Frozen Four

I just got my tickets. Anybody else? I'm in sec. 303 row 13. Looks like high in the corner. I thought I'd post the schedule of activities for those who might like.

Wed. 4/9 10:45-3:30 Team Practices (Free)
Thurs. 4/10 Noon SF#1
Thurs. 4/10 6 PM  SF#2
Fri.  4/11 12:15-2:30  Team Practices (Free)
Fri.  4/11 1:00-1:45 USHCO Town Hall Meeting (Free)
Fri.  4/11 2:00-2:30  Humanitarian Award Presentation (Free)
Fri.  4/11 2:30-3:00  Hobey Baker Award Presentation (Free)
Sat. 4/12 7:00 PM Championship Game

I don't know what they do with conflicts between practices and awards?

Section 300, row 7.

Beeeej

I don't know if I can throw Snickers that far and still hit you.

Section 316, Row 8.

Whoa, whoa, WHOA. How did you guys get tickets?!?

Step 1: Buy tickets in 1999 for a moderately-attended Anaheim Frozen Four.
Step 2: Using your continuously increasing priority from having bought those tickets, continue buying through the lottery every year whether you're actually going to attend or not.

If you need help with the time travel part of step 1, let me know.

Beeeej

From someone who sounds experienced, are there scalpers at the game from whom you can purchase the tickets?

There will certainly be a flurry of tickets changing hands through places like the USCHO Ticket exchange and eBay as FF time approaches and teams get knocked out. The timing will be a bit precarious, but there will be tickets.

As Age said, eBay has been a very reliable source of reasonably priced tickets if you're willing to look hard for the best deal. I sold my tickets for the 2001 Albany FF on eBay when an injury prevented me from going, and I made a small profit, but all things considered I'd have rather been there.

In my experience the few times I've actually attended the FF, the availability of tickets in the vicinity of the arena is not high - especially for the final. Though there were certainly thousands of Minnesota fans trying to sell their tickets for the Maine-UNH semi last year in St. Paul.

Beeeej

Do the allotments given to the schools include both semi-final games? If that's the case, it would help provide some possible sellers to the other game; although, unlike Minnesota fans who could just go home or back to campus last year, most visiting fans in Buffalo will choose to attend the other game.

I think someone mentioned this before, but what is the process for Cornell selling tickets?
I almost positive they will sell some tickets to students. Anyone know how many?
but, let's win the ECAC first...

I wouldn't count on getting tickets from Cornell. After player comps, tickets for Cornell VIPs and a block for the band, there might not be any left. Keep an eye on the USCHO message board and see if you can pick some up for a reasonable price. You can always sell them again later if need be.

As far as I know, tickets for the Frozen Four are officially sold only as a three-game package if you buy them from the NCAA, the arena, or a participating school. I believe you can only buy single-game tickets from individuals.

Beeeej

How much is the face value of each ticket for the Frozen Four? How much should I expect to spend on a ticket?

Face value of each ticket is $40. You'll have to check USCHO or ebay to find out what the scalpers are asking.

That's $40 for each ticket to each game, by the way... $120 total. Even on eBay, the legal limit for a NY state event ticket is 120% of the cost (which can include processing fees, $1.50 each if bought through the lottery), so $145.80 is the most you should be paying if you can manage it.

Beeeej

I found 8 tickets for sale already on ebay. 2 sets of two tickets and one set of 4 tickets. Prices are not to far over the sale price, yet.

Ok, I did a more general search and came up with 8 sets of tickets on sale, 20 tickets in all. I'm sure there will be many more, but prices asked may increase as we get closer to the weekend of the event.

How are folks from the "left Coast" planning on working the airfair restrictions into going to Buffalo, IF we make it?
With the regionals ending on March 29 or so, that's less than 2 weeks before the SF games on the 10th.
(Note - I've paid my homage to the woofing gods - I bought a ticket to see the Boss in Vancouver BC on the 11th - about the only time in my life where I've wanted the conflict with one of his shows.

14-day advance purchase is a very avoidable problem, if you're smart about it.

1) Use sites like hotwire or priceline if you don't care what time of day you fly.

2) "Budget airlines" like Southwest, ATA, Air Tran, Jet Blue, etc. often have cheap fares up to the moment (or a few days before) your trip.

3) Use www.bestfares.com to find out various fare codes you'll need to get around the 14-day advance trap.

4) Buy a 14-day or 21-day advance ticket early (before we know if Cornell is in or not) and then if they don't make it, you'll have an airline credit to use later in the year (usually good for 365 days). Sure, you lose the interest on the money, but it's a good insurance policy if you're very concerned about advance sale rules.

Got mine and Judy's tix in the mail today (thanks JTW, Barb! We owe one of you for shipping charges). We're in section 112, row 12. Yay. It's the first time I've ever held FF tix in my hand. Was exciting ... maybe that makes me a dork but who cares?

Chris H.-'82 wrote:

How are folks from the "left Coast" planning on working the airfair restrictions into going to Buffalo, IF we make it?
With the regionals ending on March 29 or so, that's less than 2 weeks before the SF games on the 10th.

I'm once again a very poor grad student. However, I also have an obscene number of FF miles thanks to too much travel while working at failed dot-com eons ago.

Thus, I'd be willing to get people on the West Coast tickets on short notice for $375, assuming this is still a reasonable price for a transcontinental ticket. I figure I could only do 3 or 4 tickets before the airline noticed. Drop me a note if you are seriously interested.

Melissa, does this mean that you're the one holding on to the tix this time?

[Q]I wouldn't count on getting tickets from Cornell. After player comps, tickets for Cornell VIPs and a block for the band, there might not be any left. Keep an eye on the USCHO message board and see if you can pick some up for a reasonable price. You can always sell them again later if need be.[/Q]

If Cornell makes it, the band tickets will not come out of the Cornell allotment. The NCAA simply reserves 25 seats for each band for the games presuming all schools involved will have a band.
However, it's not to say that the powers that be in athletics won't likely find a use for most any FF tickets they are given.
The interns in the ticket office probably have priority over the students...

4) Buy a 14-day or 21-day advance ticket early (before we know if Cornell is in or not) and then if they don't make it, you'll have an airline credit to use later in the year (usually good for 365 days). Sure, you lose the interest on the money, but it's a good insurance policy if you're very concerned about advance sale rules.

Most of the airlines have changed their rules about cancellation credit. Happened sometime last summer. You no longer get the 365 day credit. You now have to have a new flight booked before your original flight date/time has passed. The flight can be for any time in the next year. So if you cancel 24 hours before your flight, you've got 24 hours to pick a new destination and book the ticket using the original money, minus the change fee.

Pretty much sucks. We cancel flights all the time for business. I used to use the credit to either book a new business trip or to occasionally sneak in a personal trip (hey, if it's going to expire anyway...). Now you usually just lose the money.

We're in section 112, row 12. Yay.

WTF?!! John gets picked off the waiting list and gets better seats than someone who's got a multi-year priority rating? I know, I know, I've got tickets, I'm in the building, I shouldn't complain....but WTF?

Damn staright!!!

and if we don't go because we have no tickets, I will not be the one having a near nervous breakdown...

btw, in the last two hockey seasons, i've gotten two free roundtrip tickets (so basically, 4 trips) thru southwest. whoo hoo! and if it hadn't been for that damn snowstorm harvard/brown weekend, i may have gotten another one with regionals! the current one is taking me to buffalo if the boys go. i can go to vegas on a later date

That is some coincidence. I'm in Sec. 112, row 12 also.

One travel option that does work, if you've got the miles, is to get a frequent flyer reward ticket ahead of time. If you cancel, you can redeposit the miles for a fee of $50 or less. (I didn't try this early enough, and had to go with a 37,500 mile rather than 25,000 mile ticket.)

For those wondering about how many tickets will be available from Cornell I have an eductated guess. I was in grad school at Michigan in 98 when we went to the Frozen Four in Boston. ALL of Michigan received 500 tickets. Once the team, administration, boosters, band etc. got their tickets there were exactly 150 tickets remaining for student season ticket holders. So I wouldn't hold your breath if you are hoping to get them through the school. Remember, almost all seats are sold a year in advance.....

Good luck to everyone finding tickets....

ARik

For those worrying about changing itineraries for either Regionals or the Frozen Four, USAirways just announced a policy thanks to the uncertain international situation that might be of interest. Basically, they are eliminating the fees for changing destination cities and/or travel dates from now until June. I would bet that other airlines have similar policies.

[www.usairways.com]

Let's take over the rink - the whole place should be a Cornell section.

Interesting note on this year's FF - it could also be termed the "Tournament of Champions." The tournament champion of each of the four major conferences is heading to Buffalo.

Cornell's appearance is the first for an ECAC team since 2000 (SLU) and the first for an Ivy team since 1994 (Harvard).



Post Edited (03-30-03 20:13)

Just watching "JD on Ice" on the the MSG network, and he said that recovering Rangers goaltender Mike Richter "may be doing some TV work for the upcoming NCAA hockey championships." Cool

Of course, before starting his pro career, Richter played, only for a short time (2 years I believe), at Wisconsin in the mid-'80s.

Richter is also very familiar with the CU program, having summered in Ithaca for a number of years, and being a friend of Mike's.

Clarification question:

Did you mean you're a friend of Richter's, or did you mean that Richter is a friend of Schafer? (just wondering since I think what you said could be read either way)

Too many Mikes in that post. I've met Richter, but no, I wouldn't call him a friend. Richter rented a lake cottage near Joe N.'s place for a number of summers. I believe Mike and Diane Schafer attended the Richter wedding and were pretty good friends.

Couple notes:

Sean McDonough and Bob Norton are calling the FF on ESPN, with Mike Richter, perhaps.

Also ... as for tickets. Cornell fans should not give up. Do not resign yourselves to not being able to get tickets. There are almost always ways of getting tickets, and it's usually not that hard, despite the sellout.

Last year, there were 18,000 Minnesota fans in the building, and I guarantee they didn't all have original tickets. Not even close.

Also, don't resign yourself to getting scalped yet. Lots of tickets will change hands on USCHO and Hockey-L in the next week.

In his salad days ten or so years ago, Sean did the play-by-play for the weekly Cornell football broadcasts on ESPN. So he shouldn't confuse us with Colgate. And Norton--even with his faults--will be a welcome change from some former NHLer who doesn't know UHN from URI.

Have Frank Mazzocco and Bob Norton ever called a game together? That'd be my Dream Team. Probably not the best in the biz, but both enthusiastic ambassadors for the sport, and between the two of them they probably know about the entire NCAA (with the possible exception of the CCHA).

I have my tickets - Section 113 Row 30

I'm curious what the possibility is for somehow collecting critical mass of Cornell fans in one place given we're all getting tickets from anywhere we can find them. For those who've been to previous FFs, is there the possibility you could try to trade with fans from other schools to get ourselves in one place, wherever that might be?

I'm just curious, I don't want to be a lonely facepainted fool in a section of (g-d forbid) gopher fans or something...

Based on the other FFs I've been to, with the exception of the small corner given to the school, fans are scattered around. You can try swapping but I wouldn't count on it. People who have lower bowl tickets that they bought a year ago aren't likely to give them up to go sit in the upper deck. If the fans for the second game don't show until later, you might be able to move around. That depends on the rink staff.

Some preliminary word is that there will be about 200 tickets to be sold via the Cornell ticket office, half to student season ticket holders, half to non-student season ticket holders. There will be 2 seperate lotterys.

I think a good effort by the department. It would be truly unfair for anyone off the street to buy tickets. Then you could have any Joe who thought "Cornell Hockey is pretty cool and Buffalo is so close" have equal footing with the faithful. Not selling any tickets to students (as some people predicted) would have been equally unfair, but never would have happened.

So that's the initial word. I'm sure we'll know all the details in the next few days.

~Josh

Where did you hear that from?
I heard something completely different a week or so ago from teh CU ticket office.
I'd say about a third or more of the tickets are already spoken for. These tickets have already been allotted to alumni who have donated to the athletic program specifically for the purpose of getting priority. And then, there are player families, comps, and CU administration, etc.
So the lottery (if there is one) will not be for many tickets. Also, how does one prove they are a season ticket holder, since ouru vouchers went for the RPI games.?

David,

They do have a list of names / ID #s / emails that they gathered on the season ticket line, and used to send us the email warning us about fish at the Harvard game. My guess is they'd go off of that.

If I'm here next year as an MEng, I'd hope they'd use that in some sort of priority system for season tickets, otherwise it'll probably be insane.

When I was at Cornell, I lost my priority when I came back for a 5th year to get an MPA. Of course, the 92-93 season wasn't one that I was dying to see a lot of . . .

Al DeFlorio wrote:
And Norton--even with his faults--will be a welcome change from some former NHLer who doesn't know UHN from URI.

Or from Barry Melrose, who knows a little bit about college hockey, but has undisguised contempt for it.

Someone explain why they wouldn't assign Gary Thorne to it?

I've heard something rather different. I heard that we get 300 tickets. I'm not sure whther this counts tickets already given to player's families and alumns or what not. There was then an email address to which you would send your name to to be put in a lottery which names would be picked from. Two tickets would be allowed per lottery winner. I heard nothing of priority being given to season tix holders. Hence I bought mine from ebay. $150, side of that ise that Cornell should shoot at twice, 1st level. I am PSYCHED!

At which end will we be shooting twice?

Have some tickets coming my way in Section 324, row 2, and working on more

-Fred

There should not be a lottery. The tickets should go to the first 150 people from the original ticket line this past fall. If a person cannot go, then the University should go to the next person. How about transportation as a part of the package? Now that would be nice. I hope we have some thinkers back there. Now that would really make sense.

I'm much more concerned with where they put the band.

CUAA web site says tickets are limited (they're not saying how many).
Season ticket holders can enter a lottery. 50% students, 50% non-students.
You have to e-mail them asking to be entered by 5:00 PM Wednesday. The hockey team will draw the winners during practice Thursday, starting about 4:30 PM. Everyone is invited to attend.

[cornellbigred.fansonly.com]

[q]I'm much more concerned with where they put the band.[/q]

No official word yet, but my best guess would be the last two rows of the 300 level behind the goal where we shoot twice.

Are you concerned that we will be too far away or not far enough

[www.hsbcarena.com]

has the map, and from an e-mail from the ticket office, they say that
the Cornell Section is 102 and 103