Quinnipiac Men’s Basketball and Hockey Strive Towards the Playoffs

The Hartford Courant did a fine story on the Quinnipiac Bobcats Hockey team in yesterday’s edition. The story can be read here.

It is worth nothing that as both the Bobcats’ Men’s hockey and basketball teams make their push towards the playoffs, that the TD Banknorth Center will be further on display for everyone to see.

Opened in January of 2007 the two-arena, one lobby arena has gotten rave reviews from everyone who has experienced it — everyone from players to coaches to announcers to fans. I blogged for the WQAQ Sports Site that weekend about the event.

Day 1
Day 2

However, even though its goregous to look at and watch a game in, attendance has been spotty at best, especially for regular season games. For hockey, the student sections have been packed to their fullest, enthusiastic from start to finish. However the attendance by the Hamden, CT public and the surrounding area has been spotty and inexplicable, maybe not realizing that this team has NCAA Tournament potential. Meanwhile for men’s basketball, the student attendance has been almost non-existent except for a core group of maybe 20 of us, while the public’s attendance has been commendable. Maybe the 8-8 overall record is decieving the students from not going, when in fact our 4-1 NEC Conference record has us in second in the conference standings currently.

I blogged about spotty attendance earlier in the season, on November 23, 2007, and here it is:

Oh Hamden, where are you?
An Opinion Piece by Jeremy Schilling
November 23, 2007

Two weekends ago Quinnipiac played two powerhouses of the ECAC, Clarkson and St. Lawrence in men’s hockey action. As some of you will remember, last year I blasted the student section for leaving games early. Now, only 5 home games into the year, I would like to blast the average adult fan.

There were empty seats at the TD Banknorth Sports Center for both of those two games. I find that very troubling. For a hockey team that should get nationally ranked again really soon, I am pretty astounded. This team is nationally recognized now, nationally known, and is fun to watch, no matter what the record, or situation.

Friday night’s crowd was announced at 3,444 – the largest in the short history of “The Bank.” However, only about 2,800 people were actually in seats, or standing by the rails. Saturday night’s crowd was announced at 3,349. And once again only about 2,800 people showed up. Why? Why would about 600 people just choose to not show up?

The answer, in my opinion, lies in perception. The Bobcats came into their Clarkson/SLU weekend at 2-3-1 overall, 0-1-1 in the ECAC. They had barely beaten two opponents that they demolished last year. Meanwhile, coach Rand Pecknold was saying that his players were reading the papers and slacking off. That, in turn, probably caused some of the public to say “Ahh, I’ll just sit around and watch repeats of CSI tonight.”

However behind the headlines, behind the record, shows a team that was improving. It played well against Colgate and Cornell the previous weekend, finally appearing more like the team that almost reached the glory of the big dance last spring. If people actually read into the details, maybe they would have known to show up.

And big, raucous crowds do help. As Senior Forward Jamie Bates told WQAQ’s Seth Rothman Friday night following the victory over Clarkson, “The fans were great tonight…reminds me a lot of last year at the end of the season. It definitely gave us a boost.”

However, he is most likely referring to the student section. Always jam packed, always loud, always boisterous. All the way through the game – start to finish, no stopping. Why the public won’t turn out in full, sold out force is beyond me. Folks, you’re seeing top level NCAA hockey. Skip the repeat of CSI, and come support a team that could be something really special!