Rivalry Rank CCT-SLU #8?????

[joecct]

From College Hockey News:

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2006/02/08_college.php

I think they're full of copious quantities of night soil from a well fed male cow.

BTW, is CHN TOTW the equivalent of the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx? We've been in a nose dive since being named thier team of the week.

[coolhandtouc]

I agree Joe, How do we come in at #8 ????? Cornell/Harvard #5???? I know Cornell hates Harvard, but I hardly think that Harvard considers Cornell a rival.

[Ron]

I agree Joe, How do we come in at #8 ????? Cornell/Harvard #5???? I know Cornell hates Harvard, but I hardly think that Harvard considers Cornell a rival.

It's always easy to pick big names. Depends on your definition of rivalry too. Is it between teams? Between fans? It's pretty intense in the North Country because hockey is life.

[Earl_Leatherland]

It is just the fact we are small, out of the way, and have little national appeal. As soon as Clarkson or SLU wins the NCAA Championship this year, we'll move up in the ranking.:D

LET'S GO TECH!!

[SpongeRob]

I agree that in an ideal world we should be higher. Frankly though, it's rather impressive that we even made the list when neither team has ever won a NCAA Championship, and we play in very small arenas with very local fan bases. On pure hatred alone I would put us tied with BC/BU at number one, with Minny/Wisconsin and UMaine/UNH tied at number two, but since we have no national significance or visibility, and lack 6,000 to 12,000 seat arenas, we are just less impressive from a neutral party's standpoint.

[Stemmer]

I agree with a lot of the above but will add this.

Old age has to be worth something...lol.

In the two times in my 4 years at Tech when we played at MSG in the long-since defunct Holiday Hockey Festival, I met quite a few fans of other schools, students and adults.

Notre Dame, St. Louis, Bowdoin, Harvard, and Yale and Slu were the other teams in the field those two years.

I was pleased to see how many of these folks knew of the intense rivalry betw Tech and Slu. It goes way back and you have to keep in mind that many other schools began D1 programs much later than the two NC schools. We both had more national prominence back then than we do now so the rivalry got a lot of attention.

I agree that it would help if we could both appear in a Final Four!

Meantime, keep in mind that for the reasons stated previously...school size and location, location, location...a lot of collge hockey fans are "Big Ten or Boston or Ivy entric".

And Cool is right, most Harvard fans don't care a lick about cornell, hence the moniker "Lynah East" that they slapped on Bright Hockey Center. Seems like there are usually more red fans there than Harvard folks.

Heck, when I last attended a Tech game there in '01, I think we had almost as many fans there as the home team did!

[Bill]

Hmmmm - a year or so ago, The Hockey News had the Knights/Saints rivalry as one of the top 4 in college hockey.:rolleyes:

[MikeR]

Suppose I'm not going to be too concerned about the rival ranking, not until Tech returns to winning the ECAC title and going to the NCAA tournament.

Just doesn't seem right or relevant.

Still...that ranking is low. ;)

[Todd '86]

Hey, at least we're in a top-10 poll somewhere.:p

[chuck]

I hate to say this but I'm starting to agree with the drop in our rivalry ranking.

There's a lot of chumminess between the alumni on these boards and in the ECAC chat room and such. I often see the fans rooting for the other team when not playing each other. I know that the ECAC as a whole needs improvement and it benefits Tech for SLU to do well in OOC games, but my attitude is that who I root for has no actual bearing on the outcome of the game so I say damn the torpedoes (and damn the 'sluzers','SLUts' and 'the skating aints' too) and hope SLU loses every game. A BC fan would never dream of chearing for BU. NEVER! So I have to say that I think that their rivalry is more intense. Only we can change that!

[chuck]

On another note I found the sidebar very interesting on rivalries that didn't make the list but almost did. I think that the Clarkson-RIP rivalry should have been there. RIP hate the Techers more than anyone (the say ooOOKAY, and Clarkson Sucks at the end of each period no matter their opponent). I can't say that we really care for their company too much either. Both colleges draw from the same pool of students academically, with many Clarkson students coming from the Capitol District and both being Technical/Engineering based schools. I see less chumminess between these 2 alumni groups than I do between the NC rivals.



-My own personal rivalry is with UVM... My boss went there:p

[coolhandtouc]

I hate to say this but I'm starting to agree with the drop in our rivalry ranking.

There's a lot of chumminess between the alumni on these boards and in the ECAC chat room and such. I often see the fans rooting for the other team when not playing each other. I know that the ECAC as a whole needs improvement and it benefits Tech for SLU to do well in OOC games, but my attitude is that who I root for has no actual bearing on the outcome of the game so I say damn the torpedoes (and damn the 'sluzers','SLUts' and 'the skating aints' too) and hope SLU loses every game. A BC fan would never dream of chearing for BU. NEVER! So I have to say that I think that their rivalry is more intense. Only we can change that!

I would never speak for all alumni, but you have a better chance of seeing God, than me rooting for SLU(t).

[Bill]

I would never speak for all alumni, but you have a better chance of seeing God, than me rooting for SLU(t).
Easy for you folks that don't have family on both sides -- I have to be a little careful, or wind up sleeping on the couch.
;)

[Stemmer]

I agree with Chuck on the RPI rivalry being more important than with Slu.

In my case, and I think this is true for those of my era (Tech '74 that's probably largely because in those years Clarkson's team was stronger than Slu whereas RPI was more competitive and we did have some doozies with them.

Plus the fact that the annual Ice Carnival game...(you old guys remember Ice Carnival, right?) was always vs RPI so we naturally got more jacked up for that game. Yeah, sometimes it was the "Jack" that did it. :D

So I've always thought that RPI was a bigger rivalry but I can see how that hachanged in more recent years with Slu being consistemtly strong.

Chuminess? If the crowds at the (almost) annual satellite broadcasts with RPI I hosted for years were a good barometer, there was always some good chuminess present there. :)

[chuck]

I agree with Chuck on the RPI rivalry being more important than with Slu.



WHOA! there. I never said RIP was more important. My 1st hatred is for SLU, my point was that I believe the RIP rivalry is important enough for mentioning.

I'd like to hear opinion from muskieman and ursaminor on this thread.

[scottcomstock]

Easy for you folks that don't have family on both sides -- I have to be a little careful, or wind up sleeping on the couch.
;)

Although I'm one of only three in my family to have attended college at all, the grandson of the owner of the company for whom I work is attending Cornell, and an attorney in Oneonta, NY, with whom my mother has worked for almost 20 years is a Colgate alumna. I spent many a time at his office or at his home fixing his TV wiring and/or his computer. ;)

Unfortunately, I still owe the latter a case of beer from a lost Clarkson-Colgate contest a while ago, and Clarkson's first loss to Cornell this season made for a little good-natured ribbing from the boss on Monday morning ;) I hope I can give back some of that ribbing next Monday morning :D

LGT!

[ursaminor]

WHOA! there. I never said RIP was more important. My 1st hatred is for SLU, my point was that I believe the RIP rivalry is important enough for mentioning.

I'd like to hear opinion from muskieman and ursaminor on this thread.
Since you asked. :) Most RPI alums regard Clarkson as our biggest rival, although younger ones and townies regard Union as a bigger rival. To me its definitely Clarkson. When I was an RPI undergrad, there was also still a lot of animosity to Cornell due to Harkness leaving RPI in order to have an easier time recruiting.

I certainly think that the RPI-Clarkson rivalry should have been mentioned on the sidebar instead of the football rivalries. I also think that the Clarkson-SLU rivalry is bigger than Cornell-Harvard one since I think that it takes two fanbases to have a rivalry.

[Ron]

I hate to say this but I'm starting to agree with the drop in our rivalry ranking.

There's a lot of chumminess between the alumni on these boards and in the ECAC chat room and such. I often see the fans rooting for the other team when not playing each other. I know that the ECAC as a whole needs improvement and it benefits Tech for SLU to do well in OOC games, but my attitude is that who I root for has no actual bearing on the outcome of the game so I say damn the torpedoes (and damn the 'sluzers','SLUts' and 'the skating aints' too) and hope SLU loses every game. A BC fan would never dream of chearing for BU. NEVER! So I have to say that I think that their rivalry is more intense. Only we can change that!

Chuminess to me doesn't mean the rivalry is any less. I'm friends with plenty of Yankee Fans. And if they Yankees needed to beat the Blue Jays for the Red Sox to go to the playoffs. I want the Yankees to win that game, I just don't want the Yankees to beat the Red Sox. I suspect if BC needed to beat UNH to give BU a NCAA Bid or a Conference Title, there'd be some closet BC fans. In NCAA Hockey this is more true than pretty much any other sport.

I think when you look at the respectfulness on the message boards you're looking at an extremely small slice of knowledgable (for the most part) fans. These days more people associate disrespect with rivalries and those tend to not be the people on these boards. If that makes any sense. :)

[Earl_Leatherland]

On the topic of the ranking, we will always be an "Oh, yeah. Clarkson and SLU" until we hit something big. I really thought both teams were on their way to doing something like that at the beginning of the year.

ON CHEERING FOR RIVAL: I do cheer for SLU when they are moving up. I want at least one North Country team to do well. When Tech and the Aints are playing, I want to see the Aints hit two posts on an empty net and feel dispair and anguish as to their inability to score on Tech. If they are in the Frozen Four, I want them to win it all.

RPI: I agree this should have considerable mention. The dislike for RIP is far beyond other teams. We used to spend weeks, when we were playing other teams mind you, just making signs and planning taunts for RIP which would not happen until four games away. I always hated the stupid puck with skates.

[daredevilcu]

You mean the Necco wafer?

[oldtimehockey]

Plus the fact that the annual Ice Carnival game...(you old guys remember Ice Carnival, right?) was always vs RPI ...........
Percy Shore.

[andy]

was surprised to see someone here say they'd want slu to 'win it all' if they were in the frozen four.
i've always suspected both schools up here want the bragging rights of being the 'first' national champion, so I always figured if SLU was in the frozen four everyone involved with clarkson was always dreading they might just win it all, and vice versa if clarkson was there.
yes, i realize like back in 2000 a coach like mark morris has to say the PC thing and that 'i want the league to do well', but i sort of secretly suspect nobody at clarkson would have enjoyed seeing SLU go to the white house

[Earl_Leatherland]

You mean the Necco wafer?

Yes. Exactly. I would think that a bunch of engineers could be a little more creative. You would think that a university that had "monumental advancements" like "producing pure titanium for the first time..", having RPI alumni "who brought the railroad industry to prominence..." and "developed the first commercially viable cathode ray tube..." would be able to come up with something better than a candy wafer with gloves.

TEXT OF THAT CREATIVE CONVERSATION AS THEY SOUGHT A MASCOT:

Gunter: "We need something that says hockey, engineering, and RPI all together."

Janitor: "I know. Let's take a white Necco wafer, put RPI in red, because those are our school colors, then attach a hockey stick, skates, and gloves."

Gunter: "Well, that covers the hockey and RPI part. What about the engineering?"

Janitor: "Give it a hat. Engineers wear hats...right?"

Gunter: "Brilliant. Our sports and cathode ray tubes will be revered for years!"

Janitor: "Oh. Let the wafer actually touch the puck in the design. Who knows when that might happen during an actual game."

[Earl_Leatherland]

was surprised to see someone here say they'd want slu to 'win it all' if they were in the frozen four.
i've always suspected both schools up here want the bragging rights of being the 'first' national champion, so I always figured if SLU was in the frozen four everyone involved with clarkson was always dreading they might just win it all, and vice versa if clarkson was there.
yes, i realize like back in 2000 a coach like mark morris has to say the PC thing and that 'i want the league to do well', but i sort of secretly suspect nobody at clarkson would have enjoyed seeing SLU go to the white house

Your point is well taken. Forgive me for my lack of ruthlessness. I will improve in years to come. I promise.

[Knightband87]

While the SLU game was always big, the RPI game was always the one circled on the calendar. Who can't remember the line of Techers outside Walker. Standing there in 10 degree temps at 4pm for a 7:30 game.

It was the RPI game in 84 when they came into Walker #1 in the country and left without that ranking that stands out in my mind. Walker always rocked but that night . . . it was shaking!!!!!

Add the numerous trips to Houston Field House, where we truely are the enemy.

I've always felt, as long as we win those two games, its a great season and if we were to only lose those two, well it would still be a great season but it would suck just alittle.

RPI - CLARKSON is what rivals are all about!!!!

LGT

[Todd '86]

Gotta chime in with my favorite (and not because its this weekend): cornell. Seems even more heated now - and two sided - than when I was an undergrad. Those are the games I circle on the schedule.

Maybe its just cos I still say they owe me money.....

[Knightband87]

Gotta chime in with my favorite (and not because its this weekend): cornell. Seems even more heated now - and two sided - than when I was an undergrad. Those are the games I circle on the schedule.

Maybe its just cos I still say they owe me money.....

Come on Todd
When we were there we hated everybody that walked in the building. Yelled and screamed until we couldn't talk and then went and played quarters.

Ah, the good old days!!!

[Todd '86]

Well, yeah, but I still always save my "special" taunts for them. And nothing made me happier than being there to watch Tech beat them in their barn two years ago.:D

[Stemmer]

Well, yeah, but I still always save my "special" taunts for them. And nothing made me happier than being there to watch Tech beat them in their barn two years ago.:D

Oh...you mean the one that they "deny" ever happened? What some of us, who couldn't make it there for that enjoyed was being in Albany and seeing the despondent faces on a lot of their fans that were there.

Speaking of winning at Lynah, back in '72 or '73, I cant remember which, Tech ended their 70+ home unbeaten streak in a classic game. That was truly enjoyable, Lynah was like a morgue except for those of us who had made the trek down form Potsdam.

But Lynah was a more civil place in those days. :p

[Todd '86]

That would be the one!

[chuck]

Chuminess to me doesn't mean the rivalry is any less. I'm friends with plenty of Yankee Fans. And if they Yankees needed to beat the Blue Jays for the Red Sox to go to the playoffs. I want the Yankees to win that game, I just don't want the Yankees to beat the Red Sox. I suspect if BC needed to beat UNH to give BU a NCAA Bid or a Conference Title, there'd be some closet BC fans. In NCAA Hockey this is more true than pretty much any other sport.

I think when you look at the respectfulness on the message boards you're looking at an extremely small slice of knowledgable (for the most part) fans. These days more people associate disrespect with rivalries and those tend to not be the people on these boards. If that makes any sense. :)

That's a good post. I see your points. Rivalry doesn't mean disrespect and I was mulling over my post after I wrote it because it gave that impression.

Earl- I would stick my head in a hole and hide if the sluzers brought a NC to the NC before Clarkson!

[Bill]

I would really love to see the KNIGHTS win a national championship. :D
That said if it's SLU against the field, I'm with Earl -- I'd pull for them. Best shot we had was back in '62, when we both went to the final four in Utica. Unfortunately, the SLUzers lost to Michigan Tech, so we did not meet them in the championship game (instead, lost to Tech), but we did have the satisfaction of beating Mr. Berenson the first knight for 2nd place (we are undefeated vs Michigan in NCAA tournament play), with SLU finishing 4th. They almost made it years later against BG @ Placid.

[Muskieman]

WHOA! there. I never said RIP was more important. My 1st hatred is for SLU, my point was that I believe the RIP rivalry is important enough for mentioning.

I'd like to hear opinion from muskieman and ursaminor on this thread.

Chuck,

Putting me on the spot, eh? :)

I'll start my saying that back in the early-70's when Team Mgr. at SLU, the players and coaches always wanted to know how Clarkson did. We NEVER wanted any team to sweep the NC (note: at that point, it had NEVER happened), so we privately pulled for Clarkson but never talked about it outside of the rink. It was understood that such a rooting interest wasn't a good thing to talk about on campus or downtown.

For me personally after graduating, I rooted against Clarkson for decades, mainly because Clarkson had pummelled SLU over the years (and the all-time series still supports that). That all changed when the "highly intelligent" John McCardell (and his buddy at the 40 %'ers) tried to screw SLU, CCT, RPI, and CC out of their scholarships. When I got involved in fighting this, along with many CCT and RPI fans, my rooting interests changed. I now pull for Clarkson and those other schools to win.

A Clarkson fan (who I won't mention here) said it best about two weeks ago in the ECAC CR. He or she said, "if SLU ever won the NCAA Championship", I'd acknowledge such and then go jump off the xxxxx Bridge" (I can't say what Bridge, or that might give away his/her identity). To be perfectly honest, I'd probably do the same if CCT won it BEFORE SLU does.

Is Clarkson my favorite team -- hell no. Is Clarkson my least-favorite team -- hell no (that goes to BC and Cornell, in that order). Do I want the NCAA Championship to be in the NC - hell yes, but it better be SLU!!!