Going to New York = Win for Boston!

Corny post title, I know. How about that Red Hot Hockey game over at Madison Square Garden!!! For you BU fans out there reading this, I know that you’re really happy about it. I know because I was ecstatic and I was there! A quick start and solid overall game by the Terriers led to a 6-3 victory over the Big Red of Cornell University. While the crowd was highly partisan towards Cornell, our contingent was strong, and the Terriers made it all worth it.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much Red and White at an arena for a hockey game before. It reminded me of something that you’d see at a college football game, where everyone is sporting their team colors. Of course not everyone was rooting for the same team, but you couldn’t really tell just by looking. Overall, the presentation of the event was awesome. The Garden, BU, and Cornell did an excellent job of planning this, minus some of the issues that people had with seating. I personally didn’t have a problem with it, but I wasn’t planning on sitting in the middle of the student section. For those of you who did plan on it, I know that you were probably disappointed, but trust me, it was worth it just to be there for this game.

On to the game itself now! BU looked strong right from the faceoff, holding Cornell shotless for quite a while. Of course, two consecutive tripping penalties offset that, but the PK was pretty solid on the extended 5 v 3. Quickly afterwards, freshman Joe Pereira scored his first collegiate goal to make it 1-0. Within the next 3 minutes, the Terriers would make it a 3-0 lead, a lead that they would not relinquish. Strong play by both teams through the next two periods made it an even game, but the damage had already been done, and the Terriers skated away with the victory.

Some comments I did have on things about the game, perhaps not completely related to hockey. Cornell has a passionate fan base, and I admit that I was extremely impressed with their exclamation of “Red!” during the national anthem. I wasn’t too impressed with the creativity in the fans though, I expected better. Reading on the boards at USCHO shows that they couldn’t really get anything organized, which is ok, since it was a huge venue when you compare it to Lynah. I do, however, have few comments on Cornell fans after the game. There was a girl on the way out who was complaining that we (BU) “plagiarized” all of the Cornell chants, and that the band plagiarized all of the Cornell’s songs.  Well…..

•  If you’ve been to ANYTHING other than a Cornell game, you’d see that a lot of student sections do the same traditional chants.
• On the same point, a lot of Hockey pep bands play the same traditional songs.  I actually thought that the BU band played more variety when it came to the music.

So I don’t know what she was getting it.  I think she was being a sore loser. :-).  Anyway, I also did not appreciate the Red Sox Suck chant after the game, especially with so many Cornell fans saying that they were being good sports after the game.  It wasn’t even a student that started that one, it was an adult… so….

One more thing, my Best Band Ever post has been pretty popular… for Cornell fans.  No one is leaving a comment, but all the hits are coming from some sort of email list.  Hey guys, I still stand by that.  I think that the BU band is better than the Cornell band, especially after this weekend.  More variety does help.  Cornell had a bigger band, so saying that they were louder does nothing for me.  Here’s hoping that this happens again!

Overall, it was a great experience, and the Terriers are in a good position coming into BC weekend.  Hope you guys are as excited about this as I am.  I’ll see you at Agganis on Saturday.

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