CU club hockey

Last week, the CU club hockey team lost to CSU at the Pepsi Center. While I'm sure attendance was sparse, that matchup has sure come a long way from when I was going to games at the crumbling CU rec center. One of my favorite things to do when I was an undergrad at Dear Old CU was attending club hockey games. While not a varsity sport (and considering the history of collegiate hockey in the state, why isn't it?), CU club hockey was always a good way to pass an evening. The games, and the rec center venue, combined a vicious, intimate atmosphere with hockey stank (if you've been to the rec center's ice arena, you know what I'm talking about).

Let's be honest, club hockey is not the highest level of the sport, but the poor skating and low skill level seemed to make the games more exciting. It was fun to get a little drunk and head over the the rec center. I'd get to sing the fight song a few times, and, since the team was winning championships when I was still in the dorms, probably see a Buffalo victory.

Of course my favorite matchups were the ones against CSU. Lord knows I love to see Buffaloes kick Rammies across any playing surface, and ice is no different. Those games were always intense. Blood, fights, fan intimidation; those games had it all. Even the JV matchups, which strictly barred any fighting, ended up with bodies on the ice. 300 people would pack the tiny rec center, and even with a crowd that small, the atmosphere was loud and alive. I loved going to those games as much for the crowd as for the game itself.


(CU may have lost this round, but it's always fun to watch the Buffs and Rams battle it out on the ice)

While hockey is too expensive of a sport for the program to be elevated to varsity, it's good that the university has a presence on the ice. Hockey is fun, damnit, and I'm already thinking of attending the February 11th CU/CSU game at the rec center.