Hat Tricks
Matt Johnson wrote:
>I never saw a single hat thrown on the ice at RPI, nor any other
>ECAC games I saw.  (Did see fish, and sieves after certain goals).
>It sounds like a nice tradition (how dangerous can a thrown hat be?).
 
I don't think throwing hats for hat tricks is a Lynah Rink tradition per se but
I seem to remember people doing it.  When Joe Nieuwendyk scored back-to-back
hat tricks in the final weekend home games as a Cornell player in Spring of
1987, I believe hats were tossed in Lynah.  I also recall (somewhat vaguely)
that someone threw a hat in 1989-90, probably when Ross Lemon '90 was on a hot
streak.  I'm sure Mr. Mintz can contribute more on this subject.
 
Fish and chickens, on the other hand, were part of the Lynah fable of the great
rivalry between Cornell and Harvard.  This past Sunday someone threw a fish at
the beginning of the third period.  Although I was not at the game (had to go
to a wedding in Philly), I'd understand that Cornell skated a man short to
begin the final period.  Coach McCutcheon was quoted in the Ithaca Journal,
questioning that how did the referee know for sure that it was a Cornell fan
who threw the fish.
 
A really fun sight to watch at Lynah is the newspaper routine.  As Arthur Mintz
opened the game by introducing the opposing team's starting lineup, the
students (and some die-hard old timers) would hold up the Cornell Daily Sun in
front of their faces, yelling "Boring, boring, boring....."  At the conclusion
of the intro, we would all crumple the paper and throw balls of newspaper onto
the ice.  The crew from Lynah all have big, brown trash bags ready to pick up
the newspaper so the game can begin on time.  To me that's a harmless thing to
do and as long as our AD does not have a problem with it, you'll see more of
it.  Here is a bit of a history question:  Can someone tell me how does the
newspaper routine become a routine?  I thought it was part of the
Harvard-Cornell tradition, but now we do it at all the games.
 
Tom Y.  Tseng '87
Lynah Faithful