With just under half of the conference schedule played out, seeding is starting to settle in ECAC Hockey for where teams stand. While a casual observer might see Cornell settled into fifth place, she doesn’t take into consideration that two of the teams directly ahead of Cornell have played three more games than has the Red. What are the real standings heading into a tough road weekend in the North Country? Instead of points alone, let us use points per game – a metric that lets one realize the amount of points that a team tends to garner each game out of its total two points.
1. Clarkson: 1.92
2. St. Lawrence: 1.75
3. Cornell: 1.50
4. Princeton: 1.33
4. Quinnipiac: 1.33
6. Colgate: 1.08
7. RPI: 0.83
8. Yale: 0.58
9. Dartmouth: 0.50
9. Harvard: 0.50
11. Brown: 0.33
12. Union: 0.17
So, what exactly does this mean? This means that this weekend, Cornell can make up a lot of room…or lose a lot of space. If Cornell sweeps the weekend, it can be as high as 1.57 points per game. That is not as high as either of the North Country teams, but if Colgate does its part and helps its Central NY travel partner, Cornell could jump St. Lawrence (a sweep of St. Lawrence by the Red & Raiders results in a 1.50) while Clarkson will still be out of reach but look more mortal with a 1.64 points per game average. Meanwhile, if the North Country sweeps the Red? The Red loses space in the chase and falls to 1.28 points per game, likely increasing the distance even further between the top two in the league.
All or nothing is not meant to be the message of this piece for this team. This team has truly started to gel in a way that is more important as the year goes on. Seniors are showing up both in leadership and on the scoresheet in big moments (game-winning OT goals, anyone?) and freshmen who never played like freshmen at all are continuing to hold steady in their production for this team.
But what remains is that the North Country appears to be the class of the league this season…for now. Is a #1 overall seed necessary to win an ECAC Hockey Championship? Absolutely not. Cornell has won both in its own building and in Potsdam. But, it would be more than just nice to host the playoffs in Ithaca again, whether for one weekend or a two-weekend affair. Cornell is and always has been a playoff team.
Before the break, Cornell went 6-2-1 in conference play. Since play has resumed, Cornell is 2-1-0 in conference play. With the hardest stretch of conference play starting now, Cornell will need to maintain its identity as a gritty, fun, energetic team. The next two weeks see a trip to the league-leading North Country and a trip to the playoff-contending Dartmouth-Harvard pair (And wouldn’t it be nice to sweep the Crimson again?) before returning home in February.
Don’t fool yourselves. This team is doing great things, but few will remember them if they end mid-February. But the journey to the playoffs is always a fun one that this author cannot wait to follow this team on. Raising a banner is the way into eternal memory for the Lynah Faithful. The path to doing so starts tonight at 6:00 pm in Cheel Arena. The character of this team is slowly becoming evident.
All or nothing is not meant to be the message of this piece for this team. This team has truly started to gel in a way that is more important as the year goes on. Seniors are showing up both in leadership and on the scoresheet in big moments (game-winning OT goals, anyone?) and freshmen who never played like freshmen at all are continuing to hold steady in their production for this team.
But what remains is that the North Country appears to be the class of the league this season…for now. Is a #1 overall seed necessary to win an ECAC Hockey Championship? Absolutely not. Cornell has won both in its own building and in Potsdam. But, it would be more than just nice to host the playoffs in Ithaca again, whether for one weekend or a two-weekend affair. Cornell is and always has been a playoff team.
Before the break, Cornell went 6-2-1 in conference play. Since play has resumed, Cornell is 2-1-0 in conference play. With the hardest stretch of conference play starting now, Cornell will need to maintain its identity as a gritty, fun, energetic team. The next two weeks see a trip to the league-leading North Country and a trip to the playoff-contending Dartmouth-Harvard pair (And wouldn’t it be nice to sweep the Crimson again?) before returning home in February.
Don’t fool yourselves. This team is doing great things, but few will remember them if they end mid-February. But the journey to the playoffs is always a fun one that this author cannot wait to follow this team on. Raising a banner is the way into eternal memory for the Lynah Faithful. The path to doing so starts tonight at 6:00 pm in Cheel Arena. The character of this team is slowly becoming evident.
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