I love your passion and am thrilled to have you rooting for us but, understand what we (Holy Cross) are, especially with respect to Hockey. To say we didn't expect much from out team becasue the bookstore was caught by surprise by the teams performance and doesn't have a lot of hockey gear is quite a leap. The bookstore doesn't carry replica basketball or football stuff either because it doesn't - or hasn't - sold well not because we don't expect much of those teams. Now if we get a couple 100 orders from North Dakotans that could change!
Just to give you some perspective about HC.
- We are a small (2800 students) completely undergradate liberal arts college
- We do have a long and proud athletic history but primarily in basketball, football, and baseball. See the trivia question at the end of this post.
- We have been Division I in hockey for fewer than 10 years - since 1998-1999 I think - so the fan base is not very deep. Hopefully it will be deeper now!
- We eliminated all athletic scholarships about 15 years ago which significantly lowered the profile and support of our teams in the community. We reinstated basketball scholarships in 1999 and some of the fervor for HC in the community is returning.
- We are located in a area where professional sports DOMINATE the consciousness of most fans - college sports is an afterthought at best with most people in this area and given the above item on scholarships/profile really knocks us down in the consciousness of the locals.
So don't knock us just because there isn't a replica jersey available. If you read our message board, you'll see lots of passion for all our teams - some are just getting used to rooting for hockey.
*** Now, trivia as promised ***
Name the only 5 schools in NCAA history that have
* Won an NCCA Men's Basketball Championship
* Won an NIT Men's Basketball Championship
* Won the College World Series
* Played in at least ONE of the 4 major Bowl Games - Cotton, Sugar, Orange, or Rose.
Answer: Stanford, Cal, Michigan, Ohio State, and yes, Holy Cross!
