BU Women’s Ice Hockey

Here it is.  The blog post I’ve waited two years to write.  The blog post that needs to be written.

I cannot fathom, for the life of me, why the women’s ice hockey team has such a poor turnout of fans.  I don’t find validity in the “it’s a women’s team argument” (which sucks in general, by the way) because it doesn’t translate to any other sports in this school.

The most obvious comparison would be men’s and women’s basketball.  Obviously, basketball doesn’t get a killer amount of fans in general (except for the last game/home opener vs. Northeastern - that was mind blowing), but they are faithful fans.  The people that go to men’s basketball also go to women’s basketball and cheer, scream, and chant just as loud.  When they head to Hartford for the playoffs every year, it’s for both teams no matter what.

Now hockey - the school’s money maker.  We couldn’t even get a decent turnout of fans for last year’s game against Mercyhurst that sent us to the Frozen Four in Erie with a victory.  I think there were more Mercyhurst fans there.  Oh, and that Northeastern kid that decided to show up in his Northeastern jersey.  Get those kids away from my campus.

My biggest complaint about this is people who complain about Agganis not having that old time hockey feel.  The fans miss being on top of each other, having every seat filled to the brim, and overall just feeling like a legitimate part of the game.

Well guess what, you can get all of that at Walter Brown Arena.  Everything you miss is at Walter Brown Arena.  And Walter Brown Arena still functions.  It still holds hockey games.  You can still go.  It’s not a non-functioning museum.  It’s still an active hockey rink.

Maybe you don’t like women’s ice hockey.  I admit, of all the sports, I think there’s the biggest discrepancy in the no-checking rule.  Do I agree with that?  Not at all.  I think it changes the integrity of the game and I admit, the physicality is one of my favorite things.  But I still love women’s ice hockey.

People always forget what getting rid of checking adds.  The speed of the game is absolutely ridiculous.  Possession changes happen a lot, but in my opinion, it’s a lot cleaner as well.

But I digress.  Not my place to critique the game on this blog, otherwise I’d be studying sports journalism.  Which, well…let’s just say that’s not my cup of tea.

Anyways, my point is, if you’ve attended a men’s ice hockey game and loved it, get over to Walter Brown and watch a women’s ice hockey game.  Literally, you’ve got nothing to lose.  A lot of the time, you end up with a Saturday afternoon game before a Saturday night men’s game or a Sunday afternoon game after a men’s on Saturday.  Either way, it’s late enough in the afternoon for you not be hungover but not late enough to miss a men’s game.  Make a day out of hockey.

It’s my personal goal to try and increase the attendance at women’s games this year.  For anyone that doesn’t know, they’re probably the best team on campus.  And people suck for not going.  That’s all.