A beloved University of Denver tradition, the 2022 DU Hockey Ticket Campout took the campus by storm last weekend. Typically, the moment laced with the most excitement is the rush to find a spot in line to receive a free season pass to all DU Men’s Hockey games for the year – the golden ticket. 

This year, however, the events of Friday night generated buzz to rival the tensest of giveaways. The evening would test our fellow students’ endurance, adaptability and sheer force of will. This year, it quickly became evident that only the toughest, most committed fans would stand a chance at winning the coveted golden tickets. 

Beginning at 8 a.m., eager students rushed to the green by the north parking lot of the Ritchie Center to throw up their tents and enter the registration line. Here they would face their first test of endurance. 

In sweltering temperatures, and with tent groups as large as six people, the queue moved at an agonizingly slow pace. Some students would wait over two hours to register their groups. Nonetheless, the energy of the crowd never faltered, the slow-moving line serving as a mirror to the mounting anticipation of the events to come.

After a few hours of excitement, sound checks and giveaways, the festivities received an abrupt interruption. Wind and rain swept over the venue minutes before Bleak Mystique was set to open for the event’s headliners – Peach Tree Rascals. Peach Tree Rascals were slated to perform at the annual DU May Days event last year, but could not, as the event was canceled due to inclement weather conditions. This year, mother nature seemed ready to give us an unwelcome sequel to last year’s disappointment. Lightning was sighted by DUPB officials and safety personnel, forcing the event to be halted and all students moved inside the Ritchie Center for safety. 

Thus began the great waiting game of the 2022 Hockey Campout. Students rushed to pack up chairs, blankets, food and other supplies and set up shop in the Ritchie center concourse. Vendors such as Papa John’s, Cotopaxi, Snarf’s Sandwiches and Show Pony Vintage brought their giveaways indoors to cater to the sheltering students. 

Despite the major shift in venue and the thunderstorm raging outside, the optimism never left our resilient campers and DUPB officials. Matthew “Zach” Vernon, a second-year finance major and eventual recipient of a golden ticket, remarked, “Hopefully the rain will end and we can go back to camping out and having fun.” 

Berkeley Rebman, a second-year DU student and co-chair of DUPB Mainstage cheered, “Last year we, unfortunately, had to cancel [the concert] due to snow, but we can handle a little bit of rain!” 

After a few hours of uncertainty, the intruding lightning eventually moved away from the DU campus, but the evening would still require a fair amount of quick thinking and adaptation. Bleak Mystique gave an electrifying and much-anticipated performance on the outdoor stage, as originally planned. 

Peach Tree Rascals, however, gave a much more intimate, abbreviated concert in the Gates Field House. Students who made their way to the new venue received a stellar show on the basketball court as well as a promise that Peach Tree Rascals would be back on Nov. 14 to give Denver a full concert.

Once past this rough patch, the event enjoyed much smoother sailing throughout the rest of the night (excepting a technical difficulty that prevented the screening of Jurassic World Dominion). Students were able to enjoy free s’mores, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, an open viewing of a DU Men’s Hockey practice and a period of open ice skating in the iconic Magness Arena. 

Come morning, they were bonded by this experience. As they looked around at the remaining campers, they knew that the few – the happy few – were the best of the best of DU hockey fans.

In the early morning light, they rose together, looking on to the coming hours when they would fight their way through the brutal gladiatorial arena of a line, which would lead them to the golden prize they had all been waiting for.