No new NCAA rule prompted the changing of Boston University hockey’s longtime Midnight Mania tradition to the 6 p.m. Hockey Mania last Saturday, as the athletic department had alleged, according to Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Christy Jeffries.
Last Thursday, The Daily Free Press reported that a few issues contributed to the creation of Hockey Mania, Agganis Arena’s first kickoff to the hockey season (see Spotlight, page 5). Among those reasons was the alleged rule change by the NCAA to push the earliest time to start practice from 12 a.m. to 7 p.m.
No such change took place.
According to NCAA bylaw 17.14.2, Division I teams “shall not commence practice session in ice hockey prior to the Saturday of the 25th full weekend prior to the first-round of the NCAA championship.”
That means that the gates could have shot open at midnight, as has been the case since 1989.
“The start time should be at 12:01 on Oct. 1,” said Joseph Nicastro, BU’s staff director for NCAA compliance.
Jeffries attributed the mix-up to miscommunication within the athletic department, which had a thorough staff overhaul this summer. The new regulation was for NCAA basketball, whose start time was moved to “7 p.m. on the Friday nearest Oct. 15,” according to Bylaw 17.5.2, which took effect on Aug. 1.
“Unfortunately, it was a misinformed mistake on our part and we apologize for it,” Jeffries said. “That was not the real reason behind the time.”
The move came, Jeffries said, thanks more to hockey coach Jack Parker’s desire to keep his players on a normal sleeping schedule and to fill the rink – whose 6,300 seats looked nearly empty with the roughly 1,000 people in attendance – with more people.
With only a week until the first game – an exhibition against the University of Toronto at Agganis on Friday – practice time was at a premium, Parker said.
“We needed to get a better deal out of our real practices the next couple days,” he told the Free Press last week.
And with Agganis almost doubling Walter Brown Arena in size, the new building would make the regular Midnight Mania crowd seem tiny.
“Coach Parker and the rest of the athletic department felt we could get more attendance before [the midnight time] because more people could get involved,” Jeffries said.
The event drew mixed reactions, ranging from excitement at seeing the team for the first time – regardless of what the clock said – to a great deal of discontent in the break in tradition. But, by the time Friday rolls around, the latter should have no problem being remedied when the No. 12 Terriers make their debut.
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