Cornelliana Fascinating Facts About Lynah Rink, Big Red Hockey’s Chilly Abode Stories You May Like At Paris Olympics, Figure Skater Karen Chen ’23 Gets Her Gold With Red Hot Hockey, Annual MSG Tradition Keeps Sizzling For the Lynah Faithful, Ice Hockey Is a Matter of Tradition You may be a devoted fan of the on-ice action—but how much do you know about the iconic facility itself? By Joe Wilensky It’s the home of Big Red hockey and the Lynah Faithful—a refrigerated sanctuary that nonetheless hosts barn burners amid the heat of devoted fandom. Though hockey has been played on Cornell ice since the first official rink was laid out on Beebe Lake in 1900, it was the construction of Lynah in 1957 that ushered in a new era of winter sports on the Hill. You may be a devotee of Big Red hockey (and know when it’s time to pull out a newspaper or a cowbell)—but how much do you know about Lynah itself? Read on for 14 fascinating facts! It unshackled hockey from the whims of winter weather! While the Big Red had notched its first intercollegiate win—against the University of Rochester—on Beebe’s frozen surface back in 1907, the outdoor venue had a spotty record for being solid enough to host games. Rare and Manuscript CollectionsAn early game on Beebe Lake. In the 1940s, there were even unsuccessful attempts to flood Lower Alumni Field for use as a rink; the University dropped intercollegiate hockey in 1947, and the sport entered a 10-year hiatus until Lynah was constructed. It was named for a former A.D.! Lynah was built thanks to a then-anonymous $500,000 gift (approximately $5.59 million in 2024 dollars). Its benefactor was later revealed to be Walter Carpenter Jr. 1910, chairman and former president of DuPont, who had funded construction of his eponymous hall and the Engineering Library. The rink was named in honor of James Lynah 1905, who’d served as director of athletics from 1935–43. Its first formal name? The James Lynah Skating Hall. Rare and Manuscript CollectionsLynah as a student-athlete. Pros played the rink’s first game! Rare and Manuscript CollectionsRangers vs. Americans, 1957. Lynah’s inaugural contest, held on March 21, 1957, was an exhibition between the NHL’s New York Rangers and the AHL’s Rochester Americans. The rink was officially dedicated the following month, and it hosted its first Big Red hockey game on December 14, 1957—with Cornell defeating Lehigh 16-3. A new century saw improvements—and more seats! Following renovations in 2000 that replaced the rink floor and drainage system, a 2006 expansion enlarged the facility by 16,700 square feet. That added new locker rooms, offices, lounges, training spaces, and about 450 seats, bringing the total capacity to 4,267. Jason Koski / Cornell UniversityAn expanded Lynah in 2011, ready to hold thousands of the Faithful. More recently, the rink gained an amenity appreciated by many: railings to help navigate its stairs. It knows how to keep its cool! The temperature inside Lynah is kept at a steady 41 °F, and the ice surface is maintained at 16 °F. It takes an average of 11,000 gallons of water to create an inch of ice on Lynah’s 85-foot-by-200-foot surface. Its rafters bear championship kudos! Banners hung just below the ceiling celebrate the Big Red’s many league titles and championships. Since Lynah opened, the men’s team has won two NCAA championships, an ECAC record 13 tournament championships, and 26 Ivy titles. Cornell AthleticsA parade of past seasons’ successes hang overhead. Big Red women’s hockey advanced to the NCAA title game in 2010 and won the ECAC regular-season title six times, with four ECAC tournament titles. The women’s team has claimed 16 Ivy titles and qualified for the NCAA Tournament nine times with four Frozen Four appearances, most recently in 2019. Noël Heaney / Cornell UniversitySenior skate night, 2022. It’s not just for hockey! Lynah also hosts community skates, PE classes, and events such as senior skate night and more. (If you’re coming to campus, check the rink’s Facebook page for details.) Two legendary players are honored—far above the ice! In 2010, Cornell retired the numbers of Ken Dryden ’69 (who’d worn number 1) and Joe Nieuwendyk ’88 (25) and hosted a ceremony in which their jerseys were lifted to the rafters. Stories You May Like At Paris Olympics, Figure Skater Karen Chen ’23 Gets Her Gold With Red Hot Hockey, Annual MSG Tradition Keeps Sizzling Dryden led the Big Red to the 1967 NCAA championship; he became an NHL superstar—winning six Stanley Cups in an eight-season career with the Montreal Canadiens—and later joined the Canadian Parliament. Cornell AthleticsDryden (left) and Nieuwendyk watch their jerseys rise. Nieuwendyk, who scored 73 career goals with the Big Red, spent 20 years in the NHL, playing for the Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Florida Panthers, winning three Stanley Cups. He also won gold with Team Canada at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. It once hosted hundreds of reporters from around the world! In 1995, Lynah briefly became a media center—a hub for the massive coverage of an official (and in some quarters, politically controversial) visit by the then-president of Taiwan, Lee Teng-hui, PhD ’68. It was stocked with the era’s tools of the trade—fax machines and desktop computers—with interpreters on hand. Cornell UniversityLee (left) with then-President Frank H.T. Rhodes. Its ‘Zamboni’ … isn’t actually a Zamboni! Like Kleenex, Zamboni is a brand name that has become synonymous with an entire category of products. In fact, Lynah long used an Olympia ice resurfacer. Beginning in 2015, its sides were wrapped to look like a mini version of the Campus-to-Campus bus (which connects the Hill with Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Tech in NYC). Ned Dykes / Cornell Hockey AssociationThe new Mammoth can resurface the rink in about eight minutes. In 2024, the Olympia was replaced with an electric model, dubbed a Mammoth (which was also recently outfitted with a Campus-to-Campus bus wrap). It's much quieter than the old model and features an eco-friendly lithium battery, all-wheel drive, LED daytime running lights, a side-mounted passenger seat, and front and rear safety cameras. An Olympic gold medalist—not in hockey—trained there! U.S. figure skater Karen Chen ’23 ultimately earned gold in the team competition at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing—though she and her teammates belatedly received their medals at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, following the disqualification of Russia’s initial first-place finish. Noël Heaney / Cornell UniversityChen (in Olympic garb) in Lynah. Chen not only did some training in Lynah, but also performed an exhibition program there in 2020 between game periods. Of course, numerous alums of the men’s and women’s hockey teams have gone on to earn Olympic medals, gold included. The ice was long resurfaced by a Big Red legend! For decades—even after he officially retired in 2009—one of Lynah’s most cherished characters was Dave Nulle, who helmed the resurfacer with a steady hand and sartorial flair. The son of two alums, Nulle worked over the years as the rink manager, a skating instructor, and even a ballroom dance teacher. Cornell AthleticsClowning around: Nulle in one of his many guises. While piloting his icy chariot, “Zamboni Dave” would famously wear elaborate costumes—everything from an Egyptian pharaoh to a London bobby to a medieval knight. The rink produces ‘snow’ … in July! Joe Wilensky / Cornell UniversityA winter wonderland? Lynah’s resurfacer periodically dumps ice shavings onto an adjacent parking lot. Those piles, which look and feel like snow, have delighted passersby in the summer months—and sparked impromptu snowball fights. And … it houses the (official) most iconic Cornell tradition! In the 2024 edition of his annual March Madness poll, Cornell history expert Corey Earle ’07 asked alums to vote on the most iconic Big Red tradition. Cornell AthleticsIn a triple overtime, the Big Red women's team scores the winning goal over Boston in a 2012 NCAA Quarterfinal game. Out of a field of 32—ranging from eating at the Hot Truck to watching sunsets on the Slope—a winner emerged from the nearly 6,000 ballots cast: watching Big Red hockey in Lynah! Top: A 1963 game in Lynah. (Rare and Manuscript Collections) Published December 4, 2024 Comments Larry, Class of 1978 5 Dec, 2024 Cornell is hockey. And the home of Cornell Big Red hockey is Lynah Rink. Thank you Schafer Beat Colgate this weekend! Reply Richard “Rick” Box, Class of 1978 15 Dec, 2024 Agree Larry. Best fans in hockey Reply Nancy MacIntyre, Class of 1980 16 Dec, 2024 Great years to watch Big Red Hockey! And, as I recall, a favorite chant among many was, “Box!!! He’s AMERICAN!!!” I was one who camped out in Teagle Hall for four years to acquire season tickets and had seats right above the penalty boxes each year. What a blast! Reply Stella Mayhew Ardire, Class of 1971 9 Dec, 2024 I was the class of ’71 and my freshman year 1966-67 the Cornell hockey team won the NCAA championshipp!I think they played Denver. The most impressive event I saw while attending a game was Danny Ladboa(sp?)scoring a goal from the opposite end of the rink! What a slapstick site! Reply Jeff Schwartz., Class of 1973 15 Dec, 2024 Lodboa. He also scored a hat trick in the 1970 finals against Clarkson. Great player. Reply Pete Saunders, Class of 1971 15 Dec, 2024 I was a’71er…went to Lake Placid for the NCAA Championship game against Clarkson (who Cornell had defeated just a week or so earlier in the ECAC Championship game in the old Boston Garden – which I also attended) after both Eastern teams defeated their Western counterparts in the semi final games. Not only did Danny Lodboa score a hat trick (all of them in the 3rd period !!!) to break the game wide open, he was a DEFENSEMAN – not a Forward… After the game when the fans rushed the ice, I picked up a discarded Cornell hockey stick but it was a right handed stick and I was a lefty. I saw a younger boy with a left handed Cornell stick and asked him if he would trade. He said “Whose stick do you have?” Without knowing or looking I said “Lodboa’s” and so we traded and that’s how I ended up playing intramural hockey with Ron Simpson’s (Jersey #2) stick for the rest of my time on the Hill.. True story… Reply Charlie Pearlman, Class of 1973 15 Dec, 2024 Ronnie Simpson was a great defenseman!!! I’m class of ‘73. We had some great players who were too small to go pro, but man, were they fast and fun to watch. Reply Charlie Pearlman, Class of 1973 17 Dec, 2024 E.g. the magician, Carlo Ugolini 😀 Bruce D. Popp, Class of 1979 22 Dec, 2024 I also saw the 1970 NCAA championship, Cornell v. Clarkson in Lake Placid. My father was on the faculty at Clarkson and had season hockey tickets for many years. He had played (freshman) lacrosse under Ned Harkness at RIP. From a Clarkson perspective, things were looking good going into the third period. Reply Patricia baumann, Class of 1987 15 Dec, 2024 I am proud to say I played for Cornell and so proud of how well the women’s team has done since I graduated. Go big red. Congrats to Shafer on retirement! Reply Jim Fullerton, Class of 1963 15 Dec, 2024 First big win in modern era of men’s hockey occurred during a matinee game vs Harvard, Feb ’62. Cornell 2, Harvard 1. First turn away crowd due to overcrowding was against St Lawrence on Dec 7, 1962. Cornell 5, St Lawrence 4 Reply Bill Wilso, Class of 1966 15 Dec, 2024 A unique use of Lynah was as a dormitory for preseason football practice in the 60s. Around sixty cots were brought in but they were so uncomfortable that the mattresses were quickly on the cement floor. It was our home for four weeks! Reply Thomas Swanson, Class of 1977 15 Dec, 2024 Back when Cornell lured Ned Harkness away from RPI as coach. When asked why, he said, “it’s 90 miles closer to Canada”. Reply Diane Bishop Hanson, Class of 1959 15 Dec, 2024 Broomstick hockey! Competition between sororities. 1958, 1959 probably. Wild and crazy and a good break from studying. Reply John C. Parmelee, Class of 1980 15 Dec, 2024 Fond memories of playing Pee Wee hockey on the Lynah ice! Reply Judy Harvey, V.M.D., Class of 1966 15 Dec, 2024 As a PA farmgirl, hockey meant field hockey, which meant ‘club hockey’ at Cornell when there were no sports teams for women. By my senior year, I was not only a Lynah Faithful, but was part of a group of women who were invited to play an exhibition game between periods on Lynah with hockey sticks and a beach ball. Reply Paul DuBowy, Class of 1975 15 Dec, 2024 Attended five years of CU hockey (including sleeping in Barton Hall for season tix) in the early 70s. Lynah was like the top photo–dank. Then moved to Univ North Dakota for grad school. UND had a new Winter Sports Arena, later replaced by Ralph Englestad Arena. The difference between Lynah and UND was/is like The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy opens the house door, and the picture goes from sepia to color. Attended the CU-UND series last fall at Lynah. The lightning has improved, but the “seats” (benches) and ingress/egress are still poor. As much as I fondly remember Lynah it should be replaced, perhaps out at the new sports complex on Game Farm Road. Reply Roe (Rusty} McBurnett, Class of 1974 15 Dec, 2024 Plotting the best place to start “Waiting in line” for season tickets in Barton was a lot of fun. And 3 nights of overnight fun in Barton was a blast. Sleeping bags and early morning frisbee games were the best! And then to have season tickets!!! Saw every game! Reply Alan Chimacoff, Class of 1963 15 Dec, 2024 Can someone confirm that Cornell had a Zamboni before Madison Square Garden? I believe that is true. Reply Robert Treadway, Jr., Class of 1960 15 Dec, 2024 Though its not a fact of history, I tried out for the 1958 hockey team when Lynah reopened in 1957-58. I missed the cut and wasn’t remembered after that. But I remembered. Reply Dottie Hjelstrom Leelike, Class of 1966 15 Dec, 2024 I remember dating someone who lived in an apartment at one goal end of the ice rink. We could look out the window and see the players rushing toward us. Very exciting! Reply Eric Hansen, Class of 1992 15 Dec, 2024 Great memories here, thanks to the players, coaching staff, trainers, equipment managers, Lynah staff and fellow fans……Let’s Go Red!!! Reply Webb Nichols, Class of 1963 15 Dec, 2024 Lynah Rink is sacred space. A place were people can express their collective humanity, shared joy and association with a team and its success. It is a church of communal love and devotion and aspiration in a world whose success is always a possibility and is always an escape from the other worlds inhabited outside its confines. Lynah Rink and its related activities is ritual marrying the past with the present and an expectant future. Like many powerful rituals, it demands of the participants, whether a player or a fan, the full commitment to the shared moment , nothing less , nothing more. Go Big Red!!! Reply laing kennedy, Class of 1963 20 Dec, 2024 Webb, I love your comments about Lynah rink you and about 5000 others will cherish the memory of2/01 1962 in our win over Harvard they were 17-0 at the time . Your goal that night was in my mind the most important goal ever scored by Cornell. The celebration that night still gives my memory shivers.Allthe best to you my teammate. Reply Bob Myers, Class of 1963 15 Dec, 2024 Beating Harvard for the first time ever was great but beating Yale in the following game was even better since I was from New Haven and turned down admission to Yale in favor of Cornell. The Yale hockey coach was a close family friend. The fans at Lynah got so rowdy that we sometimes had to hunker down on the bench to protect ourselves from the fans. Great memories of Lynah rink. Reply Andrew Weber, Class of 1977 15 Dec, 2024 My memory of Lynah Rink was Cornell Harvard game. The Harvard goalee after being called a sieve constantly became so upset that when a chicken was placed in his net between periods hit the bird with his stick. He was removed from the game! Reply Rolf Frantz, Class of 1966 15 Dec, 2024 Having season tickets was the “ticket” to getting a first date with Nancy Nystrom ’68. Glad it worked – we’ve been married 56 years! Reply Ed Goldman, Class of 1961 15 Dec, 2024 Starting shortly after entering CU in the fall of ’57, I began a long tradition of a Sunday night free-skate treat. I wasn’t an expert, but loved the escape and the music. it was also a great date opportunity, if the young woman was also willing to give up study time! Reply Harvey Rothschild, Class of 1963 15 Dec, 2024 I remember many hockey games at Lynah. The tickets were part of the subscription book of tickets your got when you purchased the season’s football tickets. I also remember the Minto Skating Club of Ottawa and the Minto Ice Follies they brought down to campus. Mostly I remember our classmate Laing Kennedy, the goalkeeper, and the “demonstration” speech he gave in our public speaking class. The subject was the ice hockey goalkeeper’s equipment and his tale of how the lacings of his glove broke and allowed a goal during a game. Reply Rick Zimmerman, Class of 1978 15 Dec, 2024 Getting season tickets, through the on campus scramble and overnight in Barton Hall, was as much of the excitement as attending every home game. The first date with my future wife, Kathleen Kelly ’78, was a Nov. ’75 game in Lynah Rink. Great memories! Reply Mark Cunha, Class of 1977 16 Dec, 2024 I was a player and head referee for the three Cornell intramural leagues played at Lynah, dorm, fraternity and independent. The playoffs felt as fierce as Cornell v Harvard, and the players and refs marveled when the opposing fans tussled more in the stands than the players did on the ice. Can’t remember anyone getting hurt, and no rink is more fun than Lynah. Reply John David Evans, Class of 1973 16 Dec, 2024 Rusty!! Greetings from ’73 D-Chi bros: RaVT, JHC, CRM and JDE! Reply Amy Dumas Wadman 16 Dec, 2024 I have few regrets about my time at Cornell, but my biggest is having season tickets only during my senior year. What fun it was! Why didn’t I do that my first three years? Shortly after graduating, I had the opportunity to see my first NHL game. We had great seats 8 rows up on center ice but the crowd was boooorrrrrrring compared to the Lynah Faithful. Thanks for those memories! And many thanks to all the Lynah Faithful who have posted videos. My hockey-loving husband did not believe me when I told him of the crowd’s antics. Reply Scott Robinson, Class of 1984 16 Dec, 2024 Raised in Florida, I had never attended a hockey game before attending Cornell in the early ‘80’s. I still remember getting season tickets (2) for only $3 a game all 4 years, and learning the game at Lynah! Traditions like tossing fish on the ice and tying a live chicken to Harvard’s goal before the 3rd period were classic! Go Big Red from Section B Reply J. Klein, Class of 1990 16 Dec, 2024 I remember being at Lynah when Joe Nieuwendyk was given an award before the game (All-American, maybe?) then took the opening faceoff from center ice straight on goal and scored less than five seconds into the game. It was a breathtaking display of skill and power and left no doubt of his greatness. Reply Eric Bliss, Class of 1982 16 Dec, 2024 Attending hockey games was indeed a top memory. A top hockey game memory was smuggling the chicken into the rink to tie to the Harvard goal during the 2nd intermission. Reply Jim Brandt, Class of 1950 16 Dec, 2024 My wife and I attended the lecture by the Taiwan President while attending our 45th reunion in 1995. It was quite an affair. Driving thru Syracuse from the airport, there were many Chinese banners in support of the President and just getting to Lynah rink was a challenge because of those protesting the Taiwan President as well as his many supporters. It was quite a celebration, his return to the University where he got his advanced degree. Reply Richard van Tienhoven, Class of 1973 16 Dec, 2024 My fondest memories of Lynah were at the home games in 1970-71 and 1971-72, when I was one of the team’s managers. At the start of each game,I was tasked to carry the back up sticks to the bench. Then the locker rooms and Zamboni were where it is now a closed end behind one of the goals. I would put out my arms; the sticks were loaded on them; the door was opened; and I had to walk across the ice, from behind the goal to the bench in front of the Lynah Faithful. I truly think they were hoping I would lose my footing…it was always a “cliffhanger.” Reply Ken Fields, Class of 1967 16 Dec, 2024 I believe the 64-65 season was the first time you could get season tickets as the buzz around Harkness’s first recruiting class was boosting attendance after their freshman year. When they became available, my fraternity sent a number of members (no lines, no rush, just go the office and turn in your CUAA coupons) and got around fifteen (I think you could get two or three per person) all in a row right above the glass behind the visiting bench. We had matching sweatshirts made up that said the “Happy Puckers of ***”. After about the third or fourth home game the Athletic department called the fraternity president and asked that we tone it down as opposing coaches were complaining about the “colorful” language being used to taunt their players. There at the beginning of Cornell’s winning hockey tradition. Reply Charles Roby, Class of 1967 16 Dec, 2024 Lynah holds many of my favorite memories of Cornell. I arrrived in 1963 not knowing what ice hockey was. That changed quickly as my roommate was a hockey playing townie. I loved the game from the first time I saw one in Lynah. We actually camped out for season tickets in the cold outside of Teagle Hall. I remember leaving an afternoon lab early with a fellow classmate to drive up to see the Big Red beat Clarkson. Of course, we had the great pleasure of watching Ken Dryden lead us to the NCAA title in 1967 in Syracuse. Then, years later, enjoyed watching Cornell beat Harvard with my son, class of ’99. Long live Lynah! Reply Jeff Coffin, Class of 1973 20 Dec, 2024 Camping out in Barton Hall in the late falls of 1969 and the early ’70s to get season tickets to the Big Red Hockey games at Lynah is a fond memory. And so is learning to play hockey at Lynah – I had ice skating for P.E. all 4 of the required semesters, and that was where I first played “organized” hockey (well, intramurals). Still not too organized, but it’s been a way to keep in shape for 50+ years. Reply John A. Gaines IV, Class of 1967 23 Dec, 2024 And if you have not been to Lynah in the last year, come pay a visit to see the extensive renovations to the corridors and the Kaplan Family Foyer. You will see a wonderful tribute to the Men’s and Women’s teams and alums. It is all very well done. Come catch a game and take a look! Oh, and my wife and I were in Syracuse for the first NCAA Championship win. What a weekend! Reply Leave a Comment Cancel replyOnce your comment is approved, your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment * Name * Class Year Email * Save my name, email, and class year in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ Other stories You may like Cornelliana From Corks to Corey to the Cosmos: The Hill’s Most ‘Legendary’ Courses Storytime with Corey What’s the Most Iconic Cornell Tradition? The Bracket Narrows! Alumni Hotelie’s Granola Goes from Dorm Delicacy to Grocery Staple