Re: Purple Mavericks vs. Red Mavericks 12/14-15 in Omaha
Forget the game for a minute.
What happened after the game was one of the more heartwarming things I have ever seen at a hockey game.
While the players were shaking hands, both coaching staffs, in their entirety, had a huge group hug between the benches out on the ice which was followed by each opposing team coaching staff member hugging every member of the other staff, individually. as well. These weren't guy hugs, either. Most were like long embraces, almost a "I hope they're secure in their manhood" kind of a thing.
If that wasn't enough, every member of the Mankato team went over to our bench area and Coach Jutting hugged or shook hands with every player. While that was going on, all the UNO players were over on the Mankato bench and did the same thing with Coach Hastings. Same kind of a scene as between the coaching staffs.
It was also very clear from watching all this that a lot of very nice things got said during all these interactions. This whole thing was far removed from the "going-through-the-motions, obligatory-post-game-handshake-thing" we are all used to seeing. I've never seen an outpouring like this between opposing team coaching staffs and the players on both teams. This was quite a lengthy process, too
It was actually pretty touching. I almost expected what was left of the crowd to start singing "Kumbaya" or something. It was definitely a "you had to be there" kind of few minutes and I am hoping maybe somebody videoed this so it could be posted here.
I had hung around because I had bet on the 3 stars with the guy sitting next to me and those weren't announced until after all this had transpired.
The lovefest was followed by the awarding of the "Spirit of the Mavericks" traveling trophy to UNO (won on goal differential), which we are apparently going to have for awhile since we are not playing MS-M next season, which, by the way, I am not happy about. This is the only uninterrupted series in school history for us, with us playing the purple Mavs every year of our program's existence. I'd sure like to know what rationale played a roll in putting an end to that. Stupid. We are a school with little hockey tradition, being only a 15 year old program and I, for one, don't like being robbed of one of those few things that we do have.