WeAreNDHockey
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Re: Notre Dame Hockey 2014-15: The year of the Freshman
Notre Dame I think generally feels it is beneath them to show replays of controversial plays on the video boards, a very misguided and transparent attempt to appear "classy." They also are very quick to blare something over the sound system at the first hint of a bad call by a referee, thus preventing fans from letting the refs know what they think. Maybe they are getting away from this because they did show replays of the waived off goal against UML, so that was a welcome sight at least.
In the final few seasons at the Joyce the crowd was much more involved. The band was the main source of music and while they did play a few things over the PA it wasn't the constant Jock-Rock crap we put up with now, and it wasn't at a dangerous volume level, and it wasn't at every stoppage in play. The place was a lot more intimate than the CFIA and players on both teams and the referees were always able to hear what was directed towards them by a lot of individual fans as well as the collective crowd.
Despite the fact everyone considered the place a dump (it wasn't, it was just cramped and small and didn't have all the bells and whistles the CFIA has) I loved it. We were just as good at home there as we are in the CFIA. Better if you consider we didn't load up on NCAA bottom feeders for non-conference play on a regular basis. We are 9-0 the last two seasons against LSSU, UAH and Niagara. Hockey was what mattered.
Notre Dame is wandering through some very dangerous territory right now. There is a serious disconnect between where they were when the CFIA opened and where they are now. All the crap going on there that I hate has done nothing to make the team more formidable than it was at the Joyce, nor has it helped preserve large crowds. No games with fewer than 4000 in attendance in the first 3 season and now 5 already this year. Sellouts are happening with much less frequency now than in the first two seasons (11 in each of the first two regular seasons, 6 last year in more home games than ever before and on a pace this season for 5). As they've added more and more distractions to the experience, the average crowd has shrunk and the sellouts have dropped quite alarmingly. The response from Notre Dame will probably be to add even more distractions and play even more NCAA bottom feeders. And I've got news for the powers that be at Notre Dame. Its' quite obvious you are lying about the crowds at most games anyway this season. Sellouts 3 years ago had few empty seats. Now they have hundreds, if not more. And some of those so-called crowds of 4000? You were lucky to have 2500 in the place.
When they opened that building I couldn't believe what I was seeing. 35 years after seeing my first Notre Dame hockey game I was moved nearly to the point of tears as the Star Spangled Banner played before that first game against RPI. Beating BC in the dedication contest a couple of weeks after that was one of the most exciting sporting events I have ever witnessed in person. Now there are so many things about it that turn me off, the excitement of going to a game is nearly gone. I didn't even make the opening faceoff for the OSU game. As JJfP said in her post, it isn't the bad hockey. Let's face it, for most of the time I have been a fan, the hockey was mediocre at best, downright awful at worst. I'm no fair weather fan. I can put up with poorly played or poorly coached hockey. But not at the same time I have to put up with 2 and half hours of overwhelming assault on my senses. I go to sporting events because they are fun. When they stop being fun, I stop going. Based on what I am seeing in the ways of 1000s of empty seats at the CFIA, I'm guessing a lot of people aren't finding it fun anymore.
Notre Dame I think generally feels it is beneath them to show replays of controversial plays on the video boards, a very misguided and transparent attempt to appear "classy." They also are very quick to blare something over the sound system at the first hint of a bad call by a referee, thus preventing fans from letting the refs know what they think. Maybe they are getting away from this because they did show replays of the waived off goal against UML, so that was a welcome sight at least.
In the final few seasons at the Joyce the crowd was much more involved. The band was the main source of music and while they did play a few things over the PA it wasn't the constant Jock-Rock crap we put up with now, and it wasn't at a dangerous volume level, and it wasn't at every stoppage in play. The place was a lot more intimate than the CFIA and players on both teams and the referees were always able to hear what was directed towards them by a lot of individual fans as well as the collective crowd.
Despite the fact everyone considered the place a dump (it wasn't, it was just cramped and small and didn't have all the bells and whistles the CFIA has) I loved it. We were just as good at home there as we are in the CFIA. Better if you consider we didn't load up on NCAA bottom feeders for non-conference play on a regular basis. We are 9-0 the last two seasons against LSSU, UAH and Niagara. Hockey was what mattered.
Notre Dame is wandering through some very dangerous territory right now. There is a serious disconnect between where they were when the CFIA opened and where they are now. All the crap going on there that I hate has done nothing to make the team more formidable than it was at the Joyce, nor has it helped preserve large crowds. No games with fewer than 4000 in attendance in the first 3 season and now 5 already this year. Sellouts are happening with much less frequency now than in the first two seasons (11 in each of the first two regular seasons, 6 last year in more home games than ever before and on a pace this season for 5). As they've added more and more distractions to the experience, the average crowd has shrunk and the sellouts have dropped quite alarmingly. The response from Notre Dame will probably be to add even more distractions and play even more NCAA bottom feeders. And I've got news for the powers that be at Notre Dame. Its' quite obvious you are lying about the crowds at most games anyway this season. Sellouts 3 years ago had few empty seats. Now they have hundreds, if not more. And some of those so-called crowds of 4000? You were lucky to have 2500 in the place.
When they opened that building I couldn't believe what I was seeing. 35 years after seeing my first Notre Dame hockey game I was moved nearly to the point of tears as the Star Spangled Banner played before that first game against RPI. Beating BC in the dedication contest a couple of weeks after that was one of the most exciting sporting events I have ever witnessed in person. Now there are so many things about it that turn me off, the excitement of going to a game is nearly gone. I didn't even make the opening faceoff for the OSU game. As JJfP said in her post, it isn't the bad hockey. Let's face it, for most of the time I have been a fan, the hockey was mediocre at best, downright awful at worst. I'm no fair weather fan. I can put up with poorly played or poorly coached hockey. But not at the same time I have to put up with 2 and half hours of overwhelming assault on my senses. I go to sporting events because they are fun. When they stop being fun, I stop going. Based on what I am seeing in the ways of 1000s of empty seats at the CFIA, I'm guessing a lot of people aren't finding it fun anymore.
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