ECAC Playoffs

[nyc94]

Guess our faceoff time will be closer to 8:00?

I assume so.  USCHO said our game would be 50 minutes after the end of the first game.

[Jordan 04]

Never mind. Forgot the women's game isn't on TV.

[jaybert]

BTW free parking at the trump plaza next door to boardwalk hall (for those late arrivers/tomorrow). No b.s. needed on getting a players card or anything.

[BigRedHockeyFan]

One possible factor that could help Cornell tomorrow night is the ice.  It's warm in AC and the ice is a bit slow.

[Jim Hyla]

Actually they implied it was terrible.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Actually they implied it was terrible.

Nothing to imply.  It was God-awful.  If the puck wasn't bouncing over sticks, it was stopping dead because of the slow ice.

[BigRedHockeyFan]

Actually they implied it was terrible.

Nothing to imply.  It was God-awful.  If the puck wasn't bouncing over sticks, it was stopping dead because of the slow ice.

which will be worse for Yale than Cornell

[Al DeFlorio]

Actually they implied it was terrible.

Nothing to imply.  It was God-awful.  If the puck wasn't bouncing over sticks, it was stopping dead because of the slow ice.

which will be worse for Yale than Cornell

IOnly if they move the game to Erie.

[redice]

There sure looked like a LOT of empty seats in that building, for both games....

It would seem that the ECACHL community has not rounded endorsed this venue...

To those who are attending the AC tourney, what is the experience like?  Good??  Bad??

[ajh258]

To those who are attending the AC tourney, what is the experience like?  Good??  Bad??

Warm.

[billhoward]

Friday was as good as it could be for AC visitors with temps in the high 70s on the boardwalk. Too bad today will be just over 50; if it were a repeat of Friday, it'd be beach weather. The building is gorgeous in a bizarre, art deco / WPA kind a way, with a huge vaulted ceiling with a powder blue mural; reminded me a little of Liberace's bedroom only bigger (you could rent the place for social events after he checked out). Clearly feels like an ice rink was set down inside some other building. There's a stage at one end (like RPI but that would make you feel the building felt industrial). Huge concourses. Cutouts in the glass in all 4 corners for photographers, a very nice touch that Lynah still ignores.

As a WAG, I'd say 2,500 in the building for the second game. More than 1,000, less than 4,000. (For those who were there, think area coverage vs. hockey capacity of 10,500.) Yale fans tend to show up for the title game so there may be a better turnout tonight. I made a crack yesterday about it being a long 375 mile drive for Dartmouth's fan coming down. Were the 100, 200 there? You can almost get that many just with player parents and girlfriends. No Dartmouth pep band either which gave lots of airtime to the Cornell band. Maybe the TV cameras wanted to capture a more festive atmosphere by focusing so much on the Red band. (And it's not like the Green band had to decide whether to send a crew to the women's final four or the wrestling championships or the ECACs.)

The ice? There seemed to be more bounces of the puck as it skipped over sticks so reports of the ice being mediocre, yeah, that seems accurate. That would be a good question for Adam Wodon or similar to put to ECAC commissioner Steve Hagswell in a follow-up story about the appropriateness of the venue. (I some someone else's softball story online which gave the venue a big thumbs up without mentioning the location or attendance that was softer than the ice.) If pro hockey were played here, the ice would be plenty fine for fights.

As for the game: Garman was awesome with the those 37s saves. We got 2 bad breaks in Cornell shots that hit Dartmouth crossbars (I can't recall if D hit any pipes). Plus 4-5 beautiful diagonal passes in front of Mello of which 1-2 should have gone in but we couldn't handle any of the passes or they hopped on bad ice. A good break: Cornell's second goal was a tap-home when the pick dribbled behind Mello, who should've had an easy night facing just 17 shots (shot 18 was the ENG). But it wasn't all lucky breaks: Cornell also played determined, heads-up, we're-going-to-win-this-game hockey. And that gives me a ray of hope for Saturday night vs. Yale.

I think it's Dartmouth who'll be talking about missed chances, starting with those 2 shots that trickled behind Garman and camped on the goal line for an eternity. The warmer the ice, the slipperier the surface (right, people who stayed awake in physics?) but that probably also meant more ice shavings that slowed the puck down in real life, but regardless there's always a lot of ice shavings around the cage. And their power play at 0x5 (0x6?) sucked and that was what killed Dartmouth. To give credit, Cornell also defensed Dartmouth real good. And there was Garman, either lucky or good or lots of both last night.

I'm thrilled Cornell got this far. It would be an amazing chapter in Cornell's history to take down a heavy favorite. No more amazing than the lax team dismantling No. 1 or No. 2 Virginia in the NCAA lax semifinals 2 years ago. LGR!

Two thoughts: If you're buying single-game tickets, the $21 upper level seats are plenty good. I got the $31 lower level seats and wound up moving up higher. And there's free parking at the Trump casino lot across the street, which had plenty of spaces last night. They're actually happy to see you and they have drink coupons special for ECAC fans when you drive in.

Game box score: http://www.cornellbigred.com/documents/2011/3/18/MIH.Semi2.pdf?id=3631

[CAS]

Bill, much thanks for your report from the scene.

[TimV]

The warmer the ice, the slipperier the surface (right, people who stayed awake in physics?) but that probably also meant more ice shavings that slowed the puck down in real life, but regardless there's always a lot of ice shavings around the cage.

Only up to a point, Bill. Agreed, small amount of water in just the right temp range makes it slipperier but a larger amount that accumulates when it's warmer impedes the forward motion of the puck and you get the dead stops mentioned by other posters.  Thank God the crowd was so small - all those 98.6 degree heat generators would really  mess up the ice.**]

[Rosey]

The warmer the ice, the slipperier the surface (right, people who stayed awake in physics?) but that probably also meant more ice shavings that slowed the puck down in real life, but regardless there's always a lot of ice shavings around the cage.

Only up to a point, Bill. Agreed, small amount of water in just the right temp range makes it slipperier but a larger amount that accumulates when it's warmer impedes the forward motion of the puck and you get the dead stops mentioned by other posters.  Thank God the crowd was so small - all those 98.6 degree heat generators would really  mess up the ice.**]

As somebody who actually plays hockey, I can tell you that the colder the ice, the faster the puck and the skaters both move. In the case of the puck, colder means harder rubber, which means it skids across the dry surface without bouncing and does not succumb to friction from water surface tension. In the case of skaters, colder ice means the blades don't sink in as far, so it requires less effort to glide.

Edit: this was intended as a reply to Bill, not you, Tim.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

My take on the venue:

The arena is bizzare.  It's a wonderful old art-deco interior with a hockey rink dropped inside it.  It reminded me more of a theater than a sports venue.  If there was a crowd it would be loud.  But if not...every sound on the ice echoed through the rink.  You coudn't read the video screen and you could barely understand the goal announcements.  Beer was $8.  Terrible half-cooked frozen pizza was $6.  No wonder there were only two hot food stands.  There were a half-dozen tables giving away products and tourist info and one souvenir stand.

Our tournament felt like something of an afterthought. The tickets I bought on line through Ticketshafter hadn't even been delived when I went to will call.   When the arena opened, the souvenir stand (just 1) had a few bland t-shirts for the individual schools, but only a sign saying "tourament shirts coming soon."  There were banners hanging from the rafters for the A10 basketball tournament which was held last week.  No school banners for ECAC hockey schools.  There was a banner for the ECAC hockey tournament where the future champions would go.  It was blank - so much for history.  No Canadian flag.  

Now regarding AC:   What an absolute shit hole!  Get 3 blocks from the beach, and you're in a neighborhood I would not want to be in at night.  I actually decided to take the Expressway and pay a toll to get back to my hotel rather than drive through the neighborhood where the White Horse Pike dupms into the city.  The homeless people hanging around the on-street lots made me decide to park in the lot under the hall.  I definitely got a whiff of urine as I went into the box office.  And my final picture was coming out of the underground garage to see a strip bar  - Girls!" - right across the street from the exit ramp.