The Quinnipiac men’s ice hockey team went down 2-0 to Niagara on Jan. 22 in the first five minutes of the game.  After the second goal at least half of the student section got up and left.  Five minutes into the game and you’re already leaving?  It’s outrageous and shouldn’t happen, but it does and it needs to stop.

If you’ve ever been to a hockey game you know the scene.  It goes something like this: The student section is packed when the game starts sometimes.  By the end of the second period, the student section starts to empty.  And then in the third, the most important period of the game, the student section decreases to maybe half the size it was at the beginning.

The biggest rush of students departures comes with one minute left in the game, no matter the score.  I’ve seen students leave with the game tied because they don’t want to wait in the cold for the shuttle.  Hockey season is in winter. It’s supposed to be cold outside.

Now, I understand if you have homework that has to get done, but these games are almost always on Friday and Saturday nights, so there’s no need to go running back to your room to do homework.  Instead most of the students who leave early just want to go party or head to the clubs in New Haven.  There’s plenty of time for those activities when the game is over.  The games are over by 10 p.m. which is still early on Friday and Saturday nights for most students.

The hockey team might be struggling, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to leave early.  Now is the time to get there early, make noise and show the team that the students are behind them 100 percent.

Then we have the men’s basketball team.  The team is currently fighting for the Northeast Conference lead, yet very few students go to the games.  Even with giveaways like gold jerseys, a meager number of students actually stay for the game.
On Jan. 24 the Bobcats played rival Central Connecticut State University in a nationally-televised game on NESN.  There were maybe 100 students there.  It doesn’t look good to see a sea of blue seats in the student section, especially when the game is televised.  So let’s fill those seats on Feb. 6 when the Bobcats host Sacred Heart University.

But what might be worse than people leaving during the game or not even coming is the students who show up just for the giveaways.  When the gold basketball and hockey jerseys were given away, I was working at the arena and I can’t even tell you the number of students I saw come in looking to get a jersey, not even concerned about the game.  The very first thing many people asked me was, “Where are the jerseys?”  It’s not right.  If you go to a game just for the giveaway, don’t go.  Leave the giveaways for the fans that will stay for the game and are there even if there is no giveaway.

All I ask is that you go to these games and stay for the entire time, no matter how well or poorly the Bobcats play.  Show some school spirit and support our teams.

Photo credit: Caiti Kaminski