The Coast Guard Game elicits the kind of sports-induced, crazed school spirit that can be hard to find around here sometimes. There is just something about playing your across-the-street rival that is close enough to share a Yik Yak feed with, that brings out the inner Camel in all of us. And for the most part, it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
It is especially fun when we win, which we did handily 7-2.
The shenanigans that go along with the game live in infamy amongst the administration. The kind of infamy that results in a campus-wide email from Dean Arcelus that contains a, “nice balance of expectations for conduct with positive support of the teams and celebration within the community.” We should start calling ourselves the Camel Crazies.
The game itself, as far as the hockey was concerned, was pretty wacky. The first period alone saw seven penalties, four goals, one ejection (a Conn player took a swing at a Coast Guard player), and no squids. But squid fans didn’t leave unhappy as the second period saw two squids thrown onto the ice, both flung by Coasties. The first one was in line with hockey tradition and thrown after Coast Guard’s first goal, and the second one was hurled in frustration due to the fact that Coast Guard was unable to score again in the second and that particular cadet was probably tired of holding onto a squid.
If it had been just the two squids that were thrown, it would have been fine, but unfortunately the game was marred by the sheer amount of garbage that was thrown onto the ice. Most of it was beer cans, and most of it was thrown by the aforementioned Camel Crazies. Fans not throwing stuff and players were united in their common frustration as each thing thrown onto the ice caused a stoppage of play and a two-minute delay of game penalty. This resulted in a jerky second period that saw ten penalties. Needless to say it wasn’t the best period.
Next year guys, let’s agree to not throw shit on to the ice and let the boys play.
Something else we should probably fix for next year: the side of the ice we sit on. Conn fans were sitting on the inside bleachers, so if we wanted to stretch our legs or head back to campus, we had to wade through a sea of cadets. I saw one guy lose a hat. So next year, let’s sit on the near side bleachers.
That being said, there was a rowdy energy at the game that is exceedingly hard to come by at a NESCAC school like ours, and it was fantastic. Dayton Arena was packed to the rafters, the glass was rattled consistently, and the chants were loud. The banter between Camel fans and the cadets is the best part. Maybe “Navy rejects” is a little harsh, but who am I to argue with a classic, and a chorus of “Daddy’s Money” always faithfully counters it. What’s that sound? It’s school spirit.
Some rapid-fire fun-facts: Strangely, goals were scored exactly 33 seconds into the first and third period (the first one was scored by us and the second one was scored by them.) Senior captain Matt Orenstein scored Conn’s and the game’s seventh and final goal. Conn killed an entire two-minute 5-on-3 power play as part of a successful five-minute penalty kill late in the first period. And finally, although I don’t have the actual time on this, there was undoubtedly more 4-on-3 hockey played in this game than there has been in the entire NHL so far this season.
It was a great game for fans who like a lot of open ice, a lot of all-in offense, and very little defensive commitment.
Hockey aside though, it was a great game for every fan in attendance (minus the throwing stuff part). Whether you like hockey or not, and whether you have friends on the team or not, it is a ton of fun to root for your school.
Most of us, myself included, came to Conn partly because we wanted a small school in the Northeast. One of the known sacrifices that we made in doing so was getting to experience a big-time athletic program. Now I’m not saying that Conn vs Coast Guard is Michigan vs Michigan State, but for 60 minutes each spring we get to cheer like it is, and that is pretty cool.
The bottom line is this: Barrack Obama may have given his commencement address over there, but we are just flat-out better at club hockey than The United States Coast Guard Academy. That has to count for something. •
