road trip of a lifetime

[that loud guy with the hair]

nothing all that important, just curious if anyone else on this board is too anxious to sleep right now...   ::twitch::

I definitely love road trips, but this is way longer and crazier than any other that I have undertaken.  The destination:  a far off arena where our fans will be outnumbered by a ratio of something along the lines of 16:1.  Yet, I think I can speak for myself and the other travelling faithful with this message to the hometown Gopher fans...

::flipd:: BRING IT ON BITCHES!!! ::flipd::

LET'S
GO
RED!!!!!

[/B]

- Ryan '05 ::rock::

P.S.   What can I say?  I'm pumped for this trip and amused by the selection of smileys. B-]

[RichH]

[Q]that loud guy with the hair Wrote:

 nothing all that important, just curious if anyone else on this board is too anxious to sleep right now...  

I definitely love road trips, but this is way longer and crazier than any other that I have undertaken.  The destination:  a far off arena where our fans will be outnumbered by a ratio of something along the lines of 16:1.  Yet, I think I can speak for myself and the other travelling faithful with this message to the hometown Gopher fans...

  BRING IT ON BITCHES!!!

LET'S
GO
RED!!!!!

- Ryan '05

P.S.   What can I say?  I'm pumped for this trip and amused by the selection of smileys.  [/q]


Woot!!

I've been a dedicated fan for 12 years now.  The furthest trips I've done have been to Yost in '97, WMU in '02-'03, and the West Regional in Grand Rapids in '97.  I'm going to enjoy this one.  Crazy?  yes.  Big?  check.  Crazy Big?  You Betcha.   Loooong?  Hell ya.

Let's show 'em something!

LET'S GO RED!!!!

[Robb]

On my way to the airport right now!!!!

::banana::::banana::::banana::::banana::::banana::::banana::::banana::::banana::

[Trotsky]

I'm guessing more like 25:1.

So... dead even.

[Anne 85]

Trotsky, I like that!  I'm the equivalent of 25 Gopher fans?!  The deaf people who sit near me might like to vote on that.

Heading to the airport in T-minus 90 minutes.

Anne '85

[Tub(a)]

All you airport people don't know what you are missing :-P

20 hour non-stop bus ride! woot!

[judy]

anyone have last minute suggestions on getting the voice back to form? sore throat is gone...

[Chris 02]

Gargle salt water

[ben03]

minnesota better get ready b/c the 300 Big Red fans are comin' to rock their world!
time to hit the road, cya'll there :-D

[cornelldavy]

I'm off to the airport in about a half hour...I just bought Ken Dryden's The Game to read on the plane...hopefully that creates some sort of good karma. Can't wait for the game - I didn't even sleep last night!

[Liz '05]

i can't believe i'm here...i can't believe i'm using Minnesota's library computers to post on elynah (muhahaha ::uptosomething:: )...i can't believe my parents actually supported this crazy idea...
it's a good thing that i'm about to leave for mariucci now, because i'm not sure i can deal with the anticipation much longer.

LET'S GO RED!!!

also, i agree with Ryan - bring it on, bitches! ::cuss::

- Liz

[that loud guy with the hair]

straight drive back from Minneapolis, arrived in Ithaca around 1:30

thanks to everyone else that came out for the games

no regrets at all here.  except for that OT goal, I had a blast this weekend.

about all I can physically type for now...

time to crawl into bed and pass out for a long time...

Gophers suck.

- Ryan '05

[jkahn]

[Q]that loud guy with the hair Wrote:

 straight drive back from Minneapolis, arrived in Ithaca around 1:30

thanks to everyone else that came out for the games

no regrets at all here.  except for that OT goal, I had a blast this weekend.

about all I can physically type for now...

time to crawl into bed and pass out for a long time...

Gophers suck.

- Ryan '05[/q]
Assuming you're the guy a think you are (leading many chants, e.g. Minnesota - sucks, B-R-I-G-G-S sieve, etc.), you were great.  Thanks for adding to the experience and glad you guys made it back safely.

[ithacat]

Despite the outcome, it was a great trip. I wish more of the faithful could have made it to Minneapolis. I'm guessing there were between 200-300 (closer to 200) and, with the exception of the OT goal, I'm not sure the Red ones weren't louder than the other ones.

The band was great. Those leading the chants were great (pretty ballsy absuing one's hosts when one's outnumbered about 30:1). I don't think the Minny fans sitting on either side of the Cornell section could believe what hit them.

Mariucci is beautiful. The fans suck (doesn't mean they're not nice people), but the arena is nice -- although they have some quirky risk management issues (eg, no netting behind the goals, yet they won't give customers bottles with caps on them for fear someone may throw one or drop one and have someone else slip on it).

Cornell's cheerleaders were better than the Gophettes.

Met some wonderful Minny fans. Heard lots of stories from guys that have had season tickets since the Herb Brooks days: about old Mariucci vs new Mariucci; high school hockey in Minnesota; the new women's arena; the potential influence of taxation on innovation; budget woes for Minnesota schools; why they didn't build a 14,000 seat Mariucci (they still have a waiting list of 2,000 but were afraid they'd end up with too many Badger fans when UW came to town), and on... there are some friendly people out there.

The weather was fantastic.

Did I mention Mariucci is beautiful? I loved the Minny band marching around the entire concourse playing with fans marching behind. I loved all the various displays around the concourse (Olympic medals, NCAA Championships, Hobey Baker, Herb Brooks), the murals depicting their hockey history, the changing of the schools flags when the games on (from maroon with gold M to gold with maroon M), the empty bowl with seats spelling out M...they paid attention to the details. I also heard that North Dakota's Engelstad supposedly makes Mariucci look like a trailer, which is pretty hard to believe.

Anyways, it was fun. Can't wait for next year...

[A-19]

Drove 24 hours from Minny to NJ, via Ithaca, with Ryan "We'll get there when we get there" Karins and all

I'm definitely interested in hearing more from people who were in attendance with us @ the game. A few random thoughts:

1) It is inexcusable that any school should be allowed to host a regional tournament on its own ice.

2) I was disappointed in Minnesota's fans. First, they weren't even able to pack their own rink both days (cue Jacob's "I drove 19 hours from Ithaca and you can't even sell out your own rink?"). Second, none of them stayed for the OSU game. Third, they appear to have no student section- at least not @ the regionals. Accordingly, no one in the entire rink starts ANY minny cheers except their cheerleaders. Fourth, no creativity whatsoever. Only cheers: "Let's go gophers," "M-I-N-N.." with some unintelligible grunting and lasso-waving that accompanied the goals, and a major U-Mich penalty box ripoff. Fifth, classless. Two examples: When Cook took a slapshot to the throat and hit the ice, they booed for delay of game, and when we lost they personally verbally attacked Cornell fans when filing out of the rink (the "Cornell sucks" variety).

3) I was very proud of the Faithful on location. The creativity and constant noise we generated surprised most of the Minny fans around us. Many of you would be pleased to know that we were a very classy bunch. No anti-Hirsch insults at all, though I had to fight hard against the urge to break into Aerosmith's "Crazy" etc etc etc. Cornell fans know how to win and to lose with class. We definitely left a favorable impression upon those at the game, with regard to the overall dedication and wit of the Cornell fan base. How were Cornell's fans portrayed on TV?

4) The cowbell incident is ridiculous. I felt that this was just one more example of the "god-forbid-anyone-should-be-allowed-to-cheer-against-us-in-our-own-rink" approach. Other incidences: no signs for us allowed. Oh, unless you come in a Minnesota jersey. No flags allowed. Oh, unless you bring a Minnesota flag. No Cowbell allowed...if you're playing us.  No shots allowed to be counted on the board. Unless you take a shot in a Minnesota jersey (which could be wider than...). The "we were massively overshot" argument which has surfaced alot on these posts has to be tempered. I was sitting there and can recall many occasions where I would see a Cornell shot land in Briggs' glove and never register at all.

5) The reffing was poor for the second game, though a few icing calls that would have been unfavorable to CU were missed. I felt like the refs were looking to give penalties on us so easily. In one incidence, the ref slipped on the ice and landed on his ass. The second he's back on his feet he calls a penalty on O'Byrne down the ice. To clarify, I don't think the reffing is the reason we lost the game. But a few more minutes of 5x5 hockey in the late second and early third periods would have been favorable for Cornell.

6) I was pretty surprised to see so much O'Byrne bashing when I first checked this board upon returning. At the game, no one so much as mentioned his name around me when we lost. Then again, the action was at the far end of the ice and hard to see. But still, it was just a tough fast rush that we weren't as prepared for. Being as I'm the one who started one of the "Is O'Byrne a liability" threads a while back, I have to say that seeing the last few games in person, I think he played pretty disciplined, good hockey.

7) The first Minny goal seemed a little soft for McKee. Very unexpected. The second was a bad break for us. He played well for us and stopped so many quality shots this weekend. CU's defense and goaltending kept us in the Minnesota game, while our offense kept us in the OSU game. The Iggy goal was amazing to see in person by the way, and I would love to see a larger pic. of it.

Few moments were cooler in my hockey-going experience than scoring the first goal against Minny in their own house. Pegs really is a workhorse.

All in all, a great road trip, though it's disappointing to come back from 2,000+ miles of driving with a loss. Now to the off-season to tend to the post-Albany, post-Minnesota coughing up blood as a result of cheering issue. Much love to all my roadtrip companions, those at the game, and the makers of the chemical Chloraseptic.

-Mike '04