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Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

Willett Arena in Stevens Point has to be tops in the West.....big student turnout, student band and fans that understand the game..
 
Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

The games between Plattsburgh and Oswego have to be the top....Doesn't matter where...Stafford or the Campus Center..Best atmosphere you could ask for !
 
Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

Hard to argue with those three. It’s too bad this wasn’t 15 years ago because RIT, Elmira and Middlebury would be right there.

Norwich can be good still nowadays. Last year’s playoff run was something else. Definitely cool to see Kreitzberg packed like it used to be with people standing on trash cans during the NEC championship game to see the ice.
 
oldauggie said:
The Augsburg Baseball team creates a very festive atmosphere at Augsburg Hockey home games. Worth a mention for sure, they might be the top student section in D3 hockey.

http://athletics.augsburg.edu/commo...path=/images/2016/2/26/021316_hockey_fans.jpg
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That looks sweet. I like it when other student-athletes and teams come out in big droves to support other teams. When I was at Oswego, our team attended a lot of soccer/volleyball games. I tried to get them to hockey games but a lot of our team didn’t like the hockey team because they thought they “got everything” and we didn’t.
 
Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

PrezdeJohnson09 said:
That looks sweet. I like it when other student-athletes and teams come out in big droves to support other teams. When I was at Oswego, our team attended a lot of soccer/volleyball games. I tried to get them to hockey games but a lot of our team didn’t like the hockey team because they thought they “got everything” and we didn’t.
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I've been to Lake Forest when the football team showed up in force...added to the atmosphere in a normally 'quiet' arena..
 
PrezdeJohnson09 said:
That looks sweet. I like it when other student-athletes and teams come out in big droves to support other teams. When I was at Oswego, our team attended a lot of soccer/volleyball games. I tried to get them to hockey games but a lot of our team didn’t like the hockey team because they thought they “got everything” and we didn’t.
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Haha, sounds familiar. I remember at Norwich one night, after discussing (read: *****ing about) why the hockey team had 3 zambonis when we couldn't even get an outfield fence, the baseball team grabbed pitchforks and torches and stumbled over to the hockey house in a drunken rage. Thankfully, they weren't home, so everyone just shrugged and stumbled back.

Definitely not our finest moment (myself and another player were standing back about 50 yards just commenting how stupid we were), but honestly, we had a fair gripe.
 
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Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

In the west: Wisconsin-Stevens Point, St. Norbert, and Adrian do well on a nightly basis.

Augsburg, Gustavus Adolphus, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Wisconsin-River Falls, and Milwaukee School of Engineering can have their moments.

Compared to the teams in the east, the west mostly have older and/or smaller rinks that don't accommodate like Utica, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Geneseo, or Norwich do.
 
d3hockey57 said:
In the west: Wisconsin-Stevens Point, St. Norbert, and Adrian do well on a nightly basis.

Augsburg, Gustavus Adolphus, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Wisconsin-River Falls, and Milwaukee School of Engineering can have their moments.

Compared to the teams in the east, the west mostly have older and/or smaller rinks that don't accommodate like Utica, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Geneseo, or Norwich do.
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Adrian.....come on man 500 people.....a shame if you ever want to go see your team play there, a great program with a shoebox for a rink.
 
Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

I'll also say Oswego's average attendance slightly inflated by no shower season ticket holders. Would chop 200 off of whatever the article stated as average like 2,600 I think. Only game that place is for filled to the teeth for is Plattsburgh and man is that an environment.
 
Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

OZrebel said:
I'll also say Oswego's average attendance slightly inflated by no shower season ticket holders. Would chop 200 off of whatever the article stated as average like 2,600 I think. Only game that place is for filled to the teeth for is Plattsburgh and man is that an environment.
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I loved playing in front of the Zoo in Romney at Oswego,that said,I have also been to 6 or 7 Whiteout Weekend games against Platty and man that is a crazy atmosphere.
 
PrezdeJohnson09 said:
I think with standing it’s closer to a 1000 if that matters to you.
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Still your really asking for it to be 1000, it's akin to the cooler at Hobart, just sad for a top tier team. Few years back we had the playoff game at Hobart, the number of fans that couldn't watch because it was held there vice our rink was ridiculous. You had to have the voucher to get in which was a joke.
 
OZrebel said:
Still your really asking for it to be 1000, it's akin to the cooler at Hobart, just sad for a top tier team. Few years back we had the playoff game at Hobart, the number of fans that couldn't watch because it was held there vice our rink was ridiculous. You had to have the voucher to get in which was a joke.
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This is funny. First Adrian and now Hobart. They didn’t consult Oswego before building their rinks? :)
 
OZrebel said:
Still your really asking for it to be 1000, it's akin to the cooler at Hobart, just sad for a top tier team. Few years back we had the playoff game at Hobart, the number of fans that couldn't watch because it was held there vice our rink was ridiculous. You had to have the voucher to get in which was a joke.
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Atmosphere and the number of people in attendance are two different things.

Packed is packed.

I’m sorry you couldn’t get a ticket to the Oswego vs Hobart playoff game a couple seasons ago. Must have sold out. Probably was a great environment to watch a playoff game.

I imagine Hobart hosted that one because they had a better regular season than Oswego and earned the higher seed?
 
altazo said:
Atmosphere and the number of people in attendance are two different things.

Packed is packed.

I’m sorry you couldn’t get a ticket to the Oswego vs Hobart playoff game a couple seasons ago. Must have sold out. Probably was a great environment to watch a playoff game.

I imagine Hobart hosted that one because they had a better regular season than Oswego and earned the higher seed?
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I wasn’t at the game, but I would venture to guess you are correct on all accounts, good sir.
 
Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

Small and packed beats large and empty.

Watching the Primelink in beautiful but empty Kenyon Arena is sad.
 
Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

NU Pastime said:
Small and packed beats large and empty.

Watching the Primelink in beautiful but empty Kenyon Arena is sad.
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I thought the same thing as I watched last night. I remember the days getting a seat in that place was impossible.
 
Re: Best atmospheres in DIII hockey?

altazo said:
I imagine Hobart hosted that one because they had a better regular season than Oswego and earned the higher seed?
Click to expand...

You would be correct. The whining that year was off the charts from "some" Laker fans. When it was spelled out "why" it was, it just caused more whining. I don't remember any Laker fan being turned away at the Cooler, or any fan for that matter. But then again, people were claiming the NCAA should be taking pictures of players "warming up outside"....on the busy dead end Exchange Street..... the horrors. Mind you there is a bank, a doctors office, and the Dep of Labor Office surrounding the rink...all of which are closed on Saturday nights....so the streets were just packed with traffic. Add in the fact that you can only fit around 30 cars in the immediate parking lot at the rink. But like was said then, when its warmer outside than inside, you warm up outside.

Having said that, yes...the Cooler is an embarrassment for a top tier DIII team, but the city is nothing but greedy and money hungry. The City of Geneva won't even let its local minor hockey players who live out of town pay "city resident" price for a public skating season pass. You're not allowed to take 30 minutes of their public skating time for a game when all 30 kids show up for public skating. And forget about turning on the "heaters" unless its under 20 degrees outside. We had to buy the expensive non-marking pucks (x4 times the cost of your average puck) so we didn't mark up the new boards...its a HOCKEY RINK!! Yet we won't worry about the leaking roof. Don't even get me started on the locker room sizes....

I think the thing that summed it up the best this year was when we were discussing our minor hockey leagues end of the year tournaments (JAMS). The question was raised if Geneva could host the JAM tournament this year. The parent was pretty much told no, because of our accommodations and size. Too many complaints the last time Geneva hosted a JAM tournament. Most tournament hosts accommodate 8 teams, but Geneva can only handle 4. This is a house league minor hockey league saying no....
 
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