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Lynah is an "old barn" in every sense of the phrase. Low roof, wood bench seats, seating on 3 sides and an avid fan base. The students (along the home bench side) stand the entire game (see photo on link below). I heard from a few folks in Grand Forks that the UND students were not allowed to stand after some debate in the new ralph. It should be a good showing next season by Cornell fans despite the games being over winter break, because it's the weekend before classes start and many students are around for Greek rush. Here's a good snapshot and summary of the rink from a long-time Cornell hockey fan. CHTG posted above is also a good summary. We feel Duke's Cameron field house is to college basketball as Cornell's Lynah is to college hockey. Section O, where visitor tickets are sold, is opposite the student section, so don't worry about being stuck in a sea of red when you come visit next year. LGR!

Finally made it back to Ithaca a few hours ago, a long, round-about trip home. The Cornell fans who made it out to Grand Forks had a great weekend. Of course it was helped very much by the win Saturday night. The GF Herald summed it up perfectly Sunday morning with the headline "Cornell's Kind of Game." Almost all of the folks we ran into while wearing our bright red gear around town were super nice. By the end of the weekend we should have been wearing an FAQ sign: 1. Cornell is in Ithaca, NY. No, it's not in New York city, nor Boston. 2. No, we didn't drive all the way from New York. 3. No, we're not crazy, we came for 2 hockey games, not just 1. 4. Yes, the rink is nice. We strongly encouraged anyone who would listen to come out east to Lynah next season. For a more complete (and silly) wrap-up from a few Cornell fans of the weekend, visit eLynah. Again, it was a great trip! Good luck the rest of the season. LGR!

Don't forget the 1 CRJ 200 flight a day to/from PHL. It's the only one I will take. Btw, is there snow on the ground in Grand Forks? It doesn't look it from the webcam on Odegard Hall.

Those are the joys of playing out west. Cornell's longest in-conference bus trip is 6 hours, to Dartmouth, Harvard and Brown. When Cornell played at Michigan State they chartered a plane, I guess donations are down this year.

I agree it's silly, but Ithaca to Grand Forks is at least a 2 stop trip, because from ITH you can only go to PHL, LGA, DTW, or EWR, none of which go to GFK, so the trip would look like: ITH-DTW-MSP-GFK. I guess they decided the fewer the flights the better with an unpredictable holiday travel season. Also, I heard a rumor that the UND staff advised Cornell to go the way they are, I figured it was in an attempt to exhaust them before the games. LGR!

Head spins Perhaps we'll get along after this weekend, when the Sioux are playing the hated Crimson.

It's obvious from reading the board (and looking at the record) that the ND fans are disappointed with the Sioux this season. Cornell has pleasantly surprised the fans this year and started out well against the better opponents in the ECAC. With the restricted Ivy league schedule, Cornell has not played an out-of-conference regular season game yet this season. Cornell has won 2 National titles, 1967 w/ Ken Dryden and 1970 with the only undefeated, untied season in college hockey. The program struggled from 1983-1996 when Mike Schafer returned to coach his alma-mater. I was wondering how long it would take to find the thread above over at eLynah. I've heard ND/Cornell are negotiating a return trip to Lynah in the next 2 years, similar to ND going to Harvard in 2 weeks (in exchange for Harvard going to Grand Forks in 2005). Schafer has said publicly that he won't travel west without at least a tentative agreement for the western school to come back east at some point. The last team to do this was Michigan State (2004 in Lansing, 2005 in Ithaca). Too bad we're going to miss out on seeing Finley, and I was wondering why the frosh goale was starting over the senior. Was there a goalie who left early or just no recruits until they knew they could play (without Lamoureux)?

It's great to find another extremely active online College Hockey community. Cornell makes their first trip ever to Grand Forks this weekend, and it's the first matchup for ND against the Big Red since 1997. Cornell last beat ND in March, 1967 and has a 1-3 record against the Sioux all-time. It's also Cornell's first games against a WCHA opponent since the 3OT loss to Wisconsin in the 2006 NCAA QF. A few of the Lynah faithful (we’ll be obvious in red) are coming to Grand Forks for the weekend series and here's a preview of what you'll find with the Big Red this season: Top-line: Barlow-Nash-Greening: Riley Nash was the highly recruited prospect who allegedly was down to North Dakota and Cornell when he went with Cornell to play with his older brother Brendan. He is a dynamic player who finally got his first 2 goals of the season against arch-rival Harvard this past weekend. Greening is the most dominant player on the ice for Cornell. He's big, fast, and not afraid to drive to the net. Barlow is one of Cornell's fastest skaters and hardest workers. He's not afraid to mix-it up in the corners, yet has soft hands and a snipe for a shot. Top D-Pair: Nash-Seminoff: Tale of two opposites. Nash is a big, positional, thoughtful d-man who will carry the puck out of the zone and attempt to make a great pass before he dumps it deep. Seminoff is a small, strong, and no-frills get-the-job-done d-man. Goalie: Scrivens: He's a solid positional goalie who does an excellent job controlling rebounds to the corners, and makes the sensational save when necessary. He's known to make mistakes with the puck behind the net (cost Cornell the first goal this weekend against Harvard). PP Unit: It’s basically the first line, except often with 4 forwards and just 1 d-man. They work best when they are not overly fancy (like any pp) and have been doing a better job getting pucks to the net. Mike Devin (D) joins the second pp unit with one probably the best point shot: low, hard, and on net. PK Unit: Not overly aggressive in the corners, but they will block a ton of shots. Cornell has a short-handed threat with Michael Kennedy on the ice, but the disciplined Schafer system is to dump-and-change first, think about scoring second. Checking Line: Scali-Roeszler-Punches: It’s a little smaller than the typical Schafer checking line, but they get the job done with a solid effort and the occasional huge hit. They are missing a big part of the line from last season Dan Nichols, who is out of the lineup. Cornell plays well when: they generate scoring chances off the cycle along the boards in the offensive zone. Cornell struggles when: they have trouble getting out of their own defensive zone. MIA: Tyler Mugford (Senior Assistant Captain) is the heart-and-soul of the Cornell lineup, and one of the best penalty killers. He missed last weekend, and is questionable for this weekend. Coach: Mike Schafer (Cornell ’86) is in his 14th season and demands discipline out of his players. Some people argue too much discipline and not enough creativity. However, this year Cornell is much faster and shows more innovation on the ice, but has regained the team defensive style that led to the Frozen Four in 2002-2003. I’d love to know what to watch out for with the Sioux, obviously Ryan Duncan, but is there any chance to see big Joe Finley this weekend? How about the goalie situation? We’re looking forward to seeing The Ralph. LGR!