Road Tripping: Havahd, a Not-Love Story

After we got to the hotel, we checked in and found our rooms on the eleventh floor of the hotel (the executive level). Although most of the rooms had four people assigned to them, I only ended up sharing a room with the other female clarinetist on the trip.

In the morning, we woken up by one of the previous inhabitants of the room who had set an alarm for 6 am. We heard the alarm go off, didn't know where the sound was coming from, couldn't see anything, and hit buttons on the clock and phone until the noise stopped. A few hours later, when we actually woke up, we found out that the hotel did not provide breakfast, but there was a Dunkin Donuts across the street. Welcome to New England.

After a lazy morning, and being asked by housekeeping twice(?) if we were checking out yet, we collected our things and returned to the bus. We then drove to Downtown Crossing where we were performing. I had told my parents it would be too cold for us to play outside, but apparently not. We put on layers, and gloves, except for the clarinets, which is the only open holed pep band instrument and thus the only one that you physically cannot play with gloves on.

I have fingerless gloves, but even with those on, my fingers were freezing within three songs. Plus, the pin on my B natural over the break (B4) freezes up when it’s cold. I should probably get my clarinet tuned up two years ago soon, but I also shouldn't be playing outside in twenty degree weather.

When the concert was over and I could feel my fingers again, I met my parents and they took me for lunch (chicken rice and noodles – it was very good). To try and get us and the hockey team back in Ithaca before a(nother) storm hit Boston, the game had been moved up to 4, so right after lunch I returned to the bus for the drive to Harvard’s rink.

We hit traffic (and almost a road sign) on the way over, but we made it into the rink with two minutes to spare before the team came out onto the ice. Attendance at this game was higher (3,095) but still not at Lynah levels, and only because of the number of Cornell fans at the game. Harvard’s band came as well.

If you look closely, you might be able to see that the conductor is conducting with a baton.
At a hockey game.
You know what that is/
Pretentiousness.

And so, after travelling hundreds of miles, we came to the Bright-Landry Hockey Center to watch the dance cam during the period breaks. Instead of playing our instruments, which is kind of the point of having a pep band there. We did get to play some, but at Lynah, besides a few announcements, the pep band provides all the entertainment. We play during warmups (Harvard has “warmup music”),  we play the anthems, they don’t do contests during the breaks, and we play at stoppages.

One thing I will say for Harvard’s rink is that they have a digital scoreboard that can show replays. Lynah’s scoreboard is up against one end of the rink and they don’t even keep track of shots in real time. I wouldn't want Lynah to have something exactly like Harvard's scoreboard because it wouldn't fit with the wooden seats and beams, but it was nice to get to see goals and plays you missed.

The game ended in a 3-3 tie, which was better than we might have expected but not as good as it could have been. Cornell opened the scoring but Harvard came back and midway through the third period scored on a badly marked play to make it 3-2 in their favor. Fortunately, Cornell answered with the last goal of the game.

We left Boston after overtime around 7:30 and drove for seven and a half hours (with a half hour stop in the middle) to return to Ithaca at 3 o’clock in the morning. So after two days, sixteen hours on the bus, sleep and nutrition of questionable quality, and two hockey games, we departed from New England with one point out of a possible four. Would I have liked to see Cornell win a game? Well, yeah. But the trip was still a lot of fun, and if I have the opportunity to travel for another hockey weekend, I’d do it.