(originally meant to be posted sometime back in the spring)
(weekend of Sat., 1/28)
Remember over the winter break, after I returned from Orlando, and mentioned my sporting event plans for this semester? Well, I changed my mind somewhat, and ended up traveling down to Philly a while back for (#4) Penn State v. Princeton! I'll tell you more about my changed plans in a bit, but, first, I should probably mention that this game was basically as close as the NCAA could get to bringing "local" D1 teams to Philly, although seeing about a 90-10 split in terms of fans in favor of Penn State, you probably wouldn't think those teams were the closest to Philly! The game itself was basically a continuation of my "luck" in terms of "offensive explosions" - in fact, just the opening period was crazy - Penn State scored barely 50 seconds into the game, then it only took Princeton about a minute or so later to tie the game already! After those 2 incredibly early goals, though, the game got sloppier, with both teams having tons of turnovers, and even a few hits, but after a few short minutes of that, the goals just kept on coming - another minute or so apart, the game went from being 2-1 Princeton, to being tied again, although Penn State added yet another goal to take a 3-2 lead into just the first intermissi
(weekend of Sat., 1/28)
Remember over the winter break, after I returned from Orlando, and mentioned my sporting event plans for this semester? Well, I changed my mind somewhat, and ended up traveling down to Philly a while back for (#4) Penn State v. Princeton! I'll tell you more about my changed plans in a bit, but, first, I should probably mention that this game was basically as close as the NCAA could get to bringing "local" D1 teams to Philly, although seeing about a 90-10 split in terms of fans in favor of Penn State, you probably wouldn't think those teams were the closest to Philly! The game itself was basically a continuation of my "luck" in terms of "offensive explosions" - in fact, just the opening period was crazy - Penn State scored barely 50 seconds into the game, then it only took Princeton about a minute or so later to tie the game already! After those 2 incredibly early goals, though, the game got sloppier, with both teams having tons of turnovers, and even a few hits, but after a few short minutes of that, the goals just kept on coming - another minute or so apart, the game went from being 2-1 Princeton, to being tied again, although Penn State added yet another goal to take a 3-2 lead into just the first intermissi
(video of the game-winner): https://mobile.t
Up here that weekend, meanwhile, Wisconsin swept its basketball/hockey doubleheader - against Rutgers by day, and against Ohio State (OT) by night, so, technically, Wisconsin was the most recent team then to win a game inside "the Garden"!
As for later this semester, well, I decided to stick "closer to home" here, after traveling to/from Philly over the weekend, although I should probably take things slower than last spring
(weekend of Sat., 2/11)
In my most recent college hockey trip, I caught Princeton again, for the second consecutive time, except, this time, in its own historic building against Clarkson! Quite unlike their game against Penn State down in Philly two weeks earlier, however, this game wasn't nearly as high-scoring, but it played out in a very similar fashion, and for what it lacked in scoring, it more than made up for in "scoring chances", a few near-fights (as the game progressed), and, as you'll find out later on here, tons of history! Speaking of "history", this visit now means I've visited the oldest (Matthews Arena on the campus of Northeastern U.), and second-oldest college hockey rinks in the country! The crowd was a bit weird, to say the least, considering only Clarkson's band appeared, and even that was surprising, considering their campus is rather upstate in N.Y., so far, in fact, that they follow the Buffalo Sabres' (NHL) lead and play both national anthems (CAN/U.S.) before games! Princeton's band didn't even bother showing up, though, and most of their fans seemed rather "out of it" early on, although the start of the game itself seemed to go quite a bit in Princeton's favor, as they seemed to get all the shots throughout most of the game, although a scoreless opening period led to a rather stifling start to the second period for Clarkson, and, indeed, holding Princeton's shot totals down during that frame allowed them to close the gap in terms of shots, allowing them to eventually score twice around the middle of the frame, and, honestly, there was even less noise from the Princeton fans after that sequence than there was to start the game, since the team itself seemed to "turtle" and hold down the deficit to 2-0! That "turtling" only continued throughout the first half or so of the third period, but that was when Princeton's comeback started, a la the v. Penn State game in Philly, when it took them until about that point in the game to recognize they were down on the scoreboard, despite somehow still outshooting their opponents in both games! That was also when all the "scrapping" started, as a few rather dubious, if you ask me, penalties were called, and both ways, mind you, although nobody on the ice seemed to like any of the calls that were being made, as every stoppage during the third period seemed to contain some pushing and shoving between the teams... Princeton's comeback actually started, though, by converting on one of those penalties, and then tying the game a few minutes later, by which time it seemed we were all content with just "settling" for a little bit of overtime hockey, which ended up being total domination by Princeton, only taking two minutes of the five maximum to get the game-winning goal!
...I mentioned earlier that only Clarkson's band appeared at the game, right? Well, that seems to be "par for the course" for Princeton's band, 'cause guess where it was during the game!
(incidentally, neither school'
...from what I heard during the game, though, Clarkson's band members must never know when to just shut up, though, considering there were a few instances in which they played over the top of either the fans, in-arena music, P.A. announcements, or any combination of those other noises, and they were stuck up in this "balcony", also, meaning that their sound was rather concentrated just within that corner of the building... They brought the typical "taunts", though, during the game itself, and while it was weird hearing the road team's band "taunting" the home team's players throughout the game, I'm sure they've come close to having very similar instances happening to them in the past...
I probably also mentioned that the building itself is incredibly old, but it's so old, in fact, that there aren't any video screens anywhere in the building - not even some "folding screen" on either end of the rink, but, thankfully, all the (bench-only) seats were basically the equivalent of 100-level/"rink side" seats in some "professional" rink, so no need, frankly, for such modern "contraptions", although those things are probably taken for granted nowadays!
(speaking of that Penn State - Princeton volleyball game which the Princeton band apparently considered more "important" than the hockey game, there were a few quite confused Penn State fans looking for that game, and apparently thinking that court was in the same building as the ice rink, but they immediately got turned away and told where the volleyball venue was...)
recaps:
Last but not least, I ended up in New Haven, CT, to catch an Ivy League rivalry matchup between (#3) Harvard and sub-.500/unranked Yale! First, though, before I mention anything about the game itself, I might as well mention, or, perhaps, remind you, if you've been there before, that Yale's rink looks like a "whale's fin", which might not have been as odd back in the 1950s, when it first opened, instead of being very weird now, when buildings have mostly been built "up" instead of "out"! It barely took Harvard the first 10 minutes of the game to open the scoring, unlike last weekend, which had a scoreless opening period, although you wouldn't know it with the way Yale hung in the game rather closely in terms of shots on goal... Harvard only continued the scoring in the second period, with bunches of penalties being handed out, and multiple of said penalties being converted, and for both teams at various points that period! Along with all the "special teams" scoring came a few "scraps" - no fighting, per se, but definitely enough pushing/shoving to indicate that those games constitute an "arch-rivalry", of sorts, within Ivy League hockey! Harvard also had a shorthanded goal, and almost another that got overturned, due to goaltender interference, after a video review that only the referees could see... After that overturned shorthanded goal, though, Harvard made sure to undoubtedly extend the lead to 3-0, at which point it honestly seemed like they would just steamroll their way to the Ivy League title, but credit to Yale for getting its own shorthanded goal, though Harvard added another (power play) goal early in the third period to basically put the game away, despite Yale cutting into that lead a bit later on, and pressuring the rest of the way! The building itself, just like Princeton, doesn't have any video screens, and the scoreboard has this top "message board", which I put in quotes 'cause it barely served as anything other than the obvious reminder of which school's rink it's in, except for an "out-of-town scoring update" slightly later on in the third period of the game... Also, just like Penn State v. Princeton in Philly, neither school's band appeared, and, ironically, this old hockey tune probably got more "airtime" than anything from Yale's own band (recorded, obviously, since it wasn't actually there):
(specifically, later on during the second intermission, and, sadly, at a pitifully low volume, compared to the rest of the "playlist" that night...)
...also, shoutout to the city of New Haven, CT, for being surprisingly, at least in my opinion, "walkable", which I honestly wasn't expecting, given that it's rather close to Hartford, which itself is rather close to the quite steep cities of Boston and Providence... Particularly after the game, when there was about an hour or so before the next Metro-North train (which itself is much better than the subways, and, although I've never taken any of those trains myself, LIRR, which, seemingly every time I've heard/seen anything about those trains, it's involved cancellations/delays in Jamaica, Queens/Penn Station/etc., and travelers being stranded...), I decided to just wander around downtown for a few minutes before heading back to N.H. Union Station to return home!
Well, that just about did it for "local" college hockey this past season, so, as of right now, that makes Albany, NY (twice)/Boston/MSG (twice)/New Haven/Philly/Princeton for me, and will likely remain so into the future...
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