I would like to address some of the late-game antics in the SUNY Ithaca-Brown game tonight.
I mean no disrespect to Cornell's fans, because they are a classy and devoted bunch, and when I've talked to any of them, they are always very friendly and never rub it in that their team is vastly superior to my own.
However, the team is a different story. Tonight, they scored an empty-netter with 2:25 or so left, making it 4-0. Ok. Game over, right? Not for SUNY Ithaca, it isn't.
They felt it necessary to score 2 more goals and essentially just run up the score in what had been a fairly even game in which both teams had generated good chances, but only Cornell had succeeded in scoring. At this point, the coffin had long since been sealed and nailed shut, and there was not need to attach decorative streamers to it and a neon sign that announced "We Killed the Guy In This Coffin", but that's exactly what Cornell did.
Then, as time ran out, Brown just sort of dumped the puck into the Cornell zone, and a player chased half-heartedly. Cornell should probably just leave him be, right? No need to make it any worse, right? WRONG. Number 28 decided he would go and lay out Harry Zolynierchek (sp?) after the buzzer, and after Harry got up and tried to skate away, 28 and a teammate trapped him in the corner and tried to dupe him into exchanging blows. Jordan Pietrus came over to try to separate poor Harry from the thugs, but he was just swallowed up in the mass of Big Red players who saw him as a threat to their teammates and prevented him from restraining the goons who were wailing on Zoly for no good reason. Finally, the linesmen got in there and separated everybody, and the handshakes commenced.
Once again, I have great respect and admiration for the Cornell fans, but the team, as always, is just an atrocious disgrace to the Ivy League and the ECAC as a whole. First, you are taught from mites and squirts to never run up a score, and I do believe that sportsmanship is also quite a prominent teaching in youth hockey. Cornell has a ton of talent, but they have absolutely no class, and for this reason, I wish them the very worst for the rest of the year. Sorry, Big Red fans! I appreciate you, but your team is full of *********s.