Colgate 2022-23

[Magoo]

I echo CU13’s thoughts on Colgate’s seniors, who hung in there despite the pandemic and all the uncertainty that came with it. I’m so happy for them that they can say that they ended their collegiate careers as ECAC champions. Well deserved.

While the Michigan game was a bitter pill to swallow, we all have to be thrilled at how this year turned out. And, of course, the question is can we keep it going for next year. Let’s hope we will still be able to compete with the top teams in our league.

And congrats to Quinnipiac for getting to the Frozen 4. I hope they win it all.

[Sean Pickett]

I was asked to post this here. With caveat that the attendance figures might not be 100% accurate I've complied the average attendance for the 12 current ECAC teams for 2001-2023:

	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2021-22	2022-23
Brown	1,488	1,499	1,602	1,256	1,262	1,485	1,224	1,127	1,294	1,474	1,374	1,262	1,448	1,011	1,097	950	861	780	643	392	797
Clarkson	2,975	2,777	2,496	2,328	2,327	2,514	2,734	2,851	2,647	2,261	2,449	2,397	2,500	2,460	2,583	2,709	2,807	2,766	2,820	2,457	2,510
Colgate	1,727	1,830	1,886	1,773	1,805	1,774	1,577	1,141	1,161	1,010	1,294	1,312	1,567	1,515	1,599	1,814	1,352	1,216	1,188	797	976
Cornell	3,802	3,836	3,836	3,836	3,836	4,229	4,191	4,153	4,264	4,187	4,238	4,247	4,088	4,125	4,022	3,908	3,592	3,594	3,979	2,685	3,730
Dartmouth	3,253	3,738	4,038	3,766	4,016	3,809	3,489	3,480	2,935	2,824	3,112	3,304	2,927	2,651	2,372	2,562	2,040	2,084	1,951	801	1,706
Harvard	2,354	2,040	2,116	2,287	2,275	2,362	2,381	2,086	2,387	2,380	2,224	2,306	2,291	2,138	2,385	2,466	2,155	1,981	1,805	1,194	2,415
Princeton	1,816	1,935	1,637	1,717	1,635	1,368	1,702	1,575	1,545	1,581	1,858	2,064	1,942	1,933	1,851	1,635	1,601	1,859	1,806	1,134	1,720
Quinnipiac	821	921	955	831	1,875	2,374	2,922	2,906	2,671	2,708	2,524	3,122	3,434	3,123	3,247	3,132	3,095	3,123	3,024	2,508	2,968
RPI	3,023	3,186	2,966	3,169	3,128	3,715	3,534	3,268	2,859	3,158	3,435	3,132	3,255	3,373	3,143	3,087	3,013	2,880	2,671	367	2,251
St. Lawrence	2,527	2,180	2,348	2,262	2,292	2,501	2,377	2,418	2,213	1,646	1,399	1,545	1,688	1,658	1,782	1,686	1,505	1,206	851	1,005	1,567
Union	1,756	1,853	1,595	1,630	1,713	1,794	1,737	1,815	1,878	1,886	2,009	1,981	1,908	2,106	1,997	2,101	2,055	1,854	1,841	1,490	1,844
Yale	3,804	3,407	3,255	3,150	3,095	3,034	2,927	2,910	3,124	3,275	3,169	3,138	3,343	3,312	3,385	3,090	3,210	3,046	2,036	788	1,864

To make it easier to see visually I created 2 charts: one for Ivy teams and one for non-Ivy teams:




Except for three* seasons Cornell had the best average attendance, toping 4,000 for a decade, 2006-16. Attendance dropped off for 2 seasons, 2017-19, but rebounded nicely in 2019-20. After a post-COVID season with reduced attendance it was back up this season, although it was down from the 2019-20 average.

Perhaps surprisingly, Dartmouth was the attendance leader for 2 of the seasons Cornell wasn't, was second for 5 seasons, third for 3 seasons and 4th for 2 seasons from 2001-13. This despite, as the OP stated, not making the NCAA Tournament since 1980. Since 2013 attendance as trended downward.

Another Ivy with strong attendance from 2001-19 was Yale, which only had 2 seasons averaging below 3,000, before a sharp drop off in 2019-20 and which continued downward this past season.

Harvard has middling attendance from 2001-18, fluctuating between 2,500 and 2,000, before dropping below 2,000 in 2018-19 and then lower in 2019-20. This season it rebounded nicely, back up over 2,400.

The best attendance among the non-Ivy schools has been RPI and Quinnipiac. RPI was above 3,000 for 15 of 17 seasons from 2001-18. After 2 seasons of declining attendance it dropped again this past season as much has it had from 2018-20.

Quinnipiac's attendance has been among the tops since their current arena opened in 2007, but it increased during their almost championship season and stayed above 3,000 until the 2021-22 post-COVID season, while it was just short of 3,000 this season.

The three teams with the worst attendance since 2001 have been Brown, Colgate and St. Lawrence. Brown had low, but relatively stable attendance until 2014. Since then it was been gradually dropping and has been the worst in the league the past six seasons.

Colgate also had low, but stable attendance from 2001-08, before dropping to barely over 1,000 from 2008-11, before slowing improving over the next six seasons, reaching where it was 2001-07. However, attendance dropped again through 2020 and collapsed below 1,000 in the post-COVID season, from which attendance only improved slightly this past season.

St. Lawrence likewise had stable attendance from 2001-10, before it dropped in 2010-11 and then stabilized at a new lower, level until Appleton was closed for renovations. This past season attendance returned to that level.

Sean

*In 2001-02 Yale edged out Cornell, 3,804 to 3,802

[iowabasedtraveler]

I asked Sean to post this attendance summary here.
It confirms my thought that the Class of 1965 Arena now draws hundreds, not thousands, on average.
Somehow, we need to turn this around.
I don’t know if that means reaching out to the students more, or to the community more, or both.
The Silver Puck Club needs to be more of a Friends of the Raiders club than purely a fundraising arm, or there needs to be two separate organizations. Can you imagine monthly meetings (with coaches, athletes, media members, etc.), year’round?

[iowabasedtraveler]

I have also been thinking of the (emotional) roller-coaster idea a lot lately, thanks to Barb. So, I thought, ‘well, I will show a positive year-end note… post-season goals-for vs. goals-against.’

03/03, Dartmouth, 5-3,
03/10, Saint Lawrence, 4-3 OT,
03/11, Saint Lawrence, 3-2,
03/17, Quinnipiac, 2-1, 2OT,
03/18, Harvard, 3-2,

03/24, Michigan, 1-11.

The total? 18-22. Dang!

We beat the only team ranked below us by two goals, and then beat each team ranked above us by only one goal, until Michigan. That probably should have been fair warning, unless you are caught up in the moment (like I was).

[QuasiCosmos]

AQ's just degrade the tournament field. Been happening for years and years now, yes... And this season was a perfect example of that.

[...] just to get hammered, when there are maybe 25 more deserving teams?

Makes absolutely no sense at all. The BS AQ thing helped to make this tournament a complete yawner in the early rounds.

[Note, sarcasm alert:] Yeah, using your logic I was wondering about how #7 Harvard and #13 Michigan Tech were allowed in the tournament. They, too, got hammered. Why not just let the top two teams in the nation battle it out in a best of seven series. But then who gets to choose the top two?
Note, I am not dumping on any teams in the tournament. According to the well-established rules, all sixteen were deserving participants in my opinion.

[TheGreenCoat]

Great attendance work...several of us have made the point over the past decade that SOME entity has to commit to improving our attendance numbers...one sees no evidence of our (relatively) new and excellent facility actually helping the numbers...that entity IMO should be the Silver Puck Council, but it desperately needs new blood and an elevated commitment...golf outings and SPC weekends are nice, but really miss the point...a recruited athlete attending one of our home games vis-a-vis Lynah? Forget it...and we all know Hamilton is not the size of Ithaca...but striving for, say, 1500/game does not seem like an unrealistic goal...

[Fishman'81]

[Note, sarcasm alert:] Yeah, using your logic I was wondering about how #7 Harvard and #13 Michigan Tech were allowed in the tournament. They, too, got hammered. Why not just let the top two teams in the nation battle it out in a best of seven series. But then who gets to choose the top two?
Note, I am not dumping on any teams in the tournament. According to the well-established rules, all sixteen were deserving participants in my opinion.

Shouldn't have posted here, even though I'm actually within an easy drive to Hamilton, and have have attended many Colgate games for a lot of seasons, and have read this thread for a bunch of years. My sincere contrition. Just stayed up too long last night.

Still, I have despised the tournament AQ thing since I was in the womb. It's an absurd way to pick the field, IMO.

[MarkEagleUSA]

Still, I have despised the tournament AQ thing since I was in the womb. It's an absurd way to pick the field, IMO.

You do realize that each league has the ability to choose their AQ, right? Many, myself included, feel that the regular season champ should get the AQ as a reward for the entire body of their seasons work. However, I think the leagues all feel that a wild card winner in the tournament is good for the sport. Colgate was the ECAC wild card this season and their win in Placid allowed 4 teams into the tourney.

[iowabasedtraveler]

Fishman, no problem as far as I am concerned. I have posted on other threads, then got up in the middle of the night and deleted them. Alcohol was usually what I blamed for my lack of tact (not lack of sleep). he he he

I also follow short-track auto racing, where we have ‘provisionals.’ I don’t mind auto-bids nor provisionals, as fans of all sanctions and all conferences deserve representation in the ‘feature event.’

I leave Monday for Amtrak’s AutoTrain to Florida for the Frozen Four, which will be my 26th since 1993. I will be cheering for Minnesota and Quinnipiac (not so much as the ECAC rep as much as it is the opponent of my much-disliked Michigan… since ‘96 in Cincinnati), but I fully expect the NCAA title game to be a rematch of the Big Ten tournament title game.

[still an empty net]

Interesting attendance data. I thought this year we had good attendance from what I saw at the rink and on ESPN+. I was surprised to see it that low. I live in the Cuse and I normally try and check out a rare OOC team that come to town in the Fall, the Cornell game and another ECAC game. I used to have the Friday or Sat night season package but having ESPN+ and being able to watch the game at home has made it more convenient, wonder if others are also in this boat.

Fishman, interesting post to get the thread going! First, Colgate had to win 2 at SLU, then beat two top 7 teams to make it which is no easy task. We did best Qpac twice during the season who is now in the Frozen. That being said the result vs. Michigan was brutal and didn’t look good for the AQ but you can’t judge a team by one really bad night. Boston U lost to Michigan 9-2 earlier this season, I know that’s not 11-1 but bad games can happen. That game was 4-0 after the first and 7-1 after the second period. BU absolutely deserves to be in the Frozen Four and is a good team despite that one game. Michigan is literally loaded with NHL talent and the game got away after just down 1-0 after the first. I hope you continue to support Colgate and go to games if you live nearby, no reason not to if you like college hockey.

[Fishman'81]

You do realize that each league has the ability to choose their AQ, right? Many, myself included, feel that the regular season champ should get the AQ as a reward for the entire body of their seasons work. However, I think the leagues all feel that a wild card winner in the tournament is good for the sport. Colgate was the ECAC wild card this season and their win in Placid allowed 4 teams into the tourney.

I completely agree that -if an AQ is going to be awarded- it should be on the basis of the RS.

Why even play a RS in the first place, if all that matters is the silly conference tournament?

There I go again. Sorry. But even D-1 hockey is a backwater industry. Fielding AQ sacrificial lambs for dumb reasons won't grow the sport.

That sort of "logic" just makes the whole calculus look, well, as misguided as it is.

[Fishman'81]

Fishman, no problem as far as I am concerned. I have posted on other threads, then got up in the middle of the night and deleted them. Alcohol was usually what I blamed for my lack of tact (not lack of sleep). he he he

I also follow short-track auto racing, where we have ‘provisionals.’ I don’t mind auto-bids nor provisionals, as fans of all sanctions and all conferences deserve representation in the ‘feature event.’

I leave Monday for Amtrak’s AutoTrain to Florida for the Frozen Four, which will be my 26th since 1993. I will be cheering for Minnesota and Quinnipiac (not so much as the ECAC rep as much as it is the opponent of my much-disliked Michigan… since ‘96 in Cincinnati), but I fully expect the NCAA title game to be a rematch of the Big Ten tournament title game.

I've been to many arenas, I love travelling on Amtrak (usually), but where do you get the stamina? :P

Having said that, enjoy the FF, it's a very good field.

Anyone can win that thing, but I tend to lean towards The Q.

Just my gut.

[sshablak]

I remember when the season winner and the ECAC tourney both got into the NCAA tourney. Tom did you get my message ?

[Sean Pickett]

I remember when the season winner and the ECAC tourney both got into the NCAA tourney.

The CC rule.

Sean

[iowabasedtraveler]

Shabby, got your message. Thanks.
I am glad that you are doing well.
I am excited about Tampa and the Frozen Four.
But, when its over, I will be ready to start seeing who Colgate’s non-conference opponents will be for next season. Most of our reciprocal agreements should be concluded, so we should see some new opponents. And I personally hope that a couple of them are other NCAA tournament teams from this year. We will need to get right back on the horse.