Classification:
Prologue: Dan Olsen
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Epilogue: Dan Olsen
 
The teams that are in contention are always going to have more perceived
rivalries that teams that are not.  I'm sure all of the ACC teams see Florida
St. as a great rivalry because the players get up for the game.  Florida St.,
however, sees the ACC as their stomping ground and probably sees Florida as
their #1 rival.  The same is true for Minnesota in the WCHA and to some extent
Clarkson in the ECAC.  Both of these teams have been consistently at the top of
their leagues throughout their history (Clarkson has the highest winning pct.
of all time).
 
There is no doubt that Clarkson/SLU is the number 1 rivalry year in and year
out.  What else do you expect from two schools in the middle of nowhere 10
miles apart whose only D1 sport is hockey.  These matchups are big even if one
team has dominated the other (as Clarkson has done of late).  There is always a
huge line at both arenas whenever the CU/SLU tickets go on sale.
 
Clarkson's "other" rivalries are a product of their success and their
educational structure (believe it or not).  Clarkson/RPI is a college decision
made by many a high school senior going into the education field.  Most of us
at Clarkson think we're "cool" and that RPI is a bunch of "dorks" (I imagine
RPI will say the same).  Clarkson and RPI compete on every level, in and out of
sport.  The fact that many friendships come out of RPI and Clarkson grads
working together even further increases the rivalry among fans and if the fans
are in to the games, you bet the players will be.  I'm sure Cornell fans would
say Colgate is their #1 rival, with Clarkson second.  This rivalry is age old,
partially because of the student base of Clarkson (widely from upstate NY), and
also because Clarkson and Cornell have had very successful teams at the same
times since the 1950s.
 
Clarkson's newest rivalry is with the Catamounts of Vermont.  This rivalry has
the ability to grow if both teams continue their winning ways.  The fans that
follow both teams are similar (referring to the townies), and the schools are
only 2 hours apart.  Vermont is kind of left out of the Dartmouth rivalry,
mainly because of that Ivy league thing.  Speaking of Ivy League, that may in
some little way increase the rivalry between Clarkson and it's Ivy foes (some
Clarksoners likes to consider Clarkson as a "Little Ivy").
 
 
 
 
        owner-hockey-l @ MAINE.MAINE.EDU
        02-13-97 03:52 PM
Please respond to [log in to unmask]@internet
 
 
To: HOCKEY-L @ MAINE.maine.edu@internet
cc:
Subject: Re: Strongest Rivalry
 
At 06:31 AM 2/13/97 PST, Laura Phelps wrote:
>I'd have to agree with the strongest ECAC rivalry being Clarkson vs. SLU.
 
An intersting comment, but as someone said earlier, the intense rivalries
are not necessarily two sided. Two Clarkson fans have cited SLU as their
#1 foe. Ask most RPI fans who their biggest rival is and most will
say Clarkson. Travel down the road to Schenectady and ask the same question
to a Union supporter and most would say RPI. Yet RPI doesn't feel that
way in return (at least not us old-timers). We "grew up" thinking of
Union as a Division III school (which they were way back then in the early
days of (oops, sorry., got carried away)). RPI has dominated the
series against Union so its difficult to get excited about them.
The students on the other han, who haven't lived through those days
see Union as more of a rival (especially since Union humiliates us in
football every year). So the rivalry will only grow. This year,
RPI-Union went 1-1-1 so we've gotten to the point where Union can now
beat RPI on any given day. Wait until Union eliminates RPI from the playoffs
some year. That will certainly heat things up.
Mark Lewin
Class of '69
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
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HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.