UVM Hockey - Worth the Wait!

I finally scored University of Vermont (UVM) hockey season tickets after 11 years on the waiting list and the timing couldn't be better!

First, some background: I went to Cornell University, and I love attending college hockey games. I don't watch hockey on TV, I can't enjoy following the puck on camera and without the energy of the crowd. I never played hockey (I played soccer and basketball), my sons don't play hockey (they play soccer and used to play basketball), and I hardly learned to skate until I was in college. I grew up in South Londonderry, Vermont, a small town in the Southern part of the state. Skating involved shoveling snow from small ponds to skate in small circles, or waiting until someone in town dared to drive on the frozen river (never a good idea - my Dad was not going to do that, for sure) to plow one small stretch of the West River where it flowed through the village and sometimes froze solid in the winter.

My first experience on an ice rink was as an undergraduate student at Cornell where hockey is king. I improved my skating from dismal to competent during open ice times at Lynah Rink. My senior year I slept out overnight with the rest of the Cornell hockey fanatics in line for season tickets.

Attending hockey games at Cornell is a singular experience! Cornell hockey fans have a bunch of hilarious and sometimes obnoxious traditions. The fun starts with the playing of the national anthems (yes, plural). Cornell plays not only the U.S. anthem but also the Canadian anthem for every game, to honor the country that brought us hockey and, just as importantly, brought us Canadian collegiate hockey ringers. Cornell fans sing the Canadian anthem with gusto. The fun continues with the introduction of the other team's starting lineup, when a large percentage (not every Cornell fan in the stands, but most) hold up newspapers in front of their faces to read the news because the other team's lineup is so b-o-r-i-n-g.  Picture the arena crowd blanked-out with newspaper as the opposing team enters the ice.  Many Cornell chants are accompanied by props - meaning fans bring things like toasted bread to games - you know, toast - which is brandished boldly during the frequent chant "You are toast!"  Other chants have arm gestures or melodies.  So going to the games meant packing things like a newspaper and toast in your pockets and participating in long-practiced group taunts, for some good clean fun at the other team's expense. Younger Cornell fans could correct me on the details because let's face it, I graduated 23 years ago and I haven't managed to get tickets to a game at Lynah Rink since I graduated (I've tried), so the details are fuzzy. But you get the picture.

So I finally have UVM hockey season tickets. I signed up on the waiting list as soon as we moved to the Burlington area but it took 11 years for my name to come up. My husband and I have made it to a number of UVM hockey games over the years when tickets were offered to us by friends or neighbors, plus my firm has season tickets,so we are not strangers to Gutterson Arena. My husband spent his formative years as an American child being raised in Ottawa, Ontario, so he is excellent skater and a hockey aficionado. Hockey is as popular at UVM as it is at Cornell - but it's different. The pep band is comparable, that's a good thing. The enthusiasm is comparable. But I'm sorry, the chants and traditions are, in a word, lame, in comparison to Cornell. Cornell is a hard act to follow.

With the 11 years delay, we missed the ECAC years at UVM, which is disappointing because UVM no longer plays Cornell. But UVM's new conference,Hockey East, is a very exciting step up. The first 3 home games this season have been fantastic. First, an international exhibition game against McGill for the first time since the 1970's, and UVM won. (Beating any Canadian team is a huge thing in hockey, let alone their leading university which happens to be less than2 hours north of UVM). I see a rivalry in the making. And then in a double-header this weekend, UVM beat and then tied (and beat in a shoot-out) the University of Miami of Dayton, Ohio, which came in ranked 7th in the nation.The two Miami games were nonstop action and the most fast and hard hockey I ever recall seeing. The consensus among fans at the Gut was that the Miami games were the most exciting UVM hockey games they've ever seen, and we certainly agree. It's a great time to be a hockey season ticket holder!

On Friday night this week the team plays away at defending national champ Boston College, which will be televised on ESPNU.  I am going to tune in and maybe I'll even find the magic of hockey on TV.