Cross-posted from USCHO, here's one fan's experience from Albany this past
weekend.
-----------------
Overall, it was a very fun weekend. Reminded me a lot of the College World
Series only on a much smaller scale. It was sweet meeting a lot of you over the
course of two days, wish I could've bumped into more of you that were there.
Wish I could've stayed and shared some drinks with everyone after the finals,
but as it was I didn't get back to Hanover til 1:30 or so.
Anyway, my thoughts on the weekend:
Albany/Pepsi Arena: I can't compare it to Placid since I never went there, but
I thought it was a very well run event. The arena itself was definitely a few
notches better than other mid-sized arenas in the northeast like the Centrum
Centre and Verizon Wireless Arena. Better concessions, more entrances, larger
bathrooms, wider concourses, etc. Albany itself seemed like it was embracing
the event as well, at least downtown. There were definitely some kinks that
need to be worked out, like I said on the other thread one of the bus drivers
got lost on the way to the park and ride Friday. But overall I think Albany
provded an excellent first impression and it should only get better as the
tournament stays in the city longer.
Dartmouth's crowd: I was happy with the turnout. Certainly we had nothing like
Cornell had, but we brought more than Harvard and Brown combined from what I
could tell. I saw plenty of Green there, so hopefully now I don't have to put
up with any more comments about the Cornell band outnumbering Dartmouth fans
(you know who you are).
Dartmouth's play: I was disappointed with how they came out. That first period
was downright ugly to watch. The first goal Boucher let in was a softie,
especially since he wasn't screened on the play. After that things snowballed
until he got pulled. The defense left him high and dry on the 2nd and 3rd
goals, but the fourth one, while a great shot high blocker side under the
crossbar, but still stoppable if Boucher hugs the post. The third period
comeback was great, and both the penalty shot and Jessiman sending the guy
through the glass were highlights of the year. It definitely sucked losing to
Hahvahd yet again, but at least I can say they didn't fold when most teams
probably would have.
The consolation game was very well played considering that no one cared about
it. Hell, if I wasn't a Dartmouth fan I probably wouldn't have bothered with it
either. However, it gave Yacey his first career win, let Summerfelt tie the
team record for most assists by a defenseman in a season (28), and gave
Dartmouth 20 wins for the first time since 1948, not to mention their best
season as a whole since 1980 when they finished 3rd in the NCAA's. I can live
happily with that.
I should probably be thankful we didn't play Cornell this weekend. They looked
like a team that has a very good chance of winning it all. Dartmouth's only
chance would've been if our top line was clicking on all cylinders, and this
weekend that wasn't the case. We probably would've gotten blown out of the
water.
Other games:
The Brown-Cornell game was a snoozer (hell, if you take out the last 10 minutes
of the Dartmouth-Harvard game, they were all snoozers except for the final).
One team that plays a very strong defensive game and shuts other teams down
versus a team that was basically carried this far on the back of its goaltender
and couldn't muster any offense whatsoever. There are exciting 1-0/2-0 games,
and there are boring ones. This was the latter. Brown never really threatened
at all.
Watching the final reminded me of watching the Florida State - Miami final a
few years back at the CWS. I really don't care for either team at all, but it
was the championship game and I wanted to see a good game. I got what I wanted.
It really shocked me though that by the end I was rooting for Harvard, in so
much as I think they are the Spawn of Satan, but I guess because they were the
underdog and because Cornell had a bijillion fans that's the way it went. Plus
it seemed in person like they got shafted by Hansen, though I'll take your
guys' word for it that the calls evened out.
In the end, the downfall of Harvard was only batting .100 at empty nets. It
took em at least a half dozen tries before finally getting one against
Dartmouth, and they missed 2-3 more in the Cornell game that would've iced it.
Hell, I suck at hockey and I could make at least 2 out of 10 shots at an empty
net.
Other misc. thoughts:
The good: The general atmosphere. Didn't see any real ugly incidents among the
fans whatsoever. Everyone seemed to just be there to have a good time. I think
the only ECAC jersey I didn't see a jersey from was Princeton, though as I
think about it I can't recall seeing any UVM jersies either. But I think the
other 10 ECAC teams were all represented, even Yale. Plus saw a Michigan
jersey, a family with CC jersies, and some other eastern and western
sweatshirts and t-shirts. It was also cool getting to talk with Coach Gaudet
for about 30 seconds in the upper deck during the Final.
The bad: Some blue hair Dartmouth fan yelled at my group of friends for
standing up during the fight in the 2nd period and in the closing minutes of
the third following the penalty shot in the semis. I was honestly surprised
they didn't yell at us for standing after goals too...
The ugly: The ice surface seemed to be really bad all weekend. It definitely
seemed to get a lot colder in the arena between Friday games, and it wouldn't
shock me to find out they turned the A/C on between games. Oh yeah, that
zamboni driver was absolutely pathetic too. He coudln't drive in a straight
line to save his life, missed some spots in the corners nearly every
intermission, went over other areas 2-3 times, and had a wicked power slide
going. I'm really surprised Cornell fans didn't rip into him seeing as they
taunted everyone else. And yes, I've got to mention it, while 95% of Cornell's
cheers I had no real beef with, the Tuba Dance/DIIIIIIIIIEEEEE thing was just
stupid, and some of the ones during the non-Cornell games seemed really
out-of-place.
Worst sign I saw in the arena said "Lynah Middle East." I realize it was a play
on Bright being Lynah East and all, but given the current military situation
and even the fact that "Lynah Middle East" doesn't roll off the tongue, that
one should've been left home.
Oh and that 12-year old girl could really sing the anthem, major kudos to her.
Somebody should have her teach Friday's anthem singer the words. It's "O'er the
land..", not "For the land..."
|
