ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

[LynahFan]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

Sounds like Union brought a good crowd! I didn't watch the game, but that's good news, since everyone was skeptical.

Well, the skeptics were basically correct. The USCHO box scores show 6505 attendance for Friday. Of course, they also show 6505 for Saturday, so take that with a grain of salt. However, attendance was clearly nowhere near 10k, either.

Noisiest cheers of the night: the boos every time they mentioned the championships in Atlantic City next season.

[soxrok3]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

Congrats to Cornell. They were clearly the better team out there tonight.

Do you think more Big Red fans will be there should get get the Albany draw?

[Hopkinja]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

I can't seem to find a Cornell season thread, so I'd like to offer my congratulations here, and hope some Big Red fans see it. We play the same style hockey, but, as I said earlier, you guys execute it better and have better players. I'll cheer for you in the NCAAs, but I like Union too much to root against them tonight.

Sounds like Union brought a good crowd! I didn't watch the game, but that's good news, since everyone was skeptical. Can anyone tell me what Brown's contingent was like? It was hard to tell on TV, since we didn't score.

Also, is the consolation on TV? That'd be kind of disappointing if it weren't.

We see it, and thanks for the complement. We don't participate much, especially once the thread becomes a pyssing match. As someone said, we tend to do our ranting on eLynah. But "foreigners" are always welcome there.

I really figured Union would give us a tougher game. I don't know what happened to the team that outplayed SLU last night. But Cornell was really on their game from the first face off. And unfortunately, Union was on their heels early. There was a bit of a scare in the third, but by the time the puck almost went in late in the third, the game was pretty much over.

I was actually quite impressed with Union's fan support. They were very vocal last night, but somewhat understandably quieter tonight. It makes you think that if Union or RPI had made the tourney in the past few years, it might be staying in Albany. The only thing I have to say is get your own cheers and stop stealing ours.

Brown brought their pep band and a handful of fans. None of them really cheered that much. And none of them stuck around for the consy today.

See you next year. It should be some good hockey.

[Wholin1]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

Cornell definitely schooled the Dutchmen tonight, hats off to them and good luck to them in the NCAAs. Union never could get anything going and took a lot of bad penalties which didn't help matters. Conversely, they couldn't get anything going on their man up situations. The score could have been a lot more lopsided without another strong effort from Kinkaid. I actually didn't think Union was on top of their game either night this weekend. Perhaps last weekend's grueling series and finals week took a bit of a toll on the team. Again, it was sad not to see the injured Mike Wakita miss his chance to play in the championship weekend.

As far as fandom is concerned, the Cornell fans are to be commended for their boisterous enthusiasm. It was interesting perspective when my wife attending her first tournament game ever commented that the semi vulgar and repeated suck references in most cheers were a bit offensive, but then again she is a first grade teacher. Still a bit more imagination might be welcome at least from the receiving end.

A wonderful season comes to an end albeit a disappointing one for the Dutchmen. These memories will last a good long while.

[Hopkinja]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

Still a bit more imagination might be welcome at least from the receiving end.

There are a lot of us on the Cornell side of the aisle who think the same.

A lot of it comes because our AD is determined to crush any spirit at Lynah. People are just afraid to do anything which hasn't been unofficially sanctioned (by overuse).

[TimU]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

I don't know what happened to the team that outplayed SLU last night.

Only one team outplayed SLU this weekend, and it was Brown.

For the most part, I agree with you on the rest.

[ZYanksRule]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

Is this where we start whining about how Albany sucks as a venue, or do we wait a day or two?

[kdiff77]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

Brown brought their pep band and a handful of fans. None of them really cheered that much.

That's how it is at home, though, so it's not a surprise. Also, Cornell didn't give them much to cheer about.

[critsports]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

I was actually quite impressed with Union's fan support. They were very vocal last night, but somewhat understandably quieter tonight. It makes you think that if Union or RPI had made the tourney in the past few years, it might be staying in Albany.

Brown brought their pep band and a handful of fans. None of them really cheered that much. And none of them stuck around for the consy today.

See you next year. It should be some good hockey.

I don't know if your reference was to the season or the ECAC tournament, but I for one....won't be seeing anyone next year in Atlantic City.

I've been a regular attendee in both Lake Placid (because although far away, it was a beautiful place and somehwere I actually enjoyed being) and in Albany (where I didn't particularly enjoy the venue but you certainly can't argue about the central location).

Many of us this weekend discussed the "what if" scenario's. The consensus seemed to be very few if any people would go if their team didn't make the tournament (although many of us have gone to Albany every year whether SLU made it or not). But I was surprised by how many said they probably wouldn't go even if their team DID make it.

I guess that is where the ECAC is "rollling the dice" (pun intended) to see if those die hards who always went to Albany will make the trek and for those that won't.........if they will be replaced by what some might perceive as better access to the alumni base of NY City???

It had to be one sweetheart of a deal, but if I were a swami predicting, I'd guess the attendance will be way less than that in Albany.

I think we also answered the Albany question about how good would attendance be if one of the Capital District teams made it and unfortunately (I didn't compare statistics) but I think the answer was not all that much. It did seem to me there were more Cornell fans than Union fans. I understand students were on break and Union had a good turnout but I don't think their turnout would have been very different if say a Clarkson were there instead.

Oh well........moot point......we'll have to see how the Atlantic City experiment goes, but again, I for one will not be making the trip.

[UHall6]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

They should just get rid of this rep thing...it's like 5th grade.

Agreed. I'd like the thank the person sent me this gem:

The only thing funnier than watching you blow a fat man is watching you blow a fat ******.

And on a score update post. Seriously, is that supposed to be an insult? Maybe you shouldn't post at 1:43 AM. Wait until the next day after a cup of coffee. "Revenge is a dish best served cold."

[Kepler]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

As far as fandom is concerned, the Cornell fans are to be commended for their boisterous enthusiasm. It was interesting perspective when my wife attending her first tournament game ever commented that the semi vulgar and repeated suck references in most cheers were a bit offensive, but then again she is a first grade teacher. Still a bit more imagination might be welcome at least from the receiving end.

The repeated "suck" chants are very tiresome to most of the Faithful, too; you're always going to get 2 or 3 kids with more alcohol in them than brains in every crowd. The most creative cheers are spontaneous and so aren't audible far outside the Cornell section, but there are a lot of very funny and clever cheers, taunts, and all-around bizarre observations, and this undergrad cohort has its share too. IMHO it's the most creative sports crowd I've ever heard.

I'm glad Union got to see their guys play in Albany. The Union crowd showed they could be loudly supportive during the SF; happily, Cornell never gave them anything to cheer about Saturday. It may not have been noticeable, but the entire Cornell crowd gave Union's players a long and sincere ovation after the game.

[Kepler]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

Can anyone tell me what Brown's contingent was like?

There were five girls in Brown gear sitting directly across from 118. Really, that's all I noticed, though that may be observation bias.

[aweise]

Re: ECAC Semifinals & Finals: Albany, NY

The repeated "suck" chants are very tiresome to most of the Faithful, too; you're always going to get 2 or 3 kids with more alcohol in them than brains in every crowd. The most creative cheers are spontaneous and so aren't audible far outside the Cornell section, but there are a lot of very funny and clever cheers, taunts, and all-around bizarre observations, and this undergrad cohort has its share too. IMHO it's the most creative sports crowd I've ever heard.

My first real exposure to the Cornell contingent didn't come until the '96 tourney in Lake Placid. I've been impressed with their creativity ever since. The band still blows every other one away - even the half band in Albany last weekend was impressive. (just don't let my sister - Clarkson pep band alum - know I said that)

It's also mildly impressive that they just don't keep chanting "[opposing team] sucks!" every 5 minutes...unlike another "red" team's crowd I see twice a year.

I'm glad Union got to see their guys play in Albany. The Union crowd showed they could be loudly supportive during the SF; happily, Cornell never gave them anything to cheer about Saturday. It may not have been noticeable, but the entire Cornell crowd gave Union's players a long and sincere ovation after the game.

It was noticeable. I was giving my ovation and looked to see how many of the Cornell contingent was doing the same. To my delight, it looked like it was the entire Cornell crowd.

The Union crowd can definitely be loud & supportive. We don't exactly have the "experience" that Cornell has, but we're getting there. We just need UHM to pass the baton to an undergrad.