Christmas in July?

Billed as Christmas in July and The Best Thing that will Happen to you this Summer (not really; I made that up), the pep band made a one weekend only appearance at two hockey games in July. Cornell alumni, former NHL players, Olympic medalists, current hockey coaches, and other minor celebrities made their way to Lynah Rink on two warm summer evenings, and so did the pep band.

The band had a surprisingly good turnout, with several dozen people showing up both nights. Friday night was the alumni game, featuring former Cornell hockey players from decades past. Lynah hadn’t advertised the game at all, whether to encourage people to attend the game on Saturday or to keep the rink a little much quieter than usual I don’t know. Either way, I’m not sure if anyone not related to a hockey player or in the band attended.

The game was casual, with no penalties, checking, or violence in general. The final score was something like 10 to 9, which sounds more like the score at one of my high school football team’s games than a hockey match. But the really strange thing was leaving Lynah and 1) having it be warmer outside than inside and 2) having the sun still out. I packed up my clarinet and music and walked into the sunset back to my apartment in shorts after a men’s hockey game.

Cornell vs. Cornell

On Saturday night, the game was a charity match for the Racker Center. Several past NHL players and Olympians came back and were joined by current hockey coaches and players. The rink was reasonably full, for summer, and the game was refereed closer to an actual competition, though there was still minimal contact. I think the only penalty called was on the current men’s hockey coach for a pretty blatant trip. Unfortunately, they didn’t go make him sit in the penalty box but awarded a penalty shot to the other team.

Again, the final score was in the realm of 10-12, and at the end there was a penalty shootout, just for fun. One of the players scored during his turn using a lacrosse stick. Another highlight (I can’t remember from which night) was a player coming out for warm-ups wearing a Viking helmet. Definitely appropriate head protection.

We didn’t play as much as usual, but we got a decent number of songs in, and people seemed to like having the band there. I had fun, anyway.