To the Editor:

Re: “Intramural Hockey Axed in Budget Cut,” Sports, Sept. 1.

Playing intramural ice hockey and then downing our nightcap — a Ruloff’s pitcher — was one of our favorite pastimes in college. So you could imagine our dismay when we discovered that the Athletics Department axed our beloved sport.

More than the disappointment that Cornellians will no longer have the privilege of playing on Lynah’s legendary sheet of ice, the end of intramural ice hockey shatters the heart of a revered Cornell institution.

Let’s not kid ourselves. While the name Ivy League came from an early sports conference, these days “Ivy” conjures thoughts of academia, not athletics.

But that doesn’t mean that an Ivy League school cannot produce some of the finest athletes in the world.

In fact, Cornell itself has produced a prominent list of professional athletes.

One famous Cornellian is running back Ed Marinaro ’72. As great a runner as Marinaro was, he is probably better known for his time on television than for his time on the gridiron.

While investors on Wall Street and Joe Six-Packs on Main Street continue to fret about the current state of the international economy, my focus has turned to the Cornell Athletic Department and its lack of both sound financial judgment in determining hockey ticket prices and of mathematical fairness in choosing line numbers.

If this crisis on Cornell’s campus somehow became a core issue with voters in swing states, and I moderated a debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, I think it would play out like this:

Alva: Good evening from Bailey Hall on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; I'm Mitchell Alva. Welcome to this fourth presidential debate, sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Ned Harkness, the coach who turned the men’s hockey and lacrosse programs into perennial national title contenders, passed away Friday morning. He was 89.

“Ned was a legend, not just at Cornell but in the hockey world,” Men’s Hockey Coach Mike Schafer ’86 stated in a press release. “As a coach, he had a positive impact on a lot of lives. He was a pioneer of the winning hockey tradition here at Cornell. Today is a sad day for Cornell hockey, for college hockey, and for all those that Ned has touched in his life.”

Harkness was at the helm of Cornell’s only two national championships in hockey — 1967 and 1970. The 1967 title also capped off the only undefeated, untied season in collegiate hockey history.

If you’ve been wandering around in a “Hunt for October” induced daze (I have), wondering why you feel like you’re forgetting something — scratch your confused head no more. What’s been nagging so persistently at your baseball-and-football-suffused conscious is exciting, especially for dejected Mets fans who have nothing to look forward to as far as October baseball is concerned (uh-oh). The best part is, you’re going to kick yourself when I tell you…

It’s hockey season … DUH.

That’s right, after about three weeks of preseason games that went unnoticed by many “hockey fans,” the season began yesterday, overshadowed by the thrilling quest for the postseason in the National League and the start of postseason as a whole.

Deckhead:

Staggered system will implement online pre-registration

Body:

While Lynah Rink is still in the midst of renovation and the men’s hockey team has yet to begin official practices, the Lynah Faithful will have to wait no longer to learn how to obtain season’s tickets.

Deckhead:

Staggered system will implement online pre-registration

Body:

While Lynah Rink is still in the midst of renovation and the men’s hockey team has yet to begin official practices, the Lynah Faithful will have to wait no longer to learn how to obtain season’s tickets.

Body:

After a successful campaign in which the women’s hockey team tripled its win total from the 2004-05 season, head coach Doug Derraugh ’91 had the interim tag removed from his title and is now officially the head coach for the long haul.

Body:

The business of being a Cornell student-spectator will now come with a price tag, as the Athletics Department has announced that events that were previously free for the student body for 11 sports teams will now charge a nominal price of admission.

Body:

With 8:47 left in the third overtime, Wisconsin’s Jack Skille received a pass in the high slot and rifled a one-timed shot to the right of goaltender David McKee ’07. The longest scoreless game in NCAA men’s hockey tournament history — clocking in at 111:13 minutes — and the Red’s quest for a championship died in the third overtime of the quarterfinals.