Lynah Rink - Lynah Faithful

Lynah Faithful

Fans of Cornell's Hockey program, aptly named the "Lynah Faithful", are among the loudest and most dedicated fans in the country, making Lynah Rink, many believe, one of college hockey's most hostile arenas. The raucous crowd support gives the Big Red one of the largest home ice advantages in college hockey, losing under 20% of their games on home ice since Lynah opened in 1957. The Lynah Faithful are cheered on by one cowbell, usually played by a zealous undergraduate., but only during the second and third periods (including overtime) at approximately mid-period. Many of the other regular chants of the Faithful are listed on a website, which serves as a useful primer in the history and traditions of Cornell Hockey when initiating new students into the Lynah Faithful.After the end of all games at Lynah, when the opposing team leaves ice, the Cornell team gathers at center ice and raises their sticks to salute the faithful as they applaud the team. This is known as the Lynah salute.

Cornell's men's team has had great success at Lynah Rink, closing in on its 500th win on home ice. Its record at Lynah was 15-0-1 during the 2004-2005 season, 15-0-0 during the 2002-2003 season, and 14-1-1 during the 2001-2002 season. Postseason success at Lynah has been equally impressive. Since Lynah Rink hosted its first postseason game in 1966, Cornell's men's team has a postseason record of 38-7-2 in games played there. During the same period they were 14-1 in single elimination games with the sole loss coming against Providence in 1978 and 12-3 in multi-game series.

Cornell has long been criticized for its policies regarding the distribution of season tickets to men's hockey home games. Students often wait in line for nights to get tickets; however, some believe that this is part of the experience of being among Lynah Faithful. It's common to see students wearing T-shirts proudly announcing, "I did my time in the line." In 2005, despite efforts to improve the process over previous years, Cornell was criticized for creating chaos when the Athletic Department announced where students had to go for tickets. In 2006, this was alleviated when the ticket line was preselected at random. During the 2009-2010 Hockey season, students did not have to wait in line for season passes given growing concerns over swine flu. Instead the tickets were distributed via a lottery. Beginning in the fall of 2010, Cornell Athletics began distributing tickets via online ticket sales, giving priority to students who had previously purchased season tickets.