College Hockey Belongs on Campus: A Fan's Perspective
Forgive me, I know this post does not concern music or creativity, but as some of you know, I love NCAA hockey. This is my response in support of Brad Elliott Schlossman’s excellent piece on moving NCAA regionals to campus.
My first hockey game in Colorado was the University of Denver (DU) vs. Colorado College at Magness Arena. It was my daughter’s first ever hockey game. All these years later, now an alum of DU and a season ticket holder, it’s my favorite place to be on a Friday or Saturday night. Two of the greatest three hockey players in the world play just a few minutes up I-25 at Ball Arena, but I’d choose Coach Carle and the boys over Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar every time.
This is because NCAA sports on campus is just different. In my twenties, living in Chicago, I’d get a game or two of tickets from my dad for Notre Dame football (he’s an alum) and as a Hoosier, I’d choose seeing Brady Quinn hit Jeff Samardzija for an 80-yard touchdown with seconds on the clock vs. UCLA and celebrating with the crowd over watching Peyton Manning any day. The atmosphere is just different. If I may say so, it’s better. If nothing else, I can tell you that my blood pressure is much higher at Magness Arena when North Dakota or CC is in town than it is when Connor McDavid is at Ball Arena.
As a season ticket holder, I get to take my daughter to games, but I try to take people who have never seen a hockey game, or at the very least, never been to a NCAA game. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, has a great time and comments on how great the arena is and how good the hockey is. The first-timers always get my tour of Magness and the required history lesson about the importance of DU hockey. The players who had an impact on the game from Bill Masterton to Logan O’Connor and the events that took place on campus that have led to the greatest story in the history of sports – an Olympic team made up of college kids that forty-four years ago shocked the world.
For everyone that’s seen Miracle, the fight that’s referenced before the movie took place, the 1976 semi-finals game between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Boston Terriers, happened on campus at DU. Craig Patrick, the assistant coach under Herb Brooks, won two championships as a player with DU in 1968 and 1969. He was the athletic director for DU in the late 1980’s and he went on to win two Stanley Cups as the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1990s. Oh, and his grandfather and great-uncle pretty much invented the game as we know it.
ESPN, though owning the rights to the NHL, doesn’t take the game seriously. I believe it was Stephen A. Smith, who about a year ago said the Rangers and Islanders were second tier teams. The MLB, the NBA and the WNBA, those were New York’s first tier teams. NCAA hockey then suffers even more when it comes to media coverage. We rely on passionate fans, who happen to be in the media, like USCHO, College Hockey News, Mr. Schlossman and others to keep us up-to-date on what’s going on around the sport. I do watch the occasional game on TV, I have a subscription to NCHC.TV, and for a die-hard like me, it’s great, but it’s not going to bring in more casual fans. We have to get them to campus and we have to show them campus on TV, much like College Game Day does for NCAA football.
Hockey is a hard sport to get into on your own, I know. I grew up idolizing Gretzky, but we didn’t have the money for me to play and Southern Indiana is not a hotbed of hockey. Like most things in life, I learned on my own. And, while watching MacKinnon and Makar has been enjoyable to say the least, my love of the game, and therefore the genesis of my daughter’s love for the game, began at Magness Arena. Call me a NCAA hockey evangelist, but I want everyone to know how much fun and how exciting college hockey is. I want to see everyone watch the men’s Frozen Four and have it do almost as well as the Final Four in basketball. I want to see young girls all over America watching the Women’s Frozen Four. As the father of a hockey playing daughter, we have extra challenges in growing the women’s game, but you can’t watch those young women and not be impressed. Young girls all over America need to see them in action.
It’s the difference between seeing an animal at the zoo, or in the wild. Yes, you can appreciate the majestic nature of a lion at the zoo. Especially if that’s your only opportunity to see it, but there’s nothing like being in the wild and experiencing a wonderful animal in it’s natural environment. You can forget the animal at the zoo, you will never forget the experience you had in the wild.
College hockey belongs on campus up until the Frozen Four. NCAA, please make it happen.