American Hockey, More of the Same?

Vol. I, No. 33

While the hockey world (at least here in North America) is glued to watching the final regular season games and how the playoff match-ups will settle out, there is another contest which is at its final point. And it reflects a very old rivalry.

College hockey is drawing to a close, with the NCAA final championship game scheduled for tomorrow night. It is the 2010 Men's Frozen Four, held at Ford Field in Detroit, home of the NFL Lions football team.  Playing in the tourney are RIT, Miami of Ohio, Boston College and the Badgers (more formally known as the University of Wisconsin).  Thats the place where Badger Bob Johnson and Mark Johnson came from.  Google them, if you don't know what the Johnsons mean to American hockey.

The amazing thing is how popular college hockey is, just under the radar of the NHL big show.  Ford Field drew a crowd of 34,954 for the Thursday night semi-final games.  Wisconsin bested RIT 8-1, and the BC Eagles overcame Miami (Ohio) 7-1.  That's a new world record for indoor attendance (not to be confused with the NHL Winter Classic which is played outdoors in larger venues).

The semi-final results pit Boston against Wisconsin in a rematch of the 2006 championship game, won by the Badgers in a squeaker, 2 - 1.  The regional rivalry goes back a lot longer than that.  Both areas have been hotbeds of hockey for generations.

Boston intercollegiate ice hockey dates as far back as January 19, 1898 with a game between Harvard and Brown on a frozen pond. In the northern midwest, the sport goes back to shinny hockey played on innumerable frozen surfaces.  The rivalry percolates into the pro minor hockey leagues.

The American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League both have western conferences, but in the past, the IHL and CHL predominated in the center of the continent.  With modern economics (meaning higher revenues) and air travel, the regional distinctions are blurry. But at the collegiate level, with most travel by bus, regions remain intact.

The two cultures always been at odds, the eastern egghead elite (and Irish) contrasted against middle American down to earth farmers and laborers. Of course, that's an oversimplification.   But tell that to the boys from Boston University and U. Minnesota ("Gophers"), who in 1997 staged a bloodbath in an NCAA semi-final game.  The puck dropped, followed by one hour of fighting, before a hockey game resumed. 

On Saturday night, carried on ESPN at 7pm EDT, the rivalry carries on. Badgers versus Eagles.  The Wisconsin squad is lead by Blake Geoffrion, winner of the 2010 Hobey Baker award.  If you recognize the name, it isn't a coincidence.  Grandad "Boom Boom" Geoffrion played with the Montreal Canadiens and was the originator of the slap shot.

Hockey Rules.