Except I didn't know that there was another event going on at the same time. It turns out that the FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals were being held the same weekend. Now, Lake Placid is only reachable by a two-lane road and a few miles out, there were signs indicating that you needed a permit to park in town. I was baffled at this because there is no way that the ECAC tournament was that popular. I even saw hundreds of people dressed in ski gear walking along the road, but it still didn't click. About two miles away, I saw a media parking lot, so I pulled in there to exit the traffic. A few minutes later, a local shuttle bus arrived and I boarded it, asking if it was going to the arena. Thankfully it was, and I asked another passenger what were all the cars doing. He mentioned the skiing event and I realized I needed to do more research before blindly driving to an event. Anyway, the bus dropped me off next to the arena (picture from the bus above) and I made my way over to pick up my media credential.
Along the way, I saw a couple of interesting Olympic sculptures. Both the 1932 and 1980 Games were held here and there is a lot of history around town.
The entrance to the arena is at the Olympic Center and you will know you are in the right place because of two displays. The first is a statue of Herb Brooks celebrating in front of the immortal words spoken by Al Michaels.
To the left of this is the actual scoreboard used in that game, with the final score. What many might not remember is that the USA did not clinch gold with the win over the USSR, they had to beat Finland two nights later, which they obviously did.
There is also an impressive museum here that I was able to get in for free due to the credential, but costs $15 otherwise.
As mentioned, the 1932 Games were here and they were just the third Winter Olympics in history. I can't imagine the difficulty in getting here from overseas during the depression, but 146 athletes did just that, along with 46 Canadians and 64 Americans.
Naturally, the 1980 hockey team takes precedence in the displays, though every sport is honoured, including speed skating, which saw Eric Heiden claim all five gold medals. If you are in upstate New York and driving along I-87, consider a detour to see the museum if you are a sports memorabilia fan.
To get to the arena itself, you go upstairs to a large lobby with dozens of tables and a concession stand that was doing brisk business (above). The entrance to the arena is here and this is where your ticket gets scanned. Tickets were $50 for each day, or $75 for both days. There is also a smaller practice ice surface at the far end of the arena.
There are two levels of seating: the lower level is typical with red seats all around the bowl, except, of course, for the Zamboni entrance. As an aside, I'm surprised they have not come up with new technology that would allow for resurfacing of the ice without losing so many high-revenue seats.
There are two levels of seating: the lower level is typical with red seats all around the bowl, except, of course, for the Zamboni entrance. As an aside, I'm surprised they have not come up with new technology that would allow for resurfacing of the ice without losing so many high-revenue seats.
For an older rink, there is a surprisingly large amount of leg room between the seats, which obviously have been replaced since 1980. Note the space between the first row of seats and the boards; this is due to the larger ice surface used in international hockey. Avoid the lower rows if you can. Capacity is 7,700, and attendance was announced at 5,454, though presumably that included fans who bought the weekend package and didn't bother showing up after their school was eliminated the night before.
The upper deck consists of six rows of wooden benches; most of these sections were closed, although I ended up in one of them for the first period as media members were allowed to sit there. It was pretty cool having an entire section to myself after the hoi polloi were booted out. Members of the 1980 gold medal team are commemorated with banners above here.
There is a single concourse between the two levels that is asymmetrical: on one side and behind the nets it is open and there are drink rails where many fans stand (below is a picture from a drink rail), but along the other side, there are walls that prevent you from seeing the action as you walk around.
In one corner is a small artwork to remind you that there are sports other than hockey.
There are also a few tables for those who wish to spend a bit more, I guess. Tablecloths and everything. Very posh!
I think the Miracle On Ice doesn't need a qualifier to tell us when it happened, but maybe that's for the future, when the Leafs finally win another Cup. Which would be the true miracle in my mind.
There are also temporary features for the ECAC tournament, including sweaters for all 12 schools along with their tournament titles. Dartmouth had never won one before, so I was pulling for them.
The eight schools who did not make the trip to Lake Placid had loser banners atop the four-sided scoreboard. The ECAC consists of six Ivy League schools (all but Columbia and Penn), five other schools in New York (Clarkson, Colgate, RPI, St. Lawrence, Union), and Quinnipiac. It was cool to see the seamlessly integrated displays of the past and the present, a rather unique mix in the
Overall, Herb Brooks Arena is as impressive as you would expect. The combination of history and location can't be beat. If you have yet to be, consider visiting for next year's tournament because you never know when it will be the last.
The Game
The combatants were two Ivy League schools, fourth-seed Princeton (with their cool tiger uniforms) and second-seed Dartmouth, who were ranked ninth in the nation and would make the NCAA tournament win or lose. Princeton had no such luxury, they needed a victory to get the automatic bid.
The first period was slow, with the teams feeling each other out. After eight minutes, each club had exactly one shot on goal. Then Dartmouth asked for a challenge on a major penalty, and it was given as Princeton's Luc Pelletier went to the box for five minutes for cross-checking. Just over a minute into the power play and Dartmouth's Andrew Clarke took a dumb interference penalty, but nothing happened during the 4-on-4. As soon as Clarke's minor expired, the nation's leading goal scorer Hayden Stavroff jumped on the ice, took a pass at the top of the left circle, and wristed a shot that beat Arthur Smith (below). It was Stavroff's 29th goal of the season, four more than second place Felix Trudeau of Sacred Heart. Princeton had a 5-on-3 later in the frame but could not capitalize and the first period ended 1-0 to the Big Green.
The second period saw no goals and no penalties, so we went to the third, when Dartmouth started to tighten up and Princeton began to press. There were a couple of flurries around goalie Emmett Croteau (drafted by Montreal in the 5th round in 2022) but the puck stayed out somehow. It was pretty obvious that Princeton would eventually score, and sure enough, Dartmouth's Brock Cummings brought the puck over his blue line, only to be leveled by a perfect bodycheck from Kevin Anderson. The puck ended up on Malcolm Green's stick and he broke down the right wing then passed across the crease to Joshua Karnish, who slammed it home to tie the game.
I had hoped for no overtime as I had to drive 90 minutes back to the hotel, but neither team could end it in regulation. That set up overtime and unlike the Olympics this year, it was 5-on-5 until someone scored, the way it should be. Both teams had multiple chances and I began to worry that this could be one of those historic five-overtime games, but then Dartmouth had some sustained pressure. After a couple of missed shots, Tim Busconi picked up the puck on a failed clearance, skated to the top of the left circle and beat Smith with a top-shelf wrister to give the Big Green their first ECAC championship. It was much more exciting than this recap.
Above, you see the tearful Tigers, whose season just ended. The picture below was snapped before the scoreboard was updated but you can see the celebration on the videoboard. The highlights are on YouTube and are worth watching, particularly for Princeton's goal
I did not stay for the trophy presentation as the shuttle bus was ending soon, so I headed out and hopped on the bus after a short wait. It dropped me off at the media parking lot, where my car was the only one left. So the media was for the skiing! Thankfully, the shuttle bus was a local operation and not related to the skiing.
Notes
Quinnipiac was the number one seed in the ECAC but upset by Clarkson, who then lost to Dartmouth, while third-seed Cornell was edged by Princeton in the semifinal. Both received at-large bids to the national tournament, while Princeton joins the Leafs on the golf course. Update: Dartmouth lost 5-1 to Wisconsin, while Quinnipiac knocked off Providence 5-2 in the first round of the national tournament before being shut out by North Dakota. Only two of the six hockey conferences are represented in the Frozen Four: NCHC (North Dakota and Denver) and Big Ten (Michigan and Wisconsin).
Lake George is the site of Fort William Henry, which was important in the French and Indian War and immortalized in the Last of the Mohicans. Coincidentally, there was a battle re-enactment Saturday morning which was certainly an interesting prelude to the (rather different) battle I would witness that evening. William Henry was named after two princes and in the real battle of 1757, the fort was lost. If you believe in connections, I brought that bad prince luck to Princeton. Sorry Tigers fans!
Best,
Sean
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