Actually, I thought the assistant referee tripped over a Harvard stick
as he was skating backward.
I didn't think it was an ice issue. But I do agree that there seemed to
be a lot of ice related falling in both games.
It was cold out in the corridors and downstairs but I thought the arena
was quite warm. Perhaps the ice was soft .

And I also agree about the atmosphere. Only Clarkson seemed to bring a
large number of fans. Of course, there are a large number of Clarkson
Alumni in the area, so that helps. Dartmouth didn't even bring a band.
As much as I love having the ECAC's in Albany instead of Lake Placid,
you just can't get a "full house" feeling when you get 5640 fans
(attendance from the morning T-U) into a rink that holds 14,000. 5640 is
slightly over the capacity of the RPI Field House but, in the Pepsi,
that's empty. I think they'll take a financial bath this weekend without
having RPI, Union or Cornell in the tournament. If it weren't for
Clarkson, it would be even worse. Last year, they didn't fill the arena
but I think they drew more people than they could have fit in the lake
Placid arena (mostly due to the Cornell fans). That won't be the case
this year

<-----Original Message----->
From: Jim Teresco
Sent: 3/20/2004 10:43:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Albany ice quality?

Has anyone heard complaints from players or coaches about the ice
quality in Albany for yesterday's ECAC semifinals? It seemed to me
that there were a lot of players (and one assistant referee) who were
falling down for no apparent reason.

We had two good, close games, but the atmosphere in the Pepsi Arena
just wasn't what we're used to for the ECAC tournament. It was a
small and relatively quiet crowd. Hopefully the Clarkson crowd will
come out in bigger numbers for the championship game. And maybe it
will bring some more of the RPI "anyone but Clarkson" people out, as
well.

--
Jim Teresco - [log in to unmask]
http://www.teresco.org
.