Forwarded message:
From rds1 Mon Feb  1 09:21:00 1999
Subject: Ohio State Hockey
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Mon, 1 Feb 1999 09:21:00 -0500 (EST)
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Well, I went to my first OSU hockey game at th new Schottenstein Center.
For those of you who might remember (since I have been relatively silent
on the list since finishing medical school a OSU in '95 and moving to the
hockey wasteland of Akron, Ohio), I was one of the lone voices of Buckeye
hockey in the early 90's.
 
Ah yes, Buckeye hockey....playing in the OSU Ice Rink...the
"poor-excuse-for-a-public-park-rink" arena that had bleachers on only two
sides of th rink and only about 8-12 rows deep seating a whopping 1400
people.  The ice was awful, the crowds were pathetic (400-500 people on
average), and as bad as the arena and the crowds were (pep band?? They
couldn't beg the pep band to show up), the team, under pseudo-coach Jerry
Welsh was even worse.  The biggest joke on record was the OSU program
saying the Welsh was the winningest coach in OSU history.  Well, he
coached for 14-15 years longer than any other coach...eventually, if you
stick around long enough, that's bound to happen.  They coveniently
ignored his career losing record both in the CCHA and overall.  I had
rink-side season tickets for the whole debacle of Jerry's Kids from
1991-1995.  The definition of hard-core colleg hockey fan.
 
But oh how things have changed.  First off, last year OSU went 27-13-2 and
made the final four.  The Schott was built and this is the inaugural
season and a combination of a new coach and actually having a real hockey
facility to play in has resulted in quality players coming to th program.
I watched OSU pummel Western Michigan Saturday night 8-0 in front of a
crowd of 11,100...only about 10,000 more fans than I ever sat with to
watch an OSU game on campus. The arena is beautiful, the sightlines are
clear, the scoreboards nd graphics are entertaining and while OSU fans
have a long way to go in terms of knowledge, energy and enthusiasm (crowd
spent the night sitting on thei hands for the most part), at least they
are turning out in droves in support of their Bucks.  It was wonderful to
see...I could hardly believe I was going to an OSU hockey game with ll the
people streaming into the center...the 1-1 tie with Michigan a couple
weeks back was seen by 17,000+ people...an on-sight attendence record for
college hockey.
 
Anyway, I was gratified to see the new arena and th new team and the
support given the years of slogging through such awful teams.  Hopefully,
the Bucks can keep it up.
 
Dave Smith
Cornell '91
OSU College of Medicine '95
 
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