Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
by Matt Megonnell
During March all one can hear is the buzz: “Did you get your bracket done?” or “Is your team going to make the playoffs?” As the regular season of the NHL winds down, college basketball heats up, and spring training for baseball is in full swing; we must remind ourselves not to forget college hockey.
The 2018 NCAA Division one Frozen Four Finals are upon us. Games happened through March and into April. The crème de la crème fight it out to see who gets a ticket to the table for the finals which will play on April 7th. Fans of all teams have converged on St Paul, MN for these three games (two semi’s and one final game) or be at home ready to watch. So do not forget to grab your jersey, remote, and a bucket of chicken wings for the game.
However, before we get there and watch it all unfold, let me allow you to see what happens at these games and what makes them special. There have been a number of great games leading up to this point that had Minnesota Duluth and Notre Dame making their way to the Frozen Four along with the University of Michigan and Ohio State.
Let us step back for a moment and explain the college hockey bracket. The bracket is sixteen teams with the best four of each of division playing each other. The one-and-done games are typically played at neutral sites allowing fans from both teams a chance to go see the game. Additionally, when you get tickets it is a doubleheader. So you get to see two games for the price of one and four fan bases! This is where I come in to hopefully share my experience at two games. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Living in central Pennsylvania does not lend itself to watching any college hockey games. Penn State, which is relatively new to the NCAA Division One hockey is a trek at two hours from me. This year the neutral site of Allentown, Pennsylvania was selected to play two games at. A head scratcher for a venue as I would have perceived many other locations to be ahead of it on the selection process, the PPL Center was anything from what I expected.
I knew when they announced the games that I wanted to go see them, but was not sure I could find someone who wanted to go with me. My wife instantly recommended my Dad who had played football for Penn State back in the late 60’s and when I asked him to go he was thrilled an excited. My Dad grew up loving football first, but also loved hockey and the Flyers. He can name a ton of Flyers, but Dave Schultz was his favorite back then. Hearing that his alma mater was playing made it even more special to take the relatively easy trek to Allentown.
We arrived at the PPL Center around 2:20 in the sunny afternoon of March 25th. There were already several fans walking around with Penn State gear on as we parked in lot that only charged $6.00 for parking (a steal compared to NHL games where I have had to pay $25.00 plus at times). Leaving the parking garage we met a number of fans who chatted with us casually as if they knew us. Comments like, “nice jersey dude!” to “We are… Penn State!” started most of the small talk that came our way. It immediately made us both feel welcome by those fans of all teams. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Until this day, I had never before been to PPL Center. Home to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL and the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks football team, the arena is sharp looking and very clean. Just over 8,400 can comfortably sit in this arena that opened up in September of 2014. The venue features a lower bowl, two levels of box seats on one side, and a balcony level that “J” shapes around part of the opposite wall. It is an intimate setting that does not make you feel crammed in. The jumbo-tron had one of the best visuals looks to it and the acoustics allowed for a crystal clear sound from the game.
Before we took our seats in section 101, we casually walked the concourse. During our travels to the arena I mentioned we would most likely see other game worn jerseys proudly being worn. I did not lie and the owners of these jerseys did not disappoint. We had just orders some pretzel bites with beer cheese when I heard a “Hey!!!” As I turned to look a young man in his 20’s held up his hand for a high five and walked over to me. He too was wearing a Boston University jersey. He smiled as we slapped palms and said, “Go Terriers!” I grinned and said “oh yeah!” back. We chatted ever so briefly about the team we both donned jerseys of and their chances of winning. As he politely excused himself to go sit with his friends he wished me well and said he loved my Colin Wilson jersey. I waved and we soon resumed eating our pretzel bites and making sure to not waste any of that cheese.
These games are like what just happened: Random people who you may not even know being kind and extremely friendly, all converging to watch a game which involves not so friendly sounding penalties like “slashing” and “ roughing”. Throughout the day we talked, laughed, and chatted with random people… all of whom we did not catch one name of or drop our own. Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Game worn jerseys coming out the college ranks differ from their NHL counter parts in many ways. The first being that there is generally only one set of each jersey. This means one road, one home, and one alternate if they wear one. The wear is consistently much better in the NCAA due to checks and speed o the game. More marks, repairs, holes, and overall use seem to happen in them as a general rule of thumb. Each team is different, but some teams recycle the jerseys from year to year for the player, so a player may be able to wear his Freshman shirt his sophomore year and so forth. This adds to wear if done and can decrease the amount of gamers per player. A college player on a team who wears just a road and home jersey for the four years he is at the school is likely to wear 8 jerseys (4 home and 4 road; or one of each a year). At the conclusion of the senior year, the player is generally given a jersey he wore. The jersey varies by team, but is usually a senior year shirt. If the players get the Frozen Four and win, they are also allowed to keep that jersey generally as well. The above are rules, but not always the norm and it important to familiarize yourself with each team’s practices through the years. It is rather interesting to learn as well.
The first game featured OSU (The Ohio State University) versus Ivy League School Princeton. Both schools brought their bands and politely took turns during stoppages playing music and snippets of famous songs. The theme to “Game of Thrones” to the 80’s Rocky gem “Eye of the Tiger” could be heard when stoppages occurred and the Princeton crew who were dressed in white dress shirts, black ties, orange plaid jackets, black pants, and Italian “boater” hats played more despite OSU having more members. The drum majors both wore all white penguin suits, with the long tails on their coats, danced, and otherwise led their band to some great music. OSU which was above us an only visible from the jumbo-tron also played a lot of great songs to pump up the fans.
At the first drop of the puck, OSU looked to be weaker team with Princeton just pushing forward with speed and ease. Around the sixteen minutes into the first period, OSU finally evened out the intensity and controlling the play in their favor for the entirety of the game. Even through the loss, Princeton fans would not be silenced, cheering hard and loud for their beloved school. The entire officiating was great with the right amount of double-checking done during goals. During the game and before I saw many gamers around the rink, but not as many as the next game.
At the conclusion of the game several Penn State and Denver fans had entered the building and the empty seats dwindled pretty quick. The jumbo-tron featured many fans as the countdown to second game’s opening faceoff was to occur. It was evident early on that many of the fans here supported Penn State, but there were a strong minority of Denvers fans who were ready to deal with noisy PSU group.
With minutes before opening faceoff clicking down, the big screen above center ice pointed at Denver fan who unrolled a MASSIVE six-foot by six-foot banner from last season of Denver’s number one status that the Penn State crowd did not really appreciate. Light hearted boos erupted and soon the screen switched to other fans and the booing stopped.
Then again with minute or so before faceoff, the screen once again showed an image of the crowd favorite Denver fan and his big banner. He was rolling it up, when the boos started and unaware that the camera was on him. As the booing became louder he turned to look back at the jumbo-tron and definitely saw himself because he reached for that poster, unrolled it, and displayed it in rather record timing increasing the light-hearted booing. This would be a constant source of fun and excitement throughout the game without the booing getting out of hand.
Penn State attempted to play a hard hitting game, but Denver absorbed and more so evaded the heavy checks. The game’s first period ended with Denver outshooting Penn State two to one. At this point we needed to stretch our feet and walk around.
Up on the concourse the random acts of kindness and fun continued with a Michigan fan quoting Scott Stevens after he took out Eric Lindros during the 2000 Cup run and pointed to players on the Flyers’ bench saying, “You’re next!” I joked with the Michigan college student and he shook my hand smiling say, “Good luck.” He was wearing a pretty neat Michigan gamer of which I should have inquired about since it was a Jack Johnson maize jersey with stick marks.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
A few feet later I felt a tap on my shoulder and as I turned this woman “yell, GO BU!” She hugged me as if we knew each other whipped open her jacket to reveal a Boston University sweatshirt which matched my hat and jersey. I replied back with “Go Terriers” and thanked God, my wife did not see, although she is probably going to read this. This fan and I talked for a few minutes as my Dad spoke to a guy about his Penn State jersey. The guy was just fascinated by it and how he came to own it.
Lastly, as we swung around made our way back to our seat another guy stopped me and wanted to take a picture with me since he was trying to take a picture with everyone who had on a college jersey from different teams. Apparently, I was the token Boston University guy. So we did and he thanked me, even offering to buy me a beer.
As we walked around more I saw a lot of unique game worn jerseys which seem to only come out to play during the build up to the frozen four. A Jack Skille, Wisconsin gamer complete with repair passed by me. Then I did a double take as a Michigan state Anson Carter strolled past me. Finally, we saw a few parents wearing a few gamers of their kids. How could I tell? When the mom has the home and Dad has the away jersey, both with marks and repairs, it is fairly easy to hypothesize what they have.
Back in our seats for the second and third period, the game took a dramatic turn for the worse in regards to officiating per many of the Penn State fans. One gentleman behind us, yelled out, “Go back to footlocker and put that outfit to use you bum!” I would be lying if both my Dad and I didn’t laugh. At the six seconds left in the 2nd period, the ice crew came out to get the snow off the ice which also didn’t help the fans who wondered why this was necessary when the puck was at center ice for faceoff. When the final whistle blew Penn State would end up losing to the Pioneers and ending their Frozen Four journey.
Even on the way out the fans were so kind, holding doors, talking, saying “next time Denver, we’ll get you!” or “Good Game Happy Valley!” It was far different than some of the more vicious NHL fan rivalries. Going to these games is a great way to see tomorrow’s stars before they are famous. The NCAA games represent a different game, with many of the same rules and equally as fast.
I know family can be a pain for some, but I had a really great time taking my Dad and sharing the excitement of seeing the game. We both enjoyed the time and if I can advise people of anything, do things with the ones who mean the most to you. You truly never know how much time you have with friends and family. Try to make each time awesome and like so many other things in life, do not put off tomorrow, what you can do today!