How to be a Hockey Fan
Or at least a student fan of the University of Vermont Men’s Hockey team.
Have you been wondering what the heck the deal is with going to hockey games? Do you already love it, but want to know more?
Let’s start with some basics of going to hockey games. Hockey games have three 20 minute periods, with 15 minute intermissions between periods. Soooo give yourself about 2 and a half hours for a game. The UVM Men’s Hockey team plays at Gutterson Field House (also known as the Gut), next to Patrick Gym on UVM’s Athletic Campus. They used to be part of ECAC Hockey, but now they’re part of Hockey East. I went to my first game at the Gut when I was 10, but when I got to UVM 3 years ago, I had no idea how to go to a UVM hockey game. Now I go to as many home games (and a few away) as I can. [If you’ve seen hockey posts to the UVM Bored Instagram, that was probably me :D]
Recently, I found out a couple of my friends had never experienced UVM hockey. I decided to find out why they hadn’t gone before, and then proceeded to drag them to games. Now, they’re planning on attending more games (including the one this weekend!) and thus, this blog post was born!
One of the biggest issues keeping my friends from going to games was not knowing how to get tickets. The system is a little complicated, but here it is:
- The ticket office is in Patrick Gym, upstairs. You can see it right when you walk in, if you look up and to the left. With your UVM ID, a free ticket is available for each regular season home game. You can go starting at 9 a.m. on the Monday before the game. The ticket office is open until 5 p.m. On Thursday, remaining tickets go on sale to the public, but students can continue to pick up tickets until they sell out.
Here’s the thing- to use your ticket, you need to arrive before 5 minutes into the first period. (Games usually start around 7 p.m.) Once you arrive after that, your ticket is pretty much irrelevant. BUT that’s because there’s a system in place for folks who don’t get a ticket earlier in the week or who decide to go last minute. Starting at 6 p.m. on the day of the game, you can line up at the indoor track for standby tickets. After that 5 minute mark, you can head on in. From what I’ve heard, most of the time, everybody in the line gets in. So even if you don’t get a ticket, there’s still hope! Just make sure you have your UVM ID…
To get to the rink, enter the center entrance to Patrick Gym. Then go down the stairs on the right side of the lobby, take a right at the bottom of the stairs, and just keep walking. You’ll pass the pool, and the courts, and just keep going. (There are also signs to help guide you.) At the end of the hall, event staff are on the left to take your ticket and the standby line at the indoor track is on your right.
If you don’t get in to a game for some reason, you can still enjoy the game. You can follow the game on twitter with @UVMmhockey and @TedRyanVT, on the radio with Alastair Ingram at sportsjuice.com, or even watch home games online here
Plus there’s an awesome new Instagram account @uvmmhockey 🙂
Another thing that my friends were concerned about before going to a hockey game was knowledge of the sport. You can certainly brush up on some hockey facts and do some googling, but you’ll learn a lot just by watching. The only question my friends’ had (and they each asked it and at different games) was “Can they really hit each other like that?!” (Yes, yes they can.) [For what they can’t do and how to tell when they do it, see this handy chart ]
As for what to expect at the game, expect to love it. The student section is behind the opposing team’s goal (at least for periods 1 and 3) and pretty much everyone stands for the whole game (so maybe wear comfy shoes). The Gut does contain a giant sheet of ice, so it’s not exactly the warmest place in Vermont (maybe it is…), but you shouldn’t need a hat and mittens. Show off your Catamount pride! You can often get free t-shirts (like at Rallyfest, an event for students before some games with free food, prizes, and entertainment) and thundersticks to show support for the Cats. The Gut is a great place for hockey fans. The environment is awesome and so are all of the fans. The band and Rally help get the crowd going and there are some really great UVM specific chants- “We love Santa” for our goalie, Mike Santaguida and “We want fries” for free French fries if the Catamounts score in the last minute of the period- just be careful to keep it clean. Hockey games are family and community events, too…plus you can get kicked out if you use foul language. It’s more fun to encourage the Cats than insult the other team anyways, riiiiight? [And for the love of Rally, wait for a whistle to get up and move so you don’t block the view of your fellow fans]
UVM hockey games are awesome (seriously) and just like both of my recent converts friends, after one game you’ll want to keep coming back to the Gut for more.
[Check out BTM Fraser’s awesome video below and go Cats go!]
PLUS don’t forget that this Friday is Star Wars Night at the Gut! Click here for all of the info.
The Catamounts will be at St. Lawrence on Saturday and will head to Union College on the 20th to take on the 2014 National Champions and UVM Head Coach Kevin Sneddon’s former team. [So all you Upstate New Yorkers- come out and support your Catamounts in Schenectady!] The Cats will finish up the year with the Sheraton/TD Bank Catamount Cup at the Gut.
For more info about UVM men’s ice hockey and all things UVM Athletics, visit http://uvmathletics.com/index.aspx?path=mhockey
