Cary Crocker, class of 2014, has a request. He’s asking Connecticut College students to not throw fish at him. Or loose change. Or bananas, for that matter. By and large, he seems to be opposed to projectiles of any kind, at least on February 28th, when he and the rest of the Club Hockey Team will contend with the Coast Guard Academy (CGA) at the Dayton Arena—both teams’ home rink. For the uninitiated, the CGA vs. Conn College Club Hockey game is quite likely the most fiery, malicious and, in reality, largely unfounded sports rivalry at Connecticut College.
The ferocity and tension of this game is evidenced by the diverse array of objects that have been made airborne by drunken Conn students over the years, usually thrown appreciatively in the direction of Crocker’s head. In his four years on the team, he’s observed the impressive scope both of students’ inebriated creativity and their throwing arms. “My freshman year it was a fish…Then my sophomore year it was loose change…recently it’s just been fruits and vegetables from Harris.”
He’s earnest in his plea about not throwing stuff, and actually seems a little sad about it: “The fish we just picked it up and got it off the ice, but loose change can actually kind of hurt people when thrown.”
Baseless though this heated rivalry may be, it draws a big crowd. Crocker, who serves as the president/captain of the team, tells me he isn’t sure why the rivalry is so fierce, but that he knows people who have never been to any Varsity Hockey games but have been faithful attendees to this particular event every year. He’s also not sure of the history of the game, but guesses it has been a long time, at least ten or fifteen years.
Perhaps because it is an invitation to get drunk and throw perishables, “kind of like Medieval Times,” Crocker adds, the attendance is easily the highest of any club sports event and sometimes even rivals varsity events.
Most surprisingly, the supposed animosity towards the opponent doesn’t seem to come from the players, for the most part. Crocker tells me that on the ice, mutual loathing is largely absent and that players, on both teams, are mostly civil. Any nastiness is largely innate, not game-specific, and that “People who are going to say [nasty] things on the ice are going to say things on the ice…no matter what game it is.” Regardless, it seems like the players are too busy dodging missiles of various sort and praying that this isn’t the game that forces the college to disband their team.
If Cary does feel any animosity toward CGA or its hockey players, it was largely overshadowed in our interview by successive pleas for improved behavior at the game. Very politely, Crocker mentioned that that while he and the team appreciate the support and enthusiasm of the fans, the conduct of attendees threatens his club’s existence.
At the time of our interview, he had just been in a meeting with faculty members of Student Life who had been made aware of the kinds of objects and insults that are thrown at the game and was not happy about it. They relayed to Crocker that “people in the past have shouted [unkind] things, particularly about Coast Guard women—something like ‘we have real women and Coast Guard doesn’t,’” said Crocker, which he finds really regrettable and, frankly, unacceptable.
The game is notorious for the drunkenness of its fans, something that Crocker is also requesting be taken down a notch this year. “We don’t always have the best reputation on campus [because of the behavior of the fans],” he said. The team is trying to change this and seems to be doing a pretty good job. This past year, they’ve successfully fundraised for breast cancer research and are now partnering with Relay for Life. All in all, they seem like really good guys—so much so that the alleged viciousness of this game is a little surprising.
Crocker maintains that the competition is solely on the ice. Even when prodded with leading questions about his feelings towards the opponent, Crocker is the picture of a gracious, friendly and sportsmanlike competitor. “It feels like any other game, although maybe the pressure’s on a little more because there are so many fans. Any other game we might have 5 or 10 people, but at this game our stand is full.” Unlike most sports events at Conn, student attendance is not the problem.
Nick Kensey ’14, a devoted fan and three-year attendee, admitted an unhesitant sense of obligation to hate the Coast Guard during these 60 minutes. Kensey is one of many dutiful agitators at the event, which he calls a “classic representation of an emotional-rooted rivalry that is exciting to be a part of.” Although he maintains a high degree of respect for CGA and has befriended a number of its students while at Conn, “at the game, all friendships and respect dissipate, and my feelings toward the Coast Guard turn bitter as the importance of the game comes into perspective.”
Perhaps out of a professional responsibility to be ambassadorial, Ted Steinberg ’16, SGA Vice President, former player and current fan, explained the appeal of the game more diplomatically: “We don’t always have the most athletic spirit here, in terms of spectators, but for this game, everyone comes out and supports Conn in the Battle of Route 32, as we call it.”
Dewey Worker, who spoke on behalf of the CGA coaching staff, also reflected fondly on the boisterous atmosphere of the game: “Phil Siena [the rink’s Zamboni driver] has even been known to allow guest riders (mascots) on the Zamboni, and if I recall correctly, even slide out of the snow machine to much applause.”
The history of and reasons behind the rivalry is murky, but fans don’t seem to need a strongly documented historical tradition to show up and shout. “It would be an abomination if the Coast Guard had more fans on the bench than Conn,” said Kensey, adding that, “the atmosphere at the games is one of benign malevolence, in which both benches are screaming at each other, the players, and anyone in the vicinity in order to come out victorious.”
Needless to say, Kensey will be attending this year’s game (his last occasion to do so) and will bring with him a profound loyalty to the “tradition that every Camel is born into.”
Getting to the heart of the story, the rivalry between CGA and Conn is what students make it to be. This game has become more of a cultural event than an athletic one, and like most sports rivalries, would be nothing without its fans.
People clearly value this event, and so for your own sake as well as Crocker’s, respect the wishes of possibly the nicest person at this college, who has oddly become the spokesperson for one of its of most not-nice events. Please, foster the competitive spirit through your continued attendance and animated yet respectful cheering, not through Coors Light and launched tomatoes.
