attendance

[A-19]

so this has been beat to death a 1000 times on this formum, and recognizing that this is not really the appropriate place to complain (this is not my target audience)...  but last night was my first home game in quite a few years, and the attendance was absolutely disgraceful.  half of A was open the entire game, and it looked like most of D/E/F/G were about the same.  B only filled in during the first period.  and the people who did show up (1) left as soon as clarkson went up by two goals, (2) were paying more attention to their phones than the game.

this is what happens when you make it so easy to get tickets that anybody can go

in 2004, we weren't amazing (especially after the last few years).  but the rink was filled at game time, the crowd was loud, and people stayed until the end.

worth mentioning a few positives:
1) much easier to get tickets from out of town
2) HUGE KUDOS to the "townies" who packed half the rink
3) the band looked and sounded great

hoping people show up tonight.  we'll be there, and hoping to be there tomorrow too

mike '04

[BearLover]

I harp on this more than anyone else here because I am of the opinion that as soon as the Lynah atmosphere dies, our success will die with it.  Every player who chooses to play at Cornell makes that choice in part because of the fans.  The Faithful is the biggest factor differentiating the Red from other programs, especially the other Ivies'.  For proof, look at the Freshman Friday interviews with every single player who comes here: they all mention the fans as a major reason they chose Cornell.  

The attendance is a shell of what it once was, and has been in continuous decline for years now: the "student section," which stretched to Section F a decade ago, now can barely fill B and can fill just half of A, while D is mostly empty and those that do show up sit the entire game.  Only B knows the cheers.  And no one gets to the game on time; no newspaper/"boring" chants anymore.  And the townie attendance is way down, too.  Section M still shows up, but the corner sections are often 1/3-1/2 empty.  

Schafer has called out the crowd on numerous occasions lately.  Three examples (paraphrasing here) are in his post-game pressers for last year's Harvard game  ("I don't know where this kind of crowd has been all season" ), this year's Clarkson game ("The players looked up and were wondering, 'where are all the fans?'" ), and this year's Union game ("I thought Section B was great tonight--the other student section, I don't know what's wrong with them" ).  But Senior Night was the night that broke my proverbial camel's back.  If you're going to show up to the game, at least stay an extra fifteen minutes to honor the seniors.  Section D completely emptied out during the celebrations.  Frankly, it was insulting.  [EDIT: removed winky smiley faces by putting an extra space before parentheses.]

This will continue to get worse because the problem compounds itself.  Less people/less cheering-->Lynah becomes less of a "place to be"-->less people/less cheering.  Success itself won't bring the fans back; though it would help, the reality is that Cornell has been largely successful the entire time the crowds have been going to shit.  I've argued before that lowering student ticket prices to something around $100 would bring a lot of students back, and I still believe that: Cornell has the most expensive season tickets on a per-game basis in college hockey, and there are many students who would love to attend the games but don't want to shell out $230 for season tickets.  

Write letters to Andy Noel or whoever the appropriate party for this would be, bring it up at a Cornell Hockey Association meeting, I don't know.  But there is no excuse for tickets to still cost this much.  Or for the ushers to kill the experience, if that's your standpoint on the matter.  Make your voice heard if you don't want Lynah to become just another rink.

[Beeeej]

in 2004, we weren't amazing (especially after the last few years).  but the rink was filled at game time, the crowd was loud, and people stayed until the end.

Not necessarily disagreeing with you that attendance is a problem, but comparing attendance this season to the season after a Frozen Four appearance and two regional finals appearances in a row (not to mention we finished 2nd in the ECAC in 2004 and were expected to breeze through Clarkson in the QFs) is not exactly the most apt analogy. Attendance is down partly because we haven't made it to the NCAA tournament at all in the last four years, and 2002-06 and 2009-12 were reasonably "fat" stretches that spoiled us. Yes, I'm sure the prices, more options, smartphones, etc. have an effect. But so do results.

I wish we could be there tonight, and I hope there's a good turnout and a good result.

[upprdeck]

very good crowd tonight

[Trotsky]

very good crowd tonight

This came across on the broadcast, too.

[upprdeck]

I expect a very small crowd tomorrow which is the usual for a game 3.

[French Rage]

mike '04

Eh, no one is as good as A-B was in 03/04.    RAAAAAAAH!

[A-19]

significant improvement in the crowd tonight.  obviously a ton of people read my post and were shamed into attending

[Scersk '97]

mike '04

Eh, no one is as good as A-B was in 03/04.    RAAAAAAAH!

No student section has ever been better than '96. Knowledgeable, creative, rabid, and hungry. Multiple fans went over the boards after winning the second home game of the season, for goodness sake!

(At least we here can look back fondly at the rabidity of our sections. Will today's diehards? Probably not so much.)

[andyw2100]

Eh, no one is as good as A-B was in 03/04.    RAAAAAAAH!

No student section has ever been better than '96. Knowledgeable, creative, rabid, and hungry. Multiple fans went over the boards after winning the second home game of the season, for goodness sake!

(At least we here can look back fondly at the rabidity of our sections. Will today's diehards? Probably not so much.)

Trotsky and I will take mid-80s Section D. (We shot twice at the non-scoreboard end back then, so D was the current B equivalent.)  We were still allowed to pound on the glass, pick on individual players, and just generally be better hockey fans than the administration allows now.

And we had to sleep out for tickets, and we LIKED IT!

Nothing will ever match mid-80's Lynah in my mind.

Edit: I can definitely believe that late 60s, 70s and early 80s Lynah was as good or even better. I just never got to experience that.

[Trotsky]

Nothing will ever match mid-80's Lynah in my mind.

I agree with this, because we're basically saying nothing will ever compare with being 20.  

My discriminator is that in the early-to-mid 80s there were sort of "rolling try-outs" for who was clever and who wasn't.  Individuals would yell (at the top of their lungs to be heard above the constant racket) their bon mots, and they were either rewarded with laughter / cheers / repetition of the chant, or no reaction.  This was a tough Darwinian process but by the end of the season there were a handful of extremely funny people who were "platoon leaders" in their areas.  There was also stiff competition for the honors and people were thoughtful in their thoughtlessness towards the opponent.

The "hey x, your y called..." recitation from B now frankly sucks.  It's planned in advance, wooden, and can't be heard beyond 10 people beyond it.  It's the epitome of the bureaucratization of what started out as spontaneous cleverness.  I don't blame the current students because that's been going on for a while now, but it's the equivalent of those "let's rebel in socially acceptable ways" Mentos ads.  Sad.

[Jim Hyla]

Edit: I can definitely believe that late 60s, 70s and early 80s Lynah was as good or even better. I just never got to experience that.

I can tell you it was wonderful, just look at my signature lines. As I've posted before, driving to Boston and walking up the ramps to the old Boston Garden was something that will stick in my memories forever. After-all it's one of those distant memories that stay with you when get senile, isn't it?

Of course winning, especially in Boston, had a lot to do with fan support.

[scoop85]

Eh, no one is as good as A-B was in 03/04.    RAAAAAAAH!

No student section has ever been better than '96. Knowledgeable, creative, rabid, and hungry. Multiple fans went over the boards after winning the second home game of the season, for goodness sake!

(At least we here can look back fondly at the rabidity of our sections. Will today's diehards? Probably not so much.)

Trotsky and I will take mid-80s Section D. (We shot twice at the non-scoreboard end back then, so D was the current B equivalent.)  We were still allowed to pound on the glass, pick on individual players, and just generally be better hockey fans than the administration allows now.

And we had to sleep out for tickets, and we LIKED IT!

Nothing will ever match mid-80's Lynah in my mind.

Edit: I can definitely believe that late 60s, 70s and early 80s Lynah was as good or even better. I just never got to experience that.

As an '85 grad, I can agree that the atmosphere was terrific, with lots of cutting comments at the enemy players (and the officials as appropriate). And we were fairly average until the 84-85 season when Nieuwendyk was a freshman.

I'm sure this has been answered before, but why did they switch the ends of the ice where we shoot twice? It would seem logical that the team should shoot twice at the end where the most fans are concentrated rather than at the scoreboard end.

[ugarte]

i was there in the early 90's which had a one-two punch that weakened the fandom.

First, without regard for whether the ticket riot was a good reason to end the line,* the death of the line was devastating to hardcore fandom. The line was an investment that you had to validate with regular attendance - it converted facetimers into diehards just because that's how human psychology kind of works. We're pretty stupid animals.

Second, the Bandurski era was legit bad. After a great run of top-flight teams with Canadian Olympians and college-elite goaltending, the team started losing a LOT. Die hards hate losing; less-dedicated fans don't hate it they just stop going.

You could say that a third punch was the language policing, and you'd probably be right, but also shut up. 1000 teens yelling "fuck" isn't clever even if it's fun.



* It was a good reason to end the line location shell game, certainly. I'm one of the people who thinks they should have just let the line start whenever kids were dumb enough to line up with some kind of placeholder rules that forced you to camp out to preserve your place but enough flexibility that the actual point of attending school isn't lost. Do not respond to this in this thread.

[adamw]

Also, I don't see pounding on the glass as a good thing. While it may have created a zoo-like atmosphere, it's one thing I don't miss.  I think it should be grounds for kicking people out, at any arena, anywhere. I can't stand it.