Grew up without hockey, watched a few games on TV and did not understand the game or the game within the game. My RA who was also in my suite, when I was a freshman, had been trying to convince me to go and see a hockey game. Which I resisted, thinking it would be boring.
However, I relented and agreed to attend the first game ever at the brand new Arena (the old Ralph). My RA told me that we had to get there real early because seats would be hard to find. He was basing his comments on the fact that the “old barn”, had few seats.
We stood in line for some time. They finally opened the doors and everyone rushed the doors (my first human crush stampede). But when we got in everyone was confused where to sit and there were a large number of seats available. The RA and I got the east end goal seats right on the ice and right next to the goal light operator. What perfect seats for my first game.
My first experience was ducking, ducking, ducking, and ducking, during the warm-up practice due to the pucks flying at a high rate of speed into the glass. Whew that took some adjustment. Could not believe the speed of the pucks, or the speed of the players on the ice, nor the force of the hits.
During the game a puck flew just over the top of the glass (which was lower in those days), and I quickly looked back and saw a women hit in the forehead with the puck. As gross as this sounds I saw the cut on her head before the gushing of the blood. That memory kept me from sitting above the glass for almost half the year. How bad was the women hurt, must have been a true die-hard hockey fan because she came back later with a bandage on her forehead.
That game made me a huge UND hockey fan. I did everything I could to never miss a home game again.
In the future at the “old Ralph”, I got involved in a number of fun activities. In one game against the gophers and Herb Brooks, I had a rubber chicken on a white rope that blended into the ice color. During breaks in the game I would throw the chicken on the ice next to the gopher goalie, then I would pull the chicken back in over the glass before play started. That night a picture was taken by the Grand Forks "Hagerty", and was in the paper the next day. The picture showed the chicken laying on the ice, with the goalie’s head turned the other way but with his eyes clearly looking back directly at the rubber chicken next to him. The caption underneath the photo in the paper was “Fowl Play At Hockey Game”.
To make the story even more fun, was that during the game the rope got away from me and the chicken could not be retrieved. One of the “blind mice (there were three then)” picked up the chicken and rope and handed it to Herb Brooks, who ended up holding it by the neck. It was a very funny moment to Herb and the fans.
At the end of the game, the then UND athletic director, came up to me and read me the “riot act”, telling me how bad I was for such a stunt and how upset Herb Brooks was with my actions. I went to wait for Herb Brooks to apologize to him for the stunt. Herb Brooks told me, “that he never said that to our athletic director and in fact he thought it was funny and it was sure a lot better than a dead gopher.” Herb Brooks told someone to go and get the rubber chicken and he gave it back to me. Wow what a memory.
The next night the rubber chicken returned, but this time on a very long pole. The pole broke and I never got back the rubber chicken. Sure wish I still had that rubber chicken or at least the photo from the Grand Forks paper.
I have a lot of other really cool memories but this has gotten long enough for this posting.
Thank you to my RA that convinced me to attend a UND Hockey Game that has led to a lifetime of enjoyment. Never give up the chance to experience something new.
Go Fighting Sioux!
