What Kind Of Year Will This Be?

When thinking about Cornell hockey, it's often useful to try to compare the current season to past seasons. In other words, try to fill in the blank: "This season will turn out similarly to the ____ season."

Back in July, I wrote that this season, and its schedule, might turn out like 2003's:

One possible explanation for this year's schedule is that Coach Schafer, as he did prior to the 2003 season, knew he had a very good team and wanted to get them some tough games to prepare them for a strong stretch run. That year, Cornell went 5-2-0 out-of-conference, only losing in Florida when All-America goaltender Dave Leneveu missed the tournament to play for Canada in international competition. A similar record this coming year will position us well for a high seed in the NCAAs.

Of course, the team made the Frozen Four in 2003, so this was aiming pretty high.

The 2003 comparison is not completely shot to hell... yet. As in 2003, Cornell has shown a knack for defeating -- destroying, even -- weaker teams. This season, Cornell is 7-0-2 against teams not from the state of Connecticut. In four of those wins, Cornell has put up at least 5 goals. Cornell's current 6-2-1 conference record won't turn into the unreal 19-2-1 ECAC record from the 2002-2003 season, but both years' teams have shown an ability to beat up on the opponents they should win against.

Moreover, this past weekend's low-scoring affairs against RPI (2-1) and Union (2-2) may signal that our offense is coming back to Earth. It may have been premature to argue that 2009-2010 is a significant shift in the type of hockey being played at Cornell. Big defense, a la 2003, is back.

I think that 2009-2010 will, in certain ways, look similar to the 2007-2008 season. That year's team went 12-9-1 in conference, but they were a terrible 0-7-1 during the regular season against the four teams above them in the standings (Clarkson, Princeton, Harvard, Union). If Cornell can't figure out a way to beat Quinnipiac, Yale, and maybe Union, they could end up with something like a 0-4-2 record against the three teams above them in the standings. In 2007-2008, Cornell went 12-2-0 against the teams below them in the standings; we could see similar success this season against the crappier teams of the ECAC.

Although the team missed the NCAA tournament in 2008, Cornell can definitely make it in 2010, even with a 3rd-place finish in the ECAC. The key will be to win non-conference games and boost our record by continuing to beat up on the teams below us.

Or, we could figure out a way to beat Quinnipiac and Yale.