Ned Harkness laid the foundation for future success for the program. His tenure behind the bench marked the achievement of many of the greatest, if not the greatest, accolades in the history of the program. Harkness led the program in a way that has affected the program and its dynamic with the community surrounding it for generations since he left campus.

The foregoing describes Harkness' success with which program in the ECAC? Cornell? Or, could it be RPI? Or, perhaps even Union? The answers are all correct. Perhaps like no other, Ned Harkness has shaped intimately and intricately the history of the ECAC through his involvement with two of its historic programs, and a recently successful and assertive third program.

The relationships between Ned Harkness and hockey at RPI, Cornell, and Union has shaped the landscape of the ECAC for generations while his approaches to the collegiate game effected great change in the college hockey landscape. The programs that Harkness helped build have produced four national championships, 14 Frozen-Four appearances, 16 ECAC Championships, and 15 ECAC regular-season titles. Nearly a third of all ECAC Championships that have been won and Frozen-Four berths that ECAC programs have earned are by programs that Harkness led during its crucial developmental stages. Cornell and RPI account for four of the ECAC's five national championships. Harkness personally led the Big Red and the Engineers to three of those championships.

In many ways, the greatest that is ECAC Hockey can be traced to Harkness and the indelible impression he left upon hockey at Cornell, RPI, and Union. That is why weekend series between RPI and Union, and Cornell are no ordinary series as they represent clashes of the programs that were created by a common vision; that of Ned Harkness.

The college hockey coaching carrier of Ned Harkness is bookended by his tenures at RPI and Union. His time at Cornell occurred between those two eras. Many including Harkness, albeit for different reasons than most assume, would describe Cornell as the place where he enjoyed his greatest success and enjoyment for the game. Regardless, Harkness had a great role in shaping the hockey culture of two of the greatest programs in the ECAC and one of its recent ascendant member. He with little doubt had great affection for all three institutions.

The history of Ned Harkness' contributions to programs in the ECAC began before there was an ECAC that sponsored intercollegiate hockey contests. Hockey had existed at the research institution in Troy for over four decades when Ned Harkness arrived. The program was on hiatus beginning in 1938, but Harkness did not bring hockey to RPI. However, he made it what it is to the community at RPI today.

Harkness longest time behind the bench for one collegiate program was at RPI. The legendary coach led the Engineers through 14 seasons of hockey. He wore what would become an iconic image of a dusty, old, simple ball cap while coaching his team in practice. This trend became a superstition of sorts. He continued it through the era of his greatest collegiate hockey triumphs. Who could blame him?

When Harkness began coaching in 1949 at RPI, the Engineers had not played a game at home in over a decade. The Engineers would play in a converted military warehouse that the Institute had acquired after the conclusion of the Second World War. They have not left since then. That warehouse became Houston Field House where Harkness would awaken the sleeping giant of Engineer hockey and make RPI one of the very few technical institutes that have a national presence in a major college sport.

It took Harkness four seasons to make an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament had begun just five years before Harkness led the Engineers to their first appearance. The challengers from the East met Minnesota in the first round of the 1953 NCAA Tournament. The Gophers defeated the Engineers 3-2. Harkness would have his revenge. It would take just over one year, but Harkness led the Engineers back to the NCAA Tournament in 1954. RPI defeated Michigan and moved on to confront the Gophers for the second year in a row. It took an extra frame of hockey but Harkness' Engineers defeated Minnesota 5-4.

Harkness would again return to the NCAA Tournament with the Engineers of Troy, but in that last appearance, ultimate glory would not be theirs. One season before the ECAC began sponsoring hockey, St. Lawrence defeated RPI in the first round of the 1961 NCAA Tournament. Harkness would remain at RPI for only two more seasons.

The ECAC crowned its first champion in 1962. With hindsight, one would assume that Harkness led his dominant Engineers that had within the decade proven themselves to be one of the best programs in the nation through the first seasons of ECAC Hockey with much success. The opposite is quite true for the two seasons that Harkness coached the Engineers in the ECAC.

RPI earned a berth into the quarterfinals of the inaugural ECAC Tournament in 1962. The Engineers confronted Colby College; the small liberal arts college from Waterville, ME. The Mules of Colby defeated RPI 7-6. The Engineers unceremoniously exited the first-ever ECAC Tournament prematurely under the leadership of Harkness. The next season was no better. In an era when not every program received an automatic bid to the ECAC Tournament, the last Harkness-coached Engineer squad missed the ECAC playoffs.

The next move that Harkness would make was to Cornell. He would then jump to the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL. He was the first college hockey coach to make such a jump from the collegiate ranks to the NHL. This is a path that would later be taken by other such transformative and legendary coaches including Herb Brooks.

Harkness began the practice of recruiting Canadian talent to build winning traditions at the college hockey programs he coached. This began at RPI and helped lead the Engineers to three NCAA Tournament appearances and one national championship. It was perfected at Cornell when Harkness' practice brought to Cornell players who are now legends at all levels of the game. When Harkness was brought back to the collegiate ranks after his stint in the NHL, he continued this practice at Union College.

Harkness' last position as a head coach of a college hockey program ended near where it began. Harkness returned to the Capital District, but this time it was to begin a hockey program at Union College. Union had sponsored hockey briefly and sporadically between 1903 and 1939. President Bonner of Union College contacted Ned Harkness. He offered Harkness the head coaching position of the newly re-established Union hockey program. Hockey had been absent from Union for nearly four decades. Harkness was to lay the foundations for a program that many hoped would become successful.

Harkness began building the program as he knew how. He recruited heavily from Canada. The culture of historic yet small and somewhat isolated Union College was abraded by the arrival of student-athletes that many of the students who attended the liberal arts college viewed as being recruited not for their scholastic merits, but for their athletic skill. These Canadian imports were held in contempt by many students and created an animosity between some factions of the students of Union College, some alumni of Union, and the hockey program. Harkness drew ire within the College and from such communities by extension as the cause of the arrival of student-athletes to campus.

Many at Union, conceiving of themselves as a historical liberal arts haven, chafed at the notion that students were recruited to represent their alma mater in intercollegiate clashes. The Union community had to grapple with the tension of whether sponsoring athletic programs caused necessarily a sacrifice of academic principles. It took a generation for Union to begin to arrive at a conclusion about this very question, but it was Harkness and Union's hockey program that brought it to the forefront. This tension is forever a part of Harkness' legacy at Union as well as the history of hockey at Union College.

Despite petitions and demonstrations that questioned the value of student-athletes and an intercollegiate hockey program, Harkness continued much as he had at RPI and Cornell. He did what he did best. The task at Union had a unique element. Not only was Harkness tasked with building the program, he was charged with the responsibility of overseeing the construction of a rink in which Union's program would play.

Harkness oversaw the construction of the present-day Messa Rink in the spring before the 1975-76 season, his first season at Union. Harkness' input and design affected the development of some of the features of Messa. It is unclear how much of and which aspects of Messa Harkness affected, but he tirelessly oversaw the construction of Union's first indoor hockey home and doubtlessly had influence in the design beyond desiring a 3,000-seat capacity, modern scoreboard, and locker room with a modern sound system.

Harkness scheduled games against 24 NCAA Division I programs for his first season as Union's bench boss in 1975-76. Union began its Harkness era with a win over a Northeastern in overtime. Harkness' coaching abilities would shine much brighter later in the season. Union met future ECAC opponent Clarkson later in the season. The Golden Knights were ranked second in the nation. Union was regarded highly as the underdog. Predictably, Union lost that game by a margin of 9-3.

Having lost to one team ranked second in the nation, Harkness' first Union team needed to confront another. New Hampshire had risen to the rank of second in the nation and had lost only two games to NCAA Division I programs. New Hampshire had agreed to travel to Union's new rink. Union hosted the Wildcats at Messa Rink, Achilles Rink as it was known then. What resulted was the most significant win in Union hockey history until the 2009-10 season and it remains one of the most significant wins in Union hockey history. Union defeated and upset in spectacular fashion the Wildcats of New Hampshire with a final score of 8-4.

Harkness had achieved greatness at yet another New York-based university. He would remain for only two more seasons at Union. He then would depart from the College that once saw Harkness' father coach hockey and lacrosse. Harkness was unable to win any championships for Union during his short stint their despite the success that he enjoyed. Union was at that time an NCAA Division II program in men's ice hockey. The first season that NCAA Division II sponsored a national tournament for men's ice hockey was Harkness' final season at Union where he retired from his duties before they were complete for that season.

Harkness enjoyed and inspired greatness at the three college hockey programs that he built and led. His greatest amount of time spent coaching was at RPI. His last tenure as coach was spent at Union College. The time that he most enjoyed? One could assume it was where he enjoyed the most success, but that is an overly simplistic metric to discern which time was best for a coach who cared just as much about the men that he helped mature as the success that they shared. Harkness' most successful and favorite experiences do happen to correlate.

“I’ve had a very wonderful life, but Cornell was my favorite…I was thrilled to be here at Cornell" remarked the legend when he was asked this very question in 2008. Harkness was never at a loss for words it seems. Even though many quotes from Harkness now belong to the ages, those that remain with us are poignant and humorous. These quotations that manifest a mindset have influenced Cornell hockey as well as the hockey cultures of RPI and Union.

Harkness' famously replied to an inquirer who asked why he would leave RPI for Cornell that it was "because, Ithaca is exactly 90 miles closer to the Canadian border than Troy." Harkness perfected his recruiting practices at Cornell. He would rely upon Canadian talent, but the talent he drew to the Ivy-League institution in Upstate New York surpassed that which he had gained previously. The Ferguson brothers, Dan Lodboa, and Ken Dryden flocked to Cornell University. Harkness sold the University that was barely a century old to these recruits and foretold the potentials for its students to embrace a hockey program. Harkness knew the importance of zealous fan support. He had enjoyed it at RPI and he predicted that at Cornell it would equal or surpass the level of excitement that had filled Houston Field House for his 14 seasons at RPI.

Recruits may have received Harkness' message easily and well. He was anything but well received by his new cohort of the Ivy League. Ivy-League coaches scoffed at Harkness' demeanor and presentation. In practice, he exchanged his tired, worn hat with a cherry "R" on it for a Cornell hat of the same kind. His Ivy-League peers found this unbefitting of a coach of such prestigious institutions. He would further aggravate them at games not only with the superior talent of his players and sophistication of his strategy, but in his game-time attire. Harkness antagonized the coaches of his Ivy-League foes with his choice to wear slacks and a blazer with the Cornell University crest emblazoned on the left breast with hockey sticks crossed behind it instead of the formal suit that his Ivy-League coach contemporaries thought was appropriate.

Harkness was the first collegiate coach to employ the strategy of having a coach observe the game from the press box or elsewhere above the game action. He augmented this strategy with using crude radio communication during games so that during a game he could adjust his strategy to meet the unforeseen challenges that an opponent was presenting. While at RPI, he had employed more morally questionable means, but no less strategic, to dictate the flow of the game in his team's favor.

Harkness at RPI had recruited very talented teams. Speed was not one of their strengths. Harkness would adjust the temperature at Houston Field House to be slightly warmer than recommended so that the ice would soften. The rationale of this approach is axiomatic in hockey circles that a softer ice surface slows down the faster team more and reduces the faster team's comparative advantage. Harkness would alter the climate to shift the flow of games at RPI more in his favor.

Despite the more modern misconception of Cornell teams as big and slow that has begun to be shaken in recent seasons, Harkness' Cornell teams were faster and more fit than the teams that he coached at RPI by his one admission. Harkness would inquire sarcastically during the many times that he returned to Houston Field House if it was hot in the building.

Cornell hockey had enjoyed little success before Harkness arrived on East Hill. Lynah Rink stood dormant periodically. Lynah Rink had reached its fullest potential two seasons before when the Big Red upset Harvard 2-1 in one of the most memorable games in the history of the historic and feared building. Harkness promised upon his arrival that the zeal present in that clash against Cornell's archrival two seasons before would become ubiquitous at Lynah Rink and all events that Cornell fans attended anywhere. Harkness pledged that "it won’t be long before you’ll have to watch the obituary columns to get in this building." He was not far off.

Harkness has the best outright winning percentage of any college hockey coach in history. He owns a winning percentage of 0.729 across all years of his college hockey coaching career including his time at RPI, Cornell, and Union. His winning percentage at RPI was a respectable and laudable 0.643. He amassed a winning percentage of 0.836 while at Union College. Harkness' winning percentage while behind the bench at Cornell was an astounding 0.919. Harkness lost only 27 games over his seven years at Cornell. Ten of those losses were in his first season.

Cornell missed the 1964 ECAC Tournament during Harkness' first season on East Hill. Improvement only followed from that point. Cornell lost to Brown in the 1965 ECAC Quarterfinals, 4-3 in overtime. A season later in the 1966 ECAC Tournament, Cornell defeated overwhelmingly 9-0 Boston College in the quarterfinals. Cornell eliminated rival Boston University 8-1 in the ECAC Semifinals. It was Clarkson that stopped Cornell's 1966 ECAC Tournament run in the ECAC Final.

Harkness was not deterred. It seems in retrospect that he must have known that greatness was within his reach. Cornell started then-sophomore Ken Dryden as its goaltender for the 1966-67 season. The first round of the 1967 ECAC Tournament arrived. Cornell had not forgotten that Brown had eliminated the Big Red just two years before. The Big Red defeated the Bears 11-2. The next challenge was to defeat Boston College. Cornell dismantled the Eagles in a 12-2 win. The 1967 ECAC Final witnessed archrivals Cornell and Boston University meet. Harkness' Big Red defeated the Terriers 4-3.

Harkness led Cornell to its first ECAC Championship in 1967. The Big Red would proceed to win the next three in a row. After Cornell's 1968 ECAC Championship, no program in the ECAC has ever or since owned more ECAC Championships than has the Big Red.

The dominance in the ECAC that Harkness ushered in for Cornell hockey is impressive in its own right. His success on the national stage while leading the Big Red was more impressive. Harkness led Cornell to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history in 1967. The Big Red won the tournament and were crowned national champions. Cornell shut out North Dakota and defeated Boston University in a rematch of that season's ECAC Championship Final to earn the distinction as national champion.

North Dakota sought and received revenge against Cornell for North Dakota's elimination in the prior season. North Dakota defeated the Big Red 4-1 in the first round of the 1968 NCAA Tournament. Dryden had one season remaining before he would depart from East Hill. Harkness had hope for another national championship. A dominant Cornell team that had lost only one in the season burst onto the stage of the 1969 NCAA Championship Final. Cornell met Denver.

Dryden's repeat would not occur. The Pioneers bested the Big Red 4-3. It was Dryden's last game and he would soon depart from Cornell University as an alumnus. Most commentators and astute observers believed that Cornell could not win a fourth ECAC Championship let alone make a fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and contend for a national title.

Ned Harkness and the 1969-70 team had other plans in mind. The season unfolded as oppositely from the predictions as it could have. Cornell would end the season 29-0-0. Harkness credited the ultimate success of that team to the dynamic, play, and environment at Lynah. He reused a phrase that he invoked somewhat regularly to describe his ambitions for Lynah Rink in terms of ambiance as well as the style of play that Cornell's opponents would suffer there. He viewed the 1969-70 team as finally completing that goal. Harkness recounted "we made it so that Lynah Rink was where angels feared to tread. That’s what I told them, this will be where angels fear to tread, and they did."

Cornell's long history with Wisconsin in the NCAA Tournament began in the first round of the 1970 NCAA Tournament. Cornell defeated the Badgers 2-1 to advance to the national championship game. Cornell faced ECAC foe Clarkson in the 1970 national championship game held in Lake Placid, NY. The Big Red would come from behind to defeat the Golden Knights 6-4. Cornell became and remains the only program to win a national championship after completing a season undefeated and untied.

Harkness departed East Hill after the 1969-70 season. His legacy of greatness remains at Cornell, as it does at RPI and Union. Perhaps his connection with Cornell is somewhat greater than it is with the other two programs. In many ways, Harkness was Cornell. He represents that duality of Cornell as an institution. A duality found even in Cornell's founders. The hard-working yeoman combined with the gentlemanly scholar. Harkness was hard-nosed and gritty, but astute and learned in his craft. He revolutionized college hockey from how it is coached and played to beginning the now growing and convincingly talented path that exists between a future in the NHL and college hockey that did not exist before his time on East Hill. He was a rebel who bucked the social norms of the established order of his peers in the Ivy League, much like Cornell has since its founding challenging norms ranging from issues as important as who can attend an elite university to how do true fans conduct themselves at hockey events. Harkness was a great fit for Cornell University and Cornell hockey. It is only appropriate that it was his favorite time as a coach. He will live in the annals of Cornell hockey forever.

One thing all of the three programs of the ECAC that Harkness coached have in common is an unbounded belief in the greatness of their programs. Many Cornell and RPI fans recoil, scoff, or chafe when Union fans who have known success at the NCAA Division I level in only recent seasons invoke the language of dominance to describe hockey at Union. Objectively, there may be more legitimacy to comments regarding dominance and history from programs with the legacies that Cornell and RPI enjoy, but that makes Union's sometimes irritating insistence upon their greatness no less like Harkness. Harkness' confidence was one of his key traits that convinced him of the inevitability of his ultimate success. This confidence has no doubt remained at the three programs that he coached.

One anecdote catches this aspect of the famous coach remarkably well. Harkness remarked when offered the head coaching job at Union that "under the circumstances I don't think I can promise a national championship the first year. But if you can wait a few years...when do I start?"

The greatness of Harkness as a coach to all the teams that he coached at RPI, Cornell, and Union extended beyond on-ice success to the relationship that he shared with his players as people. Harkness would make a team not only better suited to win, but its players better suited for life. Dan Lodboa, who played a pivotal role in helping Cornell win its second national championship under Harkness, remarked famously "wherever Ned goes, if he wants you, you go. If he goes west, you go west. If he goes south, you go south."

Harkness may have left but he unites Cornell and the programs of the Capital District. His greatness, best remembered at Cornell and RPI, will not be forgotten.

The last week saw Cornell Women's Hockey get back to action with 3 games in 4 days and there will be two more before the week is out!  Let's take a look at what the women did on the road in Boston, at home against Syracuse, and what we have to look forward to against the North Country teams at Lynah this weekend.

On Saturday, the Big Red took on Northeastern.  Northeastern put up an incredible battle, as well as putting on a very nice free broadcast.  The Huskies were the first team to light the lamp, coming out of the first period with a 1-0 lead.  But our Red Hot Big Red would not let that stand.  Jessica Campbell tallied a beauty of a shorthanded goal just 25 seconds into the period on an assist from Brianne Jenner.  The very busy second period was not yet over, though.  Northeastern would not be so easily finished as that.  They scored their second even-strength goal of the afternoon.  Jessica Campbell scored her second of the evening, assisted by Jenner and Cassandra Poudrier.  The period, however, was not over for the Lady Rouge.   A power-play goal was scored by Alyssa Gagliardi, assisted by Poudrier and Laurianne Rougeau.  Northeastern tried hard for a comeback in the third, but the only goal scored was an insurance goal by Brianne Jenner from Jill Saulnier.  Cornell completed their come-from-behind win in their first game in over a month with a 4-2 victory.

Cornell faced Boston College on Sunday afternoon in Chestnut Hill.  The game started very similarly to the game against Northeastern.  BC scored less than a minute into the first and almost left the period with a 1-0 lead on the Lady Rouge.  Freshman Vicky Pittens made sure it was not so.  Pittens scored an even-strength goal, assisted by Erin Barley-Maloney and Hayleigh Cudmore.  The first period ended 1-1, looking better than the previous day already.  The second would see three goals being scored, Cornell started and ended the scoring with even-strength tallies from Emily Fulton (from Jenner) and Monika Leck (from Taylor Woods and Cassandra Poudrier).  BC, however, scored on one of their three power-play opportunities in the period.  The score after two was 3-2 in favor of the Lady Rouge.  The third period saw a lot of opportunities but up until the final minute of regulation, the score remained the same.  19:17 into the period, the Eagles scored an extra-attacker goal, tying up the game and pushing it into overtime.  In spite of showing tremendous will and fight, Boston College scored the game-winning goal 91 seconds into the five-minute overtime period.  The difference, it appears, was the power play opportunities.  Cornell took five penalties, while BC took four.  The difference? BC capitalized on one of theirs.

These close games, while tough, are going to be extremely helpful for the ECAC playoffs and National Tournament.  The women know what it is like to win and lose in tight games.  Tight games are incredibly helpful.  Tuesday's game, however, was anything but tight.  The first period saw six goals scored, five by the Big Red and one by the Orange.  Erin Barley-Maloney began the scoring, assisted by Morgan Richardson and Jessica Campbell just over two minutes into the period.  Brianne Jenner went on to score 2, assisted first by Richardson and Saulnier and second by Cudmore and Saulnier.  Syracuse struck back next, but the Big Red refused to let it end there.  Jessica Campbell scored three-quarters of the way through the period, assisted by Poudrier and Barley-Maloney.  Jill Saulnier completed the scoring for the period, assisted by Jenner and Rougeau, to put the Lady Rouge up 5-1 at the end of the first period.  Cornell had the rest of the game in hand, scoring two in the second, a power-play blast by Cudmore from Campbell and Saulnier and an even-strength goal from Jenner and Gagliardi.  The third period was quieter, with a single goal being tallied, by Brianne Jenner from Laura Fortino and Jill Saulnier.

So, of the last 3 games, the Lady Rouge pulled out 2 wins and an overtime loss.  Not what they wanted, but more than respectable.  And this weekend?  Cornell takes on St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

Friday's opponent is very familiar to Cornell, having seen them twice already this season, once in a non-conference game and once in a conference game.  Since last Cornell saw St. Lawrence, a lot has happened.  SLU was on a losing streak in the beginning of the season, a winning streak until it met Cornell the second time, and this time, there have been more wins than losses.  SLU is 5-1 in its last six games, the only loss coming to Boston College in overtime...a score of 4-3.  Sound familiar?  The Saints put up a much bigger fight the second game Cornell faced them and they're likely to go for blood the third game.  SLU is scoring just over three goals a game, and holding its opponents to 2.50 goals.  They are also taking a lot fewer penalties than the Big Red women.  In the last five wins, the Saints outscored their opponents by a margin of 22-7.  The last game Cornell played the Saints, the Big Red took almost twice as many penalties and did more than double SLU in penalty minutes.  While only one of SLU's two goals were on the power play, and their power play is only 15.5%, giving the Saints any room in transition is going to be a mistake.  Cornell can win this third game against the Saints, but it will not be easy.

While the Saints appear to be rising, the Knights appear to have a chink in their armor.  When last Cornell met Clarkson, the Knights had only two losses to their twelve wins.  Cornell also had two losses to their name at the time, one from BU and one from Harvard.  Clarkson handed the Big Red their third loss of the season, the first back-to-back loss.  Clarkson since has more losses of their own, one to Colgate, and a weekend sweep by Northeastern and Boston College.  Last weekend they rebounded, pulling off tight wins over Yale and Brown, but Clarkson appears to have something to prove when they visit Lynah this weekend.  The Big Red will be out for some revenge, but Clarkson needs to make a name for itself again with another statement win.  Both Clarkson goaltenders have been stellar in the crease, but what is more dangerous is their impressive power-play unit.  Clarkson is 24.7% on the power play, which ranks at number five in the country, behind Minnesota, Boston College, North Dakota, and Northeastern.  Cornell, for comparison, ranks thirteen.  Where Cornell has an advantage, however, is the penalty kill.  Cornell's PK is number three in the country, behind only Harvard and Minnesota.  Clarkson, for comparison, ranks 11.  Cornell will need to stay vigilant the entire game and be better on the power play than they were last weekend.  The Lady Rouge can come out of the weekend with four points.  Let's Go Red!

Points (as of January 16)
27 - Jenner
23 - Saulnier
14 - Rougeau
12 - Cudmore
11 - Campbell, Woods
10 - Gagliardi, Poudrier
8 - Fortino, Fulton
7 - Barley-Maloney, Murray
6 - Brown, Campbell
5 - Leck, Zorn
3 - Richardson
2 - Pittens
1 - Slebodnick

Commitments Ahoy!
'Tis the season of commitments.  Or so it seemed this week when Cornell received three commitments from players, two in the USHL and one playing in a prep league.  Goaltender Ryan Coon from Taft School committed to Cornell along with forwards in Fargo Force's Michael Booth and Dubuque Fighting Saints's Eric Freschi.  All of them seem excited to join the Big Red Family and for more information, check out the sidebar's Stat Watch on Big Red Puckhead's page for more on our commits.

Speaking of Commits....

Thanks again to the Big Red Puckhead for the look into the rankings, Cornell sees three players on the NHL Central Scouting mid-term rankings.  Everyone's favorite gold medalist Cole Bardreau is one of four current college hockey players on the list which is incredible itself.  What is more excellent is two of our current commits, Matt Buckles and Clint Lewis, are ranked very highly on the list.

Ken Dryden Fun Facts

Everyone eagerly reminisces about Ken Dryden, star goaltender.  But also star baseball player? Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Brandon Thomas tweeted this fun fact about the legendary goalie.  A .417 batting average in addition to being a national championship-winning goaltender.  As Brandon Thomas said, the more you know.

Another NCAA Player Defects
After Denver, University of Nebraska-Omaha, and Michigan all lose players to major juniors, Saint Lawrence becomes the latest program to lose a player in two weeks.  Is it more common this season than others?  Perhaps...perhaps not.  It might just seem punctuated because of the number in such a short time.  Regardless, it is sad seeing this many players leave their commitments mid-season.

Michigan Hockey: Making History
Michigan Hockey is making history in all the wrong ways.  Matt Slovin looks at how, including a potential end to the run of 22 consecutive seasons in the NCAA Tournament.  Most importantly, this ought to be taken as a lesson.  A fanbase which often competes with the Lynah Faithful to be called the "best fans in college hockey" is now accompanied by a less-than-stellar reputation this season.  

Lynah has often been a place to be feared, even in awful seasons.  It is something which we must never take for granted at Lynah.  Win or lose, our team needs us to be there for them as vociferously as we can.  While this season for Cornell is nothing like Michigan's, you never know when a season like that will happen, sooner or later, and we will need to be there for our Big Red just as much then as now.

In previous pairwise prognostications, we have avoided using the pairwise ranking of each team we're examining.  Given that the regular season has ramped into its home stretch (or at least the halfway point), instead of giving a breakdown of which teams a school has beaten at the end of each analysis, you will see two rankings: pairwise and KRACH.  Pairwise is more indicative of what is going to happen when selection comes in March, but until then, there is no harm in looking at both, as a means of comparison.

Colorado College
Date of Games Against Cornell: October 26 and October 27
Result: 2-0 Cornell, 3-2 Cornell
Analysis: After coming off a tough weekend where UNO swept the Tigers, CC took on WCHA foe North Dakota for the second time in the season.  This weekend went almost identically to the first weekend that CC faced North Dakota.  The Tigers's quest to get to .500 continued with a win over North Dakota the first evening at the Ralph before dropping the second game.  CC will need to sweep weekends to get up to the .500 mark.  They next host Minnesota-Duluth before a couple weeks of a break and a trip up to Alaska.
PWR Ranking: N/A
KRACH Ranking: 23

Michigan
Date of Game Against Cornell: November 24
Result: 5-1 Cornell
Analysis: Michigan is having a historic season.  Just not the one they expected, as Matt Slovin wrote so eloquently.  Just on the cusp of a turnaround, after winning a game against MSU, Michigan looked to be poised to make a comeback...until they dropped the next three games.  Michigan lost handedly to a sub-par Bowling Green team.  That, however, was not the bottom of the barrel for Michigan.  That came when they were swept by Alaska for the first time.  Their schedule doesn't get any easier, facing Lake Superior State and Western Michigan before January is over.  Michigan looks like they will need to win the CCHA Tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament this year.
PWR Ranking: N/A
KRACH Ranking: 44

Ferris State
Date of Game Against Cornell: December 28
Result: 5-3 Cornell
Analysis:  After beating Michigan State in a shutout, Ferris took on Ohio State and managed a split.  Next up for the Bulldogs?  Another bout with Michigan State.
PWR Ranking: 28
KRACH Ranking: 29

Maine
Date of Game Against Cornell: December 29
Result: 6-4 Maine
Analysis:  After splitting with Mercyhurst, Maine took on Hockey East foes Northeastern and Merrimack.  They tied Northeastern the first night and lost 6-0 to Merrimack the next day.  Two more games against Merrimack are up next.
PWR Ranking: N/A
KRACH Ranking: 47

Denver
Date of Games Against Cornell: January 4 and January 5
Result: 5-1 Denver, 2-1 Denver
Analysis: Denver hosted UNO for a two-game series at Magness Area.  After a 7-4 win, they tied the next night.  Denver looks to face St. Cloud State next weekend before a break.
PWR Ranking: 8
KRACH Ranking: 7

WAFT's defense of Schafer's comments in our recap of Cornell's series against Denver drew some attention from commenters who mischaracterized the premise of the second half of that post as claim that WCHA officials have some anti-Cornell bias. I implied no such thing. The point that the second half of that post highlighted was that WCHA officials overwhelmingly favor their own to the point that they interject themselves into the flow of the game and tip the balance of play against the visiting team.

I had the opportunity the evening after I posted WAFT's recap of the Cornell-Denver series to listen to the Notre Dame-Minnesota game from Mariucci Arena. The commentators who called the game for Notre Dame were speechless early in the game at the calls that were made against Notre Dame while the WCHA officials turned a blind eye to the offenses of the Golden Gophers. This speechlessness gave rise to outright vociferous anger later in the game when the inconsistency in officiating continued. The heavy implication that WCHA officiating may have influenced the flow of the game unfairly was ominpresent throughout the waning minutes of the game.

I did some quick analysis from nationally relevant and hyped games that resembled the Notre Dame game in scope. I tabulated the penalty minutes for both Michigan State-Minnesota games, the Yale-Denver game, the now infamous Boston University-Denver game, the recent Boston College-Minnesota game, both Cornell-Denver games, and the Notre Dame-Minnesota game from earlier in the week. The choice of these high stakes games ensured that the WCHA officials officiating the games would have known the stakes of each game as well as the broader audience that had interest in the outcome of those games. The games chosen involve opponents from the CCHA, ECAC, and Hockey East. Assuming that one conference does not play less disciplined or honorable than another, the penalty minutes that WCHA officials award over a large sample size of games should be relatively equal if officials are calling the games objectively and fairly.

The ratio of total penalty minutes that WCHA officials awarded to the visitor as compared to those awarded to the WCHA host team was 2.02 to 1.00. WCHA officials over those eight games awarded more than twice as many penalty minutes to their non-WCHA guests. The WCHA officials in only two of those games punished the non-conference opponent with fewer penalty minutes than those imposed on the WCHA host. In only one game, did the visiting team benefit from more than a two-minute advantage in terms of penalty-minute differential

So, what else was there to do but to expand the thesis? I decided that it was not fair to single out the WCHA without cause despite the fact that across most other conferences there are claims that WCHA officials are suspiciously inconsistent in adjudging out-of-conference clashes. I decided that I would analyze the preference of officials from the host conference for programs from their conference when officiating out-of-conference games. The metric of analysis would be a comparison of penalty minutes awarded both in-game and overall to visiting non-conference opponents and to the program from the host conference.

The primary assumption of this model is that no conference is predisposed or less susceptible to undisciplined or questionable play. There is no reason to believe that as a matter of course or culture that one conference deserves objectively to be penalized more than the other. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that each conference would be penalized equally often and to equal degrees because each is just as prone to commit penalties. Most arguments against this assumption will resort to premises that would make even the most devout homer blush.

I aggregated all penalty minutes that officials from each collegiate hockey conference awarded in non-conference games. Officials from the conference of the host team officiate non-conference games that occur there. Then, for neutral site or mid-season tournament games, I checked the conference that employs the referees for the games. If all the referees were from the same conference, their minutes awarded between the in-conference host and out-of-conference opponent went toward totals for those conference as they should. If the slate of referees was divided between representatives from more than one conference, I totaled no minutes for any conference.

Considering the general assumption and the large sample size of games, penalties and penalty minutes should be awarded to visiting, non-conference opponents at the same rate that they are given to the in-conference host. Both factors should mitigate against anomalies in the data set that would make in-conference officials seems more preferential of their own conference. The findings are below shown and discussed. It seems that WCHA officials deserve the ire and skepticism about their objectivity.

There are three main means of comparing the penalty minutes awarded to the in-conference host and those awarded to the out-of-conference visitor by in-conference officials. The first is total number of penalty minutes awarded. The table above shows that number of out-of-conference games that officials from a given conference have officiated in the second column. This establishes the sheer volume of the sample size. The third column shows the differences in penalty minutes awarded to non-conference opponents and in-conference host teams.

Officials from each conference have penalized visiting, out-of-conference teams more. Over the course of the season, Hockey East officials have given non-conference visitors a net total of 19 additional penalty minutes over 36 out-of-conference games that they have officiated. The CCHA has netted 40 total additional penalty minutes to their out-of-conference visitors over 31 games. Atlantic Hockey officials have given non-conference opponents 44 additional penalty minutes over the course of 24 non-conference games. The ECAC has given out-of-conference visitors just one more net penalty minute than have officials from Atlantic Hockey but over 44 games.

The conference whose officials have produced the largest differential between penalty minutes that it has awarded to its teams when compared to those with which it has punished its visitors? The WCHA. WCHA officials have penalized visiting out-of-conference opponents with over two hours worth of additional penalties. Yes, with the surplus of minutes that WCHA officials award visiting, non-conference opponents as compared to WCHA host teams, one would be able to nearly finish A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back. If classic films are more your thing, the rise and fall of Charles Foster Kane would occur in Citizen Kane before the surplus minutes that WCHA officials penalize out-of-conference opponents with elapsed.

Yes, the 122-minute total is over many games but it is over just three more games than the ECAC's total of 45 minutes and it differs from that figure by 77 net minutes of extra penalties awarded to the visiting team.

The second means of determining objectivity be to compare the ratio of total penalty minutes awarded to out-of-conference opponents relative to those awarded to in-conference hosts by in-conference officials over all non-conference games. The results are above chronicled. Perfect objectivity in an idealized model would yield a ratio of 1.00. The totals for the CCHA, ECAC, and Hockey East are not far from that goal. The difference between the ratio for Hockey East officials and those from the CCHA is 0.04 while the difference in the ratio between the WCHA ratio of 1.19 and the ratio of the CCHA is 0.10.

It might be somewhat natural to prefer one's own conference in officiating. It may be unavoidable. However, the fact that officials from three major college hockey conferences manage to be more objective indicates that WCHA officials are once again an outlier on this basis of comparison.

WCHA officials again lead their counterparts from all other conferences in terms of preference for their in-conference programs. Assuming that the macro 1.19 ratio were experienced in an in-game situation, that would amount to 2:24 of penalties for the visiting team for every 2:00 of penalties for the WCHA host.

The final basis of comparison to analyze objectivity is an in-game model. It may matter less what the ratio yielded from overall penalty minutes awarded to out-of-conference opponents to those awarded to in-conference hosts is. That model is macroscopic. What may matter more is the ratio that is most prevalent in in-game situations.

The average ratio of the penalty minutes awarded to out-of-conference visitors to in-conference hosts is telling because it captures the in-game deficits and situations that out-of-conference foes must overcome in the realm of penalty minutes. This approach takes the ratio of penalty minutes from each non-conference game that officials from each conference officiated and then averages those ratios.

It is apparent that each conference in game situations favors its own teams to a degree. Officials from Atlantic Hockey, the CCHA, the ECAC, and Hockey East all have ratios in favor of the in-conference host that fall within the range of 1.30 to 1.40. The difference between the least preferential, Hockey East, and the most preferential, the ECAC, falls within this bloc of 0.10. One conference remains outside this range of 0.10.

WCHA officials awarded penalty minutes by in-game ratios of 0.10 more than did officials from the ECAC. Yes, the difference between the ratio of penalties awarded to out-of-conference opponents and in-conference hosts differs between the second and first most preferential by the same margin that unites the second through fifth. This highlights a significant deviation from an apparent range of normality among the other four conferences of college hockey. Officials from the WCHA again are outliers.

WCHA officials penalize out-of-conference teams one and a half times as often as they penalize their in-conference teams. This ratio, derived from in-game statistics, indicates that for two minutes of power-play opportunities that a WCHA opponent receives, that opponent will have needed to kill off three minutes in penalties.

Officials from the WCHA have been derided often for their lack of consistency. That inconsistency can be born out in the data above in the realm of non-conference games. WCHA officials show significant preference for their own programs by all three means of determining preferences. WCHA officials have penalized visiting, out-of-conference opponents with more than two hours more of penalties compared to the total that they have doled out to WCHA teams, given out penalties over the entire season in a ratio of nearly 1.20 in favor of the host WCHA teams, and forced out-of-conference visitors in in-game situations to overcome three minutes of penalties for every two minutes of penalties awarded to the WCHA host. Conclusions of objectivity and fairness can hardly align with these statistics.

The data shows another trend as well. No conference is entirely objective in its officiating of non-conference games. This lends itself to immediate support of the use of neutral officials from other conferences for non-conference games. Schafer lent his voice to that cause after the Cornell-Denver series. Even though the CCHA, ECAC, and Hockey East are within less than one tenth of the idealized ratio of 1.00, preferences still exist. The end of the WCHA as it has been known and the CCHA, and the ensuing conference realignments with cause greater geographic overlap of the footprints of college hockey's conferences. This overlap will make it more practicable that neutral officials could be summoned and retained for non-conference clashes.

Even though the WCHA from which the most statistically egregious offenders in terms of in-conference preference hail effectively will cease to exist in a few short months, it does not undermine the salience of the need to try to obtain neutral officials for non-conference games.

This Roundup isn't so much a roundup of scores, but a preview of what the Lady Rouge have to look forward to this weekend, as well as a bit of a league roundup.  If you feel like it has been forever since the Cornell Women have played, you're not alone. It has been a long time.  The last game the Lady Rouge played was December 1st.  It has been even longer since they've been back at Lynah, November 16.  It will be a little longer still as the Lady Rouge have two more away games before returning home to Lynah for a Tuesday match against Syracuse.  But we're getting ahead of ourselves.  Let's look at what ha happened since last the Lady Rouge have played.

Seven players competed for the Meco Cup, one competed at the US National Winter Camp and the others returned early to Ithaca to get ready for a trip to Boston.  The ECAC still has an uneven number of games played with Quinnipiac and Princeton at 12, Cornell, Colgate, RPI, and Union at 10, Harvard and Dartmouth at 9, and Clarkson, St. Lawrence, Brown and Yale at 8.  So while Harvard is undoubtedly first in the league, still unbeaten, Quinnipiac has played two more games than Cornell so the one point differential is not troubling.  Cornell has a lot of ECAC games to improve its standing in the second half.

The next games that the Big Red play are against #9 Northeastern on Saturday and #3 Boston College on Sunday before returning to Lynah to host Syracuse.  This Roundup will look at what Cornell needs to do in order to best each of these three teams.  The next Roundup will recap what happened and look to ECAC play yet again against North Country teams.

Northeastern Huskies
The first Hockey East opponent of the weekend is the Northeastern Huskies.  Northeastern goes into the game at 11-7-2.  And they are not an opponent to be trifled with.  While they lost soundly to St. Lawrence, they defeated then-2 Clarkson last weekend in a close (4-3) game.  Admittedly Clarkson was down players (two of which were competing in Germany at the Meco Cup), but either way, it was a well-fought game at Cheel.  Northeastern boasts the seventh-best power-play unit in the country, at 25 percent.  Cornell's for comparison is 19.6.  Northeastern also boasts one of the best penalty-kill units, coming in at fifth, right after Minnesota, Harvard, Cornell and CHA team Robert Morris.  Northeastern's kill percentage is 89.2 percent while Cornell's is 90.5.  Northeastern averages 32.5 shots per game and allows 28.5.  Their goaltender is fair, with a save percentage of 0.908.  Cornell is going to need to pepper their goaltender with shots and stay out of the box.  Cornell averages 4 more minutes in the box than Northeastern.  If they do this, they will be able to take on Northeastern.

Boston College Eagles
The Lady Eagles are 14-3-2 this season, having just played in the North Country opposite the Huskies before the mid-week game against Northeastern.  The difference was, Boston College took two wins out of the weekend.  BC beat Clarkson in a convincing 5-1 rout of the team which managed to down Cornell.  However, it was St. Lawrence that would provide the tougher challenge for Boston College as the Saints pushed the game into overtime before the Eagles claimed the 4-3 victory.  BC decidedly trounced Northeastern 6-2.  BC is currently ranked number three in the nation. Their three losses thus far have come to Boston University, the University of New Hampshire, and Minnesota-Duluth.  Boston College is no slouch of a team.  As one of the least penalized teams in the nation, their penalty kill is ninth in the country (Cornell is three), but their power play is second at a staggering 32.4 percent.  If the goal for the Northeastern game was to stay out of the box, it is even more so for the Boston College game.  The Lady Rouge are the third-most penalized team in the country and will need to limit those penalties as much as possible when playing the Eagles.  Their goaltender is more than solid, topping out with a save percentage of 0.926 (merely 0.002 above Slebodnick).  Goaltending will not be an issue for the Eagles, but the penalties will most certainly be.

Syracuse Orange
Syracuse is currently 10-8-1, but they will play two more games before facing Cornell on Tuesday.  They just trounced the Big Red's travel partner Colgate 6-0, and will follow up their run-up to Ithaca playing a weekend series against Mercyhurst, an opponent the Big Red will see later this season.  Syracuse is a team the Big Red usually take for granted as a win, but all of their losses this season have been by two goals or fewer, excepting one 5-2 win by Northeastern.  How Cornell plays against Syracuse will say a lot about both teams this year.  Syracuse's power play is at 17.1 percent, much less impressive than the Boston opponents that Cornell will face first, but no less menacing.  Syracuse likes to take a lot of shots, not unlike the Big Red, but the Big Red likes to keep their opponents well below that in terms of shots.  The Lady Rouge should be able to defeat their Orange neighbors so long as they manage to take them seriously and play their own game.

Points (as of January 10)
19 - Jenner
18 - Saulnier
12 - Rougeau
10 - Woods
9 - Cudmore
8 - Fortino, Gagliardi
7 - Fulton, Murray
6 - Brown, Campbell
5 - Zorn
4 - Barley-Maloney, Leck, Poudrier
1 - Pittens, Richardson, Slebodnick

Golden Boy
After being named to the preliminary roster for the World Junior Championship, Cole Bardreau proceeded not only to make the roster, but to be named an alternate captain of the team.  Beyond that, he took home the gold. Wearing number 18 throughout the tournament, Bardreau finished the tournament with a +5, having no even-strength goals scored against in the entire tournament.  Additionally, he was a key penalty killer and took a great many faceoffs throughout play.  There have been a great many articles on Cole this past week, and here are a few for your reading pleasure:
On the Win and Pre-Game Pep Talks
Noodles, Noodles, Noodles
And of course, the ever-popular video from the celebration: Bardreau's Corner

Golden Girls

Cornell Women's Hockey's players were very busy this winter break.  From shooting television episodes to shooting the puck, they were all incredibly busy.  Seven of them went to Germany and competed for a championship for their country.  The Meco Cup (formerly known as the MLP Nations Cup) is a six-nation tournament with five countries competing with their national team and Canada competing with their under-22 team.  This under-22 team consisted of seven Big Red players: Jessica Campbell, Hayleigh Cudmore, Laura Fortino, Brianne Jenner, Cassandra Poudrier, Lauriane Rougeau, and Jill Saulnier.  The Cornell women represented the Big Red well, tallying goals, assists, and making incredible offensive and defensive plays to help win the game.  The women were joined by other college players from Harvard, Minnesota-Duluth, Clarkson, Dartmouth, Mercyhurst, Minnesota, and Boston University.  Cornell was easily the most represented program, with seven players, followed by BU with three and Clarkson with two.  Congratulations to the women on their win and hopefully this will help propel them into the rest of the season!

Junior Alternate Captain Alyssa Gagliardi at USA Holiday Camp
Alyssa Gagliardi didn't get to trade in for a warm locale for her winter break.  Instead she headed to Blaine, MN to compete as part of the 2012 US National Team Winter Camp.  Gagliardi joined 35 other players (three from ECAC schools) to compete in the camp.  The camp will help determine who competes in the 2013 IIHF Women's World Championship.  Congratulations to Gagliardi on making this camp and we at WAFT and the Lynah Faithful wish her the best of luck in upcoming selections.  We're glad to have her back in time for the trip out to Boston.

Do It For Daron
Do It For Daron is a charity that should not be unfamiliar to the Lynah Faithful.  Cornellian Colin Greening '10 has participated in events for Do It For Daron and this year, Cornell Women's Hockey is designating two of its home games as the Do It For Daron Series. February 1 and 2, when RPI and Union come to Lynah, the Lady Rouge ask the Faithful to show up wearing purple to support them, in particular freshman Morgan Richardson, Daron's sister.  The Do It For Daron Charity aims to raise awareness and promote conversation regarding youth mental health.  So, on the weekend of February 1, go support the Lady Rouge in Purple.

Speaking of Lynah...
There is new paint down in Lynah.  Not the "C" of 2010 or the Huggy Bear of 2011-12.  Instead, this is what center ice holds, courtesy of our favorite Belarusian.  Thoughts on the change?

ECAC Finals to be Televised: Fox College Sports
After no television network picked up the ECAC Finals last year, it appears that RPITV will be replaced by Fox College Sports.  Last year RPITV did a fantastic job with its coverage, but this year three of the four games will be available on Fox Sports Atlantic.  Both semifinal matches as well as the championship game will be aired on March 22 and 23.

A Look Into A Big Red Defenseman
USCHO.com wrote a great article highlighting Cornell's newest defenseman, Craig Esposito.  Currently serving double athletic duty as a captain on the golf team, the article highlights how he made his way to the hockey team as well.  We're glad to have him.

Should There Be Neutral Officials for Non-Conference Games?
After some extremely suspect officiating and shenanigans at the Cornell-Denver games last weekend, Mike Schafer suggests neutral officials for non-conference games.  This comes on the heels of Cornell being given 40 minutes of penalties after the end of the game (in addition to 36 minutes of in-game penalties).  The sheer number is not the problem, but the extreme disparity of penalties between the two schools.  It has long been said that refs favor their own conference teams, whether it be Scott Owens stating this at the CC-Cornell game regarding ECAC refs or Mike Schafer saying it regarding WCHA officials.  As pointed out on twitter, with the conference re-alignment, it will theoretically be easier to do this in the future.  It is certainly a conversation which deserves to be had with all of the uproar.

Hobey Baker Award Nominees
As you may have noticed from the banner on the side of our page, it is once again time for the Hobey Baker Award to begin its first phase.  The first phase of Hobey Baker Award nominations goes until March 10.  People can vote once per IP address each day.  Cornell has three nominees for this award.  In alphabetical order, senior defenseman Nick D'Agostino, junior goalie Andy Iles, and senior forward Greg Miller.  This banner image will remain on the side of our page, and we issue this challenge to all the Lynah Faithful: vote early and vote often.  Let's show everyone who deserves this award.

The paraphrase from one of the last of the many words exchanged between the Denver Pioneers and Cornell Big Red captures how the weekend felt for Cornell. It captures how McCarron, Schafer, Cornell, and other members of the Lynah Faithful felt the second game of the weekend went. However, it describes accurately the weekend as a whole.

Denver won the first game. Overwhelmingly. Any Cornell fans who saw no good in that game are overly pessimistic. There were crucial holes in the game that Cornell played, but a great deal of the effort was good and proportional to the great task it is to be a very talented Denver team. The offense generated was stellar. Cornell controlled the flow of the game and in terms of every statistical measure except the scoreboard, Cornell dominated the game offensively and defensively. Denver spent most of the game defending in its own zone. The Pioneers were unable to stifle Cornell's offense from moving the puck seamlessly in the Pioneers's defensive zone. How did Denver win if Cornell was the more dominant team?

The reason was between Denver's pipes. Juho Olkinuora staved off the Big Red onslaught. Despite the final score of 5-1 in the first game, Cornell's defense, as Denver's Gwozdecky admitted in post-game interviews after the second evening, was just as spectacular the second night as it was the first. Cornell's work against Denver was beautifully in contradistinction to the collapses that allowed Denver to rout Boston University just a week prior. Cornell defenders gave Denver almost no open ice in front of Iles. Denver registered its shots but most were forced to be taken from bad angles. The Pioneers had few passing lanes.

Cornell was still very much in the game when the score reached 3-1. Cornell responded with generating some of its most threatening chances and seemed poised to convert. The Big Red pressed while trying to close the two-point deficit and its defensive game predictably became more open. Denver converted and the game became out-of-reach for the Big Red at that moment considering the dynamic of the game until that point.

The major area for improvement that Cornell needs to prove its national caliber is penalty killing. Three of Denver's five goals were power-play goals in the first game. Cornell's effort the second night proved that the penalty-killing prowess of Cornell from the first weekend of the season is not all lost. Cornell allowed no power-play goals during the second game despite having to kill off two majors and being punished with 76 minutes of penalties. There will be more below on the latter point. Cornell found itself in the reverse vantage point from which it is accustomed to enjoying. The first game saw a team win whom the opposition dominated entirely but whose superior goaltender kept them in a game that it had no business of winning. Denver had the better goaltender the first night. Olkinuora won the Pioneers the first game.

Iles, not one to stand for being outdueled, proved during the second night that he was more than equal to the challenges of the vaunted Denver Pioneers offense when he elevated his game as the Faithful have seen him do. Iles was the better goaltender the second evening. There is no doubt about that. He helped Cornell kill off 36 minutes of penalties within the game including two five-minute majors. He proved that in dire situations that the goaltender is one of the most important penalty killers. Like Gwozdecky said, Cornell did little different defensively the second evening. It was Cornell's Iles who helped ensure that the Pioneer barrage did not convert. Iles allowed only two goals on 36 shots. Performances like this will be important for later national success. However, for those doubting, Iles proved again that he was up to the task.

It has been neither Iles' stellar performance nor the result of the series that has received most attention from fans of both programs and across the college hockey world. The end-of-the-series exchange between the two programs and then Schafer's interview with a USCHO contributor have sparked considerable comment online. It is foolish to wade into such affairs but considering some Pioneer fans have decided to comb through WAFT and comment insultingly before any opinions have been posted on this medium, it is only appropriate that our views be heard. To give proper framing, I will begin with Coach Schafer's comments after the second game.

The second game in the Cornell-Denver series did not begin as Denver had hoped. Cornell continued its offensive dominance. A blast from D'Agostino reached Olkinuora and Lowry beat him with a nice tip into an empty net. Denver was down just 45 seconds into the first frame. Barely three minutes later, the WCHA officiating crew called a five-minute major and 10-minute game misconduct on freshman Teemu Tiitinen. Suspiciously, the broadcast was unable to find footage of the hit to verify if there was in fact contact to the head on the collision. Even more curiously, there was no replay offered at Magness itself for the team or crowd to see of that hit. So, for anyone who missed it, I guess *wink* *wink* it had to have been dirty. "Just trust the WCHA officials."

The lack of replay or review became even more suspicious later in the game. Two apparent Cornell goals occurred without review. One was of such a manner that even the broadcasters marveled at how a puck could hit under the top crossbar of the net and then fall in a manner that would not amount to a goal. A goal occurs when the puck crosses the plane of the goal line. So, by its very nature, if the puck struck the bottom of the cross bar that is directly above the goal line it is almost certain that the puck broke the plane. The WCHA officials, apparently endowed with superior skills of observation, needed not review to verify their knee-jerk reaction. Strangely, these skills of superior observation vanished when Iles made an even more apparent save on a Denver shot and scrum, but review was needed, according to the WCHA officials. The conclusion: the puck had not crossed the line. The difference between the two scenarios? We know that Denver's goal did not cross the goal line but we do not know about Cornell's two goals. Had the WCHA officials been consistent in which goals they chose to review and not, I would have been less suspicious.

The fun was not done. The Pioneers were deadlocked headed into the second period. Then, senior captain Erik Axell was called for contact to the head. So, Denver was given the man advantage for another five-minute major as Axell was removed, to join Tiitinen in the locker room, having drawn a game misconduct. Cornell treated this five-minute penalty kill like it had the 11 minutes of penalties prior that the WCHA officials had handed out. Denver generated next to nothing on its resulting power play. The Pioneers were flat during this span. One of the few times that they did not threaten Cornell in the slightest over the weekend.

Denver then won the game outright after an anomalous Cornell defensive error led to a three-on-two opportunity for Denver and the Pioneers converted to tally the game-winning goal. Schafer in the above interview gives entire credit to Denver for the win and the game-winning goal. He compliments Gwozdecky as well. The two coaches but exchange praise. Denver fans who have commented on almost every platform online that is possible (how they have such time, we may never know) have characterized Schafer's comments unjustly.

Schafer was not even so bold as this post to state that the uneven officiating may have tilted the balance in the second game. The coach that Cornell proudly calls its own criticized the awarding of 40 minutes of penalties to Cornell after the final whistle.

I will refrain from commenting on the handshake exchange because it is foolish for anyone to comment on a dynamic that they did not witness firsthand. No, being in Magness Arena is not sufficient. No one knows which coach, if either, or the officials stated that the handshake would not occur except those at ice level. The Denver broadcast to which I was listening reported that it was Gwozdecky and his staff that refused to shake Schafer's and his team's hand. I refrain from believing it was Schafer, Gwozdecky, or the officials entirely because there are so many different versions of the exchange that are biased toward the desired tone of the speaker. So, I place no blame to either Cornell or Denver for the lack of handshake. Any objective person would do the same.

The gathering between players of both teams that supposedly led to penalties against Cornell, sophomore forward John McCarron, and senior forward Armand de Swardt occurred when the handshake dynamic was being straightened out. John McCarron received a five-minute major for obscene language along with a game disqualification as a parting gift from the WCHA officials who had been more than generous to their Eastern visitors since their arrival. McCarron will not be able to return to play for the Big Red until Cornell faces the Bulldogs of Yale. The WCHA officials gave Armand de Swardt a game misconduct and five-minute major for spearing. I did not see anything that resembled a spear. Nonetheless, I assumed as usual, replay was not available and "just trust the WCHA officials." Cornell's bench was awarded a 10-minute game misconduct as well for an undisclosed offense.

Schafer stated that he would not return to the WCHA again. I doubt few can blame him. The WCHA will not exist in just a few short weeks. Fear not though, Denver will still be able to drop championship games to North Dakota in the Twin Cities albeit in relegation to the Target Center as the Big Ten Hockey Conference has ousted the NCHC from the WCHA's former home. If the officials from the WCHA find employment in the NCHC, I hope that Schafer abides by his statement. As great as contests are between Cornell, and Colorado College, Denver, and North Dakota, they are not worth the time if poor officiating casts doubt upon the outcome of the contest.

Denver fans who claim that Schafer was classless in his statements or that Cornell hockey is "goon" hockey need to reevaluate the situations that gave rise to many of the altercations. Sure, it is simple to claim that your team is flawless and never breaks the rules, but when I see Cornell's captain Nick D'Agostino need to push a Denver forward off of Andy Iles or other defensemen need to do the same when the Pioneers run the goaltender or proceed to continue to strike at Iles's glove, pads, and even helmet after the whistle, I do not think that Cornell is unjustified in protecting the welfare of its teammates when the WCHA officials have chosen to ignore such conduct. Denver fans need to choose: is it their players who were running the goaltender and hacking at the goaltender after the whistle blew, or poor officiating that with officials unevenly blowing the whistle early claiming that Olkinuora had possession of it when he did not (twice officials claimed he had caught the puck below his pads or in his glove just to watch the puck dribble out toward the net after the whistle) while nearly never doing the same for Iles? Schafer's approach was to blame poor officiating. Most Denver fans who have commented on online fora reject that. That leaves but only one other possible conclusion.

The defense of the "goon" hockey comment in light of those Denver fans comments is interestingly telling. So, if Cornell plays "goon" hockey then it would only make sense that "our goons" accrue many penalty minutes for "dirty" play. Well, the splendid WCHA officials in those hits that were for their eyes only sure caught two real goons. Tiitinen and Axell over the entire season had served two minutes of penalties. Two minutes. To add to the fact that Cornell's players are far from goons, especially the two players removed from the second game, ECAC Hockey officials have not been the only officials to officiate Cornell's game this season.

Apparently, only the WCHA officials find Cornell's "conduct" particularly egregious. This is ironic considering the WCHA prides itself on being one of "the most grueling and physical" conferences in the nation. I guess, according to these Denver fans and the protective WCHA officials, Cornell outplayed Denver physically and those fans did not like it.

The mindless comment that some lob is that Cornell of course deserved the penalties because Cornell is now the most penalized team in the nation. Yes. Let the logic of that statement settle. Cornell deserved the penalties that it was awarded in the Denver game because Cornell's number of penalty minutes after the game was so high that Cornell became the most penalized team in the nation so it must have deserved all of those penalties in the first place. I guess logical circularity is missed on some. These commenters are starting with a premise that is their conclusion. The accurate comparison would be before the Denver series as to isolate, for comparative purposes, the effects of a series in which officiating was criticized as inconsistent. If one does that, one comes to an alarming conclusion for the Denver fans who make this argument: Cornell and Denver were ranked sequentially at fourth and fifth in the nation in terms of average penalty minutes awarded. The difference between the average number of penalty minutes before last weekend's series was tenths of a minute. So, if such penalty-minute totals make Cornell a "goon hockey program" then what does that make Denver?

For anyone who is interested, it is a nice comparison between Schafer's comments the night after a 5-1 loss compared to his statements after the 2-1 loss. Were one to want to apologize away a team's shortcomings it appears as though it would be for the 5-1 loss rather than the 2-1 loss. A 5-1 loss seems less egregious if officiating is to blame. Schafer chose not to blame officiating for the loss, but chose to criticize the officiating after the second game, the less embarrassing loss. This in itself adds to the sincerity of his belief that the WCHA officials officiated unevenly. Schafer is congratulatory to and complimentary of Denver in the first video. Anyone who wishes to portray him as a mindless homer, as many Denver fans have, misses the point in his typical behavior.

This post is not an attack on Denver hockey. Denver hockey is a historic program in its own right. It is one of the better programs of the West. The Denver fans discussed in this post are not representative of most Denver fans. I've had constructive conversations with many Denver fans before the series and I expect to in the future. The Denver fans referenced throughout this piece are those who represent their program, coach, and student-athletes poorly by harassing other fans on various fora even those dedicated for the enjoyment of Cornell fans. It is a credit to the Lynah Faithful that we have refrained from going on LetsGoDU and harassing Denver fans on their own forum. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the basest representatives of the Denver fanbase.

Some Denver fans claim that John McCarron was penalized for "obscene language" to Gwozdecky. Schafer seems to imply this, but all reports since including the report from College Hockey News state that McCarron directed his comments not to Denver's head coach but to the WCHA officials. Under normal circumstances this might not be acceptable, but this was no normal game. McCarron addressed the WCHA officials with the statement "you're part of the problem." That statement is not unfair and I can think of no locality wherein that statement would be regarded as obscene.

John, we agree with you. Keep scoring goals in high-stakes games. We cannot wait to see you play against Yale back at Lynah.

This last weekend produced mixed messages. The 5-1 loss made certain ambitions seem distant. Cornell rebounded with an equally impressive defensive performance and a convincing offensive performance. The goal of all fans should be for a game to be evenly officiated. The refusal to review two Cornell near-goals with apparent preferential treatment for the in-conference team in terms of penalties should make any objective onlooker suspicious of the outcome of the second game. Denver was the better team the first night. There is no doubt about that. Was it the better team the second night? No one will ever know. The WCHA officials deprived us of knowing.

Iles's performance the second night alongside Cornell's stifling defense and killing of 36 minutes of penalties regained my faith in this team to achieve its goals. The first night's performance was disheartening but that of the second was reinvigorating. Cornell outplayed Denver two nights in a row in most aspects of the game. Cornell nearly overcame biased WCHA officiating the second night to salvage a tie or a win. These are all positive signs.

Cornell enjoys a week's hiatus then begins its final push to clinching a first-round bye before the 2013 ECAC Tournament.

Colorado College
Date of Games Against Cornell: October 26 and October 27
Result: 2-0 Cornell, 3-2 Cornell
Analysis:  The last we left the Tigers of CC, they were struggling to get back to a .500 record. At the end of their long break, they lost a pair to UNO.  The first was a high-scoring match, with the Tigers scoring 4 goals to UNO's 8, while the second game was closer, with a 3-1 result in UNO's favor.  The Tigers are on a seven game winless streak with their last point being a tie against Minnesota and their last win coming against North Dakota in a split series.  Colorado College does not have an easy schedule in the new year with their next game coming against North Dakota in the Ralph.  Though perhaps that is a good thing, as the last loss against North Dakota was a tight game (2-3).
Key PWR Points: Air Force, Bemidji, Clarkson, Wisconsin, tie (and loss) against Minnesota, split with North Dakota.

Michigan
Date of Game Against Cornell: November 24
Result: 5-1 Cornell
Analysis: Is Michigan back?  It is a little premature to say, though they appear to have found their goaltender.  Janecyk is scheduled to start his fourth-straight game against Bowling Green tonight as Michigan returns home after coming in third in the GLI behind Michigan Tech and Western Michigan.
Key PWR Points:  A split with Michigan State (two wins, one loss), tie with Northern Michigan, split with Miami, win over Bentley, split with RIT,  win over Bowling Green, a tie (and loss) with Ferris State, and a split with Western Michigan.

Ferris State
Date of Game Against Cornell: December 28
Result: 5-3 Cornell
Analysis:  Ferris State came into the Florida College Hockey Classic hungering for two wins, but it would only get one.  Cornell defeated the Bulldogs the first night, but the Bulldogs of Ferris went on to defeat the Bulldogs of Minnesota-Duluth the next night, winning the consolation game.  As such, they remained at .500 until they played again.  Their next game was against Michigan State, a team reeling from a fourth-place finish in the GLI.  They also had just beaten Ferris less than a month before.  Ferris took the win and propelled themselves above .500.  They host Ohio State this weekend, hoping to move up the CCHA ladder.
Key PWR Points: Tie with RPI, win and tie with Mercyhurst, splits with Alaska, Miami, and Lake Superior State, a sweep over Bowling Green, a win and tie with Michigan, a win over Minnesota-Duluth, split with Michigan State.

Maine
Date of Game Against Cornell: December 29
Result: 6-4 Maine
Analysis:  Maine came into the Florida College Hockey Classic with two wins in the season.  They left with four.  After winning the Ned Harkness Cup, they split a series with Mercyhurst.  Maine seems to want to rebound and have a better second-half than first half, but that remains to be seen.  They get into the remainder of their Hockey East schedule beginning with a weekend against Northeastern and Merrimack.
Key PWR Points: Win over Army, split with UMass-Lowell, a tie with UMass, a tie (and loss) with Vermont, win over Minnesota-Duluth, win over Cornell, split with Mercyhurst.

Denver
Date of Games Against Cornell: January 4 and January 5
Result: 5-1 Denver, 2-1 Denver
Analysis: After tying and losing to Bemidji, Denver looked to turn around their play, first with a win against Boston University (6-0), and then with a sweep of Cornell (5-1 and a much more controversial 2-1).  They host UNO this weekend looking to continue their winning streak.
Key PWR Points: Wins over Minnesota State, Michigan Tech, Air Force, UMass Lowell, Colorado College, Boston University, Cornell, a split with St. Cloud State, and a tie (and loss) against Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Bemidji.

11. Denver Pioneers
Record: 10-6-3
Series Record: 4-4-0
Friday January 4 & Saturday January 5

Last Meeting:
March 21, 1986 & March 22, 1986
Cornell and Denver have met a total of eight times. Half of those meetings have occurred in the NCAA Tournament. It is therefore unsurprising that the last meeting between the Big Red and the Pioneers was in the NCAA Tournament. What is most surprising is how long ago it was that these prestigious programs clashed on the ice.

The first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament saw the last meeting of Cornell and Denver. The iteration of the NCAA Tournament then involved eight teams. A two-game series constituted the first round. There were East and West Regionals that were hosted at the home rink of the number one seeds. The winner of the series would advance to the Frozen Four. The team that scored more goals over the course of both games would advance to the Frozen Four in the case of a split in the two-game series.

Cornell's appearance in the first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament was at the University of Denver Arena. It was almost 13 years before Denver's current Magness Arena opened. Denver was the number one seed in the 1986 West Regional. Cornell was the number four seed. The other three first-round series saw sweeps with commanding goal differentials.

Cornell drew first blood from the Pioneers in the 1986 NCAA Tournament. Cornell struck midway through the first period. However, the Pioneers in their home building scored three goals that Cornell would not answer until the third period. The first game would end ultimately with the host team victorious by a 4-2 margin.

Cornell was undeterred. Sophomore Joe Nieuwendyk in his only appearance in the NCAA Tournament during his collegiate career struck late in the first period. The Big Red added to this total in quick succession as Cornell went up 3-0 before the close of the first period. One of the two additional goals Nieuwendyk added as well. Nieuwendyk connected for an assist on Peter Natyshak's second goal of the series just over halfway through the second period. Denver would tally three goals in the second game. Ultimately, it would be the carnelian-clad challengers from the East that would claim victory in the second game of the first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament.

Cornell would not advance to the 1986 Frozen Four. Cornell produced the only split in the first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament. The series tie-breaking procedure was invoked and Denver was the team to advance to the Frozen Four from the Cornell-Denver series. Denver had tallied seven goals in the series to Cornell's six goals.

This Season:
Denver was at one point the flavor of the month, or perhaps more accurately, week for voters in both major national polls. Early in the season when both Boston College and Minnesota seemed less demigod-like and more mortal, some voters turned to Denver as the apparent successor to number-one status. The Pioneers climbed to second in USCHO's poll in the middle of November.

Denver then dropped a weekend series against Yale and New Hampshire while Cornell was preparing to slay the Wolverines in Manhattan. The voters of the polls proved that they were a fickle mistress and since have dropped the Pioneers nine spots. Gwozdecky's team around the end of Denver's first academic quarter continued on a seasonal slide that would end with a 0-5-3 stretch.

Denver ended that stretch emphatically last weekend when it played once-Cornell rival Boston University. The Pioneers demolished the Terriers in a commanding 6-0 win. It was Denver's first win in over a month.

It was the first time that Boston University had been shut out in over three years. The last time that the Terriers did not tally a goal was November 6, 2009. This shows that Denver's defense and goaltender Olkinuora are not obstacles that can be overlooked for Cornell's success. Olkinuora turned away all 29 challenges from Boston University.

The performance of Olkinuora and his defensive core have led him to post a 1.69 goals against average. However, this has not been a mere product of Denver's offensive and territorial dominance as Olkinuora has turned away 94.4% of the shots that have been taken on him in his eight games.

Denver can be expected to produce overwhelming offensive numbers. This Pioneer squad has been up to the task. It has scored more than three goals this season 12 times in 19 games. Two of those games were losses to UNH and North Dakota. The remaining ten were victories. Ten of those games including the loss to UNH saw Denver score four or more goals. Denver has lost scoring four goals, but has not when scoring five, a total it has reached eight times this season.

Denver tickles the twine an average of 3.42 times per game. This number should seem amiss to those looking at the obnoxious offensive stated previously. The reason Denver's average of goals per game is so low is because in four of the Pioneers's six losses, Denver has scored one or zero goals.

Fifteen players have scored a goal to add to Denver's current total of 65 goals over the season. Six players have scored five goals or more. The players to have accomplished that are Doremus, Knowlton, LaLeggia, Makowski, Ostrow, and Shore. Knowlton has scored 11 goals for the Pioneers. That total places him 17th in the nation for rate of goal production. The storyline herein is that while the fact that six different players scored Denver's six goals against Boston University gained much attention, there is a core that accounts for over 65% of Denver's goal production.

This week in college hockey circles Denver gained attention in addition to its win over Boston University. While Cornell received coverage for Bardreau's stellar performance on Team USA's grind line in the World Junior Championship, Denver was discussed in the context of losing a player to the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. Freshman defenseman Dakota Mermis departed Denver this week.

The defenseman had tremendous upside when one considers that that he was plus-22 while playing in the USHL for the Green Bay Gamblers. His plus/minus for Denver had not been as tremendous as of yet. Dakota Mermis, not to be confused with his brother who remains on the roster for the Pioneers, had accumulated a minus-1 during the first half of the season. Without delving into hours and hours of game footage and tape, what effect can we glean that this departure may have on Denver?

Gwozdecky this season has shown a penchant for rotating defensemen regularly. Within that systemic choice, he chose to play Dakota Mermis in all 19 games. So, while rotating defensemen in and out of the lineup, Gwozdecky chose to give ice time to the freshman against all opponents that the Pioneers have faced. Furthermore, while rotating defensemen within the game, Dakota Mermis managed to score a goal and add three assists.

Will the loss of Dakota Mermis cripple Denver? Obviously not. However, the blue line may be somewhat weaker than it has been as Denver acts to adjust to a loss of a defenseman who had until this point seen play in all of the Pioneers's games. Another fact that lends itself to concluding that Dakota Mermis may have been more integral to the Pioneers than many thought is the fact that in Denver's shut-out performance against the Terriers Mermis was plus-two with an assist on one of Denver's goals.

Keys to the Game:
Cornell has quietly and little fanfare accomplished an uncommon thing over the stretch of the last five games. Cornell during the middle of last semester could not score more than one goal in a game. The Big Red ended that trend in spectacular fashion with a 5-1 shellacking of the Michigan Wolverines at Madison Square Garden. Cornell has not scored fewer than three goals in its last five outings.

That trend in itself seemed noteworthy for a program that has been historically of a defense-first mindset. Cornell has accomplished similar statistical runs just six times over the last ten seasons. The 2009-10 team that ultimately included three 100-point scorers never accomplished that feat.

The record stretch of games over which Cornell has scored three or more goals is 11 games. The 2004-05 team that won Cornell's 11th ECAC Championship set that record between February 11, 2005 and March 26, 2005. That Cornell run included games against Clarkson, Harvard, Ohio State, Princeton, RPI, St. Lawrence, Union, Vermont, and Yale.

Only one team in the last ten seasons has put together a run of five or more games with three or more goals. Unsurprisingly, that team was the 2002-03 team. That team put together two runs of six games in which Cornell scored three or more goals. The first was between November 22, 2002 and December 7, 2002, and the second was between January 4, 2003 and January 25, 2003. Cornell met Boston University, Brown, Harvard, and Western Michigan in the former run, and Clarkson, RPI, St. Lawrence, and Union in the latter span of games.

Cornell's offensive law during the middle of last season plagues Cornell's offensive statistics. Cornell is 29th in the nation in terms of goals per game. Denver's lull has not undermined its standing as one of the most offensively dangerous teams in the nation. The Pioneers sit at ninth in the nation.

For those who want some semblance of normality in their lives, while Denver outranks Cornell in terms of goal production, Cornell's defense has been stingier than that of Denver. Cornell is ranked 15th and Denver is ranked 21st in the nation in terms of average number of goals allowed.

Cornell and Denver are ranked fourth and fifth as the most penalized teams in the nation. Cornell's case for its ascendance in that category was helped by an outburst of a lack of discipline in the 2012 Florida College Hockey Classic Championship game. Denver will make Cornell pay for such lapses with its top-15 power-play unit. The Pioneers convert on 20.5% of their power-play opportunities.

Cornell would have defeated Maine had it not allowed two power-play goals and an empty-net goal. Maine's power-play conversion rate is ranked 41 places behind that of Denver and converts 11.7% less often. Herein lies one of the primary keys of the game.

Cornell cannot take foolish penalties. When it did so against Maine, it could not win even behind a four-goal offensive performance. Denver is vastly more dangerous than Maine when playing with a man advantage. Bardreau, one of Cornell's penalty killers and best defensive forwards, is in Ufa, Russia preparing for Team USA's gold-medal game against Sweden in the World Junior Championship. This void in the lineup may aggravate any situation that may result in which Cornell takes too many penalties.

Some of the goals that Denver scored against Boston University were less a product of Denver's overwhelming offensive and more a result of defensive collapses. As the below video shows, Boston University surrendered the ice in front of O'Connor for Denver's exploitation in most of the goals while O'Connor failed to make several key saves on at least one unscreened shot. However, as the video shows, Denver's Olkinuora appears as good as his numbers imply.

When facing a program with a history of offense like Denver, it goes without saying that Cornell's defense will need to be stellar. I will not venture a guess as to which game, but in this two-game series, it is all but certain that Andy Iles will need to deliver at least one more memorable and spirited performance. Andy Iles will need to be as reliable as the Lynah Faithful have come to expect him to be for Cornell to have a chance at victory either night.

The formula of how to beat Denver has been written already. Yale defeated the Pioneers 2-1 in overtime. Nine of Denver's games have ended in a tie or a loss. Denver has scored fewer than two goals in seven of those games. Defense is key against Denver. Cornell's offense will need to keep rolling at Magness Arena. However, the game likely will be won or lost behind the blue line and in the penalty box.

Historical Dimension:
There are many to mention. It would be amiss not to at least passingly mention that this is a rematch of the 1969 NCAA Championship game between Cornell and Denver. Denver ensured that Ken Dryden did not become the first goaltender to win two national championships during his tenure between the pipes for the Big Red. No Cornell goaltender has won more than one national championship. Denver defeated Cornell 4-3 in Colorado Springs for Denver's fifth national championship in what was Dryden's last game in carnelian and white.

Denver owns currently the distinction as the last opponent that another famous Cornellian faced in his last game as a player. The first-round meeting between Cornell and Denver in the 1986 NCAA Tournament discussed above as the last meeting between Cornell and Denver was the last game in which head coach Mike Schafer wore a Cornell hockey sweater as player. Schafer was then a captain of the Big Red. He did not record a point against Denver. His last point scored as a player was against Clarkson in the 1986 ECAC Championship Final.

The 1986 NCAA Tournament series that included Schafer's last two games as a player for the Big Red left Schafer in what would become familiar territory for part of his coaching career at Cornell. Cornell was just outside of the Frozen Four. Schafer's senior season was two goals short of a Frozen-Four berth. It ended in Denver, CO at the Pioneers's former home. This will be Schafer's first time coaching Cornell against Denver. Schafer during his term as an assistant and associate coach at Western Michigan never coached against Denver. This is Schafer's first time as coach meeting the program that his senior team defeated in his last collegiate game on the same campus where that series was held.

This post closes with a video that highlights how offensively potent and opportunistic Denver is when it is rolling. Cornell looks not to make the same mistakes that historic rival Boston University did at Magness Arena.