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Freshmen Bryant Wolf and Grant Dupart camped outside the north gate of the Ritchie Center on Friday with the intention of buying hockey student season tickets. Despite their intentions, they never bought the tickets. Head coach George Gwozdecky did.
Gwozdecky wasn’t there at 8 a.m. Saturday when the tickets went on sale, but he left his credit card with David Tenzer, the director of hockey operations, to purchase the pair of season tickets for the first two students in line.
“He [Gwozdecky] wasn’t actually there,” said Wolf “The director of the hockey program [Tenzer] was though and he introduced us to the crowd and told us our tickets were paid for by the coach.”
The student ticket package cost $72, featuring 18 home games.
Wolf and Dupart, who attended high school together, were not the only ones to get their student season tickets, more than 300 season tickets were sold in the 10th year of the campout.
The box office did not sell out the student ticket package, but individual tickets went on sale yesterday and will be sold at $5 starting on the Monday of a home series at the Ritchie Center box office.
Behind Wolf and Dupart in line were more than 30 tents that litered the north entrance of the Ritchie Center, where the majority of ticket buyers spent the night.
The number of tents was slightly down from last year.
According to Dupart, the majority of campers were freshmen.
“I think that this is mainly a freshmen thing,” said Dupart on Friday night before receiving his free tickets. “I mean we are all freshmen here.”
Despite Gwozdecky’s absence, members of the hockey team were in attendance before the ticket windows and doors opened on Saturday.
“Some players were out here taking pictures before anyone got out here,” Wolf said.
In addition to admiring the support, the team fed the sleep-deprived fans, handing out more than a dozen boxes of cinnamon rolls.
According to Dupart, the experience was a success and he will be back next season.
The Pioneers start their season on Saturday when they will host the U.S. National Under-18 Team in an exhibition match that starts at 7:07 p.m.
