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And the crowd went nuts. As the seconds ticked away and the Pioneers persevered while playing with a three-man disadvantage late in the game, the crowd held its breath.
It was a sea of Harry Potter scarves filling Magness Arena on Saturday night as the Pioneers won their sixth national hockey championship and first since Woodstock.
Cops, security guards, ushers and maintenance people were on high alert waiting for a riot. Three cop cars were standing idle outside Bruegger’s an hour before the game and five more all lined up on Asbury between the Ritchie Center and the law school parking lot when the game ended.
There weren’t this many cops on campus a few weeks ago when the string of sexual assaults occurred.
Fans streamed to the Border where TV camera crews waited to tape cops breaking up drunken fights, and capture intoxicating fans explaining how excited they were that the Pioneers won. But were people really excited? Sure it is easy to get caught in the moment because DU just won it all, but how did students really care?
Overall, students feel excited for the school, but can’t capture why such an event is special to them.
I guess if you have a friend or family member who attends the University of Maine you now have bragging rights, but how long can that really last? First, there was no riot to mark this momentous occasion and secondly, the euphoria faded quickly.
“It really means absolutely nothing to me,” said Bethany Messersmith. “I guess it builds school spirit and it is a good way to bring people together.”
“It is great for the university,” said Kevin Fixler. “I definitely celebrated, but it creates more of an atmosphere to put them [hockey players] on a pedestal.”
“It is good for the schools mentality,” said Solomon Freeman. “But it is important for students to remember that we are here to learn.”
Other students suggested “the external money that comes in should be taken off of tuition,” said Jason Landress. Some suggested that students should share in money from television deals and an increase in T-shirt and ticket sales. However, other students took pride in the NCAA hockey championship.
“It really brightened my senior year,” said Catherine Bayless. “I’ve been waiting for them to win for four years.”
This milestone seems to have had little impact on the average student indicated by the fact that only 45 fans showed up to greet them upon arrival back on campus.
