in its own tournament, could hurl a dominant power to new heights in decimating Colgate. Colgate has played Ferris State three times. Three times is not once, so I think the fourth encounter will be a toss-up in which the better team wins. Colgate has matched up well against defensively minded teams including Cornell throughout the season, notwithstanding a loss to a defensive Union squad last week. It will not happen twice in one week. It will do so again with Colgate's first win in the national tournament since 1990. Do it for Terry. Colgate wins. 

Providence - Quinnipiac: East Regional Semifinal, 5:30 pm March 28, 2014
Mark this as one of the most intriguing match-ups in the first round of the tournament. Nate Leaman, architect of Union's rise to relevance and prominence, squares off against Rand Pecknold, the man at the helm for a similar rise at Quinnipiac. ECAC Hockey defector against ECAC Hockey head coach. Leaman is one of my favorite coaches in college hockey. However, I think that the skill of Quinnipiac and the raw desire that Pecknold and the Bobcats have will give Leaman his second one-and-done appearance. Pecknold got his team to respond well last season to a disappointing showing in the league's championship weekend. Even though he fared better this season, his team and he left without the hardware they sought. Expect a similar rebound. Quinnipiac wins. 

North Dakota - Wisconsin: Midwest Regional Semifinal, 8:00 pm March 28, 2014 
I was very bullish on North Dakota and very bearish about Wisconsin last season. This year, things are the reverse. Wisconsin proudly won its first B1G Championship last weekend. North Dakota, the perennial tournament champion of the WCHA, fell short of winning the NCHC's tournament championship. Its place in the league's hierarchy is upset. North Dakota is a much improved team since it lost to St. Lawrence at The Ralph. North Dakota hockey lives by high scoring and speed. The former has been missing in the postseason. Wisconsin, the more defensively minded of the two teams, has been outproducing Hakstol's squad by a margin more than two to one in goals scored. I think the historic powers of the WCHA exchange blows, but Mike Eaves comes out on top. Wisconsin wins. 

Quinnipiac - Union: East Regional Final, 3:00 pm March 29, 2014 
Another rematch? Why not? Expect the same outcome. Last season, I was far from mum about saying that I thought that Quinnipiac was achieving results well beyond its level of execution. This season, they are executing at a level far higher than last season and playing far sounder. Watching the game between Cornell and Quinnipiac at Lynah Rink made this clear. Last season, the Bobcats tended to coast at times on the play of their hot players, whether it was Hartzell, Peca, the Joneses, or Samuels-Thomas. This season, there are no freeriders. The Bobcats and Dutchmen have not tangled in the playoffs this season. The superb execution of Pecknold's squad should send the Dutchmen back to Schenectady early for the second season in a row. Quinnipiac wins. 

Denver - Boston College: Northeast Regional Semifinal, 4:00 pm March 29, 2014 
Denver had to win its way into the national tournament through a tough NCHC field for a championship. Boston College did not travel down the road to the Garden. The national tournament is not very kind to Jerry York when he does not win his league's tournament. York suffers early exits the few times that he has made it when he has not hoisted the Lamoriello Trophy. This year, the tournament will be no kinder. It may take Sam Brittain to steal the contest, but I think Boston College's last victory of the season was against Notre Dame in game two of that quarterfinal series. Denver wins. 

Robert Morris - Minnesota: West Regional Semifinal, 5:30 pm March 29, 2014 
You know the bracketology cliché: consider most of the favorites and then choose a key upset. Well, here it is. Derek Schooley has done phenomenal things with his Colonials program. For those who do not know, Schooley played under Schafer at Western Michigan and coached briefly with the Cornell coach on East Hill before taking the position of founding coach of Robert Morris hockey a few seasons later. He is a disciple of Schafer with regards to his emphasis on little battles, defensive mindedness, and shot-blocking. In other words, his teams do all the little things required to unseat and frustrate a skill-based and finesse team like Minnesota. In fact, Schooley has done it several times in the past with major upsets over teams ranked among the nation's elite including Miami when they were the best program in the nation. The Colonials will need a great outing from Shafer, Robert Morris's netminder, and a slightly less than average outing for Wilcox, but I think the Colonials become the second Atlantic Hockey program to upset Minnesota. Robert Morris wins. 

Colgate - Wisconsin: Midwest Regional Final, 6:30 pm March 29, 2014 
Spiro Goulakos stated in pre-tournament press conferences that his team is trying to build a culture at Colgate. Well, that culture has a strong foundation. Terry Slater in 1990 led his team from Colgate to the national title game. It was in that game that the Raiders fell to Wisconsin, 7-3. The Raiders may not be in Joe Louis Arena this time around, but the result likely will be no kinder and Mike Eaves's team no more forgiving than was that of Jeff Sauer. I would love to see Colgate in the Frozen Four, but I think history and perhaps psychology (a lack of knowledge on the team of the 1990 season may work to its benefit if it does in fact exist) ends Vaughan's third trek into the national tournament with just one win. Wisconsin wins. 

Minnesota State - UMass-Lowell: Northeast Regional Semifinal, 7:30 pm March 29, 2014
This is one of the more challenging first-round match-ups to predict. Both are league champions. Both faced opponents with similar philosophies to the opponent they will confront in this meeting. Norm Bazin has done great things at Lowell over the last few seasons, from a regional final loss to Union to the Frozen Four. I think that Mike Hastings at Minnesota State is too focused on ending his program's one-and-done luck and it will be enough to topple the River Hawks. I do not expect the Mavericks to ride that wave for long, but I think they will break a trend. Minnesota State wins. 

St. Cloud State - Notre Dame: West Regional Semifinal, 9:00 pm March 29, 2014
St. Cloud State did not do its part to boost attendance at the Target Center. The Huskies failed to reach a benchmark for that program by not appearing in the NCHC's championship weekend. The fact that a sweep arrested their progress makes that fact all the more painful. Notre Dame dominated Boston College in games one and three of a quarterfinal series. Notre Dame exited its new league's tournament in the semifinals. Rust will take its toll. The Irish likely will spring on the Huskies in a rematch of the game that ended Jeff Jackson's season last year. Jackson and the Irish may be without the leadership of Anders Lee who abandoned his program early, but Lucia, Tynan, and Rust with Summerhays were more than enough for the Eagles. Jeff Jackson and his corps of leaders does not lose rematches. Notre Dame wins. 

Denver - Minnesota State: Northeast Regional Final, 5:00 pm March 30, 2014
Will Jim Montgomery make what once seemed like a foolhardy decision seem brilliant? That will be the narrative for this final. Well, that and the fact that it is possible that no Eastern team is present in the Northeast Regional Final. Unlike the preceding game, I do not think Brittain will need to steal this one. Hastings's run will have ended and that talent of a battle-tested, but generally healthy, Pioneer squad (something that Gwozdecky had not had in a few seasons) will advance with a victory over the Mavericks. Minnesota State wins. 

Robert Morris - Notre Dame: West Regional Final, 7:30 pm March 30, 2014 
The clock inevitably strikes midnight. It is apparent that I have much respect for Schooley and his program. But, I think the rising power that is Notre Dame hockey under Jeff Jackson may prove too much for a young program dealing with the emotional highs of a national tournament win and championship all within one week. The Fighting Irish were spared a letdown like that of last season with its Mason Cup victory. Jackson, like I, think that a postseason loss can purge bad tendencies. I think Notre Dame will have purged most of their demons. This game will be close, but I think that Jeff Jackson takes Notre Dame to Philadelphia while Derek Schooley returns to the hockey town of Pittsburgh. Notre Dame wins. 

Denver - Quinnipiac: National Semifinal, April 10, 2014 
This game will be a roller coaster. The Bobcats will be so close that they can taste it again. Denver's team has been marginally better in the postseason than has Quinnipiac. Denver has been better in scoring margin, goals allowed, and goals scored. Quinnipiac has been better on both sides of special teams. That may tilt the balance. Call it intuition. Call it blind faith. I think that Quinnipiac does exactly what it did last season in the Frozen Four; it finds a way to win with its leadership stepping up for big plays and big goals. Quinnipiac wins. 

Notre Dame - Wisconsin: National Semifinal, April 10, 2014 
I think a low-scoring affair in which Rumpel and Summerhays duke it out will take center stage to decide which program will battle Quinnipiac for the national championship. With talents like Kerdiles, Mersch, and Zengerle and Johns, Lucia, Rust, and Tynan, I doubt that the game will be 1-0, but it will not see ten goals scored either. Both coaches are seasoned in the ways of winning national titles. Notre Dame's senior class tasted the Frozen Four in 2011. Wisconsin has not been back to college hockey's final weekend since 2010. Experience favors Notre Dame and even though I think Rumpel is one of the best, most reliable goaltenders in college hockey, I think the Irish in front of Summerhays go to the title game. Notre Dame wins. 

Notre Dame - Quinnipiac: National Final, April 12, 2014 
What's the lay definition of insanity? Well, let's walk down that road together. Again. Last season, I predicted that Jeff Jackson and Notre Dame would win Irish hockey its first national championship. Well, here I am again, looking at the bracket, and well, it falls that way again. I do not want to condemn Quinnipiac to a UNH-like always-a-bridesmaid-never-a-bride fate, but I think Notre Dame wins if it makes it this far. 

Notre Dame and Quinnipiac resemble each other. Both had great teams last season. Both lost tremendous parts of their programs. Both came back stronger than they were last season. A feat that many thought was impossible in such a short span. They are back. And I would not be surprised to see them in the biggest game of the season. 

Quinnipiac is a more whole team than it was last year. The Bobcats ran through the national tournament last season behind tremendous individual efforts from their best players. This season, I expect all hands to be on deck and the team to deliver one of the best performances at both ends of the ice in recent memory in the national tournament. I want the Bobcats to win and I will be there supporting them in Philadelphia, but in a game that will be a close toss-up, I think that the Fighting Irish come out on top. 

Keys to Quinnipiac's victory will be getting the first goal and preferably the second. Quinnipiac was winning last year's national title game until Yale deflated the Bobcats's bench with a late second period goal. If Rand Pecknold, Reid Cashman, and Bill Riga can keep their team on an even keel, not inflating the stakes of a national title game, then the Bobcats easily could pull this out even if by a razor's edge I think it prefers Notre Dame right now. Notre Dame wins.

Cornell ends a season of much apparently hollow talk with a deflating 5-2 loss to Union in the semifinal round. Colgate and Union advanced to play for the Whitelaw Cup. For the fourth consecutive season, Cornell ends a campaign having not achieved one of its perennial goals. Cornell has not appeared in the ECAC Hockey Championship Final in three seasons.

The postseason in particular is the time of year captured in moments. Elated and stunned fans alike find themselves pondering "what if" after each crucial play or development. This video series will chronicle the greatest moments for Cornell hockey during the 2014 ECAC Hockey Championships. Cornell seeks its 13th Whitelaw Cup in the ECAC Hockey playoffs. The postseason is a time of tremendous highs and devastating lows. Let's enjoy the ride as the Red looks to go on a run.

This series will be posted as the playoffs unfold. It will keep you appraised of Cornell's successes. Cornell hockey waits each season for the ECAC Hockey Championships. It is time to rally around the Red even more than you did during the regular season. This is the season when the greatest Cornell hockey teams shine and the greatness of Cornell hockey reigns.

The Field
The quarterfinal round of the 2014 ECAC Hockey Championships concluded late Sunday evening. Colgate, Quinnipiac, and Union dispatched with their respective challengers in two games. Clarkson was the lone competitor from the first round of the playoffs to take its host to three games. The Golden Knights did more than that. It took just over 12 minutes of overtime for Cornell to defeat the green and goldenrod.

Quarterfinal rounds around the Conference resembled one another. With few exceptions, one goal effectively decided those games that the host seed won. Fortune assisted inflation of Union's winning margins over Dartmouth. The Dutchmen punched in only one goal in game one that did not come from a penalty shot or an empty-net tally. The second contest in Schenectady included an empty-net goal. The four teams that remain advanced with 75% of the contests in the playoffs being decided by one goal. Quinnipiac is the lone exception. The Bobcats never allowed that series to be in question. Otherwise, parity and poise were the hallmarks of all contests in the quarterfinal installments of this postseason to date.

The semifinals are set. The brackets in Lake Placid represent 15 of the 52 Whitelaw Cups that have been won in the history of ECAC Hockey. Cornell accounts for 12 of that total. Intuition makes one inclined to believe that at least one of the contests in Lake Placid will not be as closely contested as the majority of the contests in the quarterfinal round. Will Colgate find its oppressive and smothering scoring? Can Quinnipiac continue its postseason dominance? Can Union bear the weight of history and media expectations about its chance to begin an attempt to tie a historic record? Can Cornell's offensively skilled players step up to deliver what their program demands at this time of season?

Semifinals
The second chapter in the new season begins. Cornell was the team tasked with defeating the best opponent in the quaterfinal round. The Big Red accomplished that feat. Games one and three of the series were the epitome of dominance and control. Neither game, even when headed into overtime, seemed out of Cornell's dictation. Game three showed a slight collapse. Suffice it to say that it is good to have gotten that out of Cornell's system before games where a loss has more drastic consequences.

Union has the second-most prolific offense in terms of goals per game in the playoffs. The Bobcats dwarf the Dutchmen's output by two goals per game. Any guesses who is third on the list? Not Colgate. RPI takes the honors of third place. The Engineers hit the links a week ago despite what appear to be intimidating offensive numbers in the playoffs.

Union is the best defensive team remaining. Cornell is the second best standing. The opponent that Cornell defeated, Clarkson, is second to Union. Cornell's preparation for last series will resemble those for its coming contest. The style of the quarterfinal series and the semifinal match-up between Cornell and Union will be similar. Despite somewhat inflated scores from last weekend, Union averaged two goals per game when normalized for empty-net goals and penalty shots.

Special teams may have been the actual and expected story of last weekend. It is hard to say if they will be in the coming semifinal game. Oddly, Cornell and Union are the third- and second-worst power-play units that have taken the ice in any round of the playoffs. Union is marginally better than Cornell on the penalty kill. The Big Red and Dutchmen have both allowed two power-play goals in the postseason. Cornell earned that mark against the best power-play unit from the first round while Union achieved its similar rate against the third-worst power-play unit from the first round.

Cornell's power-play unit needs to improve. This may amount to belaboring the point, but if Cornell wants its run to continue, pucks will need to find themselves in the back of opponent's nets while Cornell enjoys a man advantage. In 2012, Cornell's play on special teams was suspect and frustrating. It clicked at the right time against Michigan. Coach Schafer needs to have fine tuned special teams this week to render Cornell a more efficient machine in the deconstruction of opponents.

Union did not dominate against Dartmouth the way that many have indicated they have. The game was fairly evenly contested, despite the scores. The opposite can be said of games one and three of Cornell's series. Despite the close score, Cornell controlled the pace and flow of the game. Assuming somewhat dubiously that shots-on-goal differentials represent territorial advantage, Cornell is second in terms of territorial advantage. Union is at the median of the Conference and last of all teams still playing.

Special teams may give a slight edge to Union with its more shut-down penalty kill. Cornell's consistent dominance over a better opponent than that Union faced indicates that on even strength, the ice may tilt in Cornell's favor. Oh, the ice, apparently it is bigger. Who knew? Does that present an advantage to either team? Anecdotally, it favors the faster team. However, that does not yield an answer. There is only one team that Cornell has confronted that was appreciably faster. It was not Union.

Goaltending could become quickly the story of the semifinal battle. The match-up pits the two best remaining goaltenders against one another. Iles saluted his adoring hometown crowd with his best performance of his career at Lynah Rink. Stevens pitched a no-goal game at Messa Rink for Union's game-one victory. A 0.970 save percentage belongs to Stevens while Iles owns a 0.939 save percentage. That may be the whole story.

It probably is not. Goaltenders, even their save percentages, are products of their team defense to a great extent. Union's defense has been lagging behind that of Cornell. Stevens saw more rubber in 120 minutes of play than did Iles in 192:32. Iles's depreciated save percentage is a product of the fact that the Big Red has allowed a mere 22 shots per game. Last series, Iles outdueled Perry, a goaltender with a slightly higher save percentage. The real metric of a goaltender this time of season is whether he does what is necessary. Three years of Iles between the pipes in the postseason indicate he has the ability to go to another level to give his team a chance to win.

Unsurprisingly, Carr seems Union's go-to scorer in his last playoff run. He has scored three goals. One was off of a penalty shot. The other was into an untended net. Otherwise, Union resembles Cornell. There is no distinct reliance on any given line or player. Each generates well. Every other goal Union scored was scored by a different goal scorer. Cornell's four goals over the weekend were from different players.

There is one glaring absence from Union's scoring list. Gostisbehere, the program's vaunted defenseman, was silent in the first series of the playoffs. He scored no goals. He tallied no assists. Ryan, Cornell's offensive blueliner, recorded an assist on the overtime winner and scored the game-winning goal in the playoff's initial series. The blue line propelled Cornell last series.

At both ends of the ice, Cornell's blueliners frustrated Clarkson. Last weekend may have been the emergence of Clint Lewis as a responsible and reliable presence in Cornell's end. His smoothness and lack of hesitation proved vital in defusing many of Clarkson's most dangerous challenges on the fringe of the blue paint. MacDonald and Gotovets were as durable as ever with senior defenseman Gotovets deciding to try his hand at the other end of the ice opening Cornell's playoff scoring. 

Patrick McCarron? What can I say? He found a way to score when no other skater in red could. His skating is smooth and his shots well placed. It would not be surprising if he found the way to be the difference again this postseason. Bullishness about freshmen emerged over the weekend. Some of Cornell's best chances came from Buckles, Kubiak, and Weidner.

The freshmen are cordially invited to any scoring that may come in the playoffs. The Red upperclassmen need to finish the chances they develop. Cornell has generated innumerable high quality and high probability chances, but finished a mere four of them in the postseason. Necessity is the mandate of scoring, not some self-important desire for puffing. The purpose is not to light as many bulbs in the scoreboard as possible, but to put the game away when Cornell has earned the privilege of doing so. Bardreau, Ferlin, Hilbrich, Lowry, and J. McCarron have generated a majority of chances. This weekend, Cornell will need to lean on them to convert when others may be unable to find a way.

Much has been made of the fact that Cornell scored a mere four goals in the quarterfinal series while Clarkson scored five. Cornell, its forwards, defensemen, and goaltender, did what was necessary to win a series against a hard-hitting and sound opponent. Would it have been nice to put a few more pucks into Perry's net? Perhaps, from a self-aggrandizing standpoint, it may have been. Was it necessary? Evidently not.

A well circulated quote from the world's most consequential single-elimination tournament in hockey captures the true irrelevance of gaudy offensive numbers. Harangued by reporters about his team's lack of offensive production during its run to a gold medal, Mike Babcock remarked "does anybody know who won the scoring race? Does anybody care? Does anyone know who won the gold medal? See you, guys." The quote embodies the ethos of modern Cornell hockey: score when needed, defend always, and win. People remember champions and hardware, not statistical categories. Cornell needs to prove that it can do what is needed to be champions like generations of wearers of the carnelian and white.

The postseason in particular is the time of year captured in moments. Elated and stunned fans alike find themselves pondering "what if" after each crucial play or development. This video series will chronicle the greatest moments for Cornell hockey during the 2014 ECAC Hockey Championships. Cornell seeks its 13th Whitelaw Cup in the ECAC Hockey playoffs. The postseason is a time of tremendous highs and devastating lows. Let's enjoy the ride as the Red looks to go on a run.

This series will be posted as the playoffs unfold. It will keep you appraised of Cornell's successes. Cornell hockey waits each season for the ECAC Hockey Championships. It is time to rally around the Red even more than you did during the regular season. This is the season when the greatest Cornell hockey teams shine and the greatness of Cornell hockey reigns.

The postseason in particular is the time of year captured in moments. Elated and stunned fans alike find themselves pondering "what if" after each crucial play or development. This video series will chronicle the greatest moments for Cornell hockey during the 2014 ECAC Hockey Championships. Cornell seeks its 13th Whitelaw Cup in the ECAC Hockey playoffs. The postseason is a time of tremendous highs and devastating lows. Let's enjoy the ride as the Red looks to go on a run.

This series will be posted as the playoffs unfold. It will keep you appraised of Cornell's successes. Cornell hockey waits each season for the ECAC Hockey Championships. It is time to rally around the Red even more than you did during the regular season. This is the season when the greatest Cornell hockey teams shine and the greatness of Cornell hockey reigns.