Atmosphere at hockey center rocks

Leslie Andres

Soccer is the greatest sport of all time.

Now that I've said that, and no doubt there will be many people who read this essay and disagree, let me tell you why I said that. I am a soccer freak. Sure, I'm not the most fantastic soccer player in the world (and I can just imagine my friends laughing and nodding their heads right now), but I am a big freak anyway.

Let's just say if ESPN or some other sport channel were to telecast all the games in the upcoming World Cup in Japan and South Korea this summer, back-to-back, don't even count on seeing me outside of my room. A few days before the telecast, you would probably see me pushing three shopping carts at Cub Foods or Rainbow Foods, filled to the brim with foodstuff, drinks and the most important ingredient of all - COFFEE!

And don't even bother coming to visit. First of all, you won't hear a peep out of me other than to scream and shout at the TV. Secondly, the place may stink a little as I probably wouldn't even stop to take a shower.

When I was back home in Malaysia, I never missed a broadcast of my favorite soccer team in the world � Manchester United of England. People who know me know that I am a big Manchester United freak as well. Games would be shown at 2 or 3 a.m., and I would be up with my friends watching them, whether at home, at a friend's house, at a bar while enjoying some drinks or at a 24-hour restaurant.

I also used to go to my favorite Malaysian soccer team's matches. The team, Selangor, played at a 100,000-seat stadium and the atmosphere was tremendous. Fans chanting and singing, screaming at rival fans, the occasional scuffle or two between rival fans, the celebration of a goal scored, the camaraderie shared between fans of the same team who had never met before.

It was fantastic. It was always the highlight of my existence each time I went to a stadium. It was something I thought I would miss when I came to St. Cloud, Minn.

I was wrong.

No, I don't mean that I don't miss it at all. I still do, but not as much. The reason? Ice hockey. Or rather, the Husky men's hockey team and the fans at the National Hockey Center.

The first time I stepped into the hallowed halls of the NHC, I was blown away. You want to talk about atmosphere? Now that's atmosphere for you. It's not quite what I am used to, but in no way is it any less.

It was all there � the fans, the camaraderie, the celebrations, the shouting and screaming. The only thing that was not there (and this is probably a good thing) was the fighting.

And there are a few things that impressed me even more. For instance, the way the Husky starters are introduced. The lights are out, the music is blaring and the announcer is shouting into the microphone. And the entire building is shaking with the shouts of the fans, making it seem like an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 on the Richter scale just hit.

And with every stop in the game, some rump-shaking, heart-stopping music is played to get the fans into more of a frenzy.

And what can you say about the fans? Every single one of them, whether they are Dogg Pound Club members, students or St. Cloud residents, displays such passion.

And those chants! They crack me up. The ones that really get me rolling in the aisles are the S-E-X and C-O-N-D-O-M chants. NHC regulars will know what I'm talking about. The Dogg Pound spells out the two words and they are supposed to mean "score" and "defense" respectively.

I only had one opportunity to travel to another university to watch the Huskies play. That was at MSU, Mankato. Nice town, good team, horribly boring fans.

The entire game, I heard only one chant (or rather, variations of one) from the small band of Mavericks fans. For instance, if they were ripping on Husky goaltender Dean Weasler, they would shout, "Weasler, Weasler, Weasler sucks!" and that would be it.

Take the same chant, substitute another player's name and that would be the extent of the Mavericks fans' repertoire of chants. Sad, to say the least.

---

Leslie Andres can be reached at: [email protected]

Email Story to a Friend        Printer Friendly Version