ITHACA, N.Y. – For 56 years, thousands of fans have streamed into the building for every men's hockey game, creating an unparalleled environment for the Big Red. The weathered wooden bleachers serve as seats for about half of the audience, with the student contingent preferring to employ the planks as platforms. Tucked just underneath the rafters in the southwest corner of the stands in Section A is the ever-present Cornell Pep Band. The low ceiling makes the atmosphere all the more intimate and intense. While other arenas have state-of-the-art sound systems and pre-recorded music, the only use for the speakers at Lynah is to hear public address announcer Arthur Mintz '71 and his familiar greeting of "Good evening, hockey fans!"
So much of Lynah's mystique is in its consistency. From a glance, the atmosphere has never changed in a sense that it's always been superb. But over such an expanse of time as Lynah has endured, there is bound to be change. Naturally, much of Lynah's evolution has been predicated by its heartbeat – the fans.
"What is now essentially the entire student side used to be general admission. So back then, they had the CUAA coupon book – CUAA standing for Cornell University Athletic Association," said Mintz, who was an undergraduate when the Big Red captured its second national title in 1970. "You could buy those books for something like $25 a semester. They had all these tickets in it with numbers on them, and you could turn in a particular number for a certain event. So you would have people lining up two hours, three hours, even six hours before game time trying to get a good seats in those sections."
Historically speaking, if there's one thing Cornell hockey fans have an understanding of, it's the process of standing in line. The act of obtaining season tickets in the most highly sought locations used to require camping out for days at a time, rain or shine.
That process was modified in recent years, as technological advances have facilitated the creation of a system that both rewards the most loyal of season ticket-holders without forcing students to miss classes. For the 2013-14 season, the bulk of that process is occurring this week with the annual seat selection event being held at 6 p.m. Friday in the Ramin Room within Bartels Hall. More information can be found
here.
Given its reputation as a hockey hotbed, Lynah Rink has a physically unassuming presence. Across the street is The Crescent at Schoellkopf Field, an expansive bank of bleachers set into a hillside with a sprawling view of the valley. Across a small parking lot to the west is Teagle Hall and its notable stone-walled exterior. A view from the east merely makes Lynah look like an appendage of the taller Newman Arena.
But ask any knowledgeable college hockey fan, and they'll tell you that Lynah is one of the best places in the country to watch a game. The fans are the reason why, and it's a huge reason why so many top players not only choose Cornell over other Ivy League programs, but over some of the biggest programs in all of college hockey.
"It's a huge part of our selling point in a sense that there are kids out there who want that big-time athletic feel with regards to the crowd and the atmosphere, but they also want an Ivy League education. That's our niche in the market," said
Mike Schafer '86, who is entering his 19th season as the Jay R. Bloom '77 Head Coach of Men's Hockey. "Kids come here and they can say 'I don't have to sacrifice my athletic experience as far as the crowd is concerned.' Now, with YouTube and all the other social media, we talk to kids and they've already seen the crowd and they've seen the antics."
While seeing can be believing, Lynah requires attendance to be fully experienced. As Schafer pointed out, you have to be present to get the goosebumps that come with the build-up in the minutes just before faceoff, or after a power-play goal, or after a big penalty kill in the third period. To a man, every incoming freshman on the men's hockey team remembers vividly their recruiting visit to see a game in front of their future fans.
Mintz said that a lot of the crowd activity in his student days was more spontaneous. Today's routines are more of a ritual and well orchestrated.
"A lot of things have gotten added over the years," he said. "I do remember the '1, 2, 3, we want more' chant after goals. But the Robot Goalie cheer wasn't there. Most of the stuff they do now didn't exist then."
From his playing days, Schafer remembers how fans identified with individuals. On his recruiting trip, he recalled seeing fans of Karl Habib donning Sheik costumes. At a recent 100th-anniversary celebration for the Mu Chapter of the Sigma Pi fraternaty, Schafer enjoyed listening to some of the stories being told about attending games as a group.
"It's a special place. You hear people tell stories of their first date with their present husband or wife was at a Cornell hockey game," Schafer said. "Over the course of time, you hear the experiences people have had, of identifying with Cornell and the spirit. What was a big part of their experience as a student coming here, is having that pride in their institution at a sporting event with that enthusiasm. That's as close to a Big Ten feel or SEC feel that our students have here at Cornell, because it's sold out and because of the environment that exists. It's a special feeling that's been here over the course of time. That's a bond with our fans, with the faculty and with the players."
