UConn MHOC & 2025 Hockey East Tournament (*Championship Game: Friday 3/21/25 v. Maine Black Bears at 7:30p @ TD Garden, Boston MA) Game on NESN | Page 14 | The Boneyard

UConn MHOC & 2025 Hockey East Tournament (*Championship Game: Friday 3/21/25 v. Maine Black Bears at 7:30p @ TD Garden, Boston MA) Game on NESN

Status
Not open for further replies.
As a former Uconn Walk on that played game shifts in 1982, I couldn't be prouder of these young men!!!!! The 2nd period told the story, i thought we out played Maine and came up empty. Sometimes that happens in sports. ON TO OUR 1st EVER NCAA TOURNEY!!!!! Congratulations Men!!!!!
 
I was there- to settle the whole turnout question it was at least 80% maine fans. I was stunned.
And boy do their young fans know how to talk sh----about the state of connecticut. Not even the team but the state as a whole. Quite impressive
 
falling behind 1-0? Not a big deal for our team. But that BS tripping penalty away from the action that lead to a 2-0 deficit? Proved to be the grim reaper of the night. And being behind and never getting a powrr play all night didn't help/
 
.-.
The Viking said:
I was there- to settle the whole turnout question it was at least 80% maine fans. I was stunned.
And boy do their young fans know how to talk sh----about the state of connecticut. Not even the team but the state as a whole. Quite impressive
Expand ...
You mean there's residents of Maine that aren't geriatric? That's news to me
 
huskymedic said:
But it’s your newest car - just like UConn is the newest kid on the Hockey East block ;)

There’s no shame in getting significantly outnumbered by Black Bear fans in Boston - the Hockey East Tournament is a big deal (like UConn Big East Tournament big deal) to them. Nobody is surprised (especially on the same night MBB is playing in March Madness.

I dropped this earlier in the thread - nobody is blaming UConn fans for lack of support.

Expand ...

What the hell are you going to do in Orono on a Friday night in March? Moose or bear tipping? (Very dangerous...) Of course, they get in their cars and drive 250 miles to Boston. Really, what the else do they have to do? UConn folks have choices - that's what makes it a great university.

More importantly UConn hockey has arrived. (BTW, there is more hockey to play this year.) After some false starts, we have a solid hockey program. Don't rely on the UConn echo chamber to tell you that. Go to USCHO - we didn't budge in Pairwise after last night. Get ready for a 2 seed at tomorrow's selection show!
 
Maine has hockey. We have several other sports that divide our attention this time of year. That was and will remain my point. No one from Maine will go to a Maine MBB or WBB game this weekend. They had one place to go, so that's where they went.
 
The Viking said:
I was there- to settle the whole turnout question it was at least 80% maine fans. I was stunned.
And boy do their young fans know how to talk sh----about the state of connecticut. Not even the team but the state as a whole. Quite impressive
Expand ...
Whoa easy there fella….

it was only 75% Maine fans.


and damn the seats at TD garden have less legroom than an economy seat on Delta flight 2454 to Atlanta
 
Bomber36 said:
Well, I know that. But QU still might make it. That was my point.
Expand ...
Oh, they are in at 13th in the Pairwise and no one playing today who could pass them. Sorry. But I am sure that the confusion arose before the latest Pairwise was posted.
 
The Viking said:
I was there- to settle the whole turnout question it was at least 80% maine fans. I was stunned.
And boy do their young fans know how to talk sh----about the state of connecticut. Not even the team but the state as a whole. Quite impressive
Expand ...
Lol, would love to hear what the kiddos had to say about our fine state. We all got flaws but would be funny to hear.

Besides they now have the prickly Dannell Malloy as the UMaine Chencellor. Did anyone at the game notice a shot of him in his luxury box on the Jumbotron just after Sitar’s goal was waived off for offsides?

Q: Does anyone else think that the jumbotron at TDG spends way too much time showing tugging of jerseys?
 
.-.
There were a million Maine fans there Thursday. Whenever Maine plays at the Garden they flock to the games. You literally can’t get a seat on AmTrack from Maine and they add extra cars. Or catch an MBTA train from Amesbury. And while Orono is 90 miles from nowhere, Portland is 1 1/2 hours anway and places like York and Ogunquit are basically Boston suburbs now. And the population lives in southern Maine, not Orono.

I’ve been to this tournament when Maine was in it before and they Always take it over. Hockey is the sport where they compete nationally. Whoever said the is their Big East Tournament hit it right on the nose.
 
freescooter said:
There were a million Maine fans there Thursday. Whenever Maine plays at the Garden they flock to the games. You literally can’t get a seat on AmTrack from Maine and they add extra cars. Or catch an MBTA train from Amesbury. And while Orono is 90 miles from nowhere, Portland is 1 1/2 hours anway and places like York and Ogunquit are basically Boston suburbs now. And the population lives in southern Maine, not Orono.

I’ve been to this tournament when Maine was in it before and they Always take it over. Hockey is the sport where they compete nationally. Whoever said the is their Big East Tournament hit it right on the nose.
Expand ...
The vibe of this game kinda reminded me of the one played against Cornell at MSG over Thanksgiving weekend a coupla years ago. Similarly there were an identifiable number of UConn fans there but only in pockets.

In terms of support, one indication this program will have arrived is when CT Ice is played on neutral Ice and UConn fans dominate there. Don’t forget there are many fans that used to attend XL games and when they were shut out of Toscano just gave up and started going to the WolfPack instead. There’s some damage to repair there, but winning is always a good cure.
 
DblCrossbar said:
. Don’t forget there are many fans that used to attend XL games and when they were shut out of Toscano just gave up and started going to the WolfPack instead.
Expand ...

This is not a thing that exists. This is a folly.
 
zls44 said:
This is not a thing that exists. This is a folly.
Expand ...
If you look at the surge in attendance of the WP it correlates perfectly with the opening of Toscano. They have played better as of recent too, but it’s absolutely a thing…
 
.-.
Ticket allotments are determined by Hockey East and the Garden. They generally do not allot entire sections for teams, especially in the loge. It's portions of sections - sometimes more from that or an adjacent section are released to the school if the original sells out. It's all done via coded Ticketmaster links now, not tickets distributed to the ticket office for sale to fans. The number of seats allotted is usually low because the HE tournament almost never sells out.

Looks like last night barely reached it to capacity. This and last year were the first sellouts in a long, long time. When the likes of Merrimack, Lowell, UNH, or Providence make it, attendance is reeeeally bad. Even BC-NU games in the last 2010s weren't sellouts.

Either way, UConn's always going to be in a bit of an attendance bind with this because it's almost guaranteed a HE semi or final will conflict with a MBB or WBB NCAA tournament game. A great showing for the team nonetheless and the program is finally on a really solid trajectory. And you get another crack at Maine potentially next weekend.
 
brasssbonanzaa said:
Looks like last night barely reached it to capacity. This and last year were the first sellouts in a long, long time. When the likes of Merrimack, Lowell, UNH, or Providence make it, attendance is reeeeally bad. Even BC-NU games in the last 2010s weren't sellouts.
Expand ...
If memory serves the attendance for UConn vs UMass in 2022 was around 12000 with approximately 5k of that rooting for CT, a much closer mix.
brasssbonanzaa said:
Either way, UConn's always going to be in a bit of an attendance bind with this because it's almost guaranteed a HE semi or final will conflict with a MBB or WBB NCAA tournament game. A great showing for the team nonetheless and the program is finally on a really solid trajectory. And you get another crack at Maine potentially next weekend.
Expand ...
Geez, so how many Maine fans will head all the way down to Allentown if that’s in the cards? They were prolly hoping for Manchester but that’s fully slotted for BC as a 1 seed. Either way many Penn State fans gonna show for sure…
 
DblCrossbar said:
If you look at the surge in attendance of the WP it correlates perfectly with the opening of Toscano. They have played better as of recent too, but it’s absolutely a thing…
Expand ...
They also started marketing and lowering prices, especially compared to how much everything else costs for entertainment.
 
DblCrossbar said:
Geez, so how many Maine fans will head all the way down to Allentown if that’s in the cards? They were prolly hoping for Manchester but that’s fully slotted for BC as a 1 seed. Either way many Penn State fans gonna show for sure…
Expand ...
Probably thousands.
 
I had a family commitment Friday that I had been made months ago. I didn’t see the game even. So other than some generic comment I can’t say. But Thursday we had a good ahowing. Except 2 things. UConn fans seemed widely spread out. BU was more concentrated in several sections. #2 our band was better but needs to learn to be a “hockey band”. They are too polite.

Thursday one thing that was noticeable I thought was that BU had more individual talent but UConn played better, more cohesive team hockey. We do have some serious talent though. Muldowney is a really good scorer who doesnt look like one. and Tattle is a very hard nosed player.

But I hope this becomes a regular thing now that we’ve tasted it again
 
.-.
zls44 said:
They also started marketing and lowering prices, especially compared to how much everything else costs for entertainment.
Expand ...
It also helped last year that they kinda hit the attendance jackpot with the top two teams in the country plus Maine and UMass.
 
We'd have a much better turnout if 1. the school marketed this team any further than Instagram posts and 2. we had an arena big enough that it doesn't lock out the fans. I know tons of people that simply lost interest because they can't go to games. To say that isn't happening is absolute denial. The 11k attendance to the Providence game and 6k+ to UML is everything we're missing out on.

It's quite a shame. We had a good thing going. Toscano sucks for everyone, though. Students can't get tickets and STHs who don't show up take up half the seats. The result is <2k UConn fans at the garden.
 
zls44 said:
They also started marketing and lowering prices, especially compared to how much everything else costs for entertainment.
Expand ...
Absolutely! What a super smart move for the WP to make and attract XL center hockey fans who were either totally shut out from or had no interest in driving to Toscano. They took full advantage of the situation and benefitted from it.
 
freescooter said:
I had a family commitment Friday that I had been made months ago. I didn’t see the game even. So other than some generic comment I can’t say. But Thursday we had a good ahowing. Except 2 things. UConn fans seemed widely spread out. BU was more concentrated in several sections. #2 our band was better but needs to learn to be a “hockey band”. They are too polite.
Expand ...
Maine’s band sounded really good. More like a marching band than a pep band - but unless they lead “Sieve” chants they weren’t nasty or anything at all.
freescooter said:
Thursday one thing that was noticeable I thought was that BU had more individual talent but UConn played better, more cohesive team hockey. We do have some serious talent though. Muldowney is a really good scorer who doesnt look like one. and Tattle is a very hard nosed player.
Expand ...
Technically that defines this year’s team vs last year’s team too. At least on paper. Joey has phenomenal instincts and his chemistry with Richard is as tight as can be. We def missed the captain’s skill and poise vs Maine but it’s hard to say if that would have been the difference last night. We needed an A game from each player, Moose included and didn’t get that game changing save when needed.
freescooter said:
But I hope this becomes a regular thing now that we’ve tasted it again
Expand ...
100%
 
We are a nothing hockey school lol. No recent or historical success. We are one of like 5 TOTAL programs to have never qualified for the NCAA tournament (until this season). Plus another winter sport rules the roost here and was playing at the SAME TIME. I'm not sure why you all are surprised and crying about attendance, what were you expecting
 
.-.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,189
Messages
4,556,152
Members
10,441
Latest member
Virginiafan


Top Bottom