Red Hot Hockey: The Fan Experience

The postgame thread carries a lot of talk about the game play. Putting the on-ice performance and the end result aside, I had such a blast on Saturday that I needed to start a separate thread to discuss how the event was run.

Awesome. Really. I'm full of awe. I can't describe accurately how much fun I had. The entire event was really, really well run, IMO. The fan turnout was great, the way the arena handled the game made me feel welcome, and since this seems to have come about from the work on BU's side, major kudos for getting this done. Jack Parker, other BU athletics people...Thank you.

Obviously, in a space that large, and people are spread out so much that the only cheers that had any power were: Anthem "RED", "Let's Go Red", and the goal cheer sequence. I did hear "Black Hole" 2 sections away, multiple cowbell/percussion groups, and it was possible for a single person to start a LGR that would quickly spread around the arena.

The band was massive, and sounded great. Too bad they weren't miked. Depending on your seat, it was possible for both bands to be playing simultaneously and not have a problem hearing only one.

We made "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" trumpeter Mark Pender crack a note with our "RED!" during his anthem performance.

The arena ushers did a fine "hands-off" job. You were pretty much able to go between sections to see friends as long as there was room anywhere in the lower bowl, and there were handfuls of sections that were just set-up to be all-standing with little problems that I could see. This was my first hockey game I've ever seen there (and 2nd time I've been inside the arena...both times this year) and I'm really impressed by it's setup. Even the "bad" seats are good, and the open concourses are well designed. It was really cool to walk around and keep running into people you knew. I've heard some reports of the ushers not stopping people from aisle-blocking during play, but otherwise a good job.

Beer.

The programs were pricey, but excellent. It wasn't a thrown-together MSG generic stats-n-roster production. A lot of thought was clearly put into it, and the 2 feature articles that described the 66-73 rivalry from each school's POV were a great read. I bet BU and not MSG put it together, and it's a keeper.

From what I heard, CSTV just took the Arena feed and did everything else from their offices at Chelsea Piers.

Great sportsmanship. I went to several bars & restaurants before and after the game, saw fans from both sides and didn't see a lick of bad sportsmanship. Maybe some have different experiences. I saw and shook the hand of the BU guy with the painted head and hard-hat. Got a couple fist-bumps from others. Even my "Screw BU" t-shirt I wore pre-game was met with both laughs and good-humored "well, that's crass." Seeing even the Cornell crowd give the BU/USA alumni a standing ovation made me happy. And I loved seeing Ned and Jack Kelley as well as our alumni on the ice. I think that everyone in town for the game was just thrilled that we were doing this. There are simply lots of respect between the two programs and you could see that on the benches and in the stands.

Estimates vary from 60%-90% Cornell percentage, but it was really warming to see that many. I have a feeling the BU fans didn't know there were that many Cornell hockey fans. There were always scattered empty seats to be seen, so I doubt the turnstile count was 18,200, but every section was mostly full. The aggressive, professional scalpers were indeed outside the place, and I heard and was approached several times asking if I had any extras.

Good God, was that fun. This should happen once every four years.

Plenty of good photos of the game are available, by the way, on CHN:

[www.collegehockeynews.com]

This is the thread I've been looking for (read: should have started). We can go on for days about the game and its implications for the season, but it's nothing more than a bad non-conference, neutral-site loss. The Red will hopefully recover and move on.

I can't say much more about the experience than Rich has already said (except possibly adding "Rum Bar" to his "Beer" comment). We dominated the crowd and would have absolutely rocked the place if we ever took a lead. Most of the fans seemed pretty good in terms of sportsmanship... although by the third period, when I had moved to a more BU-controlled section, I got quite a few stares for being the only one telling their team to "DIE!"

I wish I could have spent more time around the arena both before and after the game, and I wish I had gotten off my ass and actually organized a group of people like I had planned, but even coming solo it was a spectacular time. I hope this doesn't turn out to be a once-a-decade thing.

-Greenberg '97

hmm. It was certainly awe inspiring to see MSG filled for college hockey, and there are certainly parts of the experience that I will cherish (the "RED" certainly being one of them), but was I the only person put off by the fact that MSG on Saturday night was facetimer central? Now I know that this was expected going in, and that we never could have filled that stadium with the faithul alone, but I'd estimate that at least half of the Cornel 'fans' there had no idea what was going on (nor did they really care.) Outside of myself and a few people standing with me, there didn't seem to many Cornell fans concerned with the fact that we where being embarrassed on national TV. The game seemed secondary to socializing. A few guys behind me actually tried to start a 'de-fense' cheer, I was embarrassed. In many ways it was the anti-lynah experience.

I understand that this was a celebration of college hockey as much as it was a game, but the nonchalance of most Cornell fans really took away from the experience for me. Where I an independent observer, I would have asked myself: So these are the vaunted Lynah Faithful? I would not have been impressed.

RichH
I went to several bars & restaurants before and after the game, saw fans from both sides and didn't see a lick of bad sportsmanship. Maybe some have different experiences.

I saw mostly good sportsmanship as well, but when a couple drunk BU frat-heads started screaming "Cornell sucks" in people's faces outside MSG, I calmly responded with "Good game, man" to one of them as he passed. He quickly lowered his voice and patted me on the back, saying "yeah, sorry, good game, man."

Call me sappy, but that was pretty cool. Of course, this being one week after my own mature self verbally bitch-slapped a smarmy, obnoxious little 14-year-old at Dartmouth

evilnaturedrobot
Where I an independent observer, I would have asked myself: So these are the vaunted Lynah Faithful? I would not have been impressed.

That exact question was asked by some BU fans over on the USCHO fans, who (just a few ) were not impressed.

I for one shot a couple glares at the Cornell mom behind me who kept whining "This game is so violent. Why did I come!?" and "Why do the Cornell people keep cheering...we're losing...we look so arrogant!"

Not to mention the two Cornell meatheads next to me who remarked at the beginning of the 2nd: "Dude, we got a new goalie...sweet!" "How do you know?" "Last period, our goalie wore red, this one is wearing white...oh wait, it says Boston on him. But why is he over here?"

Another reason why the Cornell experience is like no other. And we do this sports thing for, what, maybe $100 million a year less than Ohio State?

Others criticized the facetimers. You can't have all 12,000 Cornellians be experts on hockey arcana such as the teams changing sides each period. (I was at Sunday's NY Rangers game and a companion wasn't clear why Jagr, in the penalty box, didn't release when Dallas scored. Answer: Dallas was in the box, too.)

I hope Cornell does this again. Every year in MSG may be too often (although I'm all for trying). Every 3-5 years is about right and if we can keep it going in between as a home-and-away series in between, as it appears we're doing, that's fine. My experience helping run a Cornell Daily Sun reunion, bringing together great Sun writers past and present, is that a gathering can maintain itself at a cocktail party level when held each year, and sold out the Marriott ballroom as a once-every-5-years event.

I just wish our most stalwart opponents didn't wear red.

RichH
This was my first hockey game I've ever seen there (and 2nd time I've been inside the arena...both times this year) and I'm really impressed by it's setup. Even the "bad" seats are good, and the open concourses are well designed.

Don't let Bill hear you. Everyone knows MSG is an utter abomination and the worst thing to happen in the history of man.

CowbellGuy

RichH
This was my first hockey game I've ever seen there (and 2nd time I've been inside the arena...both times this year) and I'm really impressed by it's setup. Even the "bad" seats are good, and the open concourses are well designed.

Don't let Bill hear you. Everyone knows MSG is an utter abomination and the worst thing to happen in the history of man.

Maybe Bill means the one they tore down in 1925.

billhoward
Others criticized the facetimers. You can't have all 12,000 Cornellians be experts on hockey arcana such as the teams changing sides each period. (I was at Sunday's NY Rangers game and a companion wasn't clear why Jagr, in the penalty box, didn't release when Dallas scored. Answer: Dallas was in the box, too.)

Oh I understand, the reason this game drew 18,200 as opposed to 9,000 is because it was the Facetiming event of the semester. Without that we're looking at a half empty arena. Even so, much of what I love about the usual Cornell hockey experience was missing here. At no point on Saturday night did I feel that anyone else around me was living and dying with the team. There's a fundamental camaraderie to the Lynah experience, and that's lost when those standing around you don't seem to care.

And call this silly, but I've always felt that we, as a fan base, have a reputation to live up too. It bothers me when we fall short. I was a hockey fan before I came to Cornell, I don't need the kind of fan involvement seen at Lynah (and on the road) to maintain interest in the game, but there are so many things that make the Lynah experience unique and wonderful. I felt that most of those where missing on Saturday night. That is all.

sah67
this being one week after my own mature self verbally bitch-slapped a smarmy, obnoxious little 14-year-old at Dartmouth

You got off easy then. A 12-year-old openly challenged me to fight at the end of that game...might've been for my "Hanover's in Dartmouth" cheer.

evilnaturedrobot

billhoward
Others criticized the facetimers. You can't have all 12,000 Cornellians be experts on hockey arcana such as the teams changing sides each period. (I was at Sunday's NY Rangers game and a companion wasn't clear why Jagr, in the penalty box, didn't release when Dallas scored. Answer: Dallas was in the box, too.)

Oh I understand, the reason this game drew 18,200 as opposed to 9,000 is because it was the Facetiming event of the semester. Without that we're looking at a half empty arena. Even so, much of what I love about the usual Cornell hockey experience was missing here. At no point on Saturday night did I feel that anyone else around me was living and dying with the team. There's a fundamental camaraderie to the Lynah experience, and that's lost when those standing around you don't seem to care.

And call this silly, but I've always felt that we, as a fan base, have a reputation to live up too. It bothers me when we fall short. I was a hockey fan before I came to Cornell, I don't need the kind of fan involvement seen at Lynah (and on the road) to maintain interest in the game, but there are so many things that make the Lynah experience unique and wonderful. I felt that most of those where missing on Saturday night. That is all.

I think you're going to need to get over it, dude. The game was targeted at local alumni, and while the Faithful were going to fill a certain number of the seats, nobody with any sense was expecting Section A times a hundred. If the people immediately around you weren't living and dying with the team, you picked the wrong people to go with you.

sah67
I saw mostly good sportsmanship as well, but when a couple drunk BU frat-heads started screaming "Cornell sucks" in people's faces outside MSG, I calmly responded with "Good game, man" to one of them as he passed. He quickly lowered his voice and patted me on the back, saying "yeah, sorry, good game, man."

I had the same exact experience and replied exactly the same way, except I held my hand in front of his face, looking for a high-five. He didn't know what to do for a good 5 seconds, and then high-fived me and meekly said, "Yeah, thanks, you too, sorry."
I guess neither one of our experiences caused him to stop though.

amerks127

sah67
this being one week after my own mature self verbally bitch-slapped a smarmy, obnoxious little 14-year-old at Dartmouth

You got off easy then. A 12-year-old openly challenged me to fight at the end of that game...might've been for my "Hanover's in Dartmouth" cheer.

I've found what seems like a perfect solution to the loud, classless children at Meehan every time we play Brown. When they run up to me, yelling "Brown hockey! Brown hockey!" and dance in front of me, holding out the middle sections of their shirts in case I wouldn't have spotted the word "Brown" on them otherwise, I simply reply, "How many times has Brown won the ECAC tournament or the national title?"

Should work equally well at Dartmouth.

CowbellGuy
Don't let Bill hear you. Everyone knows MSG is an utter abomination and the worst thing to happen in the history of man.

When I first got there, I said, "Wow, this place isn't nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be."

And it isn't. But there were a few things that really stood out as in need of serious updating: no seamless glass, tiny bathrooms with *huge* lines between periods, uncomfortable seats (if you're going to make me sit, at least give me a comfortable seat), and congested towers.

OTOH, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and breadth of the beer selection. No Arrogant Bastard, for sure, but still a few potable brews.

Kyle

evilnaturedrobot
At no point on Saturday night did I feel that anyone else around me was living and dying with the team. There's a fundamental camaraderie to the Lynah experience, and that's lost when those standing around you don't seem to care.

And call this silly, but I've always felt that we, as a fan base, have a reputation to live up too. It bothers me when we fall short.

I get that, really I do, because I was there once. At some point I just stopped caring what other people thought of me or my fanbase. I go to hockey games to have fun, not to perform...I'm not going to be someone's dancing monkey. We're not paid at games to put on a show. I'll call a fellow Cornell fan an asshole if they're being an asshole, and I'll laugh when others do something funny. And I'll scream my head off at the on-ice action because I get very involved in the game. Chants and cheers are part of the fun in-between play. If others want to blog that what we collectively do is great or lame or overhyped, so be it. I just don't care.

No doubt, I think my enjoyment of the MSG game was because I happened to be surrounded by a lot of other fun fans...we stood, we cheered (and groaned) together. Nothing we did really could be heard halfway across the arena. If people want the full "Lynah Faithful" experience, they're going to have to go to Lynah. The road fans this year haven't been as large-in-number or as loud as usual, but I'm not going to change how I enjoy a game based on any kind of reputation.

There's a reason there were so many +15 (and up) ticket groups in the MSG roll-call...and it's the camaraderie that you speak of. It's too bad you weren't near one of those.

Beeeej

evilnaturedrobot

billhoward
Others criticized the facetimers. You can't have all 12,000 Cornellians be experts on hockey arcana such as the teams changing sides each period. (I was at Sunday's NY Rangers game and a companion wasn't clear why Jagr, in the penalty box, didn't release when Dallas scored. Answer: Dallas was in the box, too.)

Oh I understand, the reason this game drew 18,200 as opposed to 9,000 is because it was the Facetiming event of the semester. Without that we're looking at a half empty arena. Even so, much of what I love about the usual Cornell hockey experience was missing here. At no point on Saturday night did I feel that anyone else around me was living and dying with the team. There's a fundamental camaraderie to the Lynah experience, and that's lost when those standing around you don't seem to care.

And call this silly, but I've always felt that we, as a fan base, have a reputation to live up too. It bothers me when we fall short. I was a hockey fan before I came to Cornell, I don't need the kind of fan involvement seen at Lynah (and on the road) to maintain interest in the game, but there are so many things that make the Lynah experience unique and wonderful. I felt that most of those where missing on Saturday night. That is all.

I think you're going to need to get over it, dude. The game was targeted at local alumni, and while the Faithful were going to fill a certain number of the seats, nobody with any sense was expecting Section A times a hundred. If the people immediately around you weren't living and dying with the team, you picked the wrong people to go with you.

Oh, I mostly am. And I expected the game to be facetimer central, I guess I just didn't expect it to bother me to the extent it did. None the less, this thread is about the fan experience, and this was mine.

As much fun as this was, I'm looking forward to the subsequent games at Agganis and Lynah a good deal more than this one.

Count me among those who were delighted with the event.

Sure, my Philly-based 16 year old knew more of the cheers than most of the people in the section, and only a couple of people knew to ask us for some of our newspaper for the BU introductions, but it was a blast. The plusses outweighed the minuses.

+ I got to take my wife and (the one CU hockey-loving) son to a game

+ There were a ton of CU fans in the place

+ Did anyone else note the 5-1 score going into the 3rd period? I said to the guy on my right "I've only seen us come back from a 5-1 deficit once, and it was a miracle." The guy in front of me overheard and turned around, smiling. I said "ECAC Quarters against Providence, 1979" and he nodded. My son, Nolan, even asked me if anyone else celebrated March 6 as Randy Wilson Day.

+ Smithwick's and Newcastle on tap

+ The Screw BU cheer done by 10,000+ fans. Warms the cockles of my heart.

+ MSG personnel weren't surly. They actually seemed downright helpful. It was a fine venue for the event.

+ A great excuse to spend the day in Manhattan. It was nice not to be in a hurry - the 8:00 start worked out great.

The major minus to the whole thing: Cornell failing to play something resembling good hockey for huge hunks of time.

I agree Rich that this would be a great event every few years. Personally, I could see them doing it every three years - continuing the home-and-home-and-neutral-ice agreement they just signed. In fact, I bet they could move the BU home game from Agannis to the Gahden and pack that place, too. It'd sure make it easier for us out-of-towners to get tix there.

All in all, a great experience.

Karl '77

krose
But there were a few things that really stood out as in need of serious updating: no seamless glass, tiny bathrooms with *huge* lines between periods, uncomfortable seats.

Well, it's still a 40-year-old building. Some of the facilities aren't great, but it holds up pretty well for its age. Besides, what were you doing in your seat?

As for the glass, no thanks. Hopefully everyone learned their lessons from the injuries caused by the stiffer seamless glass boards.

amerks127

sah67
this being one week after my own mature self verbally bitch-slapped a smarmy, obnoxious little 14-year-old at Dartmouth

You got off easy then. A 12-year-old openly challenged me to fight at the end of that game...might've been for my "Hanover's in Dartmouth" cheer.

Reminds me of '06 at Cheel when some Cub Scouts let me know how awful Cornell was playing.

There is something to be said as well that the vast majority of the fans had a blast despite the score. Win or lose I love that we can still come away with great experiences from games such at this.

Beeeej
Plenty of good photos of the game are available, by the way, on CHN:

[www.collegehockeynews.com]

Here's one for you: In picture #15, which shows the "sea of red" crowd shot, I was actually able to identify myself, all the way across the arena from the photogragher.

"Not bad for a 40-year-old building" is still a 40-year-old building.

Despite Cornell's less-than-perfect experiences playing hockey in the state of Minnesota, the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul would be a good example of a modern facility that appeals to hockey fans. Ditto the half-billion-dollar Prudential Center in Newark that just opened.

Places such as Comerica Park and Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia Phillies) are other examples of up-to-date facilities that make the experience more positive for a wide range of fans. Sight lines are important but so are wide concourses, and decently maintained bathrooms your wife or girlfriend won't gripe about for the next period, even big video screens so you can better see the replays.

The best thing you can say about MSG is that the ruins of the old Pennsylvania Station that MSG rests upon was the catalyst for the historic preservation movement which is mostly a good thing. Having gone overboard in one direction (allowing a beautiful structure to pass from existence) we now have pitched battles fought at the local level anytime someone wants to replace a barely historic building with something possibly more useful. I'm surprised someone didn't try to save University Halls for that reason.

CowbellGuy

krose
But there were a few things that really stood out as in need of serious updating: no seamless glass, tiny bathrooms with *huge* lines between periods, uncomfortable seats.

Well, it's still a 40-year-old building. Some of the facilities aren't great, but it holds up pretty well for its age. Besides, what were you doing in your seat?

Well, I notice you misquoted me by replacing the context of my sitting with a period. I was in row 2, smart guy, with lots of people sitting behind me who would have been unhappy looking through me.

CowbellGuy
I'm a poopyhead.

You don't say?

Kyle

billhoward
"Not bad for a 40-year-old building" is still a 40-year-old building. ... Ditto the half-billion-dollar Prudential Center in Newark that just opened.

You say "40 year old building," I say "half-billion dollar Prudential Center." MSG is more than adequate and Dolan is going to need that money to buy out Isiah and pay the lawyers for his losing appeal.

It is a sports facility. If you want to be pampered, get a 60" HDTV and a recliner with cupholder.

For the life of me, I was trying to figure out why it looks like we're defending our side of the ice in the second period. Then I figured it out... it's 19.4 seconds left in the 2nd INTERMISSION, the refs are getting set at center ice, and Scrivens is scraping the crease. Not sure what's going on at our penalty box, though...

ugarte
you want to be pampered, get a 60" HDTV and a recliner with cupholder.

Wait, that's a cupholder?! Dammit, no wonder it ruined my DVD.

You're saying that Isiah's "a white man calling a black woman 'bitch,' that is wrong with me" defense may not fly?

Greenberg '97
For the life of me, I was trying to figure out why it looks like we're defending our side of the ice in the second period. Then I figured it out... it's 19.4 seconds left in the 2nd INTERMISSION, the refs are getting set at center ice, and Scrivens is scraping the crease. Not sure what's going on at our penalty box, though...

Yeah, it took me a bit to figure it out as well. Everything looked right, except for the teams being at the wrong ends, thus my "Hey, that's me!" moment was rapidly deteriorating. Then it dawned on me what was going on and it all made sense again. Although, I can't shed any light on the activity at the penalty box. We had a carryover from the 1st to the 2nd periods, but nothing after Nash released following BU's 4th goal late in the 2nd. Maybe just a social call?

You can tell how much someone really cares about the hockey by how much they notice the facetimers. As far as I'm concerned, an obsession with the so-called undesirables and one's Faithful cred is a different form of facetiming. Just watch the goddamn game and stop worrying about who else is there with you. If you want more noise, make more noise.

I thought everything about the event was A+ except a three minute nightmare in the middle of the first period and a bunch of sore losers yelling "Boston Sucks" and "Red Sox Suck" as we left MSG. I didn't have any rude winners in my wave of the exiting throng.

I had a few idiots come over to my group and start calling out "Sucks to CU" at us and just countered with the obvious "Sucks to BU". Fisticuffs were avoided by finding common ground that harvard does indeed suck

I'm really glad I sat in the student section (320-330s). The band was easily heard and the fans were into it; we're the ones who started the sieve...vacuum... cheer.

I think that anyone who wasn't happy with the crowd would have loved it had we not been taken out of the game so early on. The place would have been as loud as anything.

ugarte
You can tell how much someone really cares about the hockey by how much they notice the facetimers. As far as I'm concerned, an obsession with the so-called undesirables and one's Faithful cred is a different form of facetiming. Just watch the goddamn game and stop worrying about who else is there with you. If you want more noise, make more noise.

Oh come now. So the countless posters that have complained about the subject have all secretly been pretending to care about hockey just so they can come on this website and prove to other hockey geeks how hardcore they are? Please. I came to Cornell a hockey fan, I play in my spare time, I go to games to watch hockey, but that doesn't mean I'm completely oblivious to the atmosphere around me.

There is something very special about the atmosphere that a good crowd generates, particularly at Lynah. What's wrong with wanting to preserve that?

And I'm not looking to call out individual fans based on their 'faithfulness', honestly I'm happy as long as you're there on time and interested in the game.

RichH

evilnaturedrobot
At no point on Saturday night did I feel that anyone else around me was living and dying with the team. There's a fundamental camaraderie to the Lynah experience, and that's lost when those standing around you don't seem to care.

And call this silly, but I've always felt that we, as a fan base, have a reputation to live up too. It bothers me when we fall short.

I get that, really I do, because I was there once. At some point I just stopped caring what other people thought of me or my fanbase. I go to hockey games to have fun, not to perform...I'm not going to be someone's dancing monkey. We're not paid at games to put on a show. I'll call a fellow Cornell fan an asshole if they're being an asshole, and I'll laugh when others do something funny. And I'll scream my head off at the on-ice action because I get very involved in the game. Chants and cheers are part of the fun in-between play. If others want to blog that what we collectively do is great or lame or overhyped, so be it. I just don't care.

I think the reason that I hold the 'Lynah Expiriance' so dear is because it's what sets college hockey and cornell hockey apart from the pro game that I've always followed. It's a fundamentally different experience because of the crowd, the camaraderie and the enthusiasm. Now what's happening on the ice always comes first, but the crowd is important to me.

In contrast, I was at the Stars/Ranger's game on sunday afternoon and the fact that the crowd was somewhat dead didn't bother me, because I've never considered that to be a major component of non-playoff pro hockey (Rangers/Devils, Rangers/Islanders being a notable exception.)

RichH
No doubt, I think my enjoyment of the MSG game was because I happened to be surrounded by a lot of other fun fans...we stood, we cheered (and groaned) together. Nothing we did really could be heard halfway across the arena. If people want the full "Lynah Faithful" experience, they're going to have to go to Lynah. The road fans this year haven't been as large-in-number or as loud as usual, but I'm not going to change how I enjoy a game based on any kind of reputation.

There's a reason there were so many +15 (and up) ticket groups in the MSG roll-call...and it's the camaraderie that you speak of. It's too bad you weren't near one of those.

Most of the people I stand with at Lynah don't live in the New York area and couldn't make it, that certainly made a diferance.

And please understand that I had a lot of fun on Saturday night. But I did have criticisms.

krose
And it isn't. But there were a few things that really stood out as in need of serious updating: (snip) tiny bathrooms with *huge* lines between periods (snip)

On the bright side, at a typical Rangers game, the lines are almost exclusively at the men's rooms; on Saturday at least they were a bit more dispersed.

RichH
Beer.

Wait... there was beer? Why didn't anyone tell me?

Josh '99

krose
And it isn't. But there were a few things that really stood out as in need of serious updating: (snip) tiny bathrooms with *huge* lines between periods (snip)

On the bright side, at a typical Rangers game, the lines are almost exclusively at the men's rooms; on Saturday at least they were a bit more dispersed.

I thought [Insert engineering school here (Clarkson is my case)] was the only place on earth that had lines for the mens room...

Dpperk29

Josh '99

krose
And it isn't. But there were a few things that really stood out as in need of serious updating: (snip) tiny bathrooms with *huge* lines between periods (snip)

On the bright side, at a typical Rangers game, the lines are almost exclusively at the men's rooms; on Saturday at least they were a bit more dispersed.

I thought [Insert engineering school here (Clarkson is my case)] was the only place on earth that had lines for the mens room...

In my experience, it's a fairly common occurrence in sold out sporting events, particularly in New Yorks many 40+ year-old crap box facilities -- Giants, Shea, & Yankee Stadiums, MSG, etc.

Josh '99

krose
And it isn't. But there were a few things that really stood out as in need of serious updating: (snip) tiny bathrooms with *huge* lines between periods (snip)

On the bright side, at a typical Rangers game, the lines are almost exclusively at the men's rooms; on Saturday at least they were a bit more dispersed.

And, speaking of bathrooms, they could use more bathrooms. Sitting in the 300 level, the men's room was not exactly what I call nearby. In fact, on one of my "trips" I decided to go off in the opposite direction looking for a possibly closer men's room. I walked a very long way and saw no indication of any other men's rooms. In the one men's room that I found, the number of "facilities" was amazing small in number. What's with that? Don't Rangers/Knicks fans ever have to pee? I suppose that's a topic for another thread.

I'm glad someone started this thread. I thought it was a great atmosphere for college hockey and enjoyed everything about the experience except for the game itself! I was standing all game in Section 330, where the fans were constantly chanting and cheering. I didn't splurge for the $7 program, but I thought the montage on the scoreboard between the first two periods of Cornell hockey greats and the timeline of Cornell hockey was wonderfully done (much better than BU's boring tribute to Jack Parker between the second and third periods). The size of the Cornell contingent was impressive. I don't think I've ever been at a hockey game with such a large number of Cornell fans. It was more Cornell fans than we even get in Albany when we make the ECAC finals. Who cares if not all of them were diehard fans? They were wearing red and cheering for the Big Red! I agree with Bill Howard that doing this every year won't work, but I'd love to see it every 3-5 years. And I appreciate the fact that the Garden stopped the canned music once the game began so we could hear the pep bands during play stoppages.
The last time Cornell played at the Garden was for the ECAC Holiday Festival during the mid-70s, and those games had a morgue-like atmosphere with about 6,000 fans in the Garden. This was much better.
Given a choice between sitting with a few hundred diehard Cornell fans at the Florida tournament or having an atmosphere like we had Saturday night, I'll take the Red Hot Hockey any time!

evilnaturedrobot
Oh come now. So the countless posters that have complained about the subject have all secretly been pretending to care about hockey just so they can come on this website and prove to other hockey geeks how hardcore they are?

Not "pretending" and not "just" but ... kinda. Trust me that the number is well below "countless."

ugarte
You can tell how much someone really cares about the hockey by how much they notice the facetimers. As far as I'm concerned, an obsession with the so-called undesirables and one's Faithful cred is a different form of facetiming. Just watch the goddamn game and stop worrying about who else is there with you. If you want more noise, make more noise.

Unfortunately, sometimes you can't help but notice facetimers. I had an extra ticket to the Harvard game, so I invited a friend who I knew hadn't seen a game in person in who-knows-how-many years. We had seats on the glass and he had a great time, got into the whole spirit of Lynah East. But as we were leaving he told me that the one thing he couldn't stand was the guy in the row behind him who spent the entire game talking to 2 friends about real estate, mutual funds, vacations...pretty much anything but hockey. Being a couple seats away, I was spared, but this particular friend, and another sitting between us, said it was one of the most annoying experiences they'd ever had a game.

25 minutes after the game ended, after we'd hit the restrooms, talked to people about plans for the BU game, said our good-byes to friends among the Faithful, and finally made our way to the exit, I look back and the guy is still sitting there yakking at his two companions. I was tempted to back and tell they guy that there had been a hockey in front of him and that it ended long ago. But you know, he just wasn't worth it.

ugarte

evilnaturedrobot
Oh come now. So the countless posters that have complained about the subject have all secretly been pretending to care about hockey just so they can come on this website and prove to other hockey geeks how hardcore they are?

Not "pretending" and not "just" but ... kinda. Trust me that the number is well below "countless."

Well countless is an exaggeration (to be fair, the community on this board is too small for any group to be countless) but the point is that this is not something that just a few of us have brought up.

As for 'kinda', I don't buy it. There's certainly a sense of superiority displayed in many of those conversations, but I just don't think that anyone who takes the time to actually post on a board like this would care more about what's going on in the stands than on the ice. It is quite possible to be concerned with both.

ugarte

evilnaturedrobot
Oh come now. So the countless posters that have complained about the subject have all secretly been pretending to care about hockey just so they can come on this website and prove to other hockey geeks how hardcore they are?

Not "pretending" and not "just" but ... kinda. Trust me that the number is well below "countless."

I didn't want to be the first to say it, and I'm certainly not going to get dragged into a discussion on quantifying ratios of caring-about-the-game to caring-about-seeing-people-who-just-care-about-being-seen... but for the record, I agree with ugarte. Some people are there to watch hockey, some people are there to look cool, some people are there to look down on people who are there to look cool, and the fact that the former is a superset of the latter doesn't make the latter less lame.

This message brought to you by the association of obfuscation. And now I'm going to go back into lurking. PM me for details or bonepicking.

[Damn, one leftover contraction from a revision in sentence structure, and my post is forever blemished with an "edited" mark.]

Josh '99

RichH
Beer.

Wait... there was beer? Why didn't anyone tell me?

Anyone sitting under the BU parts of the balcony would have been quickly aware. Thank goodness the spillage hadn't yet been consumed.

Josh '99

krose
And it isn't. But there were a few things that really stood out as in need of serious updating: (snip) tiny bathrooms with *huge* lines between periods (snip)

On the bright side, at a typical Rangers game, the lines are almost exclusively at the men's rooms; on Saturday at least they were a bit more dispersed.

Yeah, I was a little surprised at the lines at the ladies room. That was out of the ordinary and a bit of a strange/odd experience. I had gotten used to the idea of no waits for the bathrooms at hockey games. In fact, there was a game in Albany where I was in the ladies' room and a guy ran in because the men's line was too long. That was interesting.

that was precious. good work, neil!

judy
In fact, there was a game in Albany where I was in the ladies' room and a guy ran in because the men's line was too long. That was interesting.

I actually ran into the ladies' room at Albany in 2005 because I made a mistake while glancing at the college hoops TV's outside. The sad part is it took some very pleasant young woman to point out my mistake, at which point I was mortified. My father still picks on me for that one.

Kyle

krose
I actually ran into the ladies' room at Albany in 2005 because I made a mistake while glancing at the college hoops TV's outside. The sad part is it took some very pleasant young woman to point out my mistake, at which point I was mortified. My father still picks on me for that one.

And now so will the rest of us

DeltaOne81

krose
I actually ran into the ladies' room at Albany in 2005 because I made a mistake while glancing at the college hoops TV's outside. The sad part is it took some very pleasant young woman to point out my mistake, at which point I was mortified. My father still picks on me for that one.

And now so will the rest of us

PLEASE, as if any of us buys that it was a mistake.

Josh '99

DeltaOne81

krose
I actually ran into the ladies' room at Albany in 2005 because I made a mistake while glancing at the college hoops TV's outside. The sad part is it took some very pleasant young woman to point out my mistake, at which point I was mortified. My father still picks on me for that one.

And now so will the rest of us

PLEASE, as if any of us buys that it was a mistake.

Hey, in a free market, whoever bids the most gets the stall.

Cornell Chronicle
And despite Cornell's 6-3 loss to Boston University, the fans enjoyed turning the venerable Garden into "Lynah East."
From: [www.news.cornell.edu]

Hey, I thought we already had a "Lynah East". Wasn't this "Lynah South"?

crodger1

Cornell Chronicle
And despite Cornell's 6-3 loss to Boston University, the fans enjoyed turning the venerable Garden into "Lynah East."
From: [www.news.cornell.edu]

Hey, I thought we already had a "Lynah East". Wasn't this "Lynah South"?

"Metro Lynah."

Beeeej

crodger1

Cornell Chronicle
And despite Cornell's 6-3 loss to Boston University, the fans enjoyed turning the venerable Garden into "Lynah East."
From: [www.news.cornell.edu]

Hey, I thought we already had a "Lynah East". Wasn't this "Lynah South"?

"Metro Lynah."

Nope, that's already taken: AmTrak service out of Boston.

Beeeej
"Metro Lynah."

Lynapolis.

Unfortunately, last week was "The City that Never Backchecks."