Everything You Need to Know About PWR

In last week's column, Mitch and I provided an introduction to the NCAA hockey tournament selection process. Last night on eLynah, Robb put together a much more comprehensive run-down of Cornell's chances of winning pairwise comparisons against each of the other 24 teams under consideration (TUCs). Head over to eLynah to read the whole thing, otherwise here is Robb's analysis of what we should root for the rest of the season:

Cornell
SLU over anybody but us
Miami, Denver, and Wisconsin over everyone, since we can't catch them anyway
NoDak over SCSU
NoDak over UMD
Anybody over FSU
Anybody over UMass
Anybody over BC
Anybody over MSU
BU and UNH over UVM and Maine
Non-TUCs vs. Nodak
BU over UML
Anybody over Michigan
Anybody over LSSU
CC over Minnesota
Northeastern over UNH
BU over Northeastern
Anybody over Notre Dame

These results either strengthen Cornell's RPI, lower the RPI of teams near us in the pairwise, or help flip comparisons by improving our record with common opponents and teams under consideration. Complicated...

Cornell is tied for 10th in the current pairwise.

The Stretch Run

With last night's win, Cornell finds itself in first place in the ECAC and 13th in the pairwise rankings. As in previous years, Cornell will be able to slide a bit and still earn a high ECAC seed. But, unlike last year, Cornell will not be able to back into an NCAA bid.

Let's look at how the Big Red has done down the stretch over the last few years, specifically the last five ECAC weekends.

2009     2008    2007
L, T     T, W    L, W
W, L     L, L    W, L
L, L     L, W    T, W
W, W     W, L    W, W
L, W     W, L    L, L

4-5-1   4-5-1    5-4-1

Note that Cornell hasn't exactly stormed into March with momentum behind it. Only two of these fifteen weekends were four-point weekends. Certainly things have changed a bit since the 2005 team went 18-0-1 down the stretch before losing to Minnesota in the regional final.

The key to Cornell's ECAC success this season has been to avoid losses to bad teams. Cornell (8-2-2 ECAC) lost to Yale and Quinnipiac when both of those teams were playing well. Cornell tied a streaking Union team and tied St. Lawrence when half of our players were sick.

In each of the last three years, Cornell's stretch run has featured a mixture of encouraging wins against good teams, and ugly losses against bad teams.

This season, more important than Cornell's ECAC seeding is the Big Red's position in the pairwise rankings. So, although each ECAC game counts for an identical amount in the league, Cornell stands to benefit much more from beating Yale, Union, and Quinnipiac than from beating Brown or Dartmouth.

Let's go red.

Cornell's Tough Year Continues

I wrote back in November that Cornell was having an exceptionally difficult year, especially given the budget situation and the high number of student fatalities.

Unfortunately, the trend continues. I was talking to a friend yesterday about the high number of student deaths this year, and told him I'd look through the Sun archives to try to compare this year's number to previous year's.

Well, B.C. over at Ithacating did exactly this, so go over to his blog for more.

If you count the Ph.D. student, that makes for nine fatalities. Comparably, the [Daily Sun's] 'tragic' node records three student fatalities for the entirety of the previous academic year.

This has been a truly unfortunate year for the student body of Cornell.

Swim Test to Become Co-Ed

Beginning this fall, the swim test will be simultaneously administered to students of both genders. My freshman year, the girls took the test at Helen Newman while the boys were sent to Teagle.

Times article from earlier in the month:

One of the earliest [swim tests] was at Cornell, which still requires it. In 1918, the women’s phys ed director decided it was “part of a complete education for a nice young woman to know how to swim,” according to Fred Debruyn, Cornell’s aquatics director. Cornell men dived in two decades later, as did men at hundreds of universities after the Red Cross urged them to get fit for combat in World War II. (Cornell men and women will be tested together for the first time next fall.)

The article also includes a graphic which compares Cornell's requirements to those at other schools.

Eighth Cornell Student Dies

Mark Von Bucher '11 is the eighth Cornell student to have died this academic year. He died on Tuesday from injuries sustained while snowboarding in Utah over winter break.

Von Bucher had been with other brothers of Psi Upsilon at the time of the injury, when he hit his head going off a snowboard jump.

He was active on campus as a member of the club soccer team and was also an animal enthusiast, which influenced his pre-vet studies. He owned geckos and huskies, and Bellars said the two friends bought flying squirrels together. The squirrels still reside in Bellars’ room.

The Biggest Game This Weekend

As much as I love hockey, the biggest Cornell sporting event this weekend will be the Saturday basketball game between Cornell (16-3, 2-0 Ivy) and Harvard (13-3, 2-0).

Hell, the Wall Street Journal wrote about it.

Open your mind to this possibility: The game of the year in college basketball just might be in the Ivy League.

There will be games involving better teams, of course—matchups that feature Final Four contenders, future NBA lottery picks, massive TV audiences and large crowds. But none of those games will be as vital as one game taking place Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y. between Harvard and Cornell.

Only one Ivy team will make the NCAA tournament; without a post-season tournament, Ivy regular season games are extremely important.

I'll be looking for score updates between periods at Lynah.

Explaining the Cornell Law School Boom

I noted last week that applications to Cornell Law School were up 44 percent; the Sun reported yesterday that applications are now up a record 52 percent (although the teaser on page 1 said "44 percent"...).

Why the incredible increase? After talking yesterday with a couple of Cornell law students, it seems like the increase is being driven by three factors.

First is the national increase in people going to law school. LSAT test-taking is up around 20 percent, and that probably means that applications are increasing at most schools. The Times had an article a while ago which speculated that people spent the first year of the Great Recession stunned, or looking for work, and are spending the second year of the recession looking for graduate programs. National trends certainly play a role in Cornell's numbers.

Second is Cornell's position in the law school rankings (13th-ish). As more people apply to law schools, Cornell's position makes it appealing to two groups of applicants. People who think they can get in to the top 10 schools may also apply to Cornell, since they figure there are so many people applying this year that they should apply to a few less competitive schools as well. At the same time, Cornell's position outside of the top 10 means that weaker applicants may still think they have a chance to gain admission to Cornell. Cornell's position enables it to benefit both from an increase in top admissions candidates, as well as an increase in weaker admissions candidates.

These two factors alone shouldn't completely explain Cornell's dramatic increase in applicants. This is where a third factor comes in.

Imagine that you've lost your job during the recession and plan to attend law school. If you're looking at strong law schools in the northeast, Cornell may be more appealing than the NYC schools. Your savings will last you a lot longer in Ithaca than in Manhattan, and you're not sacrificing too much by going to Cornell instead of Columbia or NYU. Rent, food, and everything else is a lot cheaper upstate.

Kent Austin is New Cornell Football Coach

So says his Wikipedia page:

On January 16, 2008, Austin accepted the job as Offensive coordinator at the University of Mississippi, his alma mater, to serve under head coach Houston Nutt. In 2008 Kent’s offense ranked 28th nationally scoring 32 points a game up from 20 points a game in 2007.

On January 26, 2010, Austin acccepted the head coaching job at Cornell University replacing Jim Knowles who left Cornell to become the defensive coordinator for David Cutcliffe at Duke.

Update: Keenan Weatherford of the Sun confirms Austin as the choice. Athletics is holding a press conference at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the Hall of Fame Room, and it can also be viewed online.

Riley Nash, Continued

The Oilers fan blog Lowetide is still quite bullish on their prospect Riley Nash.

In this lengthy post (with 79 comments), they finally seem to recognize that Nash's production is down this year, but they note that he is skilled as both an offensive and defensive player, so he should not be judged solely by his offensive numbers.

Their conclusion:

I'd say the worry here is the EV number, which is going to be where Nash scores most of his points when turning pro. Cornell scored (by year) 63, 59 and (so far) 36 goals at even-strength during Nash's Cornell career. That current number projects to 76EV goals and would represent a team high for the Redmen. Nash's 6 points in 17 games is off the pace. There's still half a season to go and we can probably assume that senior center Blake Gallagher is eating his lunch a little at even-strength and PP; the fact that it is happening in Nash's junior season suggests he has either played less than in previous seasons, has played in bad luck, or is underperforming.

We need to acknowledge also that the Kevin Prendergast may (strictly in hockey development terms and depending on how this season rolls out) be correct: perhaps Riley Nash stayed to long at the fair.

I think it's become clear to Cornell hockey fans that Colin Greening is a significantly better NHL prospect than Riley Nash. Nash is a good penalty killer, and that's probably something he learned at Cornell, but he hasn't become the dominant offensive player that Greening has managed to become. Nash hasn't had a bad season, but his production has gone down. This isn't what you like to see with an NHL prospect.

I know the Oilers will be anxious to have Nash leave Cornell after this season, and I expect he will go. Staying at Cornell for four years worked for guys like Matt Moulson and Douglas Murray, but it might not benefit Riley Nash if he's not improving year to year. With Brendon gone, expect Riley to leave as well.

Nancy Pelosi

is the convocation speaker this year.

I think Pelosi is a slightly better choice than last year's Plouffe debacle, but many of the points I made a year ago can apply again. Just substitute Pelosi for Plouffe, and Levy for Slicklen.

The choice of an unquestionably partisan figure strikes me as inappropriate for this type of occasion. Convocation is not a political rally, and it should be noted that there are many on East Hill who opposed Obama's candidacy. If Slicklen's desire was merely to choose a successful public figure to deliver a motivational speech, there were plenty of nonpartisan options available. Imagine if five years ago the committee had brought Karl Rove to speak, yet attempted to mollify a rabid student body by promising that Rove wouldn't focus solely on politics.

...bringing in someone as highly political and partisan as Plouffe spoils what would otherwise be a rare opportunity to bring the Cornell community together.

Robert Pattinson To Play Cornell Student

Gather:

News yesterday (January 23) said that the Twilight star is in talks to play a a veterinarian student who studies at Cornell. This higher education stint is where the film "Water for Elephants" begins.

Based on Sara Gruen's best seller, the novel adaptation reportedly brings Pattinson together with Sean Penn in the upcoming big screen tale about a young man who looses his parents to a car accident, and subsequently, leaves Ithaca to join the circus.

Filming will take place over the summer, with fewer people around and better weather. IvyGate has more as well.

Rush Week Shenanigans

If you're someone who cares about the Cornell Greek system and wishes it well, there are three times of the year when you get nervous.

The first is Thanksgiving, when many fraternities throw alcohol, drugs, and strippers at prospective members to impress them and make sure they decide to rush their house.

The second is rush week, and the third is Slope Day.

Slope Day has actually been relatively incident-free in recent years, and so has rush week, with the occasional exception of citations for hard alcohol and things like that. Thanksgiving has been somewhat quiet since the Sigma Pi incident in 2007.

This year's rush week at Cornell, unfortunately, did a lot to set back the Greek system.

First there were the now-infamous dress code instructions sent to members of Pi Beta Phi at Cornell. The instructions said things like this:

On Clothes

— Denim leggings are appropriate as long as it’s done right: aka, not from American Apparel and worn with chic, cool, chunky boots over them and a longer top.

— No satin dresses. No one looks good in satin dresses unless it’s from Betsey Johnson or Dolce & Gabbana, you weigh less than 130 pounds, have three pairs of Spanx on and it’s New Years Eve.

To be honest, I didn't think the Pi Phi stuff was particularly bad. Every house wants its members to look good, especially for rush. The person writing these instructions (recruitment chair?) seems a little more maniacal than most sorority officers, but is this really any different from a fraternity which might make its house exceptionally clean for rush, or position its more awkward brothers away from the door? During sorority recruitment, prospective members hear similar messages of sisterhood, philanthropy, etc., at each house, so appearances often play a large role in their decision of which houses to rush. Moreover, different days of sorority rush have different requirements for dress, so it can be difficult for new members to understand exactly what they're supposed to wear.

Still, the arrogant tone and impressive detail of these instructions earned it a story on the Huffington Post, and some negative PR for the Cornell Greek system.

The more serious incident during rush week was the hospitalization of three potential members after they had been drinking at Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike). Rumor is that the rushees were playing a game known as bounce, in which participants drop a wine bottle on a table, and then take a drink. The idea is to finish the wine bottle before it cracks open. You can see the potential for disaster.

The Sun article discusses hazing, but I don't think that was the issue. It seems that the rushees were drinking of their own volition, but that none of the Pike brothers cut them off or put an end to the game. The brothers also decided to drive the rushees to the hospital, instead of calling for an ambulance as part of the medical amnesty policy. This was a poor decision by the chapter leadership (who may have also been very drunk, for what we know), and might land them in additional trouble.

It isn't clear what will come of these incidents. Pike's recognition has been suspended, and they'll probably lose a year of recruitment and be forced to reorganize. There will certainly be seminars on alcohol use and safe practices for its brothers.

As for Pi Phi, the chapter did nothing wrong, although I'm not sure if the incident had a negative impact on their rush numbers. Regardless, sororities will probably be more careful about how they phrase instructions for rush week dress code.

What is Fracking?

Like many people, I've been following the debate about whether Cornell should allow natural gas drilling on its land, but didn't really understand what the process was until reading this article in Campus Progress:

The drilling process is complex and controversial. To extract the gas, energy companies drill vertically into the ground then horizontally underground. This horizontal section of the well is perforated by a small explosion. Millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped into the well, and the pressure from the water causes cracks and fissures in the shale. These cracks allow the natural gas to be pumped out from the well. This process is called hyrdofracking, or fracking for short, and it is the focus of so much of the controversy.

The chemicals used to frack the wells are a trade secret, and combined with the millions of gallons of water needed, the Cornell community is concerned about the environmental effects.

Campus Progress, as a liberal group, focuses on the potentially negative environmental consequences of drilling. Cornell, to its credit, seems set on refusing to allow drilling:

“We don’t expect that Cornell will lease its land for gas drilling in the foreseeable future,” says Simeon Moss, deputy spokesperson for the university.

Cornell Applications Up Five Percent

This is the sixth consecutive year of increases for the Cornell admissions office, although the 5 percent jump is nothing compared to the 44 percent jump in law school applications.

North Dakota Comes to Ithaca

Not much needs to be said about the significance of this weekend. Two top ten teams face off at Lynah Rink. Success this weekend has tremendous significance for either team, not only for the RPI and Pairwise rankings, but also as a confidence boost going down the stretch.

North Dakota is only the second WCHA team to play at Lynah Rink; the first was Denver, which swept a two-game series back in 1979.

Last November in Grand Forks, Cornell made the mistake of trying to play a wide open, western-style game against NoDak. The result was a 7-3 loss. The following night, they returned to playing solid Cornell hockey and pulled off a tight win.

Cornell must resist the urge to play a fast-paced game. Focus on defense, and wait for offensive opportunities. There is no doubt that North Dakota is more talented offensively, and another big weekend from Ben Scrivens might be needed:

Although the defensive numbers are relatively the same – Cornell allows about .1 less goals per game than UND – the goaltending numbers are another story. Ben Scrivens leads ECAC Hockey with a .928 save percentage, while Brad Eidsness has just a .906 save percentage, 43rd in the country.

If it's a high-scoring game, North Dakota wins. If it's a low-scoring game, it's a toss-up.

The team should be healthy and rested, but not rusty. This is playoff hockey, with the significance of an NCAA tournament game. If Cornell loses both games, they must win the ECAC championship to make the NCAA tournament. A split, and things are still up in the air. If Cornell can take at least three points, then they place themselves in a great position to move up in every ranking and get on track for an at-large NCAA bid.

Be disciplined and stay out of the box, especially at the pivotal moments in games. Don't miss wide open nets. Take advantage of opportunities like 5-on-3s. Take care of the puck around the net. These are things which Cornell has struggled with; this weekend is the time when everything needs to come together.

Cornell ties tonight and wins tomorrow for a major confidence boost going into the final stretch. Go red.

1970 Team to Return to Cornell

At one game during the month of February, the 1970 undefeated national champion Cornell hockey team will return to Lynah Rink for a fortieth anniversary celebration.

At 29-0-0, they are the only unbeaten, untied, national championship team in NCAA college hockey history. Ned Harkness was their coach.

Boston Globe

Employment

I will be spending the next two years teaching high school English in St. Louis as part of Teach for America.

I know that the program is not without its controversies, and some teachers in my own family have less than favorable impressions of TFA and its corps members. It will be a challenging two years.

With today's acceptance also comes the elimination of the possibility of viewing many Cornell hockey games over the next couple of years. St. Louis hosted the Frozen Four back in 2007, but aside from that, there isn't much college hockey in the area.

Although difficult, this is a sacrifice I'm more than willing to make for a worthy cause. Let's go Blues.

Secret Cornell Hockey Tradition Revealed

Oops...

Cornell has a longstanding tradition that was previously a locker-room secret until Scrivens mentioned it Jan. 3 on ESPNU following Cornell's 5-2 win at New Hampshire.

It's the Big Red's hard hat award, given after a win or tie to a player who didn't necessarily show up in the score sheet, but made a big impact.

The award comes in the form of a construction workers' hat. It has years from Cornell's national championship teams -- 1967 and 1970 -- and some team slogans etched on it. The sayings are still secret outside of the locker room.

Boehner's Chief of Staff, Cornell Alum, Dies

Paula Nowakowski died on January 10, apparently of a heart attack. She was chief of staff for House Minority Leader John Boehner:

"Words cannot adequately express the sorrow and disbelief I and every member of our team are grappling with today in the wake of this stunning news," Boehner said.

According to WhoRunsGov. com, a Washington Post Co. Web site, Ms. Nowakowski grew up in St. Clair Shores, Mich., and studied English at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

She told Politico of being made more conservative by the campus "rise of the loony left," citing "wacky, wacky stuff," which shaped her politics.

The Politico article referenced has more biographical information on Nowakowski.

Thanks MA.

Today's Special Election in Massachusetts

It's looking like Republican Scott Brown might pull off quite the upset today in the special election to fill Ted Kennedy's seat. Democrat Martha Coakley has run a terrible campaign, and Brown has capitalized on Democratic apathy and popular opposition to the health care bill.

I don't live in Massachusetts, but I'm close to people who know the families of the candidates. My mom grew up in the same town in western Massachusetts as Coakley, although Coakley was four years older. People in the region were quite proud when Coakley held her swearing-in ceremony in Berkshire County, making all the Boston types drive out there for the occasion.

One of my close friends is from the same part of the state as Scott Brown's family, and he has run into Brown several times in the context of sports. He claims that Brown was just ahead of him in a road race, but cheated by cutting the corners in the race. He also recalls playing basketball against Brown and his family; supposedly Brown's daughter, Ayla, played defense by jamming her elbows into my friend's brother. He notes that Brown is not a good shooter.

Of course, these are just anecdotes, but I thought they were interesting.

Another Cornell Student is Dead

This makes seven students who have died this academic year. Wow.

Oliver S. Schaufelberger, 20, a junior environmental science major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, died Wednesday, Jan. 13, at his home in Lebanon, N.J., the university reported Monday.

Schaufelberger was a Cornell Outdoor Education instructor and Outdoor Odyssey guide, an Arnot Forest research intern, an environmental science peer adviser, and an active member of the Cornell Outing Club and Kappa Delta Rho fraternity on campus. The university did not release a cause of death.

We'll see if the cause of death is made public.

On "Stealing" Cheers

Dennis of the Review's blog wrote yesterday that Washington Capitals fans may be stealing Cornell hockey cheers:

During the national anthem, the fans shouted “Red!” for the “rocket’s red glare” part of the song. Two nights ago I attended another Capitals game, and this time the “Red!” chant was much more pronounced and anticipated by all the Washington faithful. After the Capitals starting racking up goals against the Maple Leafs, the crowd mocked the goalie after each goal with a familiar cheer. It went something like “One, Two, Three, Four….[Number of Goals Scored], It’s All Your Fault!” Lacking in both coordination and vigor, it was a rather lame rendition of the cheer we do every time we score against an opposing team.

To his credit, Dennis says he doesn't "entirely disapprove of Caps fans doing these cheers," and speculates that Cornell alumni were the ones who started the cheers.

But, who knows? What we do know is that cheer "stealing" is quite common in college hockey. Just look at how many cheers are shared among the fans of ECAC schools. Things like "one minute remaining... and Cornell still sucks" can be heard in several different rinks. I'm not the only person who plays the cowbell at games.

The history of some Cornell cheers is known. The tradition of waving newspapers during the opposing team's introductions began after a basketball game at the University of Scranton, in which those fans waved papers during Cornell free throws. The "black hole" cheer was actually stolen from Harvard fans back in the day. "Winning team...losing team" was stolen from North Dakota in 1980. "It's all your fault" was stolen from St. Lawrence fans in the early 1980s. Chanting "sieve" at opposing goalies came to Cornell after Big Red fans saw Wisconsin fans doing it in 1970. Cornell students didn't even stand for the entirety of hockey games until the late 1980s.

Things go the other way; Cornell fans will swear that many of the Michigan hockey cheers were stolen from Big Red fans after Cornell played a series in Ann Arbor during the early 1990s.

I'd like to think that at least some of our cheers and traditions are original, but in many cases it's clear that Cornell fans borrowed these things from other schools.

If the Capitals fans like some Cornell cheers, and they catch on at the Verizon Center, then good for them. Cornell fans certainly can't claim to hold copyrights or patents to any of these things.

I'm more impressed with fans who can come up with impromptu cheers and chants than those who can simply participate in the regular cheers. These things come and go... I think recently we've been witnessing the disappearance of the "blue line... idiot" cheer after icing offsides calls. A couple of years ago, this would come out after most icing calls (so long as the band didn't start playing). This year, you hardly ever hear people chanting it. Things change.

Three Points Which Felt Like Four

Seventeen Cornell hockey players had the stomach flu, we skated five defensemen on Friday night, we hadn't won a game in North Country in five years, and faced nearly four minutes of 5x3 in the second period last night.

I will happily take a three-point weekend.

Some of the players I've criticized on this blog had great weekends. Brendon Nash seemed healthy and played very well on Friday night. He committed three penalties in the second period last night, but had a good game aside from that.

Locke Jillson followed up his strong performance in New Hampshire with some nice skating. He seems to be someone we can rely on to carry the puck into the offensive zone and skate around the goal to allow our guys to change and get into the zone themselves.

Justin Krueger made one bad play in each game -- the same one actually, in which he dumped the puck behind him, behind our goal. to an opposing player. But he blocked many, many shots last night and continues to be mostly reliable in a variety of situations.

Nick D'Agostino and Joe Devin also played well, as did Colin Greening and Blake Gallagher, but we've come to expect that.

However, the star of the weekend was Ben Scrivens, who stopped 53 of 55 shots. He made some very big saves in each game, especially during the 5x3 last night. This was the kind of play we saw early last season, when Scrivens was singlehandedly keeping the team competitive in games.

Cornell needs these next few days to recover, both from the flu and from injuries. Patrick Kennedy sat out last night's game, but should be fine in a day or so. Krueger, Riley Nash, Joe Scali and Gallagher all took some hard hits and shots last night, but returned to the ice shortly after.

Cornell is up to No. 17 in the pairwise. If they can secure three or four points against North Dakota (No. 12) next weekend, that might be enough of a boost to get them to No. 11 or 12, and on pace to make the NCAA tournament. Zero or one points, and Cornell will probably need to win the ECAC tournament to make the dance.

The key to everything at this point in the season is to win. Cornell is one point behind Union in the ECAC standings, and two points ahead of Yale, but Cornell has played one more game than those two schools. I do expect Union to falter at some point down the stretch, so there will be an opening for Cornell to get itself to the top.

It's not particularly important to secure a No. 1 seed, but it would be nice to finish in the top 2 or 3 to earn the first-round bye and a (likely) easier opponent in the quarterfinal round. Unless the Big Red win big next weekend, they're going to need a strong performance in the ECAC tournament.

Union Women Finally Win an ECAC Game

As Cornell hockey fans we tend to complain a lot when the team struggles a bit, but it's important to keep things in perspective. Forget about going a weekend or two without winning a game; the Union women's hockey team went almost six years without winning an ECAC game:

The Union women's hockey team entered Saturday's game at Brown winless in 119 straight Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference games.

Freshman goalie Alana Marcinko stopped all 47 shots that came her way to lead Union to a 3-0 win against the Bears to snap the near six-year drought.

The victory is the Dutchwomen's second ever in ECAC play, their first coming on Feb. 28, 2004, against Cornell, 3-1.

At least Cornell no longer has the distinction of being the last ECAC team to lose to Union.

Speaking of, the Big Red women have fallen out of the top 10 in the polls, but broke a three-game losing streak with a tie and a win this weekend.

Clarkson and St. Lawrence

Ah, the first road trip of the spring semester. Thankfully the weather looks like it'll cooperate for this year's trip to the North Country.

This weekend last year was... pretty bad. Lots of snow on the trip, and the temperature was around 10 F the whole time. I was staying at a friend's house, which was supposedly in Canton but required driving for several miles through back roads to get there. These were the kinds of roads which are flanked by farmland, and the snow drifts on either side of the road kept blowing powder back at the car. The roads hadn't been plowed for a few days, so every so often we'd drive through drifts of a few inches. It's a different world up there.

On the hockey ice, Cornell suffered one of its worst defeats in recent memory: an 8-1 disaster at Canton. It was the kind of game which just made you laugh after a while. Scrivens was pulled in the second period, and Schafer pulled Garman early in the third to try to get some offense; SLU scored an empty netter. After the game, I was struck by how much nicer the SLU fans are than the Lynah Faithful. At Lynah, students would have been jumping all over themselves to taunt the hopeless opposition and their fans. At St. Lawrence, multiple strangers came up to me and expressed their condolences on the game, saying "we've been in that situation before; hope you rebound tomorrow night."

The 8-1 game was only Cornell's third loss of the season, but it exposed some glaring weaknesses (i.e. can't handle a two-man forecheck). Cornell won only one of its next five games, and thus began the slide from atop the ECAC and Pairwise rankings. Cornell recovered defensively, but couldn't get any offense in a 0-0 tie against Clarkson the following night.

On paper, this year's North Country weekend should be manageable. Clarkson has a pathetic record of 5-12-3 (1-5-2 ECAC), and has only won twice since late October. St. Lawrence (10-8-3) has had an up-and-down season, losing to Maine 10-1 over Thanksgiving but having some other strong non-conference results (beating Boston College). They've only lost once at home all season.

As has been the case in recent seasons, this is one of those weekends in which everything depends on Cornell. The Big Red have the talent to win both of these games, and win them easily. But many questions remain.

Will the team have recovered from the stomach bug? Even if they are recovered, has the lack of practice this week hurt them?

Will they be able to carry forward their momentum from UNH, or will the lethargic squad which showed up in Florida show up once again this weekend?

This was right around the time when Ben Scrivens began to crack last season. Will he be able to avoid another second-half letdown?

Having missed the UNH game, I feel a little out of the loop, as it's been a couple of very long weeks since I saw the team play. I've heard that some guys who were struggling earlier (Riley and Brendon Nash, Locke Jillson) had an excellent game up in New Hampshire, so we'll see if they can continue this strong play.

What may help Cornell is that both Clarkson and St. Lawrence have terrible penalty kills; combined with Cornell's high rate of success, this means we're likely to see some good chances for the Big Red on the powerplay.

Still, plenty of factors point towards doom.

In each of his three trips to Canton, Scrivens has been pulled by the second period. Supposedly the awful siren was donated by the local fire department; we've been hearing a lot of it recently.

Cornell last earned a sweep in the North Country in 2005, and is 0-5-3 since then.

I think the Big Red will pull out a win tomorrow against Clarkson, 3-2 or something close. Then another loss in Canton, 4-1. Cornell has only earned one four-point weekend all season, and there's no reason to expect that to happen this time.

Clarkson students are back, so that should be exciting. St. Lawrence resumes on Monday, but I expect a lot of people to be back by Saturday.

Maybe They Should Have Asked Hastings '10

Although Cornell senior Brian Hastings won over $4 million playing poker a few weeks ago, the Department of Sociology is out with a new study which cautions that winning may not be as easy as it seems:

A major finding of a new Cornell study of online poker may seem counterintuitive: The more hands players win, the less money they're likely to collect, especially when it comes to novice players.

The likely reason, said Cornell sociology doctoral student Kyle Siler, whose study analyzed 27 million online poker hands, is that the multiple wins are likely for small stakes, and the more you play, the more likely you will eventually be walloped by occasional but significant losses.

My understanding of online poker is that the few people who, like Hastings, win big, are balanced by plenty of people who lose big and get themselves into major debt. If you're good at it and you can win money, that's great. We had a guy in my fraternity a couple of years ago who was a serious poker player and could make a few hundred dollars in a night by playing against weaker players online.

But for every person who wins money, there are plenty who lose.

Illness Widespread on Hockey Team

Following last night's phone-a-thon to raise money for the Cornell hockey program, approximately half of the hockey team came down with a stomach ailment.

Hopefully it's one of those 24-hour deals and the team will be ready to play on Friday in Potsdam.

No Students, No H1N1

I was told by a nurse at Gannett today that cases of H1N1 flu have essentially disappeared over the winter break. Not a surprise, but it gives credence to the idea that Cornell could dramatically slow the spread of pandemic flu by sending home as many students as possible.

The nurse was also hoping that rush week would be canceled, which will not happen.

It seems that Cornell had one big wave of cases around September, then another bump in cases around November, with a steady rate of 10-15 new cases a day between those two periods. Hopefully we won't see another escalation in cases once classes begin again.

Claim: Cornell Admits Students in Exchange for Donations

Ithaca Journal:

Eldred Harris, a former reunion campaign officer in the Alumni Affairs and Development Office, is suing the university for $30,000 in overtime fees. Cornell officials allege in court documents that Harris said he had information about a supposed university admissions practice in which mediocre students were offered placement in return for large donations, and threatened in March 2008 to reveal it if a settlement was not reached.

...

"To highlight one of many of Mr. Harris's significant concerns, I have included three disturbing e-mails with this letter," Banks quoted Peacock's letter as saying. "They illustrate quite clearly that for majority donors, there is a threshold gift level that impacts admission decisions despite all of the lofty protestations to the contrary. The first sets forth the price of admission to Cornell; the second, if the price is paid even a mediocre student will be admitted. Both students were admitted to Cornell."

The Stingiest Ivy

An email to members of the current senior class included this statistic:

Last year, 1,777 seniors (nearly 55% of the class) set a new record for the decade's most participants.
However, Cornell had by far the LOWEST participation in the Ivy League in 2009:
Dartmouth: 96%
Princeton: 91%
Columbia: 90.5%
Yale: 89%
Brown: 74.8%
Harvard: 74%
UPenn: 71%
Cornell: 54.7%

Note that this is the percentage of students who donated any amount whatsoever to the campaign. Pretty pathetic. I haven't donated yet myself, but plan to in the weeks ahead.

Can't the SA tack on an extra $.25 to the student activity fee and designate this quarter for "Class Fund" or something? Then 100 percent of enrolled students will donate each year.

Cornell Law School Apps Up 44 Percent

Good news for the law school, but bad news for those of us who applied this year.

Some increases are more explicable than others. Applications to the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University have risen 54 percent this year, which may be related to its rise in the U.S. News & World Report rankings to 23 in 2009, from 36 the year before.

But at Cornell University’s Law School, whose ranking has remained relatively stable, applications are up 44 percent, and no one is quite sure of the reason for such a large increase.

Richard Geiger, dean of admissions, said: “I’m a little thrown off by the fact that our increase is much bigger than expected. There’s nothing big we’re doing to explain that kind of increase.”

A Possible Two-Sport Cornellian?

It's hard to determine exactly what this kid's admission status is, but if he's looking for a school which will let him play both hockey and lacrosse, he's not going to find one with stronger teams than Cornell.

Cody Bremner, who plays junior A hockey with the Nanaimo Clippers and junior A lacrosse with the Nanaimo Timbermen, completed that rare double this season. He was a B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League first-team all-star in 2008, and on Wednesday (Jan. 13) he will play in the 2010 B.C. Hockey League All-Star Game.

For now, Bremner doesn’t need to choose between his passions. He’s accepted a lacrosse scholarship to the NCAA’s Cornell University in 2010-11, but he’d prefer a hockey scholarship if he can swing it. There’s even a chance he’ll find a school that will recruit him for both sports.

“You never know, something like that might come up,” he said. “I’d love to do that. It’s something not many people get to do.”

Nanaimo has produced a lot of hockey talent for Cornell over the years; maybe we can develop a lacrosse connection as well.

King for a Day

There are some very good reasons why I shouldn't be allowed to coach the Cornell hockey team. But, if the opportunity presented itself, here are the lines I would send out.

Greening/Gallagher/J. Devin
Kennedy/R. Nash/B. Nash
Miller/Collins/Roeszler or Jillson or Moulson
Nicholls/Scali/Kary or Axell

Birch/Krueger
D'Agostino/M. Devin
Whitney/Ross

The top line has been extremely productive this season and there's no reason to split it up. For the second line, we should stop asking B. Nash to play defense and put him on a forward line with Riley. He's good at carrying the puck into the zone, and this way he doesn't have to worry about being out of position in case there's a quick turnover. Plus, both he and Kennedy have decent size, so that might give Riley some room to maneuver.

Miller and Collins are both good enough to play every day, and either Roeszler or Jillson would logically fill the third spot on the third line. I would maybe cycle Chris Moulson in there just to give him a chance to play. For the fourth line, I would abandon the pre-season theme of "four lines of offense" and return to more of a traditional checking line. Scali and Nicholls start each game, with either Kary or Axell joining them.

Defensively, the Birch/Krueger pairing has been the most reliable so far this year, so I would start them. I would also leave Devin and D'Agostino together, and Ross would replace B. Nash for the third pairing.

Thoughts?

What Do People Think of Cornell?

Unlike prominent people and corporations, colleges do not spend a lot of money on public opinion polling. Although we know that approximately 38 percent of Americans have a positive opinion of Tiger Woods, we have no idea how many people have a positive opinion of Cornell, or what Americans think of Cornell in general.

I recently saw Up in the Air, the much-praised movie in which George Clooney's character flies around the country to tell employees of cowardly companies that they've been fired. Anna Kendrick plays the role of a recent college graduate and co-worker of Clooney's who wants their company to save money by firing employees over streaming video; Clooney, who loves flying, is understandably opposed. Their boss decides that Kendrick should accompany Clooney on some trips so she understands how things work "in the field." (For the record, I enjoyed the movie but didn't think it deserved to be put on any "top 10 of 2009" lists.)


The relevance here is that Kendrick's character graduated from Cornell. For the moment, she joins Andy Bernard of The Office as the two most prominent fictional Cornell graduates in entertainment. The two characters are quite different; Kendrick's character is portrayed as super smart, while Bernard often plays the fool in the office. But there are certain similarities.

Both characters possess strong educational credentials, but their quality education is offset by glaring weaknesses. Kendrick's character seems strong on the outside but weak on the inside. After graduating college, she passed up a good job in California to "follow a boy" to Omaha. While Clooney is strong and steady, Kendrick breaks down while trying to fire someone and copes with a breakup by wandering naively into a stranger's arms. (There's more to her weakness, but I won't ruin it.) Throughout the movie, she's portrayed as out-of-touch; in effect, she's the typical book-smart-but-not-street-smart Ivy stereotype.

Andy Bernard's weaknesses are even more obvious. He's unable to think on the same level as someone like Jim Halpert, his lack of common sense gets him into trouble with females, and he's not even particularly good at his job (recall that he and Pam, as the two salespeople with the lowest numbers, had to make cold calls).

Have Cornell graduates, at least in entertainment, become known as people with good educations but little awareness of what goes on around them? They think they're bright and know what to do, but they need smarter-yet-worse-educated people to correct them.

This is an extremely small sample size, but maybe characters who are the complete package (brains and common sense) are scripted as Yale or Harvard graduates, and Cornell is the school for characters who have the first but not the second quality.

Bear with me on this slow Cornell news day.

Dave McKee Rape Trial Set to Begin

Former Cornell hockey goalie David McKee '05 is set to be tried on charges that he raped an intoxicated woman in California back in 2005. McKee was playing minor league hockey at the time.

The charges were brought in June, and the trial will begin on January 19 in Santa Ana.

McKee's case continues to receive very little attention in the media, which is probably good for him and for Cornell.

Final Post About the Game

Oops? This prediction was a little off. (From here)

Cornell @ Kansas. A game a few think KU could get tripped up in. Why? Because Cornell resembles a somewhat competent team from the Ivy League? People get too high on Ivys because there’s a charm factor there. Cornell isn’t sniffing a 10-point loss tonight.

One More Note

Number of full athletic scholarships given to Kansas men's basketball players: 13

Number of athletic scholarships given to Cornell men's basketball players: 0

Cornell Nearly Defeats Kansas

Wow, this was a hell of a basketball game.

Cornell went to Lawrence, Kansas, tonight, to play the undefeated No. 1 team in the country, on a court on which they've won 50 consecutive games.

And the Big Red led for most of the game, including a one-point lead with 50 seconds remaining.

It's a shame Cornell lost, but they played a great game. Kansas was the better team, and they should be, with their ability to recruit across the country, give full scholarships, have no academic requirements, etc. But the Big Red proved tonight that they are a legitimately good basketball team. It was perhaps a little too much to have hoped for Cornell to hold on.

The worst part of the game wasn't the result, but the experience of listening to the homer television announcers on ESPN360. Every shot Kansas made was unbelievable, exciting, and a game-changer, and the crowd was always back in the game, and Kansas was always making the shot of the game, even though they were losing the whole time. Every Kansas basket was replayed; the only Cornell shots which were replayed were the ones which were blocked. Rarely was any credit given to Cornell for accomplishing what they did tonight.

As Kansas finally took the lead in the final minutes, from listening to the announcers you would have thought that the Jayhawks were the underdogs. Man, poor Kansas, they had everything going against them. Missed shots which hit the rim? Just one of those nights. Foul called on Kansas? A questionable call.

The worst was when Alex Tyler scored a basket in the first half, but the Kansas coach thought he had shuffled his feet. We were forced to watch the replay several times (one of the only replays of Cornell baskets) as the announcers jumped all over themselves to agree that it was a missed call. Here's the good part: we shift to a shot of the officials conferring on the court after calling Self for a technical, and although it's impossible to hear what they're saying or read their lips, the announcers matter-of-factly state that the one referee is scolding the other one for missing the traveling call. Give me a break!

Truth is, Cornell shot below its season average for field goal percentage, three point percentage, and foul shot percentage, so you can't explain this away by saying that Cornell played out of their minds and Kansas had an off night.

Rather, Cornell is a legitimately good basketball team this year. It might be a stretch to expect us to beat Kansas in Kansas, but we can play with anyone in the country and win a game or two in the NCAA tournament.

Let's hope there's no letdown at South Dakota in a couple of days, and there's still a difficult Ivy schedule standing between here and the NCAA tournament.

Back Up North

After a rough 19 days in the Sunshine Freezing Cold State, I'll finally be flying back to the Northeast later today. This "vacation" has been difficult on many levels and I'm looking forward to heading north.

On an unrelated note, here's an interesting perspective on Cornell hockey fans from a Manhattan barmaid (and UNH alum, apparently):

The four guys in the corner wearing red and white break out in shouts and applause, and I don't have to turn around and look at the television to know something has happened that I won't like, but I do anyway. Sure enough, Cornell has taken a 3-2 lead against my beloved Wildcats, and I heave a sigh. One of the Cornell guys comes up to the bar shortly thereafter to order another pitcher, and points at the New Hampshire hockey jersey I'm wearing. To his credit, instead of needling me about the current score, he asks, "Hey, is that a game-worn?"

Gender Equality

The Cornell men's and women's hockey teams have identical records of 8-4-2 and identical rankings of No. 8 in their respective USCHO polls.

Cornell Hockey at its Best

Here's a video from the third period of the UNH game. It begins after the third Cornell goal and ends with the fourth. Amazing cycling, puck control, and physical play along the boards.

The best part is when the announcer says "this Wildcat line's been out there a long time," and then Cornell maintains possession in the zone for another 70 seconds before scoring.

Cornell changes lines twice while keeping the puck in the zone. A team with this much potential should not have lost both games last week in Florida.

Weill Cornell Medical College in New York Citi

Today's Times has a lengthy, mostly positive article about Sandy Weill, the former CEO of Citigroup who has donated heavily to Cornell:

Over the last two years, Mr. Weill has watched Citi — a company he built brick by brick during the final act of a 50-year career — nearly fall apart. Although every taxpayer in the country has paid for Citi’s outsize mistakes, for Mr. Weill the bank’s myriad woes are a commentary on his life’s work.

“Sandy will forever be identified with Citigroup,” says Michael Armstrong, a Citi board member and a former chief of AT&T. “He put everything he had into its creation.”

Despite Citi's fall, Weill still lives "baronically," so it seems his stream of donations to Cornell will continue in the near future.

Thanks MA

Cornell Hockey Mid-Season Grades

Now that the hockey team has recovered from its horrendous Sunshine State performance by winning big in New Hampshire, I'm not quite so "down" on this team. This more level-headed mindset makes it a good time to do some mid-season grading. Players are listed in alphabetical order, grouped by position.

Forwards:

Erik Axell - B
Axell's got some size at 6-4, and with some practice he can develop into a solid checking-line player. He's been platooning with Nicholls, but at this point Nicholls is the more effective player. Axell came in as the least heralded of the three freshmen who played together on St. Michael's, and he's at least met expectations.

Sean Collins - B+
Collins scored his third goal of the season at UNH, and it turned out to be the game-winner. As long as Blake Gallagher and Riley Nash are still on the team (i.e. rest of this year), Collins will play on the third line. With his size and occasional offensive flair, I thought at the beginning of last year that he might develop into a Colin Greening-like physical player. Hopefully he'll develop enough to be a solid top-line center next season.

Joe Devin - A
Third on the team with 14 points, including two game winning goals. It's not clear how much of this is due to line mates Greening and Gallagher boosting his point total, and how much is due to his own improvement. To Devin's credit, he's also stayed out of the penalty box. With Gallagher, Greening, and Nash (likely) gone next year, he'll lead the team in goals.

John Esposito - C
A factor in the Riley Nash conundrum, Esposito is showing a Tony Romano-like stubbornness at understanding what he's expected to do with the puck. I don't know how many times I've seen Esposito take the puck over the blue line, try some stupid spin move to get around the two defenders parked between him and the net, and lose the puck. He's fast, but looks smaller than his listed 5-10. Yes, yes, he's only a freshman, but it's never too early to start improving. Schafer has tried him on the checking line a couple of times, but I don't think that's a good fit.

Blake Gallagher - A+
Okay, so he's cooled off a bit in recent games, but his torrid start is the main reason why Cornell was ranked No. 4 in last week's poll. Eleven goals this season, including seven on the powerplay. Greening led last year's team with 15 goals. Barring injury, Gallagher should eclipse that mark in February.

Colin Greening - A-
He's the most dominant player on the ice and his 6-13-19 line shows that he's had a hand in around 40 percent of the team's goals this year. He works hard, can do amazing things like score that solo goal against Princeton, and tires out opposing defenses. But that idiotic hit from behind against Quinnipiac, which resulted in Greening's ejection from a huge game in the first period, is inexcusable for a team captain. That's why he gets the minus from me.

Locke Jillson - B-
Someone else who hasn't quite developed into the offensive player he could be. One goal in 30 games last year, and one goal in 13 games this year. Maybe Schafer will figure out a player or two with whom Locke plays well, and his production will go up. Nice goal against BU. Perhaps things are looking up; someone on eLynah said after the UNH game "I thought Jillson had the best game of his Cornell career today. He made a number of excellent passes, and finally seemed to be on the same page with Riley Nash."

Jordan Kary - Incomplete
Like Axell, Kary seems destined for a checking role. He's only played in five games this year, but he hits big and can get the crowd fired up. Perhaps he can be groomed into a penalty killer to replace Scali for next year.

Patrick Kennedy - B-
Looked great at the start of the year, got injured at Yale, and hasn't seemed the same since. He's coupled undisciplined play (10 minors) with limited offense (5 points in 13 games). For someone who's seeing a lot of ice time with Riley Nash, he should be generating more offense. And stop mouthing off every time the whistle blows.

Vince Mihalek - Incomplete
The only American among the freshmen hasn't seen any ice time.

Greg Miller - A-
Perhaps the happiest surprise among the newcomers, Miller has played in every game this season. He might not be the answer to the question of who's going to play with Riley Nash, but he's shown some offensive flair and will only get better as the season progresses.

Chris Moulson - Incomplete
Unfortunately for Chris, Lynah will never know him as anything other than Matt's brother unless Schafer gives him some ice time.

Riley Nash - C+
I'm basing this grade on expectations. First-round NHL draft pick Riley took forever to get his first goal of the season, penalties are up, and he doesn't seem to have improved since last year. Good news: he's still tallied 13 points, and there's plenty of time for him to get going. Can someone please make Nash practice some two-on-ones?

Dan Nicholls - B+
Your typical checking line Big Red hockey player, Nicholls hasn't quite earned himself a starting job. He's played in about half of the games, and needs to stay out of the box a bit more (6 minors in 8 games). Remember that time Nicholls scored two goals at Dartmouth?

Tyler Roeszler - C-
Like Jillson, he makes you scratch your head. Why the lack of production? Roeszler has one goal in 40 career games, and none this season. He scored the first two goals against Windsor in the first exhibition game, but hasn't found the net since. Undersized Cornellians like Topher Scott, Even Barlow, and Gallagher managed to figure out ways to create offense; it's puzzling why Roeszler hasn't progressed much. Not sure what his faceoff numbers are, but that shouldn't be enough to keep him in the lineup.

Joe Scali - A
Scali is the kind of player you need to win championships. He works hard to kill penalties, seems to love forechecking, and has found a way to get a little offense (3 G) this year.

Defensemen:

Braden Birch - B+
Birch showed off his speed during the Red-White scrimmage, and I thought that might help on breakout plays, but he seems to be focusing more on positioning and solid defense than offense this season. His line with Krueger has been solid, and he should be a pretty reliable defenseman in a year or two.

Nick D'Agostino - A-
I like this guy. Leads all freshmen with 7 points, and like Birch, he'll only get better.

Mike Devin - B+
Still too many giveaways and blue line bobbles. His shot from the point seems more accurate this year.

Justin Krueger - A
Especially in light of the next guy, it's important to consider how much Krueger has improved since his freshman year. He's reliable, and has played in more games than everyone except Greening. He knows the Cornell style and works well within it.

Brendon Nash - D
Tied for the team lead (with brother Riley) with 11 minor penalties. He goes to the box at the worst times (start of the period, end of the period-BU!!!), and it's usually because he lets guys get past him. Nash gets tons of ice time and starts every game he plays, but it's not clear why. Good for Schafer for benching him after the BU game. No noticeable improvement since 2006. Every time he's on the ice for a Cornell goal, regardless of who scored it, he goes first in the fist-pounding line. Sometimes I think I'm too hard on him this year. When he scores an own goal against BU... when he makes error after error at Yale... when he abandons the puck in front of our net against Colorado College... when he sets the tone for an abysmal Florida weekend by going to the box 44 seconds into the first game... (the following night he waited almost 14 minutes before going to the penalty box)... is it just that I'm looking for reasons to criticize him? Or is he really this bad?

Keir Ross - B+
It seems like Schafer prefers putting Whitney out there with B. Nash; looks like a wash to me, except that Ross makes fewer mistakes.

Jarred Seymour - Incomplete
I believe he's been injured for the whole season, or at least he was earlier in the fall.

Sean Whitney - B+
Playing on the dream team defensive line with Nash. Whitney has seemed more confident handling the puck this year; unlike his line-mate, he hardly ever commits penalties.

Goalies:

Mike Garman - Incomplete
Assuming Andy Iles comes in 2011, Garman will have one year as the starting goalie. Hopefully, when he committed to Cornell, he knew that Schafer doesn't like to give backup goalies ice time just for the sake of keeping them fresh.

Omar Kanji - Incomplete
Following the proud tradition of Louis Chabot and Dan DiLeo, Kanji will play a few minutes during his senior night in March 2013, assuming Cornell has a three-goal lead late in the third period.

Ben Scrivens - A
He still has plenty of detractors in the fan community ("Sievens"), but he's turning in a solid Cornell career. He's not as technically sound as Leneveu, and his numbers (and the team in front of him) aren't as good as McKee's era, but he's kept the team in a lot of games by making some big saves when the defense collapses. His job is more difficult than Leneveu's or McKee's; he faces more shots, and better shots. His positioning has improved, and he doesn't leave the net as often as he used to. He's let in some weak goals, especially from the blue line against Yale and BU, but he hasn't needed to be pulled in any game. Hopefully he'll avoid the second-half struggles which destroyed any hope of consideration for the Hobey Baker last year. With mediocre results so far, Cornell can't afford another late-season slide. Scrivens's numbers this season aren't good enough for Hobey hype (.923 2.20, 8-4-2, 1 SO), so maybe that will take some pressure off his shoulder pads.

Coach Mike Schafer '86 - B
The team, with National Championship potential, has only won eight of fourteen games. Schafer hasn't figured out a good fit for Riley Nash, and sometimes seems desperate to find working lines (Scali with Riley Nash? Really?). The team is undisciplined, and it's costing them games. Except for brief stretches, the players looked slow and unmotivated in Florida. The powerplay hasn't developed a good third option (besides shot from the point and Gallagher one-timer from the left side), and that might explain its recent troubles. Schafer broke his wrist pounding a wall after the BU game; on the ice that night, the team settled for a tie because the offense disappeared in the third period. Recruiting is good, but that's not really his department. Still, the team has avoided losing any ECAC games to bad teams, and they have maybe a 1-in-3 chance to make the NCAA tournament. We'll see whether he can pull out a nice stretch run, or if the season will end as a bust.

Slow News Day in Park Rapids, Minn.

I wasn't quite sure what to think when this popped up in a Google news alert:

Tyler Lehrke and the Bemidji State University men’s hockey team made history last March by earning the program’s first trip to the Frozen Four.

BSU became the first No. 16 seed and the first team from College Hockey America to advance to the national semifinals.

This is a legitimate news article, dated January 2, 2010. Does it take nine-and-a-half months for news to reach upstate Minnesota?

Had, back in March, some editor thrown this on a list of possible story topics, and it was only discovered this weekend?

Another Cornell Student is Dead

Cornell junior Clayton DeFisher died at a New Year's party yesterday morning.

DeFisher was attending Cornell University, where he was interested in biology and outdoor activities like tree climbing.

State police say they don't believe there was any foul play involved but they are continuing to investigate.

A Streak Ends

Due to a death in my family, I will be missing tomorrow's game at New Hampshire. My streak of 43 consecutive (and 60 of the last 62) Cornell hockey games attended will come to an end.

During the last home game of my sophomore season, that year's "cowbell guy" proudly announced that he had made it to every game while holding that honor. As much as I've tried to juggle my commitments to make that happen -- i.e. leaving my fraternity's initiation at 3 a.m. to drive to the NCAA Regional in Grand Rapids, or taking the LSAT at SUNY Albany between games at RPI and Union -- there are some things I can't control.

There should be a good crowd of Cornell fans in Durham tomorrow. Let's go red.

Ivy League Investigating Cornell Financial Aid Practices

MetaEzra is reporting today that the Ivy League is investigating Cornell's two-tiered financial aid calculations. The idea was that there would be a separate, more generous financial aid formula applied to students whom the university really wanted. Here's what then-S.A. President Ryan Lavin said at the time the new system was announced:

“Selecting students for greater aid based on certain characteristics of their candidacy, whether the student be an athlete or an underrepresented minority, is a fundamental change in financial aid policy,” Ryan Lavin ’09, S.A. president, said. “Students with the same financial need eligibility could have different packages under this new system.”

Of course, at MetaEzra pointed out at the time, this sounds like a form of merit-based aid, which is a violation of Ivy rules.

We'll see whether there's an official statement (i.e. Cornell Chronicle article) from the University. It'll be interesting to see what Robin Harris and friends have to say on the matter.

The Elephant in the Article

Dan Sweeney's column in Wednesday's Ithaca Journal makes an awkward dance around one of the big issues facing the Cornell hockey team:

Although its place on the line sheet may be different at times, there is no question that the trio of Colin Greening, Blake Gallagher and Joe Devin has been the Cornell men's hockey team's top full-strength line this season.

Yet that line, along with Cornell having the best power play in the country, has been masking the struggles of the wings playing on the second line alongside Riley Nash.

Patrick Kennedy, Greg Miller, John Esposito, Locke Jillson and (to a much lesser extent) Joe Scali have all flanked Nash. To this point, their production has been very limited.

The point of Sweeney's column is that Schafer is having trouble finding qualified people to play on the second line alongside Riley Nash. Patrick Kennedy looked good earlier in the season but hasn't played as well after the injury at Yale. Miller has a couple of goals, but he's only a freshman. Esposito tries the same stupid moves every game which clearly worked in juniors but lead to neutral zone turnovers in college. Jillson scored that nice goal at MSG but hasn't done anything else all season (two points in twelve games).

With the success the top line has been having, Schafer can't justify breaking them up permanently. Still, especially when the team is behind, Schafer has tried putting Nash with Greening to generate more offense. This combination helped Cornell get some life on Tuesday in the third period against Colorado College. On Wednesday, Riley Nash scored his fourth goal of the season when Schafer put him out with Greening and Devin at the end of the first period against Princeton.

Here's the thing which Sweeney doesn't come out and say:

The problem isn't just the other guys; it's Riley Nash.

The implicit assumption here is that Riley is a great player who should be racking up the points, if only he had decent players on his line. He's a first-round NHL draft pick, after all.

Here's the truth: Riley Nash has simply been ineffective this season. He has four goals in thirteen games, but three of those have come when he's skating with Greening. In his assigned role, as the anchor of the second line, he's only put the puck in the net once. Sure, he's made some good moves, he handles the puck well, and he's gotten off some nice shots. But he's also blown two-on-ones, missed open nets, and has just seemed absent for large stretches of games.

Maybe it's mental. Maybe Nash is pissed that he's not on the top line and sees Miller et. al as inferior offensive players. Schafer has rotated through a bunch of combinations, so it's been tough for Nash to get settled.

But this doesn't excuse Nash's lack of discipline. He shares the team lead (with his brother Brendon, naturally) for penalties with 11 minors. Riley went to the box only 14 times last year. If you're an NHL scout monitoring his development, the combination of less offense with less discipline is not encouraging.

True, there isn't enough offensive talent on the Big Red to give Riley two top-notch line-mates. However, just as Colin Greening has brought out the best from Devin and Gallagher, Nash should be able to make his line better.

In Sweeney's column, Schafer seems unconcerned:

"That'll continue to be a big search," Schafer said. "Some guys that we have put there are showing flashes. We're only a third of a way through the schedule, so I'm not too concerned. It's not because of a lack of talent."

Perhaps Schafer is more concerned now, after his team scores four goals in two games to finish in last place at the Florida College Hockey Classic. It'll be interesting to see what the lines look like tomorrow at New Hampshire. But don't expect to see much from Nash unless he skates with Greening.

Links of the Day

A few months back I considered trying to start a Drudge Report-style page for Cornell-related news (without the blatantly conservative tilt). Every day, there are a decent number of news articles and blog posts written about Cornell, as well as other references to our alma mater for research, sports, etc. If I knew a little more about websites, I might try to start a site that would bring all of these links together. Cornell News Watch does this a little bit, but without the editorial oversight which picks out the stuff people actually want to read.

Instead, every once in a while I include a post with links.

It's the end of the decade, so everyone is busy making lists and recaps. I counted down the top 10 Cornell hockey games of the 2000's here. The Cornell Review picked out the top five Cornell news stories of 2009. The Cornell Chronicle offers us the year in pictures, although most of the pictures don't give any clues that they were taken in 2009. The Ithaca Journal's year in review article has plenty of stuff about Cornell.

Uncle Ezra is on holiday break, so we'll have to wait a few weeks until he answers more questions like this one.

Ithacating has an interesting analysis of the most popular cars in Tompkins County. From my experience, the Subaru is definitely the car of choice for townies.

I won't post anything about Ivygate, except to point out that they tend to be 2-3 weeks behind every other media outlet in writing about things, and rarely add anything interesting.

I share Nagowski's surprise at the fact that Cornell actually admitted fewer people this year than last year in the early decision cycle. Maybe we should have admitted more quadruplets.

NHL.com has an article on last spring's Cornell hockey hero, Evan Barlow. He's playing on the same team as Mark McCutcheon.

In 2009, eight Cornell students were arrested and cost the Tompkins County Assigned Counsel program around $3,000.

More generally, Dave Barry's year in review had some funny lines. My favorite:

To replace Souter, President Obama nominates Sonia Sotomayor, setting off the traditional Washington performance of Konfirmation Kabuki, in which the Democrats portray the nominee as basically a cross between Abraham Lincoln and the Virgin Mary, and the Republicans portray her more as Ursula the Sea Witch with a law degree.

Enjoy the first day of the new decade.