The dog days of Winter beset Upstate New York over the last week. Just as the snow, cold, and other seasonal facets return, so does the Cornell hockey team to its home in Ithaca. The team returns leagues away from victorious having achieved dichotomous results in Florida (besting the then-undefeated defending national champion and losing to a team with but three wins before the semester break). Sunshine setbacks render not our student-athletes less deserving of unwavering support.
Games during the intersession typically spell disaster for attendance and home-ice advantage. Such a series in the wake of a humbling, if not humiliating, shutout to Ohio State further complicates the situation. Cornell Athletics has done its part. Tickets to the January 8 and 9 games are now on sale for $10.00. This value puts those tickets at less than half the price of all other contests at Lynah Rink. Considering this figure's reasonability, the contributors of Where Angels Fear to Tread provide regional fans, alumni, and students with 10 reasons why this series is worth the trek to Cornell University's haven.
Games during the intersession typically spell disaster for attendance and home-ice advantage. Such a series in the wake of a humbling, if not humiliating, shutout to Ohio State further complicates the situation. Cornell Athletics has done its part. Tickets to the January 8 and 9 games are now on sale for $10.00. This value puts those tickets at less than half the price of all other contests at Lynah Rink. Considering this figure's reasonability, the contributors of Where Angels Fear to Tread provide regional fans, alumni, and students with 10 reasons why this series is worth the trek to Cornell University's haven.
10. 34 days have passed since carnelian and white danced across the ice of Lynah Rink.
34 days. Yes, as hard as it may be to believe, more than one month has passed since Anthony Angello beat the buzzer for the game-winning goal against Clarkson in the early days of December. Holidays have begun and ended since then. A new season has begun. The only way to gauge how this team looks headed into the crucial close of the regular season is to go see it compete firsthand against a quality out-of-conference opponent.
9. Mark Dennehy is one of college hockey's most honest and entertaining coaches.
Everyone in the college-hockey world knows that Coach Schafer speaks frankly and clearly. Anyone who doubted that had his memory refreshed last November. On Friday and Saturday, on the bench opposite Cornell's now-iconic tunnel, will stand Mark Dennehy of Merrimack who is known for his frank, sometimes abrupt quotations. The utter sincerity of both coaches coupled with the drama of a two-game stand at one of college hockey's most grating venues may make for some memorable antics or comments. As for an example of Dennehy's openness, consider what is probably his most publicized comment on the state of college hockey and its recruiting process.
The word, ‘decommit’ doesn’t exist. It’s an oxymoron. If you’re committed to something you see it through. If you don’t see it through then you were never really committed. On the whole, I think across America, and really North America, a problem we’re having as a society is the deterioration of your word. Really, that’s all you have.
8. Clash of two disgruntled teams immediately becomes must-see fodder.
The Lynah Faithful implicitly know why the carnelian and white have reason to be angered. Come on. They lost that way to that team. All opponents deserve respect. As this contributor warned, Ohio State was a solid team and was dangerous with Christian Frey between the pipes. However, accepting losses to a program that ended seven of its last ten seasons below 0.500 was, in a word, nauseating. Equally nauseous must be the fans loyal to the Warriors of North Andover.
Merrimack is winless in its last three outings. One win and three consecutive losses mark time for the hockey team from Merrimack College since it returned to action after a nearly three-week break. Merrimack did not return with the winning pace that it expected. The Warriors have earned 75% of its first-semester losses in just four outings. They are hungry to return to their winning ways.
The hockey teams of Cornell and Merrimack are known for their physical styles. The bruised ego of Cornell and the disappointed start for Merrimack sets up quite the volatile combination for a two-game series that undoubtedly will begin to grate on its participants. With two hard-hitting times, as they times gets tough, the hitting only grows harder.
Merrimack is winless in its last three outings. One win and three consecutive losses mark time for the hockey team from Merrimack College since it returned to action after a nearly three-week break. Merrimack did not return with the winning pace that it expected. The Warriors have earned 75% of its first-semester losses in just four outings. They are hungry to return to their winning ways.
The hockey teams of Cornell and Merrimack are known for their physical styles. The bruised ego of Cornell and the disappointed start for Merrimack sets up quite the volatile combination for a two-game series that undoubtedly will begin to grate on its participants. With two hard-hitting times, as they times gets tough, the hitting only grows harder.
7. Merrimack's faltering penalty kill presents a chance for Cornell to regain special-teams confidence.
Cornell's power play is bad. Nay, the Red's extra-man unit is awful at times. In Florida, the Big Red failed to convert on any of 11 power-play opportunities. The brisk air above Cayuga Lake should go a long way toward waking up this moribund unit. Sure, Providence and Ohio State currently rank in the top half of the nation in terms of rate of penalty killing. What if the Red fails to capitalize on the man-up advantage against the Warriors? What excuses could mollify the Faithful then? Merrimack affords opponents a goal after 19.2% of its infractions. Statistically, the only penalty-killing units that currently are performing worse that the Red has played are those of Brown and Colgate. Facing a weaker (not weak) penalty kill in the Warriors should give the Big Red the opportunity to find its all-important power-play swagger that drives Coach Schafer's teams.
6. Merrimack College is among élite of Hockey East.
Boston University. Boston College. Maine. Providence. New Hampshire (maybe?). Those are the wheatiest of chaff-laden Hockey East. They are the nationally well-regarded vanguard of the secessionists. But, does Merrimack belong on that list?
The answer simply is yes. Forgotten in all the ruckus that has been Eastern hockey over the last five seasons, is the fact that the Warriors charged triumphantly to the Hockey East tournament's championship game in 2011. That season was the last time that Cornell played for its prized Whitelaw Cup. Since the 2010-11 season, the hockey teams of Maine, Notre Dame, and Vermont have appeared in the same number of championship weekends as the team of Merrimack. Would either the Red or the Lynah Faithful look over those programs if they were on the docket for this coming weekend? Merrimack should be treated no differently. If Providence were braving Lynah Rink, would it be overlooked? The Friars have not equaled Merrimack's appearance in Hockey East's title game in the last five seasons. Providence has not kept that date in 14 years.
Cornell respects championships. Cornell respects playoff runs. Merrimack produced one of the best of the latter in the last few seasons. That season, the Warriors earned a second-seed bid to the NCAA tournament, the same as what Cornell would earn if the Red did not have to play out the remainder of the regular season and Eastern playoffs.
The answer simply is yes. Forgotten in all the ruckus that has been Eastern hockey over the last five seasons, is the fact that the Warriors charged triumphantly to the Hockey East tournament's championship game in 2011. That season was the last time that Cornell played for its prized Whitelaw Cup. Since the 2010-11 season, the hockey teams of Maine, Notre Dame, and Vermont have appeared in the same number of championship weekends as the team of Merrimack. Would either the Red or the Lynah Faithful look over those programs if they were on the docket for this coming weekend? Merrimack should be treated no differently. If Providence were braving Lynah Rink, would it be overlooked? The Friars have not equaled Merrimack's appearance in Hockey East's title game in the last five seasons. Providence has not kept that date in 14 years.
Cornell respects championships. Cornell respects playoff runs. Merrimack produced one of the best of the latter in the last few seasons. That season, the Warriors earned a second-seed bid to the NCAA tournament, the same as what Cornell would earn if the Red did not have to play out the remainder of the regular season and Eastern playoffs.
5. Merrimack could have been Union.
Two often disregarded programs from relatively small colleges in states with giants of the game dared the long slog to brand-name status in the late 2000s. Union College would break through to the upper echelon. Merrimack College would backslide a bit. However, before the 2011-12 season when the Dutchmen cracked the ice of the Frozen Four, most in the East would guess that Merrimack would be the next "surprise" national champion of the East. The Dutchmen and Warriors had nearly identical win totals of 26 and 25, respectively. The Warriors, unlike the wearers of the wooden shoe, found success in the playoffs. Colgate eliminated Union at home and Minnesota-Duluth jettisoned the Dutchmen from the national tournament. Merrimack swept Maine, dominated New Hampshire, lost a tightly contested title game to the defending national champion, and forced overtime against Frozen Four-bound Notre Dame. Merrimack, playing in the then-perceived as better conference of Hockey East, seemed the underdog team of the future. Few knew what Union would do. Their paths diverge. Merrimack remembers actively that season of success and is aware how the fates of Schenectady and North Andover parted. It desires to get there. Dennehy and his team know that a win over the Red at the East's greatest hockey venue would reinstill the confidence to fulfill on the promise lost of a few seasons past.
4. Harvard's Jimmy Vesey needs a good weep.
Real men eat quiche. They cry a little too. Frankly, with victories in the Shillelagh Tournament and Mariucci Classic, Jimmy Vesey hasn't had a whole lot to cry about. The Crimson star is due a good catharsis and Cornell can help.
It always comes down to Cornell and Harvard. Well, in this case, Cornell and Harvard's daddy...err, Jimmy Vesey's father.
Jim Vesey, the father of the current Harvard senior, was a player on the first hockey team from Merrimack College to make the NCAA tournament at the Division I level. The Warriors with the elder Vesey on board won a two-game total-goals series against Northeastern on the road. Jim Vesey's team fell to the eventual national champion with getting outscored two to one in a national quarterfinal series against Lake Superior State. This season and its associated NCAA-tournament run (the first of two bids that the Warriors have earned) are regarded as important benchmarks in the history of Merrimack hockey.
Jimmy Vesey, the legacy to Merrimack College, not his father who helped ensure the relevance of Merrimack hockey, may be a bit perturbed if the Crimson's archnemesis wrests victories from his father's alma mater at Lynah Rink. The Cornell-Harvard rivalry is a deep one. One can assume the younger Vesey would react in such a manner. Hey, he will still have that Whitelaw Cup and, of course, grade inflation to aid his sleeping easily at night as his head hits a pillow in Manhattan.
It always comes down to Cornell and Harvard. Well, in this case, Cornell and Harvard's daddy...err, Jimmy Vesey's father.
Jim Vesey, the father of the current Harvard senior, was a player on the first hockey team from Merrimack College to make the NCAA tournament at the Division I level. The Warriors with the elder Vesey on board won a two-game total-goals series against Northeastern on the road. Jim Vesey's team fell to the eventual national champion with getting outscored two to one in a national quarterfinal series against Lake Superior State. This season and its associated NCAA-tournament run (the first of two bids that the Warriors have earned) are regarded as important benchmarks in the history of Merrimack hockey.
Jimmy Vesey, the legacy to Merrimack College, not his father who helped ensure the relevance of Merrimack hockey, may be a bit perturbed if the Crimson's archnemesis wrests victories from his father's alma mater at Lynah Rink. The Cornell-Harvard rivalry is a deep one. One can assume the younger Vesey would react in such a manner. Hey, he will still have that Whitelaw Cup and, of course, grade inflation to aid his sleeping easily at night as his head hits a pillow in Manhattan.
3. Any gain of scoring esteem after the Buckeyes' shutout will be earned, not given.
Boosts in confidence are nice. They grow even nicer when they are earned against steeper odds. While Merrimack's penalty killing willingly should accommodate Cornell's power-play unit finding its edges, the Warriors's defense will make the Red earn all other goals that it scores the hard way. As has become expected, Merrimack executes at a fairly high level a containing and stifling backcheck. Cornell returned to play in this veritably new season averaging 1.00 goals per game. This equates to a nearly 70% offensive drop-off after the semester break. The Red will need to prove that it can score, not just big goals like it did against Providence in overtime, but many goals. Cornell has played four teams with defenses currently stingier than is the defense of Merrimack. Carnelian-and-white skaters averaged 2.00 goals per game against those opponents. Cornell's stable of forwards and offensively minded defensemen will need to produce more against Merrimack if it hopes to re-establish its offensive confidence in the second semester. Merrimack provides a stout test. The Lynah Faithful can trust that what Cornell scores is earned and earned against one of the nation's best defensive teams.
2. Warriors have battled (and defeated) quality opponents.
Too many make too much of Merrimack's recent losses. The Warriors dropped contests to Army, Union, and Dartmouth on the road. The timber of Union and Dartmouth is unknown, especially after a long break. Army is always a challenging opponent. Those losses may indicate that Merrimack's return to greatness may be another season in the future. What of Merrimack's other results? Merrimack is viewed often as a one-trick pony that relies on the insanity of Lawler Rink to carry it to victory. A 0.500 road record indicates that trope is not wholly true this season.
The Warriors defeated on the road a Massachusetts team that took publicly touted Yale to overtime. St. Lawrence met greater defeat at the hands of the Warriors than it did at those of the carnelian and white. The Warriors twice forced Lowell to settle for a tie. Merrimack did what Cornell could not in defeating Boston University. Merrimack has quality wins that Cornell does not. Those wins that the two program share, arguably Merrimack has more quality in their execution.
The Warriors defeated on the road a Massachusetts team that took publicly touted Yale to overtime. St. Lawrence met greater defeat at the hands of the Warriors than it did at those of the carnelian and white. The Warriors twice forced Lowell to settle for a tie. Merrimack did what Cornell could not in defeating Boston University. Merrimack has quality wins that Cornell does not. Those wins that the two program share, arguably Merrimack has more quality in their execution.
1. The Red's second-semester deficit of respect for opponents will be tested.
Last week's problem was obvious. Cornell defeated the defending national champion. Those around the program (partially complicit were the contributors of Where Angels Fear to Tread) knew that after a win like that that Cornell could never lose to a four-win team from a football school. Well, puck, that's exactly what the Buckeyes proved they could play. Why was Cornell not ready? Hubris. Merrimack is the perfect test to see if this program has purged that inclination for this season.
Merrimack, like Ohio State, does not have the banners that Cornell does. Neither has the history of Cornell hockey. Both do have determination. Any lack of respect for the Warriors immediately will lead to Buckeye-like embarrassment. For the idle pairwise gazers, Cornell's rating is not static. The system is dynamic and volatile. Cornell is not guaranteed a bid to the NCAA tournament on the back of its solid first-semester play. One of four teams with the Red's current rating fail to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. If the carnelian and white fail to respect the Warriors like Coach Schafer's charges did the Buckeyes, it may be a few weeks off, but this team's season may be found seasonally appropriately roasting on an open fire.
Merrimack, like Ohio State, does not have the banners that Cornell does. Neither has the history of Cornell hockey. Both do have determination. Any lack of respect for the Warriors immediately will lead to Buckeye-like embarrassment. For the idle pairwise gazers, Cornell's rating is not static. The system is dynamic and volatile. Cornell is not guaranteed a bid to the NCAA tournament on the back of its solid first-semester play. One of four teams with the Red's current rating fail to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. If the carnelian and white fail to respect the Warriors like Coach Schafer's charges did the Buckeyes, it may be a few weeks off, but this team's season may be found seasonally appropriately roasting on an open fire.
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