It took the Boston University hockey team the entire home slate to sell out two games last season.
Tuesday, it took about six hours.
‘I got there at about 10 to six in the morning,’ said Todd Quinlan, a College of Fine Arts freshman who could do no better than Section N for his early-morning efforts. ‘And I would have to say there were about 100 people in front of us.
‘I know at least the first 10 or so camped out. Behind them there were people there from like 4:30.’
The early-risers and punctual puckheads beat the sun to Babcock Street on Tuesday, rushing to the Walter Brown Arena ticket office’s 9 a.m. opening in hopes of scoring tickets to see the Icedogs take on No. 1 Boston College or No. 10 University of Maine this weekend.
But if you slept much past the 6:30 sunrise, you probably missed out. College of Arts and Sciences junior Mike Williams took his spot in line at about 7 a.m. and arrived at the ticket window more than five hours later, just in time to scoop up the last 13 tickets for Friday’s BC game.
‘And there were a lot of people behind us,’ he said.
Williams walked out of the Case Center at about 12:20 p.m., leaving behind him a line stretching to the railroad-end of Babcock Street before circling back up and snaking onto Ashford Street. By 3 p.m., the Maine tickets were gone as well.
‘A lot of the people who’ve worked here have said they’ve never seen the lines be so long and be this crazy for any game in history,’ said ticket seller Jennifer O’Neal. ‘Some of those people have been here for over 20 years. Actually, the swim coach [Reagh Wetmore], who’s been here for 33 years, said he’s never seen anything like it.’
Among the stranded stragglers was Student Union President Ethan Clay, who was shut out personally but was later given a ticket by a friend.
‘It’s a sad system, definitely,’ Clay said of the policy allowing students to purchase additional tickets with the Terrier Cards of up to three friends. ‘It needs to be one BU ID per BU student. Not for every game, but I think for the future. There’s obviously a lot of people talking about it.
‘Just that line; so many people in there waiting, I thought most people would get tickets. I had no idea that people would not get tickets. I heard a lot of stories about RAs that have huge lists of tickets. Definitely in the future I think it should be limited to one BU ID per BU student.’
Though the longstanding procedure is usually less controversial than it has been since Tuesday, Clay said the Union would investigate alternatives.
‘I can’t say we’re doing anything on it now, because we’re not,’ he said. ‘It’s been a really busy week, and there’s only so much I can do in a week, but in a perfect world, that’s something that needs to be changed.’
Terrier hockey tickets are sold on a weekly basis, with tickets for upcoming games available to students the Monday prior. SportsPass-holding students have priority until Wednesday morning, at which time the tickets become available to the general public for $10.
Yesterday, however, there were no tickets to be made available, wrecking a weekend visit to Boston for CAS alumnus Matt Bogg. He had planned on making the trip from New York City to see a game with his father, but called BU yesterday only to have a recording wreck his plans.
‘I was shocked,’ said Bogg, a 1999 graduate. ‘I expected as much for the BC game. I remember being there and the BC games would always sell out. With the top of the rankings being so close this year, it traveled over to the Maine game as well. I know there is not a lot of seats in the arena, but at the same time, you’d think that there would be some sort of a limit in place so that they would ensure that at least the alumni would have the opportunity to purchase tickets.’
When his alma mater shut him out, Bogg looked elsewhere for tickets, but came up empty on eBay and through the visiting schools. Both BC and Maine have sold their 150-ticket allotment, and with area ticket brokers choosing not to stock the game, BU fans are out of options. According to O’Neal, no more tickets will be made available for either matchup with two of the nation’s top teams.
‘I’m beside myself with anger,’ said CAS junior Tom Moore. ‘As a staunch supporter of BU athletics, I feel like the team owes it to me. I support all sports here at BU, and now I want to see them play a contender and I have to fight off a load of freshman to get tickets. That’s bush league.’
Williams agreed, saying the length of this year’s BU-BC ticket line compared to last year’s (also a sellout), points to a hockey-crazed freshman invasion.
‘I waited in line last year. I didn’t get there until about 8:15 and we were actually inside waiting,’ Williams said. ‘The turnout was a lot better this year. I don’t know if it’s because it was nice out, whether it was because it’s early in the year and the freshmen haven’t been disenfranchised toward BU yet, I don’t know.’