Harvard 4, Cornell 3, Final

[Andy Dodd]

Hmm, yeah, you're right - it isn't as clear as I thought that I sit in M.  Sorry about that!

I think it would be possible for them to avoid the fish and not board-hug - the arms of those in the student section aren't THAT strong!  But still, they board-hug which is somewhat undignified compared to just keeping about a half-rink distance (far enough from the students to avoid the majority of fish).

As far as whether the degradation in atmosphere is due to the team's performance or not - I don't think it is just about their performance.  They were performing OK last year and there were still deficiencies in the student sections.  There seems to be a lot less communication and far more people unfamiliar with the traditions and cheers, regardless of energy level.  I mean, it should be obvious if you take any time to listen to cowbell that it is a constant-tempo cheer and that if you don't hear the cowbell speed up, you probably shouldn't either - However section F would always speed up their clapping throughout the cheer last year.  (One of my coworkers described it as "sever clock drift" - we're both engineers...)  Not being able to hear the cowbell wasn't an excuse for them, I was able to hear the cowbell clearly in section G.  Being lagged/out of sync is excusable (speed of sound - always a challenge for musicians which is why you're supposed to always watch the conductor in a band, but F can't see B), but F's tempo increase is not.

I think Friday's penalty was just yet another symptom of a large number of people in the student sections who just don't understand what is and isn't supposed to happen for whatever reason - In the past, it was pretty clear - fish before the game, NOT after play starts.  Now that isn't the case.  Unfortunately it's hard to communicate such things reliably, since in any official channels of communication, Athletics has to take a position against any fish in any situation.

[redice]

No problem, Andy...

I have a solution for the poor communication:   Make eLynah required reading for all undergrads...;-)

And, test them on it!!   All tests will be administered at Lynah 1/2 hour before every game....That solves two problems:  1) We will have informed people in the stands  and  2) The student sections will be full when the teams come onto the ice!!   Win-win, from my perspective....All in jest, of course!!

[css228]

Look, I'm a current student here and here's my take on it. Before the game fish... go ahead. IF YOU THROW DURING THE GAME ANYTHING OTHER THAN HATS IN THE EVENT OF A HAT TRICK THE LYNAH FAITHFUL SHOULD KICK YOU OUT THEMSELVES. I have not tolerance for the idiocy that forces our team to play a man down even when our PK Unit has been as good as it has all season.Throwing fish before the game is a great tradition that hurts no one. But after newspapers are throw after introductions, nothing more should touch the ice, and anyone who throws anything but a hat is an idiot. Speaking of hats though, wasn't it disgraceful when Roeszler's hat trick against Colgate only got a few fans to throw their headgear?

[ajh258]

I mean, it should be obvious if you take any time to listen to cowbell that it is a constant-tempo cheer and that if you don't hear the cowbell speed up, you probably shouldn't either - However section F would always speed up their clapping throughout the cheer last year.  (One of my coworkers described it as "sever clock drift" - we're both engineers...)  Not being able to hear the cowbell wasn't an excuse for them, I was able to hear the cowbell clearly in section G.  Being lagged/out of sync is excusable (speed of sound - always a challenge for musicians which is why you're supposed to always watch the conductor in a band, but F can't see B), but F's tempo increase is not.

I'll work on increasing the cowbell's speed of sound in the upcoming weeks! I'll keep you posted! ::crazy::

[Jim Hyla]

I mean, it should be obvious if you take any time to listen to cowbell that it is a constant-tempo cheer and that if you don't hear the cowbell speed up, you probably shouldn't either - However section F would always speed up their clapping throughout the cheer last year.  (One of my coworkers described it as "sever clock drift" - we're both engineers...)  Not being able to hear the cowbell wasn't an excuse for them, I was able to hear the cowbell clearly in section G.  Being lagged/out of sync is excusable (speed of sound - always a challenge for musicians which is why you're supposed to always watch the conductor in a band, but F can't see B), but F's tempo increase is not.

I'll work on increasing the cowbell's speed of sound in the upcoming weeks! I'll keep you posted! ::crazy::

Look if you can do that, will you share some of your millions with the rest of us?

[marty]

Edit:  One other interesting anecdote - When I was leaving after the Clarkson game, I heard one of their tuba players commenting, "This place used to be really scary.  It just isn't any more."  Things have definitely changed, and the opposing team fans are noticing.  

This year I noted that the Big Red Freakout is no longer such a big deal. My friend when I mentioned this said that she thinks it changed about 5 to 6 years ago.  I don't think there is a direct cause and effect, but the Freakout lost it's effectiveness 5 years ago - RPI had a long unbeaten streak at the annual Freakout.

I attributed recent the poor RPI Freakout performance to the loss of Fridgen.  For some unknown reason he was a good coach at least once a year - on Freakout night.

[BigRedHockeyFan]

Two of the Havard goals are shown in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOvTEKgUr2g

[billhoward]

Just want to clarify that the bench minor was the only Harvard PP that Cornell was able to successfully kill off. So, as stupid as the fans are who threw fish and other objects, that penalty was not the turning point in the game.

True and IMO beside the point. We had momentum with our third, tying goal, going into that stupid third period fish toss. We lost momentum when we had to kill off the penalty. Fans with half a brain might have recalled that Harvard was batting 1.000 on the power play at that point. At the least, we lost two minutes of 5x5 hockey where we had been doing okay so far.  

What I saw was that the referees sort of ignored the two tiny fish tossed right away (in the Cornell end, which Cornell players picked up) and only when a bottle and a wadded up newspaper come raining down in the Harvard end ~15 seconds later did the penalty get called.

[ithacat]

Two of the Havard goals are shown in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOvTEKgUr2g

Killer...great nickname for Killorn.

The only nice thing about Harvard scoring at Lynah is that they have no fans to celebrate.

[billhoward]

So far this year my in-person record is 1-4 (Colgate @ Newark, Florida Classic, at Union, Harvard). Doesn't matter. It was still fantastic to be back in Lynah and savor the atmosphere of the best rink that's not among the WSJ's best rinks.

I've bounced back and forth in what I think about tossing fish. Now I'm aligned with what I believe Schafer thinks: Have fun in warmups, but don't litter the ice after the game starts - let the players play the game. We should have been so far ahead of Harvard that the fish incident 8 minutes into the third shouldn't have mattered. But it did. Regardless of what Chico Resch says, for Cornell the most dangerous lead in hockey is being tied.

I felt a lot better after talking with friends at Lynah who say Schafer feels he has the best recruiting class coming in, ever, even allowing for all those defections. So if our season ends sooner than a trip to the NCAAs, we've got something to look forward to, in addition to the women's run in the NCAAs and the lacrosse team.

[Al DeFlorio]

So if our season ends sooner than a trip to the NCAAs, we've got something to look forward to, in addition to the women's run in the NCAAs and the lacrosse team.

And wrestling, Bill...wrestling.  In a big city arena near you.::doh::

[Killer]

Two of the Havard goals are shown in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOvTEKgUr2g

Killer...great nickname for Killorn.

I take great offense to that.  Let him be Killjoy or Roadkillorn.

[snert1288]

i too am a current student and completely agree with you! fish before the game=Great, but once the puck drops, the fish stop.  there was a nice letter to the editor today in the Daily Sun that I think expressed what many of the true student fans were feeling.

http://cornellsun.com/section/opinion/content/2011/02/21/let-them-throw-fish

[RichH]

In the Feb. 1995 Harvard game at Lynah, a bench-minor for throwing objects on the ice was assessed.  IIRC, it was as the teams skated out for the 2nd period, and I like to remember that there was an audible groan before the it even hit the ice.  Harvard scored on the ensuing PP, and wound up winning 2-1, prolonging the long RS winless streak vs. the Cantabs.  This was back when the "Personals" section of the Daily Sun was quite active and vibrant, and the following week a personal appeared that read:

"To the idiot in Section D: EVERYBODY HATES YOU."

For the next few years, there was an active effort in the student sections to spread the word that the fish toss happens one time only: before introductions and only then. A friend even made up a pictogram sign she walked around our corner for the 2002 ECAC final in Lake Placid: + = .

And to give the refs credit Friday night, they were as lenient as I've ever seen a crew for this game.  Usually the warning announcement happens before the game even starts during the pre-game fish cleanup. This year, they didn't ask Arthur to read the announcement until well into the 2nd period when it was clear that there were morons present who thought they had free-license to chuck crap on the ice whenever they felt like it.

[jtwcornell91]

In the Feb. 1995 Harvard game at Lynah, a bench-minor for throwing objects on the ice was assessed.  IIRC, it was as the teams skated out for the 2nd period, and I like to remember that there was an audible groan before the it even hit the ice.  Harvard scored on the ensuing PP, and wound up winning 2-1, prolonging the long RS winless streak vs. the Cantabs.  This was back when the "Personals" section of the Daily Sun was quite active and vibrant, and the following week a personal appeared that read:

"To the idiot in Section D: EVERYBODY HATES YOU."

That was the game that inspired this:

http://amurgsval.org/squishy/fish.1.4.html