On Thu, 9 Feb 1995, Kurt Stutt wrote: > The Houston Field House, even on its worst nights, is more lively than > a lot of other places. Thompson Arena at Dartmouth comes to mind > immediately, since I'll be there Friday. Nice arena, quiet crowd. Then > again, looking at the Big Green this year, there is not much to cheer > about. I haven't been impressed with the home crowds at Merrimack, > Colgate or Brown either. Having gone to Clarkson 84-88 & living near Dartmouth (74-84, 88-94) Clarkson was a wakeup. Dartmouth hasn't had much to cheer about since 1980 or so. Back then, they got crowds. They were still somewhat quiet though. > > Then there are great places. The Gutterson Fieldhouse is awesome, as I think Walker was louder. And there's "that damn bell" :-) > 2. Crowd composition. Townspeople, and older folks, tend to be > quieter than students and alumni. RPI has a higher percentage of the > former. Nothing you can do about this, nor do you want to do. I > appreciate the support everyone gives RPI. Dartmouth has 2-4 sections of 20(?) that are students. The rest are mostly empty, with townspeople & *lots* of kids from youth hockey. Only the kids seem to know hockey. After a call against Dart, you'll hear the crowd call it bad, even if it wasn't. They don't know the rules. > 3. Band. The Pep Band's location is poor. They are on a stage at the > end of the ice BELOW the top of the glass. Much of the sound they > produce goes directly into the glass and bounces back. Doesn't make > for good acoustics. Either raise the stage or move the band to seats > above the glass so they can project better. No one else puts their band > in such a bad location. Dartmouth's band is usually at the basketball game. It's a much worse location from my point of view ;-) I've heard rumors that since they couldn't come every night, they didn't want them at all. This a was few years ago & I heard it from one of the arena staff. Instead, they play some rock songs over the loudspeakers. I've always found it really lame and annoying. I really miss Clarkson's Pep band. > > 4. Preparation. Yes, the fans at other schools are better prepared, > particularly Cornell and Vermont. At Vermont, during the play-down > round in 1992 Pete Ungaro and I (the WRPI crew that night, along > with Pete's then-girlfriend, Pam the She-Nazi) were amazed that the > student section was filled 45 minutes BEFORE the puck dropped. > That's how seriously they took their job(?). Next RPI home game, > watch how many students are still filtering in as the announcer starts > the opening proceedings. Also, many schools, and I'll cite Cornell and I've stood in line at Walker with a few hundred others waiting for the doors to open over an hour before the game. We filled the student section, natch. I felt lucky to get a seat. Of course, this was the St. Law. game. ----- Tom Buskey [log in to unmask]