>>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

[PurpAlum]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

I want to start off with by stating I really enjoy this forum, I am a Purple Eagle Alum and fan, but I think this forum is great. If RIT, Canisius and Niagara can start having great rivals that we can all enjoy the AHA will only rise. That is why I enjoy this forum because it puts the AHA on the map. I do think that the AHA was a weak conference in years past. The addition of RIT has only helped the conference become stronger, but now with Robert Morris and Niagara the league is strong. The top 5 teams in league are RIT, Niagara (still need to prove themselves that they are for real), RMU, AFA, and Mercyhurst. There are some other teams that are better than I thought.

The reason why I am posting: Niagara fans do not always follow hockey like RIT. It is obvious RIT is very passionate about its hockey, which it should be due to it being the only DI sport. It is great for WNY. If Niagara and RIT make it to the BCA you will see a much larger NU crowd. The school will bring at least 2 buses of students and there will be a strong following of family. The reason there was a small NU crowd Friday is because 1) RIT sells out quick (I got tix though!!) and 2) students were on break. The reason why there were no students to the game Saturday (Niagara was on break). So I believe you would see a larger student section in the first round of the playoffs and if they make it to the BCA. Another thing that hurts the hockey turn out is if Basketball is playing, that always takes precedents.

That is my two cents, like I said I do enjoy this forum and I hope no one takes this as me *****ing or anything, just thought I would explain why there may have been a small student showing. Good luck in the AHA playoffs and I really hope it is a NU vs. RIT final. It would be like Canada vs. USA lol

 

[5hole]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

They don't show up to their home rink well. It was all parents and families on Saturday.

Well, that is pure BS ... I was there, and I am neither. I traveled from Roswell, GA. And I saw a lot of people there that were neither parents nor family.

 

[PurpAlum]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

I think he was basically just stating there was a weak student section...which there was , the students are out for spring break right now. I have been at NU for awhile and follow their sports religiously. Basketball is a huge draw, hockey tends to have some difficulty drawing. I do believe attendance was up this year due to the new teams the AHA conference brought in. In all, RIT sells out a lot more and I believe the two rinks have the same capacity? NU made the rink the "right" size in terms of selling it out, but they will never be able to bring in the big dogs (i.e. Michigan, Wisconsin, Miami-OH). Unfortunately RIT is going to be on the map a lot better now due to the new rink. Hopefully Niagara will see this and try to renovate, even though they did once to add 100 more seats.

 

[5hole]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

Nah, he was taking a shot ... I was also at RIT on Friday. Great atmosphere there, so hats off to RIT. Keep in mind, it is a much larger school than Niagara, and hockey is their only D-1 sport (I believe). Niagara bball is #1 sport on NU campus due to much longer, richer tradition there as compared with hockey. Also, ROC v NF population to draw from to fill up the same size arena ... no comparison.

 

[blazer777]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

Well, that is pure BS ... I was there, and I am neither. I traveled from Roswell, GA. And I saw a lot of people there that were neither parents nor family.

So......if it wasn't parents, and not family, and not students who would be on break, then who made up the 1127 attendees at the game?

I'm just messing with you here because you get to eat 'grits' and 'corn bread' all the time and I don't.

Fan attendance aside, it really only matters what happens on the ice. Enjoy the extra set of games you get to watch this weekend.(and no, that's not a shot).

 

[elvo86]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

@5hole: I meant what PurpAlum said. I was unaware that it was your break week too. Most of the people there Saturday were *not* students, that's all I was saying.

Also, while there was a not insignificant NU fan section at the Friday game, I think the biggest visiting fan section I saw this year was from Mercyhurst, which surprised me. They had a huge swath of people in the corner diagonally across the ice from the Corner Crew.

 

[BC/HE]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

@5hole: I meant what PurpAlum said. I was unaware that it was your break week too. Most of the people there Saturday were *not* students, that's all I was saying.

Also, while there was a not insignificant NU fan section at the Friday game, I think the biggest visiting fan section I saw this year was from Mercyhurst, which surprised me. They had a huge swath of people in the corner diagonally across the ice from the Corner Crew.

Two of Mercyhurst's players are from Rochester. Gurtler, a senior is one of them. Would not be surprised if they had a lot of friends and relatives show up for that.

As a Niagara fan who does not live in the area I am kind of surprised they don't draw better at home. I know Basketball is #1 there but Hockey is having a much better year and the team is exciting to watch. There have been times when both Basketball and Hockey have played at home at the same time so I think a better distribution of the schedule would help as well. Should it take off the arena is designed for expansion and another 1500 seats could be added I believe. But for now there is no need for it.

 

[dutchbrowncoat]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

we can't give other schools too hard a time for small fanbases. relative to the size of our student body, our attendance is in the bottom 3rd of D1 and this is the only real sport we offer. our rink size obviously holds us back some, but we still have room for improvement.

of course, while we may lack some in numbers we have a loyal core of fans who are quite vocal. see: the frozen four

 

[RITMRC Tiger]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

our rink size obviously holds us back some, but we still have room for improvement.

We came really close to selling out all the games. All home games were sold out this year with the exception of three games during break weeks. (Of a max attendance of 2100, those attendances were 1759, 1683 and 2045.) That puts us at 813 people shy of a perfect attendance year. Not bad!

 

[dutchbrowncoat]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

We came really close to selling out all the games. All home games were sold out this year with the exception of three games during break weeks. (Of a max attendance of 2100, those attendances were 1759, 1683 and 2045.) That puts us at 813 people shy of a perfect attendance year. Not bad!

agreed, attendance has been great this year and i hope the sellouts continue! i am not trying to discredit our fan base by any means, just trying to say we should (sort of) take it easy on niagara, canisius, mercyhurst, etc. we are 4x bigger than these schools, are from a bigger city, are the only D1 team in town, and have no other competition for sports fans at our school...we SHOULD outdraw them and travel better.

it must be said that our women's attendance is exceptional. of course, having a great team does help that.

 

[Tweedle Dee]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

it must be said that our women's attendance is exceptional. of course, having a great team does help that.

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on this one. The attendance to their games is terrible. We've tried in past years to get people interested in their games but people don't want to watch women's sports, unless they are diehard fans or family. They put a great product out on the ice and that sould be seen.

 

[dutchbrowncoat]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on this one. The attendance to their games is terrible. We've tried in past years to get people interested in their games but people don't want to watch women's sports, unless they are diehard fans or family. They put a great product out on the ice and that sould be seen.

perhaps i should have clarified - relative to the rest of DIII (even DI) women the attendance is exceptional, and there can't be much argument there. they lead DIII, with average attendance 150% of the next closest. they slot in at 8th out of 86 in all of women's hockey this year, including D1. yes, there is plenty of room for improvement, but it is still impressive.

 

[TigerFan86-87]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

I think he was basically just stating there was a weak student section...which there was , the students are out for spring break right now.

Just for further perspective, RIT was also on spring break. Final Exam Week for Winter Quarter ended that day. Despite that, they still drew a significant number of students and got the band to stick around as well. Sweet!

 

[PurpAlum]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

From my understanding (because I live 20 minutes from RIT) is that most of those students live in nearby apartments or commute from home. I have many friends who are there, mainly for graduate school, but I get the feeling that most students live right around the school. Niagara actually has a large drawing of Rochester students and many would not take the drive to back to school on Saturday after school was just ending (mainly b/c the dorms shut down early morning on Saturday). That is the main reason why I did not take the trip on Saturday to watch the game.

Would you say that there is a large student base from right around the Rochester area that would have drawn the students to stay and go to the game?

 

[Tweedle Dee]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

perhaps i should have clarified - relative to the rest of DIII (even DI) women the attendance is exceptional, and there can't be much argument there. they lead DIII, with average attendance 150% of the next closest. they slot in at 8th out of 86 in all of women's hockey this year, including D1. yes, there is plenty of room for improvement, but it is still impressive.

In that regard then yes attendance is exceptional. Still wish more people would come to their games though. Gets me more motivated to atually lead stuff for The Corner when there are more fans about.

 

[cplinford]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

From my understanding (because I live 20 minutes from RIT) is that most of those students live in nearby apartments or commute from home. I have many friends who are there, mainly for graduate school, but I get the feeling that most students live right around the school. Niagara actually has a large drawing of Rochester students and many would not take the drive to back to school on Saturday after school was just ending (mainly b/c the dorms shut down early morning on Saturday). That is the main reason why I did not take the trip on Saturday to watch the game.

Would you say that there is a large student base from right around the Rochester area that would have drawn the students to stay and go to the game?

Just because students live in on campus apartments doesn't mean they stick around during breaks. I know almost all of my friends would go home during all the breaks when I was a student whether they lived in dorms or apartments.

Doesn't really matter though, Niagara has their fans, we have ours. I think attendence arguments are dumb

 

[PurpAlum]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

This attendance argument is the only thing I have going for me until Saturday LOL...no you're right. There are way too many factors that effect attendance.

 

[5hole]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

@5hole: I meant what PurpAlum said. I was unaware that it was your break week too. Most of the people there Saturday were *not* students, that's all I was saying.

...

Okay, no problem Elvo ... it just sounded that way to me. Besides, why not talk a little smack this time of year? And I was probably crabby last night when I wrote that ... I knew I was out of grits for the morning.

 

[XCTiger]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

Elliot Olshansky has a nice story in the NY Hockey Journal about the Tigers and the effect of last years Frozen Four trip. http://www.nyhockeyjournal.com/news/2011/02/24_the_sequel.php

 

[LtPowers]

Re: >>> RIT Tigers 2010-11 - Part II - The Dream is Still Alive <<<

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on this one. The attendance to their games is terrible. We've tried in past years to get people interested in their games but people don't want to watch women's sports, unless they are diehard fans or family. They put a great product out on the ice and that sould be seen.

I would go to more women's games but it gets to be a bit much when added to all the men's games I go to. I need some weekends off!


Powers &8^]