Best time and place to buy ECAC tourny tix

I'm definitely going to Lake Placid this year, but I have not yet bought my tickets. I obviously want to be seated with the rest of the Cornell fans, but I also don't want to risk not getting a pair of tickets. What's the best way to ensure I get tickets with the rest of the CU fans? Should I go through the CU box office, or call the Lake Placid guys?

First step: make sure you're at the QF series cheering to make sure we get to Lake Placid.

Yeah. Judy and I have had a room booked at LP since Sept but that's cause we are going to LP for the tourney no matter what. I keep counting on the fact that we will see our boys there but the sad reality is that as of yet we have no real clue. anyone (ok - almost anyone) could potentially cause an upset. i am hoping to see princeton or union in play offs- cause well yale, SLU, RPI, and gate could all be potential problems if they want it bad enough ( think last year and vermont) though playing such a team would make a play-off series win all the more exciting. thankfully the chances of us seeing harvard, clarkson and dartmouth the week-end before LP are slim (tho for the record if we get there and our teams wants the title bad enough i think that they more than have the potential to go all the way....).

as for the tix. shouldn't be too hard to get them from the cornell allotment through the ticket office. i mean there are around 300. it will be spring break. there really aren't more than 300 die hard BIG RED fans. shouldn't be that difficult (or so I hope). The big question is, if we get to LP, can we order the tix from the office by phone (working in Albany, and DC for Judy makes being at Cornell on Monday an impossibility, esp since all our days off have already more or less been taken for hockey trips - with some alloted in case the NCAA's do roll our way)

I bought them at Placid last year. It's not really a problem, especially if you don't know if you're going to all the games, and you don't know which games we will be in. You can pretty much sit anywhere. It's not like even the championship was very crowded last year, and it was St. Lawrence.

Regarding the QF, I called the ticket office to find out what the timing was for QF tickets going on sale to the general public, but the person couldn't tell me anything more than that the season ticket holders would get first crack at them (the timing of which he did not know) and then what's left would go on sale to general public. Has anyone received a more helpful response as to when tickets will be sold? Not be a season ticket holder, I'll have to wait for the general public sales, but if I had a clue when season ticket holder sale was going to be conduct, I'd have a better idea when I should start calling and making a nuisance of myself. Thanks.

As I mentioned in an earlier thread - getting tickets in the Cornell section is really no problem. Last year I just went up for the Championship game. I called the Olympic Center box office late in the third period of the semifinal game against Harvard and asked for the Cornell section. I had no problem getting two tickets. Now if you are looking for a big block of tickets that may be a different story...

I'll definitely be there for the QF series at Lynah. I'll also be going to LP even if our beloved Red do not pull out a QF win. So, overall, would you reccommend waiting to buy, or buying through the LP office now?

> So, overall, would you reccommend waiting to buy, or buying through the LP office now?

Personally, I'd buy now to be assured of getting tickets, but I'm paranoid.

It depends. If you'll go regardless of Cornell's presence at LP, then buy now. If not, wait until Cornell gets there.

As for the QF tickets - technically Cornell hasn't clinched home ice, and even after home ice is definite the ticket office probably won't have the sale dates set. My guess is season ticket holders will have until a few days after the end of the season to cash in their coupon, and then general public sales will start 4 or 5 days before the playoff series. But they may do it differently if Cornell clinches, say, this weekend.

Paranoid? Is there a conspiracy to keep tickets away from you? You sure seem to have them all the time . . .

> You sure seem to have them all the time

Yep, and I buy them early.

As for QF tickets, assuming we get home ice, the dates are set, but they won't print up the tickets until they know who we're playing. This being the ECAC, that will probably mean March 3rd-ish. From previous experience, QF tickets will probably be on sale to season ticket holders starting around Monday March 4th until that Wednesday after which the general public will get a crack. That's how the student half works anyway.

As for Lake Placid, I called the ticket office about this. They said they're on sale for season ticket holders now. As soon as we get out plans firmed up (as opposed to an earlier post, it appears I will be going - woohoo!), I plan on picking them up.

Which brings me to my question... can anyone give any advice to a Lake Placid newbie as to good (read: cheap - we're college students afterall) places to stay, places to eat, thing to do, Sat morning/early afternoon, etc. Any advice is much appreciated.

-Fred, DeltaOne81 '03

Well, I don't know about waiting to print the tickets. As I said on another thread, some season ticket holders, such as I, purchased their tickets at the beginning of the season, with our season tickets. Any sentence with four commas should be changed.

How about skiing Whiteface, for anyone getting there Thursday, I may have a 2 for 1.

DeltaOne81 '03 wrote:

As for Lake Placid, I called the ticket office about this. They said they're on sale for season ticket holders now.

Huh? How could the ticket office be selling seats in the Cornell section when it's not known which section that is yet? I know before the Final Five () they used to assign one corner to the winner of each of the four quarterfinal series, and if the visiting team won, they'd take the tickets back with them. So under that system the team tickets would be assigned before the quarterfinals and sold after them.

I dunno the details. All I know is that when I called on Wednesday or so, they told me that I could come with my season ticket coupons any time and they could give me Lake Placid tickets. Maybe each of the twelve schools gets assigned a general area/section, but the ones that don't make it don't have much of a following when the weekend comes?

Or it's entirely possible that the Ticket Office was giving me wrong information.

Meanwhile, no one has Lake Placid lodging, food, entertainment advice?

-Fred, DeltaOne81 '03

I called the box office at Olympic Stadium last week & had a long chat with a woman who has been selling tix to the ECAC tourney for 5 years. She said the games are never sold out, and it is easy to get tickets in your section even the day of the game if you want. The rink has 7700 seats. Tix have been on sale since 11/01 and center ice is sold out.
Sections for colleges are NOT assigned until they know who will be in the tourney (altho she said the CU section is likely to be the same as in years past). You can buy tickets now but they cannot guarantee that you will be seated in the CU section. Or you can wait and an allotment of tickets will be sent down to CU ticket office & you can buy them here, distribution & dates of sale is up to the local office (and yes, I did call them too & they don't know much about nothin'). After ticket sales end here the remaining allotment will be sent up to Lake Placid for sale there.
It seems clear that the best course of events if you want tickets in the CU section is to wait until the section is sold locally. The "other" seats for the tourney are pretty much sold out, the ones that are "left" are the college sections as yet unassigned. Also it seems not much worry even if you go the last minute...
As far as places to stay, I've been looking around on the internet for several weeks and my last look on 2/9 showed only 1 or 2 places in Lake Placid with any rooms left. Most places are sold out for that weekend...also the rates in Lake Placid are boosted for ECAC weekend, sometimes doubled, which makes it pretty expensive. I found a room in a national chain (Comfort Inn) in Saranac Lake for $85. There are a couple B&Bs for about the same price but an hour away.

Good luck!
LGR!!!!

Ok, so I've been looking around, and I sorta have to disagree about places beings sold out. A lot of the places that let you check availabilility/reserve online are sold out, but there also seem to be a bunch of places available if you're willing to call. Check out lakeplacid.com and click on "Where to Stay" at the top, then do a search. I've found at least a dozen places with rooms at a variety of prices, most actually in town, none further than Saranac Lake (half an hour away).

There are a lot of flea bag hotels around Lake Placid -- I'm sure you'll be able to find *someplace*. I have stayed in really, really bad places (no heat in March in the Adirondacks... yum), but it's a roof and a bed to pass out on.

Grady just said 1/4 tics to season tic holders till 2/25 then gen public.

And if you're over 21 a place next to a north country watering hole is OK, too.

OK. For people claiming that they have bought LP tickets with ther season tix, what is the deal? Do you pay and then if we get to LP the tix office gives you tix in the cornell section or are they non school seating? If this is the case, we can still do this?? For out of towners, does this mean that they mail the LP tix to you?? Just curious. Cause we've been putting off getting tix until we knew where the Cornell contingent will be ( assuming we even make it there)

I think there's some confusion here. Some people seem to be talking about tickets for the ECAC Tournament at Lake Placid, while others are discussing tickets for the ECAC Q-finals.

Cornell season ticket holders were allowed to pre-order tickets for any Q-final games at Lynah. The tickets were $1.00 off the regular price and could be returned if Cornell did not host the Q-finals.

A block of Lake Placid tickets is being reserved for each team that wins in the Q-final round. Therefore, if the Big Red wins its Q-final series, the Corenll ticket office will have tickets to sell.

You can get LP tickets from the LP box office at any time -- but the tickets may not be in the cornell section.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Anne. That was what I was thinking. Thought that selling LP tix already was a little weird, early and presumptuous. Tho hopefully we'll be dealing with the how and when to buy LP tix in a few weeks!!!