Ice hockey

Yesterday I went to see my first ever ice hockey game. One of the profs had two tickets for the BU Terriers (ranked 4th nationally) versus the UMass Lowell River Hawks game that he couldn't use, so I baggsied one. It was a home game for the Terriers, whose stadium is the Agganis Arena situated in the BU student village. I was aware that ice hockey is big at BU, as it doesn't have either American "Football" or Rounders teams, but I wasn't prepared for just how big. Clutching a slice of pizza and a pint of Sam I emerged into the stands, which turned out to be more packed for this university sports game than I've seen at some professional footy games back home. As I took my seat about a third of the way down one side of the rink a band positioned at the other end struck up, and an announcer reeled off a list of companies to which we had "gotta go!" because they had shelled out some brass to have their names emblazoned everywhere. The stadium is almost brand new, and was impressively decked out with flashing screens and flags denoting past championship wins. A cheer arose as the umpires/referees/officials/whatever emerged and skated some laps around the rink, presumably checking to make sure nobody had mischievously sprinkled grit on it or anything, but this rose to a roar when the players skated onto the ice. An ice hockey team is made up of six players, but I had been informed that this was a "slightly nebulous rule" as the squad was actually made up of about 15 players, who were allowed to chop and change an infinite number of times throughout the match. The players lined up on opposite sides of the rink and the announcer prepared to read off the starting line up for the River Hawks. Now, obviously playing away is always going to be psychologically tougher than playing at home, even in the gentlemanly rugby stadia of England, but I really wasn't prepared for the lengths to which this is pushed over here. As the announcer read out the opposition's names the entire student element of the crowd turned their backs to the rink, waving one hand above their heads, and after every name turned back, pointed and shouted "sucks!" and turned around again. Then it was the Terriers' turn. All the lights suddenly turned off and music started blaring out. The announcer was then back... "Eighty seven times world champions, the discoverers of cold fusion, the key to solving world poverty, and the only people who'll dare to drink a pint in this damn town.... it's the BU Terriers!" (or something along those lines). After the collective frenzy had died down, the announcer decided it was time we paid our respects to the country, and bid us stand for the national anthem. This was at a university sports match, remember. Now, I wasn't entirely sure what my etiquette as an alien was here, and I didn't really want to ask a stranger (the other ticket owner never arrived). I decided to stand on the grounds that I'd hope that foreigners in the UK would abide by our customs, albeit trying to do so in a nonchalant manner while continuing to sip my beer. The actual singer was of the 'urban' genre, and therefore was completely incapable of holding a note; she put so many warbles and embellishes in there that I could hardly make out the star-spangled tune.

Anyway, at the hooter they were off. The game was fast and furious, and as one would expect for a sport played on a sheet of ice, seemed always to teeter on the edge of control. One of the first things I noticed was that any player unlucky or dumb enough to have the puck and be skating near the side of the rink was an instant target for a seemingly legitimate shoulder-down-and-elbow-out-charge-into-the-wall manoeuvre. The stadium regularly rattled to the thumps of players hitting the side of the rink, but it probably didn't hurt because they were all wearing six inches of kevlar. The second thing I noticed was that using the stick seemed to be optional - palming a flying puck out of the air or blocking a shot with one's legs was also perfectly legit. The third was that whenever the game stopped the band would pipe up with a 20 second rendition of a well-known tune or the announcer would remind us to visit the sponsors' shops. The game was divided into three 20 minute periods, causing me to wonder in what direction the teams played during the third, and the River Hawks dominated the first, despite the crowd's best efforts. The Terrier goalie, who was apparently quite good, given the roar his name had got before the start of the match (although he was called Curry, so it might have just been that the crowd were hungry) and the fact that the student spectators kow-towed whenever he made a save, was tested a number of times and yet remained unbeaten. He made a number of startlingly good saves, some of which were one-on-one attempts on goal, and it was he who kept the score nil-nil at the end of the first period.

After a 15 minute break, in which two teams of five-year-olds played a mini game on the rink, the game restarted. Again the River Hawks dominated, and it wasn't long before Curry was finally defeated and the Hawks chalked up the first goal. It came on a break after a long range Terrier shot had rebounded off the woodwork and landed at the stick of a poaching Hawk, who was able to put it away before the defence organised themselves. This only served to raise the decibels of the crowd, urging the BU ice-dogs on, but they just didn't seem to be able to find the shots. They were almost caught out again during a sloppy changing of almost the entire team at once, which left the incoming defence scrambling back to cover an exposed Curry. The Terriers started to get frustrated, and gave away several sin-bin penalties. One or two punches were thrown, but unlike in the professional leagues where they let them get on with it, the refs charged in to halt the fisticuffs. And so, at the end of the second period the score was 1-0 to the River Hawks.

The third period, played in the same direction as the first as I found out, was equally frustrating for the home side. The Terriers again found themselves under the onslaught from an on-form Hawks side, while being unable to reap the rewards of some decent midfield play. However, they soon suffered a second goal, which came from a goalmouth scramble following a shot that was saved by the keeper but not cleared. The terriers had to wait until the last five minutes before they got their first taste of blood. A cross from the left took a lucky rebound off a Terrier stick and the puck sailed into the Hawk's net to the relief and joy of the crowd. With the last few minutes slipping away the Terriers desperately fought for the equaliser, even when the announcer shouted "wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwone minute left!" taking the keeper off to replace him with a sixth outfield player. They were unable to capitalise on the extra man, and were forced to concede a home defeat to a River Hawks team who had thoroughly earned the victory.

Despite the result, and the fact that I was stood up, I really enjoyed the game, and I can see why it's popular. Obviously it was all completely over the top, but I was expecting it having seen the nationally televised college "football" games, which fetch average attendances of ~40,000 per game.

On another topic completely, I'm off to Boulder in Colorado next week, so I'll be sure to take lots of piccies and report how mad the Boulderians are compared to the nuts you find around here. And I'll see if they accept my driving licence as ID down there...