The last time I covered a playoff hockey game, I ended up calling the game while sitting inside a Zamboni tire. That one was an opening round matchup in Class A hockey…last Friday, I decided to take in the Section 4AA championship from the Warner Coliseum between Hill-Murray and White Bear Lake. I posted the game recap on Examiner.com and it was a fun game to watch, but what really blew me away was the crowd.
I always figured that section final hockey would be a big deal, but I was completely unprepared for just how big of a deal this game was. At 6pm, when the puck was scheduled to drop, there were two big lines outside the gates to get into the Coliseum. The parking lots were absolutely jammed. People dressed in green for Hill-Murray and orange for White Bear Lake were trying everything to get into the arena quickly. Luckily for me, I got to sneak in through the press gate and set up shop down in the front row behind the benches- that’s right, no sitting in a tire this time.
The Warner Coliseum holds 5,250 people, and by the end of the first period, there were only a handful of open seats remaining. Students from Hill-Murray and White Bear Lake were trading chants back and forth and every big hit and shot on goal got the sellout crowd rocking. The players certainly brought the intensity, as it seems liked each goalie got sprayed by snow every time he held the puck (and a teammate of that goalie gave the snower a little bit of shot after said snowing).
As Hill-Murray pulled away, their fans kept the chanting going, using a lot of the chants Gophers students use (the cleaner ones, anyway). In response, White Bear’s students launched into a rollicking version of “Sweet Caroline” that would’ve met the standard of Red Sox fans out in Fenway Park. It really was a great experience to be on hand for a game like that- really, 5,000 people on hand for a non-state high school hockey game!- and I’ll be looking forward to catching a few more of those in years to come.
