Why do you love college hockey?

[Hammer]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

Definitely the nachos.

[Wi.Huskies Fan]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

I started watching college hockey as a kid.We would go as a family once or twice a year. There were 4 of us kids,so dad had to throw down some coin for all of us to go. That was in the 70's when the Mac first opened. I was amazed at all the people and how loud the arena would get.
When I got into high school that was the place to be if the high school team was out of town. The band, the students, their cheers, and just the overall atmosphere got me into it. Those were Tech's glory years back then. It seems that excitement is coming back for this generation to enjoy. I also enjoyed a good fight now and then, that would get the fans really into it.
Having the big schools come in made it all that much more exciting.
I have been hooked since way back when. Lots of good memories.

[The Rube]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

My roommate at the time was a huge Gophers fan. If not at the game, he'd watch on tv. Eventually I started watching the games, getting hooked (I was a big North Stars guy growing up). He intro'd me to USCHO, and I got even more hooked, talking about college hockey, going to a couple games, etc etc.

Met some people from here, at the Final Five tournament, got convinced to head to Houghton/Marquette for a home-and-home one year, and loved it. Over the years, at the tourneys, you end up seeing many of the same people and become friends (and maybe spouses!).

Besides the game itself, it's the atmosphere, the tailgating, the road trips to new places, the fellow fans, the knowledge that we're probably the niche-iest of niche fanbases of the four major sports (pro and college), and we're fiercely loyal to our teams, and each other as fellow fans. It's everything simple about why I love sports. The passion of all that is included in the experience.

[njdevscup30]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

I was born in February of 1988, just after the last Northeastern Beanpot championship. I watch this NU team every season tempt me with "This is the year." Every year they rip my heart out and stomp it on the ground. And yet, I still make that 6 hour car ride, taking multiple days off of work to see it in person every year.

I guess I'm a masochist.

[Speed Kills]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

I love all hockey but the thing about college hockey that I find more appealing than the NHL is the automatic ejection and one game suspension for fighting. That silly sideshow detracts from the actual game in the NHL, and I very much appreciate the fact that it isn't tolerated at the college level. I also love the mandatory full facial protection that is required on helmets at the college level as I am very much not a fan of seeing gory injuries to the face. But I absolutely love physical play and hitting within the context of making a hockey play, so those of you who love fighting can save your predictable response about taking checking out of the game. No, I don't want to see checking taken out of the game. Just fighting. It is poor sportsmanship and serves no purpose other than to entertain the lowest common denominator among the fanbase. And don't even try to come back with that blatantly false yet still overused rationalization that fighting takes dirty play out of the game. If that poor argument had an validity to it we would not have seen dirty play in the NHL at an all-time high back in the 1970's when fighting was at an all-time high.

[Buckeye22]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

I grew up going to BU games as a kid because that was my dad's alma mater. I've actually never been to a Bruins game in Boston. Only time I've been to the Garden is for the Beanpot and a handful of times when my High School's B-ball teams made it to the state finals. So I guess part of it is its just what I'm more used to. But objectively its great because of the student sections and the bands, the same reason I think most people like college sports. There's just a passion that you don't get in the pros thats really unique to college sports in the US. Also there's no rivalry in sports like a college sports rivalry. There just isn't. Growing up I hated the Yankees and the Canadiens and the Jets etc. but that all paled in comparison to my hatred of BC, especially growing up in a town where most people were BC fans. Now as an OSU student I feel the same way about Michigan. I think the fact that hockey, college hockey in particular, is such a regional sport gives it a sense of uniqueness. You can walk down any street in America and find an NFL fan or a college football/basketball fan, but when you find someone who's knowledgable about college hockey its special. Its like being part of a exclusive club. I also like that in college hockey you see schools that you wouldn't normally see in other sports. Whether your talking about national champions like North Dakota, RPI, Union, Michigain Tech and Lake Superior State or just obscure schools like Alabama-Huntsville, Merrimack, RIT or Quinnipiac, you're getting to see schools who play at the top level of the sport not because they have big enrollments or huge nationwide fan bases, but just because they have have passion for the game and always have. You don't see that in college football or basketball, at least not to the same extent.

The other thing for me is the arenas. For one thing, as others have pointed out, they're generally a lot cheaper to go to for what's still a pretty great product. But I've always felt like most college arena's have more character than their professional counterparts. That's becoming less and less true as more schools build or move into fancy new modern arenas (*cough* BU and Ohio State *cough*), but still, you're not gonna see old barns like Matthews or Yost or Gutterson or Ingalls etc. etc. in the pros. I always felt that in the pro ranks, with a few exceptions, once you've been to one arena you've kinda been to them all.

[The Rube]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

... generally a lot cheaper to go to for what's still a pretty great product.

Not in MN/ND, in general. This DOES tie into your arena observation, too. New arena? Jacked prices. IIRC, for the tUMD/MN series this year, they wanted $60 for a ticket. That's insane. On the flipside, the "Premium" price for an MTU/tUMD (at MTU) game was about $17 last year. That's less than half of an SRO ticket at Mariucci.

[Bonin21]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

24 players from MN on the roster and 22 that played MN HS hockey. And that's how it is every year.

College hockey's growing role in producing NHL players, but they aren't playing for millions yet so they can't just collect a paycheck and be lazy.

[Yuppie Scum]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

It's much easier to sneak a fifth of jack into a college game than any pro arena.

[bcmsu9196]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

The intensity of the games, the pride of skating/cheering for your school, the bands, the lower ticket prices, and the fact you don't play the exact same teams every year like the NHL does

[blackswampboy]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

For one thing, as others have pointed out, they're generally a lot cheaper to go to for what's still a pretty great product.

hell yeah.
best entertainment value for the buck in town, if not the entire region (NW Ohio & SE Michigan).
Terrific hockey, great seats, low prices.

[Jon]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

There are so many reasons...
1. PC games were free when I was there.
2. Going to road games at BU, Maine and NU back in the day.
3. PC 3 BU 2 (2OT)
4. Getting high fives from Michigan and MTU fans after PC beat MSU in the consolation game of the GLI (of all things)
5. Getting booed by the Clarkson Pep Band.
6. The weird PC/UML alliance.
7. Waiting patiently for the NU/Harvard Beanpot championship game.
8. The fact that cats waiting for adoption are picking games on a BC blog.
9. Long trips to Orono, Burlington, Canton, Potsdam...
10. I like the word "sieve."
11. Oh yeah. Last year.

[mookie1995]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

Cheerleaders on skates

[LTsatch]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

Cheerleaders on skates

Or IceCats as they are known in Hamden.

[MarkEagleUSA]

Re: Why do you love college hockey?

Or IceCats as they are known in Hamden.

They caught mookie's eye back in December...