Boston University has been maintaining steady pressure on University of Massachusetts at Amherst goaltender Mike Johnson for most of the third period in this Dec. 9 meeting, but to no avail — the Terriers still trail the Minutemen by one goal, 3-2, and Johnson is playing brilliantly.
But then, a bolt of scarlet lightning: an ill-advised pass by Minuteman defenseman Toni Soderholm finds the stick of BU center Brian Collins, who dekes Johnson for the game-tying goal.
The crowd goes crazy – as crazy as a scattered 2,361 fans can be, that is.
The BU men’s hockey team has been ranked in the top 10 nationally for 20 consecutive weeks, yet the fabled Walter Brown Arena has only twice been filled to its 3,806-seat capacity in the Terriers’ 13 home games. These include tilts against cross-town antagonist Northeastern University, traditional nemeses Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire, and archrival Boston College.
The previously mentioned Hockey East match versus UMass-Amherst drew the second-lowest attendance figure this season, topping only the gate of the Terriers’ preseason exhibition game against St. Francis-Xavier, which drew 2,019 people.
Last season, BU drew nearly 55,000 fans to 16 home games for an average attendance of 3,443 per game. This year, however, a paltry 42,109 fans have passed through the turnstiles — barely more than 3,200 each game. If the trend continues, the season total as of March 2 will fall shy of 50,000 over the course of the 15-game regular season — the first time that’s happened since the 1998-99 season. Last year’s team was 13-16-3 at this point in the year. This year’s squad: 22-7-2. So what is accounting for such a significant drop-off for such an improved team?
Some students cite the University’s fragmented student population. College of Arts and Sciences junior Max Fuks said there are too many subgroups without strong common bonds.
“Foreign students, ravers, goths, partiers … There are just better things to do on weekend nights, I guess,” said Fuks, who works for BU’s Sports Marketing department.
Others agreed. “A lot of students here aren’t from Boston or the Northeast … and don’t know or care much about hockey,” said College of General Studies freshman Ryan Vasquez.
“We college students, as much as we like to believe we’re a strong community, are really not,” said College of Communication freshman Theresa Spisak. “We’d rather spend our money at a frat or a club than to support our school’s teams.”
Another possibility is BU’s poor showing last year, in contrast with archrival Boston College’s national championship.
“Two years ago, we had Ricky [DiPietro] and every game was packed,” said CAS junior Mike Penn, one of Walter Brown’s rabid Section Eight fans. “People came back last year looking for the same team, but this year all … some people can remember is last year’s [14-20-3] team.”
“Two, three years ago, there were so many more students,” CAS senior Anthony Bonfiglio said. “The [student section known as the] ‘Dog Pound’ actually existed … People wore the shirts and filled Section Seven. Section Nine was all students, too. Now it’s just [Section] Eight, and a bunch of alumni or empty seats.”
CAS senior Christy Benoit said she would have gone to more games this year and in previous years if the SportsPass ticket policy had been better explained. Likewise, she had always assumed home games would be inherently sold out, so she didn’t even attempt to buy tickets. She also cited the team’s current lack of a promoted “superstar” figure, such as DiPietro or former Hobey Baker Award winner Chris Drury.
Bonfiglio, a former intern for BU Sports Marketing, blamed the department, in part, for the lack of fans in the stands.
“The Dog Pound only exists in emails now,” he said, referring to the monthly newsletters. “The word just isn’t getting out.”
Boston University is not the only local school taking a hit at the ticket office — BC and Northeastern have also seen significantly more empty seats this year than in years past. Following three-straight years of increasing attendance at Huskies’ games, this season’s fans-per-game sits at just under 2,700, more than 500-per-game short of last season’s per-game tally. Boston College’s NCAA championship run in 2000-01 drew more than 6,400 per game — 800 more than BC is drawing this season.
But hope, and fans, spring eternal. A new generation of Terrier faithful is born and bred every year, from the incoming freshmen to the many school-age children in the bleachers.
“I go [to the games] because I love hockey,” Spisak said. “It used to be the National Hockey League, but some friends … said how much fun college hockey was. Now I’m hooked.”
School of Education freshman Bridget Brenton, a BU women’s hockey player, was introduced to the men’s games by friends, but said she now follows the team with more passion as she acquaints herself with the players and her fellow fans. Seeing the men practice prior to her own practices, “I recognize players after a while,” she said, which develops a familiarity and knowledge of the team she wouldn’t have otherwise had.
The pressing question now is whether the dwindling attendance trend will be reversed, and how.
“Good teams always expect to win, and their fans expect no different,” Spisak said. “Winning the big games against the big names does matter.”
The Terriers are winning this year; now it’s up to the fans to notice.