Cornell Thrives on Road
The following article appeared November 18 on the Inside College Hockey (INCH) Web site.
By Joe Gladziszewski
The start of the 2010-11 season didn’t go Cornell’s way. The Big Red opened with what appeared to be a favorable, but difficult, schedule. Tests against previous-year NCAA Tournament participants New Hampshire and RIT at home at Lynah Rink awaited for a Big Red team that lost a stellar senior class, plus Riley Nash to graduation. That opening weekend resulted in two losses for the Big Red, the first time they had lost twice at home in the same weekend since a 2007 playoff series against Quinnipiac. After those defeats, coach Mike Schafer mentioned that it isn’t easy for Cornell to play at home. The boisterous and loyal crowd that fills the rink increases pressure on the home team to produce results, and that burden proved to be troublesome for the Big Red.
That’s easy to recall, in light of the way that Cornell has started this season. After dropping its season-opener at home to Mercyhurst, a difficult four-game stretch of road games lined up for Cornell. The Big Red came out of those two weekends with wins over Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth and now sit in a first-place tie in ECAC Hockey.
“We love to play at home, how can you not love playing at Lynah?” Cornell junior defenseman Nick D’Agostino rhetorically asked. “But going on the road early in the season lets us focus on what’s in our locker room, build team chemistry and it’s just about our team. We can focus on what we have to do, it’s just hockey.”
Complete article can be accessed via the INCH Web site by clicking here.
