Road Trips

October 28-29, 2006: Governor's Cup

The band carpooled 45 members to the Pepsi Arena in Albany (now the Times Union Center) on October 28th and 29th for the first annual Governor's Cup tournament. RPI advanced to the championship game after winning over Union in a shootout, and then beat Colgate 2-1 the next night to win the first Governor's Cup. When the members of the band split up to go back to their cars after cheering on the team following the Saturday game, Russ, a freshman sousaphone, accidentally followed the wrong group to a car which was already full of people. After a few frantic calls and about half an hour, Russ got back to RPI, but the whole experience seemed to turn him off to the pep band, and he has not been to an event since. For the rest of the season, band members would harass the managers after leaving rest stops and malls, saying that we had to go back - we forgot Russ again.

November 10, 2006: Northford Ice Pavilion

The band traveled by bus on this Friday for a day trip to a women's game against Quinnipiac with a band about 20 strong. There seemed to be a pretty even split between RPI and Quinnipiac fans at the game. Since the Northford Ice Pavilion only seats about 700 (on only one side of the rink, no less) the band sounded really loud. We knew this because when we played the anthems with Quinnipiac's band, some of our players were noticeably flinching for each cymbal crash. A lot of the band was singing along with the songs on the PA system the whole night, especially "Sweet Caroline" and "Build Me Up Buttercup" (twice - the Quinnipiac band played it once as well). Dan was harassed by the Qunnipiac mascot, a bobcat, early in the game but less so as it became evident that we were going to win. We went on to win the game 5-1 for the women's first ever ECAC victory, and when we went to cheer on the team they were very appreciative that we had made the trip, saying that it felt like a home game.

December 9, 2006

Carpooled over to Union on 12/9/2006 for women's hockey. The team won 5-1 to complete their first ECAC weekend sweep, and we got invited to a hockey party after the game.

January 13, 2007

Carpooled over to Union on 1/13/2007 before classes started for men's hockey. The team won 3-2, and told us that it felt like a home game.

January 27, 2007

Took a coach bus over to Brown for a day trip on 1/27/2007 for men's hockey. The Brown Pep Band was playing for a basketball game that night, so our band was the only one present. The coach and team later commented on how good it felt to skate on to away ice hearing their fight song over everything. The team won 4-3, bringing us to 5-0-1 on away games that the pep band's played at this season.

February 2-3, 2007: Denausible Pliability

The band traveled to Hanover as the first night of the overnight trip of the 2006-07 season. The Dartmouth band had already made arrangements for both bands to get pizza at Everything but Anchovies in Hanover. Both bands had fun, and the pizza wasn't that bad either. After pizza, we headed to the Thompson Arena. The tickets we received were for seats above the glass, a luxury many venues do not allow. Using a walkie talkie to consult Dartmouth's band, we were informed that rotation for play stoppages would be: Dartmouth's band, Dartmouth's PA system (with music), Dartmouth's PA system (announcements/ads), RPI's band. Dartmouth's band provided entertainment during the second period break (for both fans and the pep band) by marching around the top of the arena playing a number of songs, including Louie Louie. The team lost the game 5-2, which is a poor representation of the comparative performances of the two teams, in part because of an ENG by Dartmouth. After the game, we took advantage of the snow that had been falling for the last few hours by having a snowball fight before the team came to load their bus, and finding the snowiest hill in the immediate area to push the managers into.

The return to the hotel in White River Junction took a little longer than expected (the snow on the highway kept us to about 30 mph), but once we arrived, we had a party in a room that we had already bought, but due to a few open seats on the trip, was unoccupied. Some of the highlights of the party were a quote from one of the managers, "We've got to maintain denausible pliability" - this is in reference to the fact that the officers of the pep band are technically unaware that anyone had brought "party fixins'" on the trip - and a man who came to the door to the room about halfway though the evening. We had first feared that someone from the management, or possibly upstairs, had come to quiet the party. Fortunately, he was rooming upstairs, heard our party, had had a bad day, and wanted some beer. He paid us $5 for two Coors lights, and was on his way.

Second part of overnight trip for men's hockey was to Harvard where the team lost 3-1. The game was much closer than the score indicated (especially since there was an ENG). Lost much of the respect we had for the Red Army when they became completely unresponsive to our attempts to start cheers in the 3rd period at Harvard.

March 2-4, 2007: The Ultimate Home Ice Advantage!

The band traveled to Hamilton, NY for the first round of the ECAC playoffs against Colgate. We stayed at the White Eagle Conference Center 3 miles out of Hamilton Center. At the game, the team played well but just couldn't get enough offense going to get the win. The Colgate band was as always accommodating, and we were even greeted by signs that said "Reserved for the RPI Band". One of the more amusing, albeit offensive, on ice promotions that we had seen all year was the turkey bowling that occurred on this night. The contestant was given a turkey and had to knock over the five pins from about 10 feet to win. After the team lost, we cheered them on and we went back to the hotel where a party ensued.

On the second day, half of the band spent the afternoon at Sangertown Mall in New Hartford, NY. The other half bussed over to Utica to tour the Matt Brewing Co., which brews Saranac as well as a few other beers under contract. At the game, we played I'm a Believer with the Colgate band. Eugene Binda Jr. was the ref for the game, and got in the bad graces of Colgate early as RPI was often on the power play. In the second period, after he waived what appeared to be a goal that hit the center post and bounced back out (according to our band, the fans behind the goal, and the goal judge apparently) that would have given RPI the lead at 2-1, Binda started to even out the calls between the teams. This lead to Colgate playing Three Blind Mice as the refs came out in the 3rd period, only to be joined by our band. Also making an appearance in the 2nd period break was a fan who felt the need to wave his arms behind Dan as he was conducting a song. After the team lost, we cheered them on, sang the Alma Mater and gave 6 of the hockey t-shirts to the graduating seniors as a gift from the band.

March 17, 2007: Safety Band!

In the week prior to this game we found out that Quinnipiac would be playing in the ECAC final four, and offered to put up their band to try to make it easier for them to make it up to the games (at this point in their history they had very little funding, making road trips nearly impossible for them). In response, the band let us know that their Athletic Director wouldn't let them do this, as they were slated to take a bus to and from the first game with other Quinnipiac fans, so they unfortunately would not be able to spend the night. However, they asked us if a few members of our band would like to join them to play with them, since Quinnipiac was going on spring break at the time and they were only expected to bring a 10 member band. Of course the band accepted this invitation and was excited to meet up with the Quinnipiac band again and to see some quality playoff hockey.

The game we were to play at was Quinnipiac against SLU. However, a snowstorm ripped through the Capital Region on the day of that game, dropping more than a foot of snow. As a precaution, Quinnipiac canceled the bus trip to Albany, and whole thing was off. However, Quinnipiac went on to beat SLU 4-0 that night (a surprising outcome against a SLU team that was solid for most of the year), and the Quinnipiac administration quickly threw together a trip to the championship game the next day against Clarkson. The Quinnipiac band informed us that their offer stood for the next day, as they were only planning on bringing 7 people this time due to the people who had already left for spring break.

So on 12 hours notice, 16 members of the RPI band held an impromptu rehearsal to learn Quinnipiac's fight song (a rather infamous ditty) and carpooled over to the Times Union Center to join the Quinnipiac band. We had to move over there in shifts, because some members of the band had bought tickets for the weekend to see the rest of the games. When we got to the game and met up with their band we exchanged music and decided we would play from both sets. Dan Schwarting and Kelsey Oliver (Quinnipiac's conductor) traded off conducting duties throughout the game. The Cup Band, being their classy selves, started up chants of "safety band", and chanted "RPI sucks" whenever an ad for our summer program came on over the PA. Someone from the Quinnipiac band made a response, "Everybody knows....(Clarkson blows....)", which we will definitely use again in the future. During the second period break we played a short Hail, which apparently infuriated the Cup Band (http://clarksonhockeyfans.blogspot.com/2007/03/game-misconduct.html). The game overall was excellent, played at a quick pace with high powered offenses on both sides. Unfortunately Clarkson came back from a 2-0 deficit in the 3rd period to win 4-2, sending 2 ECAC teams to the NCAAs instead of the 3 that would have been had Quinnipiac won. The Quinnipiac fans were generally appreciative of our band helping out Quinnipiac's (Clarkson fans not so much). All in all it was a great experience, and the RPI and Quinnipiac bands are planning on meeting up again before the end of the 2006-2007 school year.

Playoffs

Football

ECAC Northeast Championship Game @ Cortland State: Won 26-7. The band was unable to go to the game due to a lack of available buses.

Hockey

Women's ECAC Playoffs - Round 1: @ Dartmouth: Lost in two games, 3-6, 1-3. The band was unable to go to the games as they conflicted with the last home weekend for the men's team. Plans were afoot to carpool out to the third game of the series, but since there wasn't a third game, the band didn't go.
Men's ECAC Playoffs - Round 1: @ Colgate: Lost in two games, 1-3, 1-4.

Other

The band carpooled to North Troy to march in the Uncle Sam Day Parade for the second year.
Played at the 2nd Annual RPI Redhawk Rumble, a wrestling tournament, in the Armory on November 19, 2006
Recordings were made for a second CD.
Hosted the Clarkson band on January 19, 2007.
Hosted the Colgate band on February 9, 2007. With the permission of the administration, we put them up for the night in the Union.
Hosted the Cornell band on February 10, 2007.
Performed at the Accepted Students Celebration and handed out over 800 fliers to potential new members.
Played at the RMA Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Concert for the first time.
Performed at the second annual Relay for Life, and fielded a team to participate in the Relay.

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