sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 25,327
- Like
- 109,522
Drove up to Ottawa with my family Friday afternoon. Easy 3 hour drive, almost all on interstates or their equivalent in Canada.
After we checked into our hotel downtown, we walked down Elgin St to the Elgin Street diner. Elgin St is a busy street loaded with charming pubs and restaurants, almost all featuring outdoor seating. Just a vibrant scene, great area, everything I would like North Salina St to someday be in Syracuse.
The diner was excellent as well.
Shortly after that, we headed to the arena for the game. Ottawa's arena is unfortunately not downtown but is instead located some 10 miles west, I'm an office park setting, in the middle of nowhere with little around it to see or do.
Worse, the highway to and from is not adequate, too small and traffic is a nightmare. More on that later.
Anyway, as we drove it, it became apparent that there was going to be a decent crowd (they announced just over 6000) and that it was not going to be dominated by Syracuse fans.
I will guess SU fans comprised about 30 per cent of the crowd.
Some of the Carleton fans marveled at how many SU fans showed up. A bunch I talked to said they were Carleton and Syracuse fans and I was told repeatedly that Ottawa follows Syracuse closely and is the most popular program in this area of Canada.
I have to say that the fans I talked to were all remarkably hospitable, complimentary and likable. I came ready to talk trash and left with a bunch of friends asking me tips on getting tickets to SU games this winter. That goes for all the people I have met here so far. The people have been terrific.
Liked the arena. I have been in a lot of them over the years following SU hoops. This one was a little smaller and less fancy than most, but the concourses were very wide, the sight lines were great, the food choices were good and the bathrooms plentiful.
Only problem was they apparently were not expecting a good crowd and only had one food stand open on each level, so the wait for food was exceedingly long. I didn't have the patience to wait, no food report will be forthcoming,
As for the game, what a great experience for our players, especially the young ones. Thought Carleton's defense was excellent; reminiscent of schools like Butler and Pitt. Some clutching, bumping and holding, very effective if the refs let you get away with it. And these refs really let the players play, more so than any SU game I have ever seen.
Thought #23 was terrific, he is good enough to be all conference in the old Big East. Lots of good role players, all of whom worked their butts off on defense. They are really well coached, boxed out exceptionally well and were very patient and unselfish. I can see why they have been so dominant in Canada.
Thought the comeback Syracuse made was quite remarkable, especially given they did it with so few players, without CJ and playing for the third night in a row.
This team looks like it is going to have a lot of heart and character. And pride too; they desperately wanted to win and showed it down the stretch.
BMK's defense in the 2nd half was great. A couple big rebounds too, Silent G had some nice plays. TC hit a couple big shots and played solid defense.
CJ was clearly not heathy, he made a great effort to do what he did. Hope he is better soon.
Thought TE had a terrific game. Yes, he forced a few shots but he played unbelievably hard unbelievably long, made a ton of big plays to fuel the comeback (the 3 point play in particular) and showed me a ton.
But the guy who did the most, the one who refused to lose and made big play after big plau, especially after CJ went down, was JG. He will be out go to guy after CJ leaves, clearly was a man among boys out there and was quite remarkable.
The scene leaving the arena was also bad, no traffic control and the highway back to Ottawa was a mess but after that victory, it was no problem.
Great experience. Got to go explore Ottawa now!
After we checked into our hotel downtown, we walked down Elgin St to the Elgin Street diner. Elgin St is a busy street loaded with charming pubs and restaurants, almost all featuring outdoor seating. Just a vibrant scene, great area, everything I would like North Salina St to someday be in Syracuse.
The diner was excellent as well.
Shortly after that, we headed to the arena for the game. Ottawa's arena is unfortunately not downtown but is instead located some 10 miles west, I'm an office park setting, in the middle of nowhere with little around it to see or do.
Worse, the highway to and from is not adequate, too small and traffic is a nightmare. More on that later.
Anyway, as we drove it, it became apparent that there was going to be a decent crowd (they announced just over 6000) and that it was not going to be dominated by Syracuse fans.
I will guess SU fans comprised about 30 per cent of the crowd.
Some of the Carleton fans marveled at how many SU fans showed up. A bunch I talked to said they were Carleton and Syracuse fans and I was told repeatedly that Ottawa follows Syracuse closely and is the most popular program in this area of Canada.
I have to say that the fans I talked to were all remarkably hospitable, complimentary and likable. I came ready to talk trash and left with a bunch of friends asking me tips on getting tickets to SU games this winter. That goes for all the people I have met here so far. The people have been terrific.
Liked the arena. I have been in a lot of them over the years following SU hoops. This one was a little smaller and less fancy than most, but the concourses were very wide, the sight lines were great, the food choices were good and the bathrooms plentiful.
Only problem was they apparently were not expecting a good crowd and only had one food stand open on each level, so the wait for food was exceedingly long. I didn't have the patience to wait, no food report will be forthcoming,
As for the game, what a great experience for our players, especially the young ones. Thought Carleton's defense was excellent; reminiscent of schools like Butler and Pitt. Some clutching, bumping and holding, very effective if the refs let you get away with it. And these refs really let the players play, more so than any SU game I have ever seen.
Thought #23 was terrific, he is good enough to be all conference in the old Big East. Lots of good role players, all of whom worked their butts off on defense. They are really well coached, boxed out exceptionally well and were very patient and unselfish. I can see why they have been so dominant in Canada.
Thought the comeback Syracuse made was quite remarkable, especially given they did it with so few players, without CJ and playing for the third night in a row.
This team looks like it is going to have a lot of heart and character. And pride too; they desperately wanted to win and showed it down the stretch.
BMK's defense in the 2nd half was great. A couple big rebounds too, Silent G had some nice plays. TC hit a couple big shots and played solid defense.
CJ was clearly not heathy, he made a great effort to do what he did. Hope he is better soon.
Thought TE had a terrific game. Yes, he forced a few shots but he played unbelievably hard unbelievably long, made a ton of big plays to fuel the comeback (the 3 point play in particular) and showed me a ton.
But the guy who did the most, the one who refused to lose and made big play after big plau, especially after CJ went down, was JG. He will be out go to guy after CJ leaves, clearly was a man among boys out there and was quite remarkable.
The scene leaving the arena was also bad, no traffic control and the highway back to Ottawa was a mess but after that victory, it was no problem.
Great experience. Got to go explore Ottawa now!
