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| Sidney J. Watson Arena has seating for 1,900 and standing room for hundreds more |
With 10 seconds remaining in the first period of Sunday's NESCAC men's ice hockey championship, Bowdoin’s Ollie
Koo crossed the blue line to meet a Williams defender trying to break out of
the Ephs zone. It looked like a case of a solid fore-check, enough to slowdown
the Ephs rush long enough for the period to run out with Bowdoin up 1-0.
Instead, Koo and linemate Colin Downey gained
control of the puck enabling Harry Matheson, in the low slot, to lift a second
effort backhand over William’s outstanding goaltender, Sean Dougherty. Just 4.9
seconds remained on the clock.
Over the clamor of the capacity crowd the fan next to me on
the rail admired the ferocity of the late period fore-check. It would have been
a great play just to keep Williams bottled up and deny them a late period opportunity
to get out of the zone. But for Koo and Downey to free the puck up, get control
and put it on Matheson’s stick? That was something else. Sheer effort when
others would have tailed off. And a goal just before the buzzer animates one
team and hobbles the other.
But this was no ordinary fan. He knew more than a thing or
two about late period heroics, grinding play and Bowdoin
hockey. This was Sean Hanley (Bowdoin ’76). His last goal in a Polar Bear uniform
had been the game-winner 37 springs ago, when Bowdoin defeated Merrimack for the
Polar Bear’s third ECAC Div-II Championship. That goal, late in the third
period, staunched a ferocious Merrimack comeback that had devoured a 5-2
Bowdoin lead. Hanley’s goal put the brakes on a 51 shot Merrimack attack and
gave Bowdoin its second title in as many years against a powerful team on the
cusp of moving up to Div-I.
But Sunday afternoon he was just another fan, one of more
than 2,300 hundred who filled the seats and lined the rails to watch their beloved Bowdoin one last time. A loss almost certainly eliminated the Polar Bears from
consideration for an NCAA tournament birth. Even a win was no guarantee of
another game at the Sidney J Watson Arena. The byzantine process of the NCAA selection and
seeding process still needed to play out in a smoke-filled room (or maybe via
the internet). Many hockey observers figured the NESCAC winner to go on the road
for the first round of the NCAA no matter whom they would face.
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| Bowdoin won the 2013 NESCAC men's ice hockey championship in front of a capacity crowd |
But hockey isn't done in Brunswick. First, the Polar Bears held on to a 2-1 lead for their first official NESCAC men's hockey title. Then late Sunday night the NCAA granted Bowdoin one more
home game. The Polar Bears play host to the University of Massachusetts at
Dartmouth Corsairs, winner of the MASCAC conference championship, this Wednesday, March 6th at 7:00 PM.
One more home game for the throng of 2,300+. With the bracket now set, fans know that even
with a win Wednesday the rest of the season takes place on the road. But who are these 2,300 fans many of whom lined up well
before 8:00 AM Tuesday morning to claim their ticket for another crowded whipsaw
from exuberance to anxiety and back again at "The Sid?"
Of course there are the students: friends, roommates,
partners, classmates, and just plain fans. But with a student body of only 1,750
and half the junior class away every year, even if every student on campus
showed up there’d still be yawning chasms and space for another thousand fans.
Sean Hanley wasn’t the only former Bowdoin hotshot at the
Sid: record holders and teammates from all eras turn out. It’s hard to turn
around in the arena without running into a former Polar Bear skater, or maybe
just an alum who sat in the stands at Dayton arena 30 or 40 years ago. Joining
Hanley on the rail was Alan Quinlan (’77), a pure shooter whose 131 points place him
11th on the all-time Bowdoin scoring list (more impressive, he did
it in just 67 games over three seasons). Rounding out the line for the 1970s was
another 100 point player, Paul Sylvester (’78).
Representing the 80s was another member of Bowdoin’s 100
point club--with what is probably the best hockey name--Hilary Rockett (’86), who shares the record for most assists in a game with Hanley at 5. Rockett is one of the few Brunswick icers who can claim to
have been coached by both the arena's namesake, Sid Watson, and current coach Terry Meagher.
Locals, including college employees and their kids, dominate the southwest corner of the
arena. The four o’clock
Saturday games draw particularly well with rink rats; some scrounge for wayward
pucks in a frenzied thrashing of eight year old bodies while the youngest among them crowd the glass behind the goal nearest the Zamboni entrance. The Polar Bears attack that end for two-thirds of the game, so there's ample opportunity to see Bowdoin’s whirling
offense up close.
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| The players aren't the only ones who crowd the glass |
During the second period the kids root for the Bowdoin
goaltender, particularly Junior Steve Messina, whose habit of patrolling the
end-line during stoppage times with his mask pushed up makes him a favorite
with the youngsters. Faces press against the glass hoping for a nod as Messina thumps
the dasher with his stick before circling back to the net to await the drop of
the puck.
There are scores of older fans too, marked by their retro
Bowdoin letter sweaters and collections of vintage buttons pinned to aged black
and white scarves.
But it’s the parents that get you. Identifiable by their
white buttons bearing their son's number, they pace, they perch, they rock
in their seats and moan. Some of them travel remarkable distances every
weekend to cheer their kids on. As the season wears on acquaintances grow and
the regulars know where to look to exchange a thumbs up or a wan look after a
bad call. Folks that live in New England manage to send at least one parent to
every game.
Senior Rob Tozcylowski’s family, which, depending on the
importance of the game can fill a couple rows with aunts and sisters, has
occupied the same corner for four years. While the rest of the crowd cheers for
“Toz,” and the kids pound the glass with their palms as Toz crashes the corner alone--but
with half the opposing team on him--a plaintive, “Oh, Rrroob-it” floats down
from the Tozcylowski cheering section.
Ollie Koo’s mother knows her son has a nose for the goal (15
goals on 38 shots, a remarkable conversion rate). She moves from end-to-end to
be near the opposing goal and takes up a position at the rail in the corner
where the Polar Bear’s offensive flow is most visible. While Captain Daniel Weiniger’s
mother is nailed to her spot close to center ice, Connor Quinn’s father must walk four miles during a game.
This is not easy. Many of the parents have other kids with schoolwork,
games of their own, school plays, or concerts to attend. Even from neighboring Massachusetts, Brunswick is a long haul on a Friday afternoon. Even so, last
weekend for the NESCAC tournament there were buttons bearing the #20 of John
McGinnis from Cocoa, Florida and the #7 of Suwanee, Georgia’s Danny Palumbo.
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| #25.Ollie Koo's mother likes the corner, like her son |
The first period of Saturday’s semi-final against Williams
brought instant joy to the Palumbos as Danny drilled his first shot glove side
high to start the scoring. Later in the
first he redirected a centering pass just inside the far post. A quick release
on both shots left Middlebury’s goalkeeper flat-footed and the entire Palumbo
family euphoric.
For Palumbo, who’d netted just three goals to this point in
the season, it’s a bit of redemption. He’s been around the net all year; his
aggressive fore-check keeps opponents pinned in and earns him raves in the
family seating area. Palumbo’s frequent line-mate Connor Quinn has been scoring, earning them both a healthy +/- rating, but the goals just weren’t coming for
Palumbo himself. With his two young sisters in the audience he picked a fine
time to open the sluice. McGinnis added a helper on one of Palumbo’s goals
against Middlebury and another against Williams on Sunday, making the long trip from
Dixie worth it for both Southern families.
But hockey is a rough game; the following day saw Palumbo crumpled
to the boards just below where his folks sat. If their joy was infectious on
Saturday, their disquiet as he made his way gingerly back to the bench Sunday was palpable.
There’s one other Bowdoin parent who stalks, and paces, and
shifts around the arena in equal parts adulation and dread. But he has no child
out on the ice. Bowdoin’s President Barry Mills moves around the rink appearing
to dread each touch of the puck by the opposition, checking the clock, wincing
at bad calls (to do more than wince would be un-presidential) and suffering minor indignities in the crowd. Settling in to what
he thought was an open seat for a few minutes between periods of the Williams
game, Mills was politely invited to find another spot by a child guarding an
open seat for a sibling.
So to the parents of the Bowdoin team, good luck on
Wednesday. To the families of the seniors, thank you for sharing them with Brunswick
for the last four years. And to the rest. . . .we’ll be back again in November,
just like you.
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| #20. John McGinnis rewarded his familiy's trip up from FL with 2 assists this weekend |
Benet Pols is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont but grew up watching Bowdoin Polar Bear men's hockey. He was in Dayton Arena in 1971 when Dick Donovan's overtime goal against the University of Vermont gave Bowdoin its first championship, for what was then the ECAC Div. II. He has not been able to shake the feeling.
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