But for the fans, this is just Not a Good Thing. So it's nice to throw in a few little reminders of just where the Big Red are now as a program, as compared with where they were in the recent past. What better team to demonstrate this against than Ivy and ECAC rival Harvard?
Below are the winning percentages of each Cornell coach in Fish N' Fowl, the home regular season meeting with the Effete Evil of the East. Since Boston University bolted for the less academically-demanding climes of Hockey East, the Crimson have come to be recognized as the target game of the home schedule. And whereas predecessor Brian McCutcheon had a horrendous time with the Haughty Horde, even while leading the Red to four consecutive ECAC Final Four appearances and one NCAA berth, Schafer's squads have been magical, running a magnificent 6-0-1 record overall against Harvard, capped brilliantly with victories in the ECAC Championship Game in 1996 and the ECAC quarterfinal series in 1997.
Coach First Last GP W L T Pct Mike Schafer 1996 2 2 0 0 1.000 B. McCutcheon 1988 1995 8 0 6 2 .125 Lou Reycroft 1983 1987 5 2 2 1 .500 Dick Bertrand 1971 1982 12 9 3 0 .750 Ned Harkness 1964 1970 7 6 1 0 .857And lest we forget the sheer emotional satisfaction of these winning ways, let us take you back a bit in spirit to The Game which broke the streak of twenty consecutive regular season games against Harvard without a victory (0-18-2), snapped on a crisp Autumn Saturday by captain Brad Chartrand, goaltender Eddy Skazyk, and their eighteen thrilled, exhausted, teammates.
Harvard (1-1-1, 1-1-1) 1 2 0 - 3 Cornell (2-1-0, 2-0-0) 2 2 1 - 5 First period 3:58 Cor Cooney 2 (Chartrand, Burgoyne) 4:15 Hvd Konik (Holmes, Oberman) 11:29 Cor sh Drouin 1 (Auger) Second period 1:44 Cor sh Chartrand 1 (Holowatiuk) 6:29 Hvd Craigen (Swenson) 12:14 Cor Chartrand 2 (unassisted) 14:57 Hvd pp Bent (Nielsen, Storey) Third period 2:43 Cor Chartrand! 3 (Cooney, Papp) Saves Harvard, Tracy 6 9 4 - 19/24 Cornell, Skazyk 7 8 5 - 20/23 Power Play Harvard 1 x 7 (2 sh against) Cornell 0 x 4