Pucks and Pins

My husband introduced me to college hockey when we started dating in 1987. He was a graduate of the University of Maine and had followed the team since they made the jump to Division 1. Maine was ranked #1 in the country that year and made it to the Frozen Four (back then it was called the Division 1 men’s ice hockey championship) in Lake Placid, site of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Off to Lake Placid we went with our friends Bill and Ann Fraser.

The four teams in the tournament were the University of Maine, Lake Superior State, Minnesota and St Lawrence. Maine played Lake State and Minnesota played St Lawrence in the first round. We arrived in Lake Placid, checked in to our hotel and headed off to the pregame rally. Harold Alfond was there and we actually got to meet him. The pep band led a parade from the rally to the arena, which was just amazing. Maine ended up losing to Lake State 6-3 and St Lawrence beat Minnesota. After the game we went to a local watering hole to drown our sorrows. While we were there we met some fans of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. They were wearing lime green tuxedos. One of us asked why they were there, considering North Dakota wasn’t in Lake Placid. The statement that followed changed our lives: “WE GO TO THE TOURNAMENT EVERY YEAR EVEN IF NORTH DAKOTA DOESN’T MAKE IT”. Dan and I thought it was a bit strange but to each his own. A fun time was had by all.

The games took place on Thursday and Saturday, so we had an off day on Friday. We toured the Olympic Ski Jumping Facility which included a trip to the top of the “large” (90 meter) hill. This was right after Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards competed in the Olympics as the British Ski Jumping Team. I lost count of number of times I heard people say “these athletes must be crazy to do this”. Following that we took a ferry across Lake Champlain to Burlington, Vermont to visit some friends of Bill and Ann. We visited Ben and Jerry’s and hit one (or several) of the local watering holes that Burlington had to offer.

On Saturday we headed back to Lake Placid for the championship game between Lake State and St. Lawrence. We were cheering for Lake State because we ran into some fun fans (and the Lake State cheerleaders). Back in 1988 the NCAA had a “consolation” game – so Maine played and beat Minnesota. We didn’t go to that game. On the way back we stopped for a beer at the lodge at Whiteface Mountain (where they had the downhill ski events in the Olympics). The drive back to Lake Placid was beautiful. Lake State beat St. Lawrence in overtime to win their first National Championship. The next day it was back to the real world.

As Dan and I get ready to head to our 30th Frozen Four, I now understand why those North Dakota fans went to Lake Placid in 1988.