Seating @ Union

[jts15]

I'm not very familiar with their rink and just wondering if someone can help me out with choosing seating for the road Union game.  I have 2 little ones so I don't want to sit in front of the band or the home team's student section.  Where are the Faithful usually located?  Any recommendations?  Thanks in advance.

Edit:
Upon further searching I found an archived page for the old College Hockey Travel Guide.  I also fond out that children under 3 on your lap are free.  Can anyone confirm the info below?:

Other than those games, tickets can generally be obtained right before the game. Opposing fans generally sit in sections 5,6,K and L. Students sit in section Q,and 9-14. $2 upcharge for RPI, Cornell and Clarkson. Supply and Demand at its finest.

[RichH]

I'm not very familiar with their rink and just wondering if someone can help me out with choosing seating for the road Union game.  I have 2 little ones so I don't want to sit in front of the band or the home team's student section.  Where are the Faithful usually located?  Any recommendations?  Thanks in advance.

Edit:
Upon further searching I found an archived page for the old College Hockey Travel Guide.  I also fond out that children under 3 on your lap are free.  Can anyone confirm the info below?:

Other than those games, tickets can generally be obtained right before the game. Opposing fans generally sit in sections 5,6,K and L. Students sit in section Q,and 9-14. $2 upcharge for RPI, Cornell and Clarkson. Supply and Demand at its finest.

There always seems to be several pockets of Red scattered around.  5,6 seems right, but I remember having a block of CU fans in 7-9, with the band usually in the front of 7.  You could always call the CU ticket office to see where our allotment has us.

[ajh258]

Section 7 is Cornell's student section, although a lot of alumni and family end up sitting there. If the band comes, they will be seated in I or J. Sections 5 and 6 also have a good Cornell presence, usually alumni.

[Jim Hyla]

I'm not very familiar with their rink and just wondering if someone can help me out with choosing seating for the road Union game.  I have 2 little ones so I don't want to sit in front of the band or the home team's student section.  Where are the Faithful usually located?  Any recommendations?  Thanks in advance.

Edit:
Upon further searching I found an archived page for the old College Hockey Travel Guide.  I also fond out that children under 3 on your lap are free.  Can anyone confirm the info below?:

Other than those games, tickets can generally be obtained right before the game. Opposing fans generally sit in sections 5,6,K and L. Students sit in section Q,and 9-14. $2 upcharge for RPI, Cornell and Clarkson. Supply and Demand at its finest.

There always seems to be several pockets of Red scattered around.  5,6 seems right, but I remember having a block of CU fans in 7-9, with the band usually in the front of 7.  You could always call the CU ticket office to see where our allotment has us.

I think you're both right, with seats in all of the above. The CC of Capital District always has seats and they are generally in the 5-6 area, but not just they sit there. I don't know if the other CU fans in those sections maybe get their tix from Union? From CU I've always been in the 7-8 section with the band in front. Those 2 corners of the rink are CU. With 2 little ones and cheering for CU, definitely stay away from the student sections. None too friendly.

[billhoward]

Union has pockets of horses asses, students who arrive late, annoyingly loud students, players' girlfriends who split their time watching and texting, regular fans you wouldn't mind having a drink with, Cornell fans (we're split up), and townspeople who support Union hockey and who wouldn't mind if the Union students toned it down a bit on the jeering and occasional F-bombs. Not unlike Lynah except if Union hockey bombs, they don't have lax season to look forward to. Maybe a little extra animosity because they know Union is a good school but it's not an Ivy school.

The rink overall is a modernistic (when built) shell with an ice surface in the middle and seats floating on risers on the two sides but not the ends (Messa rink seating chart if you scroll down: http://www.unionathletics.com/sports/2005/12/5/2007-08_Ice_Hockey_Ticket_Prices_And_Pickup_Procedure.aspx#Rink). A little like Princeton's Jadwin gynmasium in how the stands seem apart from building. It takes a little getting used to. Last year the Cornell game sold out; I can't recall if standing room was available anyhow. I think it turned out that if you got there early, there was standing room, and like so many games, there are a couple hundred empty seats you can slip into at some point, though nothing like the sea of empty seats at most Cornell-at-Princeton seats.

[ajh258]

... nothing like the sea of empty seats at most Cornell-at-Princeton seats.

Attendance at Hobey Baker has been improving for the past few years. Last weekend, it looked like most of the seats were occupied (although I'm not sure how many were SRO). Approximately half of the attendees were part of the Cornell contingent.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

... nothing like the sea of empty seats at most Cornell-at-Princeton seats.

Attendance at Hobey Baker has been improving for the past few years. Last weekend, it looked like most of the seats were occupied (although I'm not sure how many were SRO). Approximately half of the attendees were part of the Cornell contingent.

When I arrived, the ticket office said they had ~50 seats in the upper deck that were being held for Princeton students until an hour before game time.  There was also a line of well over 100 Cornell fans waiting for tickets when the box office opened.

[billhoward]

Do we know of any Cornell fan who who didn't get in at the Princeton game? Hobey Baker Rink reminds me of the very nicest prep school rink you could imagine. But 2,000 seats just doesn't cut it compared to the palaces at Notre Dame, BU and Quinnipiac. If Princeton built a new rink seating 3,500, could Princeton do outreach to get more townspeople to attend? Be a sponsor for HS tournament games in south Jersey? Princeton does the best job of any Ivy integrating sports facilities into the immediate campus; I'd love to see what they could do with a more modern rink.

[Trotsky]

Do we know of any Cornell fan who who didn't get in at the Princeton game? Hobey Baker Rink reminds me of the very nicest prep school rink you could imagine. But 2,000 seats just doesn't cut it compared to the palaces at Notre Dame, BU and Quinnipiac. If Princeton built a new rink seating 3,500, could Princeton do outreach to get more townspeople to attend? Be a sponsor for HS tournament games in south Jersey? Princeton does the best job of any Ivy integrating sports facilities into the immediate campus; I'd love to see what they could do with a more modern rink.

Urge to kill rising.  Baker's a magnificent rink.  I hope they never change it.

[billhoward]

Urge to kill rising.  Baker's a magnificent rink.  I hope they never change it.

You're safe; I'm safe. It's nine decades old but it won't wear out from overuse by fans. The rink has changed over the years. Some. Like a new scoreboard in the 1980s. And the exterior concourse can't be original to the building, at least not the solarium thing that's attached to (whatever side long wall has the Cornell bench).

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

Urge to kill rising.  Baker's a magnificent rink.  I hope they never change it.

You're safe; I'm safe. It's nine decades old but it won't wear out from overuse by fans. The rink has changed over the years. Some. Like a new scoreboard in the 1980s. And the exterior concourse can't be original to the building, at least not the solarium thing that's attached to (whatever side long wall has the Cornell bench).

The renovation that added the seats and the exterior concourse was completed sometime in the nineties.  Before that, you sat on the bare concrete (or on loose boards to get a little insulation).

[marty]

Union has pockets of horses asses, students who arrive late, annoyingly loud students, players' girlfriends who split their time watching and texting, regular fans you wouldn't mind having a drink with, Cornell fans (we're split up), and townspeople who support Union hockey and who wouldn't mind if the Union students toned it down a bit on the jeering and occasional F-bombs. Not unlike Lynah except if Union hockey bombs, they don't have lax season to look forward to. Maybe a little extra animosity because they know Union is a good school but it's not an Ivy school.

The rink overall is a modernistic (when built) shell with an ice surface in the middle and seats floating on risers on the two sides but not the ends (Messa rink seating chart if you scroll down: http://www.unionathletics.com/sports/2005/12/5/2007-08_Ice_Hockey_Ticket_Prices_And_Pickup_Procedure.aspx#Rink). A little like Princeton's Jadwin gynmasium in how the stands seem apart from building. It takes a little getting used to. Last year the Cornell game sold out; I can't recall if standing room was available anyhow. I think it turned out that if you got there early, there was standing room, and like so many games, there are a couple hundred empty seats you can slip into at some point, though nothing like the sea of empty seats at most Cornell-at-Princeton seats.

Bizarre that every sold-out Union game that I have attended features pockets of empty seats. Maybe some are standing a la Lynah of old.  Maybe some imbibers can't walk to/find the rink.

[Trotsky]

Bizarre that every sold-out Union game that I have attended features pockets of empty seats. Maybe some are standing a la Lynah of old.  Maybe some imbibers can't walk to/find the rink.

I think that's people milling/standing.  My two memories of Achilles are (1) lots of facetiming and (2) lots and lots of screaming, unsupervised brats.

[dbilmes]

Bizarre that every sold-out Union game that I have attended features pockets of empty seats. Maybe some are standing a la Lynah of old.  Maybe some imbibers can't walk to/find the rink.

A sell-out doesn't mean all of the seats are filled. It just means they've been sold. When I went to the Q-Colgate last weekend, the guy at the ticket window told me they only had standing-room tickets available. It turned out that approximately 20 percent of the seats (probably more) were unoccupied -- and it wasn't because a lot of people were milling about. I was surprised that the game was labeled a sellout.

[marty]

Bizarre that every sold-out Union game that I have attended features pockets of empty seats. Maybe some are standing a la Lynah of old.  Maybe some imbibers can't walk to/find the rink.

A sell-out doesn't mean all of the seats are filled. It just means they've been sold. When I went to the Q-Colgate last weekend, the guy at the ticket window told me they only had standing-room tickets available. It turned out that approximately 20 percent of the seats (probably more) were unoccupied -- and it wasn't because a lot of people were milling about. I was surprised that the game was labeled a sellout.

Agreed, but this does seem to have happened at more than a few games at Messa.  Was Colgate on break?