Road Tripping: Madison Square Garden

I left off after we did the Walk of Waiting for Traffic Lights and the Obstacle Course of Stationary People and made it to Madison Square Garden (MSG). Once we got to MSG, we had to do more waiting, first to get our tickets so we could go up an escalator, then in a hallway outside what turned out to be the Delta Sky 360 Club. We went in to play the Alma Mater, which is probably the only way I’ll ever get into a Sky Club. There is, however, a sky lounge in each of the high rises at Cornell.

After the Alma Mater, we walked over to the rink. The stadium was massive compared to Lynah. We were in the second level of seats behind the Cornell goal. The view wasn't bad, but it was starting to get far enough away that there were a few “where’s the puck?” moments. Of course that happens occasionally at Lynah, even if you’re on the ice . . . funny moment at Lynah from last year: the band was at the rink when it was mostly empty so It must have been during warm ups or the red-white game (when Cornell scrimmages itself). Either way, it was quiet enough so that when things got a little heated we could very clearly hear one of the players scream “where is the ******* puck?” Don’t worry, we told him where it was.

MSG before the game

Back at MSG, we didn't get to play our usual pre-game sets, and not just because Boston University’s band was there. MSG had announcements straight up until they announced the players and played the National Anthem. And then they had ads for BU and Cornell throughout the entire game, which was nice, but honestly, if you were there, I think you knew about both schools in the first place.

The game was a slight disappointment. It was mostly evenly matched until BU scored their first goal. Then Cornell could not get their offence started. Third period saw Cornell losing 3-0. It was not good.

In the end, Cornell came back for two goals, and there were a few times in the final minutes where it looked like they had a shot to tie the game. It turned out they couldn't, but they gave it a try. I still had a fun time and it was pretty cool to see this on the screens when we walked in:

Of course, even without overtime, we left New York City at 11:30, an hour later than we were scheduled to. I slept most of the bus ride back to Ithaca. MSG was a cool experience, but I was excited to be playing in Lynah again. Everyone’s close to the ice, it’s loud in a good way, and (almost) everyone’s a Cornell fan. Also, after navigating the seas of people, I was thrilled to be going back to Cornell in general, because 1) it’s in the middle of nowhere and 2) I get to see the same people (ChemEs) every day.