21-9-4

Last year's.

Every Cornell hockey fan wants to see his team win something during his four short years on the hill. As much fun as it would be to travel to games as an alum, reconnect with fellow fans, and see the team succeed, I don't think the games would have the same importance to me.

I can't exaggerate the importance of Cornell hockey to my life over the last couple of years. As I traveled to 82 of the last 85 games, often driving hundreds of miles in one weekend, often alone, it became harder to keep my emotions from reflecting what was happening on the ice. As I missed friends' birthdays and parties, fraternity formals and pledge events, and everything else Cornell and Ithaca has to offer, the people I saw on the road -- the parents, the traveling townies and Faithful -- became a group of familiar faces whom I would look forward to seeing in Hanover, Estero, Grand Rapids, or anywhere else the team played.

I don't regret doing all the traveling, although it was in some ways a big relief when this season ended. Finally free from the burden of planning my life around the Cornell hockey schedule, I have more time to devote to finishing my senior thesis, planning for my future, and getting the most out of my final weeks in Ithaca.

I freely admit that I have been among the fortunate of the Lynah Faithful in that I've been a fan for some very good seasons. My first years of seriously rooting for Cornell hockey, in 2002 and 2003, featured some of the best teams to play at Lynah since the 1970s. I continued to follow the team in high school, agonizing over the close NCAA losses of 2005 and 2006, and traveling to upwards of 10 games a season as I neared the time at which I would become a legitimate Cornell student.

My own four years at Cornell have at times seemed almost scripted. As I adjusted to life as a freshman, the team struggled, ending the season at home with a playoff series sweep at the hands of ECAC newcomer Quinnipiac. The next year's team was a notch better, besting Dartmouth in a quarterfinal round series, sweeping Union in Schenectady, and making it to Albany.

Last year, by which point my fandom and willingness to travel had reached the point of obsession, the team took another step forward. Cornell made it all the way to the ECAC tournament final before losing to Yale, and then won a thrilling NCAA contest against Northeastern before falling to Bemidji State, one game short of the Frozen Four.

This year, my senior year, 2009-2010, was going to be the year. Sure, this team didn't have as much talent as the 2002-2003 team. And the ECAC has certainly gotten stronger since then, which makes it harder to run the table in conference play. But with the core of last year's team returning, it seemed likely that they could make it one game further than last year's team and get back to the Frozen Four for the first time in seven years. With Riley Nash, Colin Greening, and Justin Krueger, this year's team had three players with a legitimate chance of a establishing themselves in the NHL. Add goalie Ben Scrivens, who holds nearly every Cornell goaltending record, and a talented freshman class with John Esposito, Braden Birch, and Nick D'Agostino. Add Cornell's toughest non-conference schedule for many years, with games against BU, Colorado College, UNH, and North Dakota (twice), and everything seemed set for another strong run.

All of the yappity yap over on eLynah seems to be about whether the team met expectations, failed to meet expectations, or exceeded expectations. In my own view, the team met expectations prior to Friday's game. Everyone expected Cornell and Yale to fight over first place in the ECAC; Yale finished first, with Cornell a close second. Cornell continued to rank among the national leaders in defense and special teams.

In the ECAC tournament, a surprising early exit by Yale opened things up for the Big Red, who didn't look back en route to winning four games by a combined score of 11-1. The 2010 ECAC tournament title was the first for Cornell since 2005.

In the NCAA tournament, however, there is no doubt that Cornell performed below expectations. The game against UNH was, to be blunt, a total piece of shit. It was opposite day on the ice for the Big Red. Hobey Baker finalist Ben Scrivens gave up one goal and collapsed, reverting to the painful form we saw from him in big games against North Dakota, Yale, and Bemidji State during the 2008-2009 season. Scrivens would let in five goals total that night, most on the glove side, after giving up three goals in his six previous games.

Our highly regarded, productive top line of Nash, Greening, and Patrick Kennedy was nearly completely ineffective. Every pass seemed off by a few feet, our defense couldn't clear pucks, and we lost almost every battle around the boards. Meanwhile, Tyler Roeszler and Dan Nicholls -- who came into the game having scored a total of seven goals in their collegiate careers -- were the only ones who found the back of the net.

Why did nothing go right for Cornell? After the game, captain Greening seemed as confused as everyone else, admitting, "I can't for the life of me figure out why we didn't bring it tonight."

We'd seen this kind of team-wide, terrible hockey earlier in the season. It first surfaced in the Florida tournament over Winter Break. After losing the first game to Colorado College, I was talking to one of the most dedicated of the Lynah Faithful -- someone whom I'd never heard speak badly about the team. She was livid, and suggested that Coach Schafer switch in all of the reserves who'd sat out the first game, to send a message to the team. Well, Schafer didn't do that, and team played the same way against Princeton that next night, losing to the middling Tigers for the first of two times this season.

We saw the same awful hockey during the third period at Dartmouth, when a late-game lead evaporated after the team (including a shaky Scrivens) imploded.

We were able to shake off these previous performances with a little shrug of the shoulder. What happened in Florida? Oh, the team must have been out of shape from the long wait since their last game, and they certainly recovered nicely by beating UNH, 5-2, in Durham the following weekend. What happened at Dartmouth? Oh, just a fluke, and it didn't help that Dartmouth was playing on their senior night. In the end, everything worked out; with Cornell at #2 and Yale at #1, the Yalies had to face a hungry Brown team in the ECAC quarterfinal round. Everything was okay.

I fail to understand why some Cornell fans are so willing to write off Friday's debacle in similar fashion. This was the fucking NCAA tournament. Lose, and the team goes home. Win, and they're one game away from the Frozen Four. Okay, so maybe something goes wrong for Cornell. Perhaps Scrivens has a sub-par game. Maybe we lose a lot of faceoffs. Maybe some calls go the other way. Maybe UNH gets a couple of fortuitous bounces and steals a close game.

Everything went wrong on Friday.

Folks, this was not a close game. UNH out-played Cornell for the entire first period, and the Big Red were lucky that Roeszler put them ahead 1-0. Cornell had three shots on goal in the first 17 minutes. Cornell did show some signs of life early in the second period, and had a couple of very nice chances on the powerplay, but didn't score.

Once the UNH goal was reviewed and called a goal (the right decision), this Cornell hockey team folded like a deck of cards. Twenty-six seconds later, another goal. Then two more goals early in the third period.

This was not another close, hard-fought, respect-building loss for Cornell in the NCAA tournament. Remember all those compliments we got from Minnesota fans in 2005, and Wisconsin fans in 2006, about how much respect they had for the Big Red after Cornell nearly beat them in their home states? This loss was a blowout, and it hurt even more because it was to New Hampshire. This was the same UNH team which we beat in January on their home ice. And the same UNH team we'd lost to in 2002 and 2003 in the NCAA tournament.

Looking back on the season, it looks more like the ECAC tournament was a fluke performance. Yale was out of the way, Scrivens and the defense played out of their respective minds, and everything seemed to work. Before the ECAC tournament, we saw a devilishly inconsistent Big Red team which couldn't win four games in a row at any point during the season, and which lost big games to Yale (twice), Quinnipiac (when they were good), Colorado College, and BU (may as well have been a loss). After the ECAC tournament, Cornell followed up on its success by playing its worst game of the season during its most important game of the season.

Credit the team, the coaches, and everyone else involved, for winning another ECAC title. It will be great to be able to return to Lynah, point out the 2010 ECAC Tournament Champions banner, and talk about how I was there for that championship during my senior year. Cornell continues to have impressive success in the ECAC, and again, much credit is due for that.

But to end the season on such a pathetic note... I just don't know. It doesn't make sense. Almost all of these guys had been to the NCAA tournament before. Many of them were playing in their final game in a Cornell uniform. They had been playing so well recently. They had just won a championship on that ice surface six days earlier. Why the sudden shift? Why the terrible performance?

Was it a lack of motivation by the coaching staff? Had the players been fucking around for the whole week of vacation before the Friday game? It's maddening because because no explanation is evident.

Who knows what might have been. Thanks for the ECAC title, and all of the memories, but it hurts. It hurts to watch your team, to whom you have dedicated so much time, let themselves be embarrassed on the final game of your time at Cornell. I simply do not understand what happened on Friday. And as I leave in May, I will be clutching my ECAC Champions t-shirt, looking back fondly on the team's successes over these four years, and trying to forget how much they sucked during the last game of my time on the hill.

Awful

Once the score was 3-1, the team looked ready to get off the ice. It was hard to blame them. What a listless, sloppy, and uncharacteristically timid performance from a team which had just played two outstanding weekends of hockey. It's a shame that the collegiate careers of Greening, Scrivens, Gallagher, Scali, Krueger, and B.Nash came to an end on such an astonishingly low note. It's not clear what the team did this week in practice, or off the ice, and it certainly defies logic that they simply did not come to play tonight. Wow.

The Other NCAA Tournament

Cornell fans are still in basketball mode tonight, with the team set to face #1 Kentucky at the Carrier Dome at 9:57 pm.

There is also hockey this weekend, as the Big Red travel to Albany to begin their quest for an NCAA title. #2 Cornell plays #3 New Hampshire at 6:30 pm; the winner will play the winner of the game between #1 Denver and #4 RIT for a spot in the Frozen Four.

I haven't been doing much hockey analysis recently, and it's worked -- the team has given up one goal in the month of March. So I'll keep it that way, for now at least.

Here's what some other people are saying.

UNH is pissed off that most observers expect Cornell to win the game.

"We won the Hockey East regular season and they're writing us off like we're not a good team," UNH senior captain Bobby Butler said. "I think guys noticed that and were surprised, and it was definite motivation for a lot of us, and hopefully all of us. No respect for UNH. ... I think we feel like that happens a lot to UNH, so hopefully a couple wins this weekend will put us back on the map."

Speaking to the Concord Monitor, Ben Scrivens expects a challenge against UNH.

"We're definitely not going to be able to prevent UNH from getting scoring chances," the goalie said this week, "and I highly doubt we're going to be able to keep them off the scoreboard for an entire game."

Does it even matter? The Ithacan speculates that basketball has replaced hockey as the big-time Big Red sport.

I wasn’t too sure about how much enthusiasm there would be, especially given Cornell’s history and prowess in ice hockey. But even with the Big Red hockey team set to make a run at a national championship, it seems like basketball is generating more excitement.

“In the past it’s mostly been about hockey,” Cornell senior Murli Gupta said. “But basketball is huge right now.”

After USCHO.com columnist Brian Sullivan's description of Cornell's playing style ("soul-devouring juggernauts") became so popular among the Lynah Faithful that you can now buy the t-shirt at the Cornell Store, it appears that the race is on to pen the next magical phrase.

This is a team that is as systematically thorough and precise as anything seen since perhaps the 1980s Soviets. They’re big, they’re strong, they’re very well conditioned and they’re smart to boot.

Watching Cornell hockey is like watching a plant die of thirst: It’s slow, but it’s inevitable.

CHN editor Adam Wodon has been watching too much LOST. Looking back on heartbreaking Big Red losses in 1996 (to Lake Superior in Albany) and 2003 (to UNH in Buffalo), Wodon decides that after seven more years, the stars are doubly aligned for a Big Red loss at the hands of UNH in Albany.

CHN also named Ben Scrivens to their All-CHN second team. Denver goalie Marc Cheverie was on the first team. Hopefully Scrivens will have a chance to show them the error of their decision on Saturday.

With basketball tonight, thesis obligations, and Albany this weekend, this will be my last post until Saturday or Sunday.

More Fences Make Happier Students?

Spitzer, Edwards, Massa, Arcuri

One of the themes of the last couple of years of my college career has been a steady march towards political disillusionment. I knew I wanted to major in Government when I applied to Cornell, and I will get my diploma in May. But whereas I might have said three years ago that I would love to be a campaign manager one day, that is certainly no longer the case.

During the fall of my freshman year, I spent a lot of time campaigning for Democratic candidates in our area of New York. There were many of us involved in these efforts. I canvassed in the towns near Ithaca, asking people questions and dropping off literature for Hillary Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, and Mike Arcuri. I also phone-banked for Eric Massa and Arcuri. Arcuri won his race in 2006 and is still serving; Massa lost a close race in 2006, but won in 2008.

I stayed very interested in politics for a couple of years after that. During the summer of 2008, I worked for a campaign finance watchdog group. The highlight of the summer was probably when we received a call from Rick Davis, who was at that time John McCain's campaign manager. Davis told my boss to go fuck himself.

The 2008 cycle was also the first time I donated to a campaign, and the first time I voted in a presidential primary. Both were for John Edwards.

I should also note that I was still young and stupid in 2006 and voted for Joe Lieberman. Twice.

Maybe you can see where I'm going here.

Eric Massa, for whom I campaigned and had the pleasure of meeting in person, has had a... fall from grace.

Mike Arcuri, for whom I campaigned heavily and almost accepted an internship in his DC office, was the first Democratic Congressman to announce his opposition to the health care bill.

Eliot Spitzer, for whom I campaigned, had his own issues.

John Edwards hasn't turned out too well, either.

Lieberman, we in Connecticut don't speak of him.

Some might say that I've just had back luck with the people I've chosen to support. As for me, I've just about had enough. I'm happy to cheer from the sidelines, and I'll certainly keep voting, but I'm not getting back in the game.

Update on McKee Case

According to the Orange County DA's office, former Cornell goalie David McKee has another court date scheduled for the end of April. It doesn't seem like the charges have been dismissed.

Cornell Store Not Optimistic About Basketball

The Cornell Store is selling a whole line of Sweet Sixteen-themed items. I don't think there will be much of a demand for these items if Cornell happens to beat Kentucky on Thursday night.

Personally, I'm waiting until the team loses (if they lose...) to buy a shirt. Then, I'll be able to get the combined Cornell Big Red NCAA Champions in Hockey and Basketball shirt. Perhaps we'll be able to beat Wisconsin in both tournaments.

Looking Back on Doomsday Predictions

If my blog had a public editor, this might be a post for that person.

For much of this season, this blog was pretty down on the Cornell hockey team's chances of making a big splash during the post-season. Sitting now, with an ECAC tournament trophy and a #2 seed to the NCAAs (in Albany, of all places) in hand, it would appear that I may have been too negative on the team's chances.

While I am unbelievably happy that the team won an ECAC title in my senior year, and I think they have a good chance to make the Frozen Four, I don't think my earlier predictions were unreasonable.

Consider this: If Cornell had lost both games this past weekend, especially if one loss came to Union, then the Big Red would likely be done for the season. The Pairwise this spring was very volatile, and there were a lot of NCAA berths riding on results from Friday and Saturday nights. Two losses in two games for Cornell, and that would be it.

Similarly, heading into the series against Harvard the previous weekend, Cornell was only two games away from the end of its season. Two losses, and that would be it.

It was difficult to predict that great things would happen when the team sat six periods away from extinction.

Hell, there was even a scenario (albeit, one with a lot of upsets) in which Cornell could have lost to Union in the ECAC final and still missed the NCAA tournament.

Going back to earlier in the season, it was difficult to believe that Cornell could do anything in March when it kept losing Saturday night games. As it turns out, the Big Red were able to piece together two beautiful weekends of hockey, but who saw that coming? Recall that Cornell sat 19th in Pairwise as recently as January.

Also, who saw Yale losing in the quarterfinal round? This was a team which beat Cornell both times they played, and was routinely putting up 6 and 7 goals in ECAC games. As long as Yale stood between Cornell and the ECAC title, it was difficult to believe that the Big Red would prevail.

In contrast to some of the great teams earlier in the decade (2002-3, 2004-5), this team was inconsistent for most of the year. Uncharacteristically blowing third-period leads, struggling to get four-point weekends, following up a dismal performance in Florida with an inspiring win at UNH. When the team can't win two games in a row, it's not reasonable to expect them to win championships.

In the end, Cornell reached this point with the help of three factors.

First, and most importantly, they started looking like the Big Red Defensive Machine we've come to expect. With the exception of the game at Princeton, Ben Scrivens has played unbelievably well in 2010. The defensemen are cutting down on mistakes and doing a better job of keeping the puck away from the net, and Schafer has found some guys (Collins, Esposito, Scali, Nicholls) who know how to shut down opposing team's top lines. Scrivens' shutout streak (almost four games and counting) is ridiculous.

Second, Yale lost. Yeah, yeah, a Cornell team playing well would have been able to topple Yale in Albany. But instead of heading to Albany with the prospect of playing a dangerous Yale team which has had Cornell's number for two years, the Big Red were looking at three teams (Brown, Union, St. Lawrence) to whom they hadn't lost all season (4-0-2, and 9-1-2 if you go back two years).

Third, a lot of the teams around Cornell in the Pairwise began to struggle. Union was tied with Cornell before they played at Lynah in February; the Dutchmen kept falling after that. Minnesota-Duluth and Maine played themselves out of an NCAA bid. Bemidji State hit a wall in their tournament and dropped below Cornell. Colorado College, which had been one of the best teams in the country when they beat Cornell in Florida, plummeted all the way to 20th in Pairwise. As a result of so many other teams struggling, Cornell's loss at Dartmouth didn't hurt the Big Red too much, and Cornell's wins helped them to win some comparisons on the basis of RPI.

It's great to see Cornell rising to its potential and playing such good hockey. But we shouldn't forget how close they were to being done for the season, with no NCAA bid in hand.

Ammunition for the Game Against Kentucky

From Jon Jaques' blog post two years ago:

We changed and waited for Billy Gilespie’s Kentucky squad to finish their 40-minute workout. As we left the locker room and headed out the tunnel towards the court, we walked past the Kentucky players. Apparently our team made an impression on the Wildcats; many of us overheard one of Kentucky’s players remark, “They look like a high school team.”

To be honest, I wasn’t completely surprised. Most Ivy League teams look no bigger than a lot of teams I played in high school. That doesn’t mean we can’t play. What I’m sure Kentucky didn’t understand was that our team does a lot of things well, things that a lot of N.B.A. teams would be jealous of. For instance, going into the tournament, Cornell is the only team in the top 10 in the country in field goal percentage, 3-point percentage, and free throw percentage. Plus, if the stars align, we could find ourselves playing Kentucky in the second round. That would gives us an opportunity to show them how a “high school” team plays.

Let's go, red.

Submarine Commander Drank With Cornell Students

He was dismissed for his actions during a March 10 visit to Cornell's Navy ROTC program:

The submarine officer who was relieved of his command of the Pearl Harbor-based USS Chicago this week had been out drinking with Navy ROTC cadets at Cornell University.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet submarine force said Tuesday that Cmdr. Jeff Cima was found guilty of drunkenness and conduct unbecoming an officer.

Update: More info here.

Capt. Larry Olsen, professor of naval science and commanding officer of Cornell's NROTC unit, told the Star-Bulletin that Cima was at the Ithaca, N.Y., campus on March 10 to talk about the nuclear power program.

After the talk, Cima and a lieutenant junior grade from the Chicago joined about a dozen Cornell cadets for a pizza and alcoholic drinks, said Olsen, also a submarine officer.

"The commander and the lieutenant had way too much to drink," Olsen said.

As midnight approached, the cadets were unsure what to do.

"They (the cadets) did the right thing and called my staff lieutenant, who took the two officers back to the hotel," Olsen said.

Olsen said the lieutenant reported the incident to him the next day, and he turned the matter over to officials at Pearl Harbor.

Report: Riley Nash's Agent Playing Hardball

Some disclaimers: it's a post on the internet, and I haven't found a link to corroborate the information. But for Cornell hockey fans, it might be of interest.

Post on the Hockey's Future boards:

Bob Stauffer just mentioned that Riley Nash's agent told an Oilers coach that they don't expect him to ever play in the minors. For him to leave school they want it in writing that he goes straight to the NHL.

Make of it what you will.

Cornell Women Lose In Triple Overtime

There really isn't too much to complain about this weekend if you're a Cornell sports fan, but here's one thing.

If you're going to play a sudden-death overtime period to decide who wins, then it seems logical that this period should be played according to the same rules as the first part of the game. Otherwise, the victor is not determined by who is better at hockey, but rather who is better at the particular version of hockey which is played during overtime.

For this reason, I think it's incredibly stupid to play 4-on-4 in overtime, or decide a victor based on penalty shots.

Today, as the NCAA women's hockey championship game went into overtime, we saw an expected change in officiating. The refs put away their whistles and called three penalties in 59 minutes. A Cornell powerplay in the first OT was allowed to last about 36 seconds before a make-up call came along and switched things to 4-on-4. Nothing else was called until the end of the third OT, when Cornell's Lauriane Rougeau went off for tripping. After some pressure, Minnesota-Duluth scored six seconds after their powerplay was over, and the game was finished.

During the 59 minutes of overtime hockey, there were plenty of additional penalties which could have been called. Tripping, body checking, cross-checking, hooking, you name it. But the game was called differently than it was during regulation. Cornell, with the No. 1 penalty kill and No. 4 powerplay in the NCAA, might have benefited if penalties were called as penalties.

But, such is life, and Big Red fans were handed another heartbreaking victory. Similarities can be drawn between this game and the men's team's triple OT loss to Wisconsin in the NCAA regional final in 2006. Fans can take solace in looking back at a great season -- this was far and away the best season ever for Cornell women's hockey -- but that doesn't do much to change the more poignant thoughts of what if. As with the men's lacrosse team's nightmarish loss in the NCAA final last year, fans and players can be proud of the team's accomplishment just to get to that point. But they will certainly spend time pondering what might have happened, if things had gone just a little differently.

Sports

Sorry for the lack of posts; I've been preoccupied with Cornell sporting events.

Second-seeded Cornell hockey plays third-seeded UNH in the first round of the NCAA tournament, 6:30pm Friday, back in Albany at the Times-Union Center.

The women's hockey team is playing this afternoon (1pm, CBS College Sports) for the national championship.

The men's basketball team plays at 2:50pm against Wisconsin for a spot in the sweet sixteen.

Congratulations to the wrestling team for a phenomenal (if overshadowed) performance at NCAAs, winning second place!

Much more to come later today and in the days head. What a great time for Cornell sports.

Unclear When Suicide Watch Will End

Two guards, two different opinions. One security officer told me tonight that they were going to stop patrolling the bridges after Saturday, which would make sense given that it's the start of spring break. However, ten minutes later, another guard told me that Cornell has asked them to stay for two more weeks. So, who knows.

Obama Picks Cornell to Beat Temple

Cornell really is the trendy first-round upset pick. Hopefully we'll back it up this year.

A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard law school, Obama stayed loyal to the Ivy League and picked Cornell University, a No. 12 seed, to squeeze past Temple, a No. 5, in the first round of play.

“I like Cornell, which gave Kansas a run for its money,” he said, referring to a narrow Cornell loss earlier in the season. “I think they have a terrific team.”

Still, he has the University of Wisconsin defeating Cornell, the Ivy League champion, in the second round.

NYT Comes to Ithaca

One of the fairest articles written yet this week.

Must-Read Article About Suicides at Cornell

Head over to the Huffington Post to read Rob Fishman's article about suicides at Cornell.

Fishman is a former editor of the Daily Sun, and the article is adopted from his master's thesis for the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

His research answers a lot of the questions people have been posting on my blog, and I'm sure you'll learn something. I won't parse any of it here; just go read.

Cornell and Temple Both Screwed

This year's NCAA basketball bracket provides yet another example of Cornell getting screwed in NCAA selections.

The Big Red lost four times this season -- twice to #1 seeds Kansas and Syracuse -- and played a tough out-of-conference schedule which was mostly on the road. There wasn't much Cornell could do as its RPI plummeted as a result of the weak Ivy schedule.

Temple racked up 29 wins and the A-10 regular season and tournament titles, and went 7-3 against the top 50 in the RPI.

Yet Temple is seeded lower than it should be -- at #5 -- and Cornell is seeded lower than it should be -- at #12.

I agree with Temple coach Fran Dunphy who stated yesterday that he thought the matchup was a conscious choice by the committee to make him play his former assistant at Penn, Cornell coach Steve Donahue. It's certainly a compelling storyline, but it does not justify the two teams' low seeds.

Temple is a tougher team than the Big Red wanted to play in the first round, and vice versa. Neither team is happy, and one of them will be going home after one game.

For Big Red fans, we must immediately think back to years of getting screwed in NCAA lacrosse seeding and hockey seeding.

Such is the struggle for a team coming from a conference known more for its brains than its brawn.

Brown

shocks Yale by winning game 3 tonight. Yale is out of the ECAC playoffs. Brown plays Cornell at 4pm next Friday, Times-Union Center.

Alpha Delt Hazing Revealed

It hasn't been a great semester for Cornell Greeks. First we had the Pi Phi dress code incident, which was essentially a non-story as far as Cornell was concerned, but attracted a lot of national attention. (Sororities caring about appearances? Who knew?)

Next was the Pike rush week incident, in which a combination of dangerous drinking games, cold weather, and terrible leadership resulted in brothers' driving underage freshmen to the hospital to be treated for various amounts of alcohol poisoning, hypothermia, and cuts to hands and arms.

On Friday, IvyGate posted an email (titled "Lineup Tonight") from Alpha Delta Phi's pledge class president to his fellow new members in which he asks them to bring things like dog food, tabasco sauce, and goldfish to the house that night. (There has been no statement from Alpha Delt refuting the validity of the email, so I'll assume for now that it's accurate.) The person who leaked the email reported that the pledges were:

* Forced to chug a slurry of dogfood, tabasco sauce, and sour cream;
* Run relay races, while blackout drunk, through the great halls of the ADPhi manor–filled with flour, beer, and water–while being pelted with dodgeballs;
* Jog naked laps outside the house in the below-freezing Ithaca winter;
* Stand outside in a “lineup” for two hours, with only a shirt, jacket, tie and slacks.

In contrast to other recent hazing incidents at Cornell, which involved chapters with less than stellar reputations and histories, this is a hard one for Cornell to shrug off. As B.C. pointed out, Dean of Students Kent Hubbell '67 is one of many prominent Alpha Delt alumni in positions of power in the Cornell community. For example, John Dyson '65 is one of four trustees (.pdf) of the Fraternity and Sorority Advisory Council, and he sponsors a citizenship award every year.

Alpha Delt is one of the big, wealthy, West Campus houses which Cornell's Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs loves to showcase. I'm not going to take the time to dig up links, but OFSA likes to hold speeches, dinners, award receptions, and things like that at Alpha Delt's house.

Hazing is not something which occurs unbeknown to a chapter's leadership or alumni. The same people who are treated like royalty by Cornell are the ones who help to organize this kind of silly, dangerous crap.

There's a pattern of this sort of hypocrisy. The IFC VP Judicial from a couple of years ago was from Pike, a chapter which, as we've seen, doesn't exactly follow the rules. Alpha Delt has sent people to the IFC executive board in recent years.

We'll see what happens. There isn't just a disciplinary issue here, but also a political one. Any sanctions against Alpha Delt are a slap in the face to that house's illustrious alumni. But obviously something has to be done. Unfortunately for Cornell, we're not talking about some on-again-off-again animal house on the outskirts of campus, but one of the wealthiest, most prestigious fraternities.

Today's Victim Is Matthew Charles Zika '11

The name was just released in an email by President Skorton. Zika was a junior in Engineering. Yesterday's victim, William Sinclair '12, was also an engineer. No doubt this will spark another round of debate about whether changes to the Engineering program should be implemented to reduce students' stress levels.

Zika's most recent Facebook status update:

My hope in living life is that if one day someone told me it would be my last, I could smile and nod knowing full well that I did all I could with the time I was given. Never put off until tomorrow what you'd be okay having never done.

Zika graduated high school in 2007 but his Facebook says Cornell '10; perhaps he planned to graduate early.

As stated earlier, Cornell is under suicide watch, with all bridges under constant surveillance.

The Cornell homepage now has prominent links to a Gannett-associated page titled "notice and respond."

Skorton pleads for an end to the tragedies:

As a doctor, teacher and father, I, too want to reach out personally to each one of you - especially our students. I want you to know that it is normal to feel sad or anxious at times, particularly when such tragedies occur. Roommate conflicts, relationship problems, financial challenges and especially academic stress are just some of the pressures that can make us think that things are too difficult. Your well being is the foundation on which your success is built. You are not alone. Your friends, your family, your teachers, your colleagues, and an array of counselors and advisors are ready to listen and help you through whatever you are facing. If you learn anything at Cornell, please learn to ask for help. It is a sign of wisdom and strength.

Another Possible Suicide

Yesterday, the body of William Sinclair '12 was recovered from beneath the Thurston Avenue bridge.

This afternoon, it appears that another person jumped off a bridge. This time, it was the suspension bridge a little further down the gorge.

Cornell is now under suicide watch, with police stationed on every bridge on or near campus.

Gorge Victim is William Sinclair '12

Email from Skorton. Note the acknowledgment of the number of student deaths this year. It is interesting that Sinclair's body was found in nearly the same spot as Brad Ginsburg's '13 a couple of weeks ago. The University response was different this time, with an email sent out to the Cornell community within a couple hours of discovering the body, followed by another one later in the day with the name of the victim. This is a much shorter timeline than last time, which may indicate a change in University policy over the last couple of weeks.

Dear fellow Cornellians,

This morning we learned with deep sadness that we have lost a member of our community whose body was found in the Fall Creek gorge. I am saddened, as I know you are, that another life with unfulfilled promise has been lost.

On behalf of the entire Cornell community, I wish to convey my heartfelt condolences to the family of our student, William Sinclair, a sophomore in the College of Engineering, and to his many friends who will always carry the memory of happier times in their hearts. Please join me in keeping them foremost in your thoughts in the days ahead as we mourn this tragic loss of life. For understandable reasons, and out of deference to the family, you will understand that we will not be able to comment on the circumstances of this tragedy until the investigation has been completed by the Ithaca Police Department.

I do want to acknowledge the toll we all may be experiencing from repeated losses already this year. I sincerely hope that you will join me in reaching out to your classmates, roommates, colleagues and friends to cherish the memories you have of those who have departed us, and to renew your commitment to each other. It is important to take the time, regularly, to reflect on the many things for which we should be grateful and on how best to overcome, together, the daily challenges we must face.

[...]

Sincerely,

David Skorton

President

INCH Predicts Cornell To Win ECAC Tournament

Perhaps in response to the news that Yale star forward Sean Backman is out for the season with some sort of foot injury (Update: He broke his heel while horsing around in a pool), Inside College Hockey now predicts that Cornell will receive the automatic bid.

The hypothetical run through the ECAC tournament will bump Cornell to a #2 seed; INCH projects them to play #3 New Hampshire in the first round in the Albany regional. All things considered, a pretty good draw for Cornell.

Yale, meanwhile, drops to a #3 seed and plays North Dakota in the first round of the Worcester regional.

Even without Backman, Yale is a very strong team and I think INCH overreacted by making these predictions. By dropping Yale all the way to a #3 seed, they seem to think Yale will lose before the final.

Lest we lose sight of things, Cornell still needs to win this weekend's series against Harvard to get into position to make the NCAA tournament.

Law School Clarifies Andy Bernard's Role

Associate Dean Richard Geiger offers an explanation for why they chose to use Office character Andy Bernard to promote the law school's image:

Geiger said Wednesday night that he has been quoted accurately as saying that he can't explain the magnitude of the increase, but that a handful of applicants responded to the question about why they were applying to Cornell by citing the Andy Bernard character.

"So we decided -- let's have a little fun with this," Geiger said, and the character started to appear in the rotation on the law school's site. He went up last week, but it was only this week that the blogosphere took note. Reaction has been mixed. "About half the people love it and half the people say 'What is this about?' "

But internally, Geiger said that people hope they are sending a positive message -- not about the character, but about the need for perspective. "Here's a law school that's not taking itself too seriously," he said.

Another Body Found Below Thurston Bridge

The Cornell Insider is reporting that another body was found beneath the Thurston Bridge this morning.

According to the Sun, it is a male victim. The university sent out an email around 1:30 informing students of the situation and, as per usual, providing an overview of counseling services.

Cornell's Media Blitz Continues

Let's go, red! Clearly Politico is rooting for us to beat Harvard this weekend.

Thanks MA

The Face of Cornell Law: Andy Bernard?

I agree with pretty much everyone else that the Law School made a mistake in choosing Office character Andy Bernard to promote their image on their home page. Regardless of the fact that Bernard attended Cornell undergrad, not law, he is essentially a moron who claims to have spent his Big Red days engaged in drinking and a cappella antics.

(On the plus side, the controversy has increased traffic to the Law School homepage, thereby increasing the chance that people will read about the prison class for which I'm a TA.)

HuffPo got in on the discussion (but referred to AboveTheLaw as "legal scholars"?!?), as did gossip site TMZ.

The promotion is now off the Law School site.

I'm guessing that someone didn't like having to read the 52 percent more applications this year, and decided that the Andy Bernard promotion will make sure that fewer people apply next cycle.

AHL Referee Wears In-Game Mic

I don't care at all about the AHL, but this should be pretty cool for any sort of hockey fan:

Harvard

comes to Lynah next weekend. Let's go red.

Riley Nash: Leaving After This Season

Last year, we didn't have official confirmation that Riley Nash and Colin Greening were staying for another season until August, when they showed up on campus.

But in the weeks and months before then, many sources reported that both players were leaning towards staying. Blog reports and word of mouth are not particularly reliable sources, but in this case they were unanimously correct in expecting Nash and Greening to stay.

With that in mind, I'm starting to hear from sources that Riley Nash will be departing Cornell after this season. For example, here's a report from an expert on Oilers prospects:

Obviously I'm not going to say where I heard [that Nash is leaving Cornell], but I have heard it from a few people. I think Nash was ready for the AHL this year. Of course lots can change between now and next year though.

As I've said before, I'd be shocked if Nash stays for his senior season. Most of what he could have learned by playing at Cornell -- penalty killing, defense -- he's learned in his first three years. Nash has looked great over the last three weekends, but overall he's had a pretty disappointing junior season. His production is down from his first two seasons. Fact is, Cornell's light schedule and low-scoring offense means that Nash simply isn't getting that many opportunities to practice putting the puck in the net.

We've seen how well Nash plays with Greening, and how badly he plays with forwards who are not Greening. If Nash heads to professional hockey, he'll be playing on a line with players of a higher caliber than Patrick Kennedy and Greg Miller; I think he'll come a little closer to meeting the lofty expectations people have for him.

That said, Nash still has plenty of work to do to get to the NHL, including gaining a lot of weight. For many reasons, I think that Greening will get there before Nash. But expect both Nashes to depart Cornell after this season.

NHL.com Article on Cornell Hockey

NHL.com writes about Cornell hockey.

Yes, there are the errors -- Ben Gallagher, Cornell at #9 and a lock for the NCAA tournament, Cornell playing 110 years of NCAA hockey -- but even though the author is their in-house NCAA guy, I was pretty impressed with the quality of the article.

Quotes from Scrivens, Schafer, and Byron Bitz '07. Scrivens has some nice comments about Ken Dryden and about not taking anything for granted. But here's something from Schafer which puzzled me:

"When the guys see him focused and ready to go, they know they'll get a real good performance out of him," said Big Red coach Mike Schafer, in his 15th year, about his stellar goalie. "We're not senior top-heavy, which is good. We've got three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie. If you could script it, that's what you'd want every year."

I would argue that Cornell is quite "senior top-heavy." Assuming Riley Nash leaves, Cornell loses 45 of its 91 goals scored this season. I think the team's defense and goaltending will be just fine next year, but it's tough to replace guys like Greening, Nash, and Gallagher.

The article certainly gets across the fact that Cornell tends to lose big games by failing to score. Ever. Consider that in Cornell's last three NCAA Elite Eight games, with the winner going to the Frozen Four, the Big Red have scored a total of two goals. No amount of quality defense and goaltending (see, for example, McKee stopping the first 59 shots against Wisconsin) is going to win you games when you can't get the puck in the net.

I sincerely hope this doesn't happen, but Cornell is still just two losses away from missing the NCAA tournament completely, and ending any hope of another Frozen Four, or some sort of Dryden-esque playoff performance by Scrivens. The team needs to win next weekend, hopefully in two games.

Another Winner from Uncle Ezra

From today:

I am applying to an internship and I need to email an unofficial transcript to someone, how would I get an email able transcript?

Dear Student,

All transcripts come from the Oofice [sic] of the Registrar. Contact them with your request.

No, no, no. Clearly, the student would be unable to email a paper copy of his transcript, which is what you receive from the Office of the Registrar.

Uncle Ezra should have recommended that the student copy his grades off of StudentCenter into a Word document and email that as an attachment. "Unofficial" means that the transcript does not need to be verified by the Office of the Registrar.

See also this question from today for another example of Uncle Ezra not really answering the question at hand.

Charges Against McKee Have Not Been Dropped

After my last post on McKee, asking for confirmation that the charges against him have been dropped, I got another unsourced comment saying that the charges against him have been dropped.

There's also a comment from someone speculating that some pro-McKee person on the internet has been spreading these lies; apparently a user from a Dallas-area IP address edited his Wikipedia page to say that the charges have been dropped.

Thankfully, the Ithaca Journal has been running some articles about McKee this week.

Judge Patrick Donahue is expected to rule on March 19 whether rape charges against former Cornell hockey standout David McKee should be dropped.

Defense attorney James Riddet made motions Friday in an Orange County courtroom in Santa Ana., Calif., to have charges against McKee dismissed.

A jury trial is still scheduled to begin April 6.

So, there you have it. The case is still open.

All-ECAC Hockey Teams Announced

Blake Gallagher is left out despite going 14-14-28 in conference play, good for fifth in the conference in points. Greening has first team talent, but couldn't find the net enough this season to earn a spot on the first team. Brendon Nash is on the first team; minus-2 for the season with 44 penalty minutes. Riley, D'Agostino, and Scrivens are about where they should be, I think.

First Team

Forwards: Chase Polacek, Rensselaer; Broc Little, Yale; Sean Backman, Yale.
Defensemen: Mike Schreiber, Union; Brendon Nash, Cornell.
Goaltender: Ben Scrivens, Cornell.

Second Team

Forwards: Mario Valery-Trabucco, Union; David McIntyre, Colgate; Colin Greening, Cornell.
Defensemen: Tom Dignard, Yale; Taylor Fedun, Princeton.
Goaltender: Allen York, Rensselaer.

Third Team

Forwards: Riley Nash, Cornell; Aaron Volpatti, Brown; Travis Vermeulen, St. Lawrence.
Defensemen: Derek Keller, St. Lawrence; Evan Stephens, Dartmouth.
Goaltender: Keith Kincaid, Union.

All-Rookie Team

Forwards: Jerry D’Amigo, Rensselaer; Brandon Pirri, Rensselaer; Louis Leblanc, Harvard.
Defensemen: George Hughes, St. Lawrence; Nick D'Agostino, Cornell.
Goaltender: Keith Kincaid, Union

Zing!

From today's Dear Uncle Ezra...

DUE,

In regards to question 6 on February 25, about nutrition info for dining hall products, I need to clarify something. I am a student and have worked in the dining system for several semesters at several different dining locations. The woman who answered question 6 said that staples like cookies, muffins and breads are made fresh in dining bakeries every day, and as such the nutrition info for these items isnt available. I can tell you, as a worker who makes these items herself, that this is not true and that cookie, muffin and bread batter come completely pre-made and frozen. Those cranberry nut muffins laid out at breakfast? Those chocolate chip cookies at dinner? All pre-made. As a result one could easily contact the supplier for nutrition info, as all the dining halls do is take pre-made frozen dough and stick it in the oven. I dont mean to criticize the dining halls, but greater accountability is surely possible and we shouldnt distort facts about the availability of nutrition info when such info is vital for students trying to be healthy.

Here was the previous answer, in response to a question about nutrition facts:

Cornell Dining’s nutritionist, Michele Wilbur, thanks you for your interest and says: “ The staples, as you refer to them, are also ever evolving. Muffins, cakes, cookies, etc. are made fresh in our bakery and not static. Granola and breads change based on our distributor.

Gender Equality

Of the 36 candidates running for a position on the SA, three are women.

Thankfully I Won't Be Here Next Year

In contrast to last year's first-ever direct elections for SA president and executive vice-president, this year's election seems to have generated relatively little excitement among students.

I won't get into the issues here, but instead I'll take a look at the candidates' websites.

For president, we have Vince Andrews and Andy Brokman.

Andrews' site is not the most visually appealing. Boring and simplistic. He gets credit for editing down his platform to a couple of key points on the home page. His visitor counter reads 804, which looks comically small when preceded by five zeros. Comparing that kind of traffic to what I get on this blog, it's not too impressive considering that voting begins tomorrow morning. Andrews will probably need at least a couple times that many votes to have a chance to win. In summary, his site is functional but unimpressive.

Brokman's site is the best of any candidate's. He borrows a lot of concepts from modern campaign-style websites: the YouTube video featured prominently, an RSS feed, a lot of links at the top. He has too much text on the front page in his welcome message; no one is going to read all of that. (Scrolling to the bottom, the "God bless you and God bless Cornell University" is just pathetic.) Brokman benefits from the writing he's done for WVBR and OneCornell; he pulls that content onto his "Brokman's Blog" section. Overall, a job well done. If a student actually takes the time to research the candidates on the internet, I think he or she would swing to Brokman.

For executive vice president, Mensah is the only one with a website. His site is... interesting. The header is terrible, and I'm not sure why the text of the links at the top turn to black when you put the cursor over them. Mensah relies on the power of a few endorsements, but he hasn't been endorsed by anyone we should care about. Segway kid gets the big picture, but has no relevance to anything. Two other endorsers are members of organizations, but of course their larger groups have not endorsed Mensah. And two other endorsements come from his friends. Well, at least he has five votes. Funny that the "In the News" section is still "coming soon," what with voting starting tomorrow and everything.

Oh, well.

Former College Players and the Olympics

No former Cornellians played in yesterday's game, but there was plenty of collegiate representation on Team USA. Here's a nice column by Adam Wodon.

American hockey may get noses thumbed at it by those North of the border, but college hockey often gets it even worse. So to see a new generation of American players, many of whom honed their skills in OUR game — the U.S. college game — excel on that level, exceed expectations, and show guts, skill and tenacity under that microscope — was a site to behold.

NHL fans discovered many of these players well after you and I did, as we watched these guys flourish in our college game.

The Road From Here

Cornell finishes second in the ECAC Hockey standings and falls to 11th in Pairwise after the tie to RPI on Saturday.

Cornell has next weekend off, and then hosts a quarterfinal series at Lynah the following weekend. Cornell will play the second-lowest remaining seed in the ECAC tournament.

If the favorites win in the first round, Cornell plays Quinnipiac. With any number of upsets, Cornell could also potentially play Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, or Harvard.

In my personal view, Quinnipiac is not an ideal team to play. As we saw earlier in the season, they have the potential to play ridiculously, ridiculously well. The playoffs are known as the "second season," and this is a big opportunity for Q to turn things around.

Among the other possibilities, Brown and Harvard would probably be the easiest teams. Cornell is 1-1-0 against Dartmouth and 1-2-0 against Princeton this season, although I'm confident that Cornell could beat either team in a best-of-three series at Lynah.

If Cornell loses the quarterfinal round series, our season is over.

If Cornell loses one game in the quarterfinal round series, we will probably need to win the ECAC championship to secure an NCAA bid. Potentially, we could still earn an at-large bid by making the championship game and getting some help from some other conference tournament results.

If Cornell sweeps the quarterfinal series, they might have enough Pairwise breathing room to drop the first game in Albany (presumably to Union) and still make the NCAA tournament.

From looking at the numbers, I'm confident that if Cornell wins its next three games (sweeping the quarterfinal series and then winning the ECAC semifinal) before losing in the final (especially to Yale), they'll grab an at-large NCAA bid. To me, this seems like the most likely scenario.

The problem with Cornell's position in the Pairwise is two-fold.

First, Cornell has played only nine games against other Teams Under Consideration (TUCs). This part of the Pairwise comparison does not kick in until both teams have played ten games against TUCs. Cornell will probably pick up a tenth TUC game if they make it to Albany, since both Union and Yale are currently TUCs. Cornell is currently 3-4-2 (.444) against TUCs; some of the other teams near Cornell in the Pairwise have better records against TUCs. Therefore, if Cornell were to lose to Union or Yale in Albany, Cornell's 3-5-2 (.400) record against TUCs would hurt us in a lot of comparisons.

Second, Cornell's RPI (ratings percentage index) is narrowly ahead of several other teams'. When Cornell loses another game, particularly if it comes in the quarterfinal series, the Big Red's RPI will take a substantial hit. This might be enough to flip a few comparisons and dump Cornell out of the NCAA tournament field.

RPI is especially important right now, since Cornell's lack of TUC games means that RPI is the sole point of comparison in some Pairwise matchups. For example, Cornell vs. Ferris State. The teams haven't played each other, and Cornell doesn't have enough games against TUCs. The only common opponent is Yale; thankfully, Ferris State also lost to Yale. So no points there. That leaves RPI as the only point of comparison. Cornell's RPI of .5356 is just ahead of Ferris State's .5353. Any slip up by Cornell and this comparison flips.

As always, the easiest thing for Cornell is just to win, win, and win some more. But given the team's troubles on Saturday nights, it's hard to imagine Cornell sweeping the quarterfinal round series. In Albany, Yale will be waiting to dismantle the Big Red once again. Although Cornell is currently "in" the NCAA tournament, it's certainly not an easy road from here.