Several weeks ago, I received some criticism from Cornell students and fans when I claimed that basketball is the only thing that Cornell currently does better at than Dartmouth. One blogger cited the Cornell men's hockey team and wrestling squad as two examples of Cornell's further superiority over Dartmouth. After last weekend, however, I am confident enough in my claim that Cornell supporters are misguided.
Last Friday night, as most of you know, Dartmouth's men's hockey squad came back from an early deficit to overcome the mighty Cornell Big Red 5-4 in sudden-death overtime. It was easily one of the most entertaining games I have ever been to -- one might say a rollercoaster of emotions.
Cornell came into the contest ranked No. 6 nationally and feeling secure against the No. 19 Big Green. Two goals in the first five minutes of play cemented the squad's confidence in its ability to handily defeat Dartmouth, I'm sure. But slowly, we fought back. When the ninth goal of the contest passed the goal line and catapulted the Big Green to an epic come-from-behind victory, all Cornell players and fans could do was whine about whether the goal was actually a goal (it was). It was a truly beautiful moment.
The Dartmouth men's hockey team proved that Cornell was no better on the ice, so what about in the wrestling circle? Well, Dartmouth doesn't have a wrestling squad, so I suppose Cornell is indeed "better at" wrestling, but that's like saying Dartmouth is better at real pong than Cornell is -- a worthless distinction as we are one of the only schools to play the pong in its true form.
The next night, the men's basketball team traveled to Ithaca, N.Y., to take on the defending Ivy League champion Big Red. Dartmouth was coming off of two home victories the previous weekend, but going to Cornell and competing with arguably the best team in the conference -- on the court where Cornell is 10-0 this year -- is an entirely different beast. But Dartmouth did more than compete with the Big Red -- we took Cornell to the brink, and, after two overtimes, fell just short, 79-76.
As Austin Powers would say, "What does it all mean, [Ryan]?" I'm not entirely sure. To be honest, Dartmouth's performance at Cornell caught me completely by surprise. The Big Green loss was crushing for a couple reasons:
1) The loss effectively ends the Big Green's chances of winning the Ivy League title and making a trip to the Big Dance in March.
2) Dartmouth had its chances win, but just could not pull off a monumental upset (no thanks to the officiating).
However, the loss shows that the Big Green men's basketball team is making tremendous strides on the court. Sweeping two home games against Brown and Yale was just the beginning, apparently, and I am excited for what this team can do in the rest of the season.
I may never get to go see Dartmouth play in the NCAA tournament while I am a student here, but I can at least say (finally) that I was able to watch a legitimate Division I program play up to its potential.
For Cornell, the prognosis following last weekend is much more pessimistic. Where Cornell supporters once saw superiority, I see the opposite. Cornell's hockey team is good, no doubt, but not superior. Cornell's wrestling squad may be good, but who cares?
Cornell's pep band was probably the winner in total noise created at last weekend's hockey game, but that was just annoying. I wanted to listen to Bon Jovi over the loud speakers, not the Cornell fight song, so shut up already. Cornell's men's basketball team may still be better than Dartmouth's, but the gap seems to be quickly closing. I have a strong feeling that Cornell's reign atop the Ivy League will be short-lived indeed -- two years, maybe three, but nothing like the Penn and Princeton dynasties of the past.
Dartmouth men's basketball can play with anybody. The team has even started to get over the hump and win games in crunch time, something I have rarely seen in my four years at the College on the Hill. Cornell won't be caught off-guard again when it travels to Dartmouth on Feb. 27, but, even if Cornell pulls out a win at Leede Arena, we at Dartmouth can always take comfort in Dwight Schrute from The Office, who pointedly proclaimed recently, as we all know already, that Dartmouth is the vastly superior school.
