Everything hockey around these parts right now is Penguins as it should be but I need to tell you about something many of my colleagues (including Mike Prisuta) have beamed about for years. The Frozen Four.
I experienced my first NCAA men's hockey championship over the weekend in Denver and I must advise you that if you are a hockey fan, it's something you must treat yourself to see some year and you will become hooked as well.
Most of the biggest and best championships in sports these days including the NCAA basketball Final Four, Super Bowl, and various all-star games, have become giant corporate schmooze-fests. They are events that leave the everyday fan in nosebleed seats or shut out completely. But with hockey being the cultish, niche sport that it is, there is a true fan atmosphere at the Frozen Four that can't be duplicated in places where ticket demand far outreaches the supply.
Not that there isn't ticket demand for the collegiate hockey championships. Both days featured sold out crowds of more than 18,000 over the weekend. Toss in pep bands and mascots and all the great atmosphere that exists at big time college football and basketball games and you can only begin to get a feel for what it's like.
Fans make their travel plans ahead of time and if their team happens to come up short, so what. They still come and root against their most bitter rivals or cheer for a secondary team. Here is a list of team jerseys seen being worn by the very young, very old, and many in between at the Pepsi Center over the weekend: Maine, Clarkson (who knew?) Ohio State, University of New Hampshire, RPI, St. Cloud State, Denver, Colorado College, Lake Superior State, Michigan Tech, Princeton, Iowa, Penn State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Cornell, Providence, RIT, Boston University, Bowling Green, Miami of Ohio, and of course tons of those for the teams in this years finals, North Dakota, Michigan, Notre Dame and Boston College.
And if you are more used to, and interested in, the NHL game, there was a nice Penguins connection with this year's champions, Boston College. Brooks Orpik's brother Andrew played for B.C. as did the Pens second round draft pick from 2006, defenseman Carl Sneep. Next year might be a good year for a sampling. The games are in Washington D.C. and there of course is talk that they could be coming to the Penguins new arena in the not too distant future as well.
• With Andrew playing in Denver at the Frozen Four, and Brooks playing in Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup playoffs, parents Rich and Liz Orpik opted for the college game. Good choice. Andrew, a forward, scored a huge goal in the semifinal against North Dakota. One championship down, one more to go this spring.
• Best line from the Frozen Four. As I was putting my shoes back on after going through airport security, a man in a Boson College sweatshirt started to talk to me. Turns out he was the uncle of Tournament MVP and Hobey Baker award finalist Nathan Gerbe. He was obviously happy about Gerbe and the Eagles winning, but he also said that despite being from Michigan, he was so glad the Wolverines lost in the semifinals. Because "their fans are so arrogant".
• No arrogance with those fans of New Hampshire. One told me that UNH stood for the "University of No Hardware."
• And the skiing wasn't bad either. The world looks different standing at the top of a 10,600 foot mountain.
