It doesn’t matter that we all left with Chelsea Dagger stuck
in our heads. It doesn’t matter that we had to explore Grand Forks (and East Grand Forks) for eight
hours. It doesn’t even matter that Matt Grzelcyk didn’t acknowledge me at all
during warm ups (one day...). North Dakota was the place to be this weekend.
For those of you that seriously live underneath a rock, The
Dog Pound sent out 23, that’s right – TWENTY THREE – students to Grand Forks. Yeah we're all a little crazy for doing it, but it was worth it.
Here's the thing about North Dakota, it's hockey country. Really though. The whole god damn state. Everywhere we looked there were people with Sioux (I mean, North Dakota hockey) gear. In between farmlands and hunting stores, there were fans galore. Even though we were able to uncover a few South Dakota State University tshirts, it's clear that 11, 977 seats aren't enough for those fans.
But that didn't matter. Not to any of us. We were just a bunch of alumni, recent grads, and current students who care about nothing more than BU hockey. That pink shirt fan and her obnoxious boyfriend can yell at us all they want and that crazy lady can try and keep us from chanting, but we won't ever back down from supporting our team.
We're louder than North Dakota fans - we're more, ahem, intelligent as well - and even on Friday night when we were down we weren't giving up on the noise. We all enjoyed slowing down our chants and becoming the student section's puppet master. For those two games, our Terrier Pride was stronger than ever.
You know how Garrett Noonan looks when he's about really to kill a dude? Well we got a chance to see him surprised and genuinely happy. You know the winks that Matt O'Connor likes to throw our way? Good news is he still acknowledges "sexy goalie" all the way from the upper deck. And you all know Parker the business man. But now we all know the fist pounding, joke cracking Jack.
Sure a smile, a stick salute, and a tweet here and there doesn't seem like much to travel 1,700 miles for. Or break the bank on. But that's why we're god damn Terriers. People can rag on the program all they want, the school all the want, but we all care more about our teams than most people. Even the North Dakota moms know that none of their students will be showing their faces in Agganis next year. After six months of planning, we all can say we pulled off one of the greatest trips the school has ever seen. And you bet your ass there's more of it in the future.
Oh, and a moment to get real - thanks a ton to the Friends of BU Hockey for being so gracious to us. We were going to travel to the middle of nowhere no matter what, but it was even better with you all being there, too.
How long until Denver?
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