What I like about being a Big Red fan

[Jordan 04]

The subtle part about that 2003 ECAC goal that I will always love is that when the tape is slowed down, you can clearly see Mark begin to raise his arms a good few frames before the puck gets behind Hyphen.

Eerily beautiful.

[mtmack25]

I found the tape! Watchin it now...B-]

[Robb]

I like everything about being a Big Red fan.  

I love the looks I get when I tell people I'm flying from Texas to Michigan regular-season hockey games.  I love celebrating a well-deserved win, and doubly so for those that were NOT so deserved.  I love having friends to commiserate with after being beaten by better teams, and doubly so after bad losses (it WILL happen BMac, and it's not the end of the world).  I like the shared anticipation when another crowd starts a cheer that we all KNOW we have the perfect response for (Clarkson once tried "your mom called" on us.  They apparently didn't realized what their boyfriends had said about THEM!).  I love the look of awe on people's faces (first timers or visitors) when they hear Lynah for the first time.  I love nearly hyperventilating whenever we're down by one with two minutes left.  I love that we never boo our own team.  I love that we had the perfect season, even if it happened before I was born.  I love winning polls on USCHO that ask who's fans you'd like to have in your own barn.  I love that we have a small, intimate, loud rink.  I love playing cards in Houston Fieldhouse at 2 pm on a Saturday because there's nothing else to do in Troy.  

But mostly, I love kicking Harvard's ass.  I waited 5 years to see a win over Harvard (I started at Cornell the fall after our playoff wins in 1990), and even though it's been nearly 10 years SINCE that magical night, it just never, never, never gets old.  

[Ben Rocky '04]

Ryan, that trip was an experience, and I won't forget it.  Stupid Wisconsin taking forever to drive through, the really nice St. Cloud State fans telling us that the entire WCHA was rooting for Cornell, hitting on the girl on the interstate with the dry-erase board and then writing to her that "Golden Gophers suck!".

My favorite moments are at places all away from Lynah:

1) Albany 2003.  Enough said.

2) Before the MSU games in Lansing last year, eating in the Roadhouse for dinner and exchanging happy glances with Jim H as he came into the restaurant wearing Carnellian; meeting Keith and Robb for dinner before the 2nd game, just random Cornellians far away from Cayuga's waters being friendly.

3) Washington DC metro this summer, wearing a 'HARVARD SUCKS' t-shirt.  A young woman walks up to me between stations and says that she had ask what the shirt meant.  I explained that I am a Cornell hockey fan and she went on to tell me how she just graduated from Harvard, was a Crimson hockey fan, and played on their women's club team, and how her and her teammates all had a massive amount of respect for Cornell hockey fans for being loud, creative and passionate.  Hearing that we Faithful are the best fans from a SUCKS fan made it just that more real.

LGR!

[RichH]

[Q]Jerseygirl Wrote:
Maybe we should spend some time remembering the good stuff about Cornell hockey. What we love about it, why we cheer, etc.[/q]

"If you asked me, I could write a book..."

Best thread started in a long time...thanks, Jerseygirl.  Certainly best thread of the off-season.  Just reading it got my blood flowing again.  Every year, there's an event before the season that activates the hockey center of my mind...that snaps me into that Lynah mode, and this was it this year.

I wasn't going to write anything, since there are SO many memories I have that are essentially tied, but for some reason, one floated to the surface.  Maybe it was because I feel the need to enrich and diversify the "ECACs 2003" responses...

For me, it was the first 10 minutes in the 1980 arena at Lake Placid in 1996.  Normally, I would've taken the band bus, but for Senior comraderie/roadtrip reasons, I drove up with a friend.  I had gotten my hands on a gigantic Cornell flag like the one that flys on Day Hall (the Cambell Soup looking flag).  The instant I walked into the arena you could feel the tension of the crowd.  The early Semifinal had 1:30 left, and one glance made my jaw drop: Harvard 5 UVM 4.  Vermont was a HEAVY favorite to waltz through Lake Placid that year.  UVM had paraded as many fans as they could into that building, and they were trying to make some noise to get the tying goal.  Cornell fans had pretty much filled in our corner and were generally mulling around.  During a timeout and a lull in the action, I picked my spot...I raced up to the balcony, and unfurled that flag to hang on the railing.  Our little corner (amongst a sea of Catamount fans) all rose and erupted in Let's Go Red chants and general mayhem, in the middle of a tense final minute of a major upset in the other semi-final.  That one moment completed my education about what it really meant to be part of the Lynah Faithful.  It was the moment I always associate with our rebirth into the post-season tournament scene, and the fact that there really was a Schafer Renaissance happening.  We had made it through the wilderness of "those seasons" in the early 90s.  We were back.

And the weekend just got more and more magical from there.

[Josh '99]

[Q]BMac Wrote:I haven't seen the Red lose yet and I don't plan to.[/q]Ah, youth.  :-P

[Tub(a)]

Lots of good ones for sure.

The first home game against Harvard.

The goal that sent us to Buffalo.

Watching 9k people turn and stare in awe at the Pep Band playing "On Wisconsin" in Minnesota.

[cornelldavy]

This is going to be really sappy.

Some of my favorite moments of being a Red fan are those that I've spent watching games with my dad, who didn't go to Cornell but was hooked from the first game he went to - the exhibition at Lynah against Western Ontario my freshman year in '99. We blew out Western and there was a brawl...

Since then he's made the trip up to Lynah from Philly numerous times, and now that I live in L.A., he's even gone to the game at Princeton on his own - so last season, he went to more games than I did. We've gone together to bars in Philly to try to find the Everblades games on TV, and for my graduation, he got me a framed, signed Nieuwendyk Cornell jersey.

He came to the NCAA regionals and Frozen Four in '03, where he asked me (after a friend channeling Snoop referred to Greg Hornby), "What's a Hornbizzle?". But the games I'll remember most are the two Harvard games in '03-'04 and the regionals in Minnesota last season, both after I graduated. We drove up to Ithaca for the home Harvard game (still the only time I've been back since graduation), and went straight to Wegmans to pick up a fish (red snapper, even though it was more expensive). McKee - a freshman! - played great in a 1-0 win. Then my dad met my brother and I in Boston for the Lynah East game, where Moulson scored a hattrick, and my brother, wearing his BU jersey, got himself ejected from Bright for throwing one of the mini Snickers bars at the Harvard student section. We let him freeze outside during the third period (it was about 0 degrees that night), but we called him from inside the rink with updates and told him to meet us at John Harvard's after the game. And last season, I spent my spring break in Minneapolis, to where my dad and I each flew from our coasts, to cheer on the Red in front of the bigger, but still lamer, home crowd. Although that loss to the Gophers was a bitter pill to swallow, I'd spend my spring break that way again in a second.

Cornell hockey has been great to me as a fan - Albany in 2003 was unforgettable - but it has been special to me as well for the great times I've been able to share it with my dad.


By the way...
[Q]Robb Wrote:
I love playing cards in Houston Fieldhouse at 2 pm on a Saturday because there's nothing else to do in Troy.[/q]
The RPI student union has a bowling alley, and games are $1, if I remember correctly. But that's the only other thing to do in Troy.

[KateWithThe8]

I'm not even sure where to begin because like everyone else, there are just too many to mention.  

One that sticks out in my mind is from Senior Night of 2003.  I had gotten my parents tickets to the game and they joined Jon and I in Section A.  They had a great time and I got the feeling that they might now understand the beauty of being Lynah Faithful.  My mother assured me of this when after the presentation of the Seniors, the skates around the ice, and as the boys all gathered arm-in-arm to sway to the Alma mater, my mother turned to me with watery eyes and said, "I get it now."

Above all, I probably remember most the people that I was able to share those wonderful memories with:  crazy trips to Ottawa for the NorthCountry weekend, Albany in 2003, Dunbars, Lynah East, and the list goes on.  It wouldn't be the same without sharing it with all of you!

[A-19]

i appreciate wearing my "harvard sucks" shirt to class in the Yard

[nr53]

two things i guess:

1) coming in my freshman year and going through the "down" year in 03-04 but never missing a game then going through all of last year and loving every minute of it.

2) going to the championship in Albany this past year, not really knowing where i was going to be sleeping that night. getting my face painted red and white. scaring the crap out of the people in the luxury box right behind us w/ said painted faces and cheering. of course the great win. packing 8 people in my jeep (3 in the trunk) for the drive out and getting followed by a cop for 10 minutes (face still painted). meeting my friend's parents for the first time and looking like a crazy person. All in all a really great weekend.

perhaps not as impressive as other people's stories but definitely a fun two years (now if i could only get my friends to go on a few road trips this year:-D )

[billhoward]

My first date with my wife-to-be (four years later) was a Cornell NCAA hockey game, driving from Western Mass. to Providence. Gwen's dorm-mates thought it was incredibly romantic. I thought it was a shame Cornell lost.

Following Cornell sports is a great way for Cornellians across full or partial generations to stay in touch. Gwen and I set up a blind date -- dinner and then the Yale game last year - with Al and Donna DeFlorio based on our meeting and trading messages here on eLynah. Fortunately neither of us turned out to be ax murderers and Al has an encyclopedic knowledge of New Haven's great Italian restaurants.

It's been great to see the handful of Cornell NCAA championships and somewhat more ECAC titles, and heartbreaking to see all the coulda, woulda, shoulda games in lacrosse and hockey. Travis Lee and the wrestling team were the icing on the cake. Maybe someday the basketball team will be competitive. It's too bad the women's teams aren't the equal of the men's teams in our two biggest sports.

[schoaff]

1989, deciding about 3 hours before game time to drive from Ithaca to RPI to see the game. Load 6 people into the car and go flying toward Albany with no real idea where RPI was. Getting there about 5 minutes before the game started after having to stop random people in Troy where the hockey ring was. Rob Levasseur scores the game winner in overtime. Get back to Ithaca around 2AM and fill a booth at Manos still celebrating.

1990 After seeing Cornell lose to Harvard 7 times in person during the previous 4 years; having never seen Cornell beat Harvard, doubting we ever would, renting Love Story just to see a fictional Cornell beat Harvard, meeting Ken Dryden and the first thing out of my friend's mouth being, "What's it like to beat Harvard?" Getting one last shot at them in the playoffs.  Having one of the Harvard players say they were "ecstatic" about playing Cornell. Then just crushing them in the playoffs. Seeing Vanini score on a slap shot from the left point with a couple seconds left in a period having my friend and I look at each other and both say, "That's just the type of goal they always score on us." It felt like the scene from "A Christmas Story" when Ralphie loses control and beats the crap out of the school bully. That was a good weekend.

2003 Not much more needs to be said about this one. Flew up from Florida for the tournament, the first I had attended since about 1992 just because I'd been following the team and they seemed like something really special. Convincing one of the guys who had taken that car trip to RPI back in '89 and gone to every undergraduate Harvard game (home and away) with me to meet me in Albany. Thinking, "God damn friggen Harvard. I can't believe they're going to do this to us again." Hearing one of the loudest noises I've ever heard when we tied the game (right up there with standing 300' from an f15 going passing at 300mph). Drinking a toast that night to every Cornell player we could think of who every wore the jersey. I think they should paint a red dot or something at the spot where Macrae took the shot.

2005 Flying up to Albany again but this time with my 4 year old Daughter who sang Davey for our table at the Cornell Club dinner between semifinal games.

[French Rage]

Well, the obvious choice would be all the results of great games like 2003 but I'll go with another.  My sophomore year (01-02) I had seats in D but my friend and I snuck to section A during the last QF game vs Yale and were the first on the ice.  It was just awesome being the first out there after that season, jumping up and down around the players.  We got a marker and I got my gameworn which I has just gotten earlier in January signed by most of that squad.  While the 03 team did more in terms of accomplishments, everyone knew it was coming that year, it was expected; no one picked much of the 02 team, but they went on such a great run and were just an awesome team.

[mtmack25]

Can someone refresh my memory. I feel ashamed that I can't remember who we were playing.

It was 2 years ago in Lynah.  Might have been the playoffs.  We tied the game with, I believe, 2 seconds left in regulation.  We continued the 'All your fault' cheer from the time of the goal until into overtime.  That moment sums up the power of Lynah for me.  When several thousand people are yelling at you that its all your fault, you probably start to believe it.  If he wasn't crying under that mask, he's a stronger man than most.