#ItsMoreThanJustClubHockey: One Year Later
It was a little over a year ago that I began using the hashtag #ItsMoreThanJustClubHockey (you can find my original post here) here on my blog in efforts to get people to realize how great club hockey really is.
So, what’s happened in the past year to make more people appreciate the sport and the athletes that are involved in it?
WACHA made it to the National Semifinal game this past season yet again and the school did put out a story. They went 10-0 to begin the season and earned their first #1 ranking in program history and swept the reigning national champs and the school immediately put out a story.
Men’s ACHA D1 has had a recap on the school’s website of nearly every game and the crowds at their games have been growing and growing thanks to the efforts of new head coach Gary Astalos.
Even the Men’s Gold and Black teams are getting recaps every now and again. There’s room for improvement on the school’s end for these two teams, but we are getting closer and closer as the days go on.
Looking past those obvious indicators of the “success” of this social media campaign is seeing the results live and in person.
Every Men’s D1 game as had at least a small crowd this year, not just the games against fierce rivals. WACHA is getting more and more of a crowd and so are Gold and Black.
November 6th was a Sunday and the Men’s D1 team was at home playing Mercyhurst in an afternoon game. There was a slight crowd at Arrington Ice Arena, but nothing like a Saturday night or Friday night game would draw. Unbeknownst to the majority of people in the arena, junior Brad Kobryn was only two goals away from Adrian hockey history. I watched him score goal number 102 that game 5 minutes into the second period. I rushed to the box to tell the announcer that with one more goal, he would outscore the highest scoring player in school history, former NCAA standout player who went on to play pro hockey.
Sure enough, three minutes later Kobryn sent home his second of the night to put him at 103 career goals in only 79 career games. After the goal was announced, the announcer made it known throughout the arena that with that goal, the Men’s ACHA D1 team now had the highest scoring player in Adrian College hockey history playing for them.
As he made that announcement, everyone in the stands, in WOW and the players on the bench stopped what they were doing and started to cheer. The announcement didn’t even get finished before everyone was yelling and clapping and cheering and the players hit their sticks on the bench.
At that moment, for those few minutes of time, nobody in that arena cared that it was ACHA hockey being played on that ice. All that mattered was that someone out there had just hit one of the biggest, if not the biggest, milestones in his career and it didn’t matter what team he played for because he deserved to be applauded for his accomplishment.
A few weeks later, on November 19th, D3 Gold played their final game at home for the semester against fierce rival Hope College. It was the final home game for super senior Ryan Betz as he ended his career at Adrian College. The Bulldogs would hold a 1-0 lead until the final minute of the game when the Bulldogs scored on the empty net. Hope would score with a fraction of a second left and Betz went after the guy. He got a penalty, dropped his gloves and helmet and went to the box. The refs must not have taken too kindly to his display, so they had him leave the ice. As he left the ice, he took off his jersey and the entire crowd, bench and crowd at WOW were all on their feet, giving him a standing ovation.
Again, at that time, nobody cared what team was on the ice. Everyone there knew that this was the last time he’d touch the ice as a competitive hockey player and as an Adrian College Bulldog.
A year later, the support of club hockey is growing here at Adrian College and so is its support system. But we still have a ways to go. Thanks to those who really believe that it really is It's More Than Just Club Hockey, it may not be as far away as it was before.