On Wed, 13 Dec 1995, Your Name wrote:
 
> Maybe some old time "techers" can add their experiences before Walker
> was even changed to add the glass and netting. I bet Walker B.G. compared to
> the Walker I knew like Walker compares to the new Cheel (B.G. = Before Girls).
 
I was a freshman in fall 1969 and that season was my first experience
with college hockey. CCT and Walker turned me into a rabid fan.
 
Walker had no glass, just fencing, like you find around a school yard. I
think it was more to keep us off the ice than to protect us from pucks.
There were 4 rows of seats along each side and a walkway behind that
served as about 3 or 4 more rows for packed spectators. The Bell was under the
scoreboard at the zamboni end.  No seats or rows then (some added for the
'72-'73 season) and Delta Sigma Phi "owned" that part of the rink and
controlled their Bell.
 
THE BEST GAME EVER was in Feb. 1971 when Cornell finally agreed to visit
the North Country and play us at home. For years prior to that those Ivy
league snobs would let us play them only once a year, on their ice. Ned
Harkness decided against visiting Tech in the mid '60s.
 
Anyway, The Big Red beat us 3-2 in the ECAC at Boston Garden and 6-4 in
the NC$$ finals in '69-'70, the previous year. They must have felt quite
confident and came to Madstop to play.
 
We were at Walker at 3pm, probably -10F in early Feb., waiting in a line
already a few hundred deep. We lived in the PIT and watched the ling grow
to delay standing in the cold as long as possible and also to consume
anti-freese. (Piels 16oz return bottles, $3.99 - kept cold on the window
sill - inside the window).
 
The game was classic. We had Bruce Bullock All American in nets and Steve
Wahr All American on D plus so many other great players we were ranked
1 (or maybe it was 2) in the country. The Pompus Red were pretty good
too, defending champs and all.
 
Well, the doors opened at 4PM and we got front row center ice seats. Then
we proceeded to freeze our butts off waiting for the 7PM start. Walker
was NOT heated.
 
The game was a skating frenzy. 0-0 after 1'st. 0-1 Red after 2'nd.
1-1 after 3'rd. 2-1 TECH at about 1:16 into OT, I think it was Brian
McKenzie from Alf Mackie.
 
That was HOCKEY and that was Walker.
 
     cjw...        By the way, these opinions are all and only mine.
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.