Want to Win Something? Beat Yale

The Cornell class of 2009 departed East Hill without having won a single ECAC championship, ECAC regular season title, or Ivy title during their four years on the hill. The last year this happened? 2001.

While Cornell has had the most success of any ECAC team over the past four years, it's important to remember that these were four lean years in the hardware department. Cornell reached the ECAC final weekend three times and the NCAA tournament twice, but returned home without any ECAC championships or Frozen Four appearances.

I'm tired of looking back at these seasons and saying, "Well, we didn't win anything, but we had a nice run at the end of the year." This season, anything short of an ECAC title and a Frozen Four appearance will be a disappointment. We have the team to contend on the national level, and that is what we should do.

But the road to all things great runs through Yale. Wonder why Cornell is picked above Yale in the national polls yet behind Yale in the ECAC polls? Until Cornell can prove that it can beat Yale, there's no reason to expect Cornell to win the conference.

Just look at what happened last season.

Cornell roared to a 13-1-3 start before losing to Yale at home on January 23. The game wasn't as close as the 4-3 score might indicate. After this, Cornell goes 9-9-1. Talk about a momentum killer.

Then, on the final weekend of the regular season, with a raucous Eli crowd behind them, Yale easily dispatches the Big Red, 4-2, with tournament seedings on the line.

But the Big Red could have put these two losses behind them, as their dramatic double overtime semifinal victory earned them another matchup with Yale, in the ECAC championship game.

The result? A 5-0 embarrassment that had us looking ahead to the NCAA tournament by the second period.

In years previous, Cornell had difficulty defeating Harvard, and it was the Crimson who ended the Big Red's tournament runs in 2002, 2006, and 2008. But the biggest conference opponent is now Yale.

After playing only three regular-season games, Cornell will head to New Haven on November 13. If Cornell wins, or at least plays Yale competitively, I'll be a lot more optimistic about our chances this season.