Since my arrival on campus three years ago as a wide-eyed freshman with a love of hockey, I have done all I can to be a strong supporter of the men’s team. I have attended nearly every home game since I started at Northeastern, and now, as a hockey broadcaster for WRBB, I attend all the road games as well.
The thing that has consistently impressed me about games at Matthews Arena is the DogHouse. The people in the DogHouse are there night in and night out supporting the team no matter how good, or how bad they do. They rarely boo and are always behind the team no matter how bleak the score. Not only that, the DogHouse has class.
The sound of a thousand students singing the goal song (Sieve! You Suck!) and dancing in the stands are things I will never forget. They epitomized what the DogHouse is about: loving this team.
So I was shocked and appalled by what happened in the DogHouse Friday night during the second period.
The Huskies had fought and battled their way back through the early part of the period to tie University of New Hampshire at two. When, as sometimes happens to the team, the wheels came off, the Wildcats scored twice in less than a minute to blow the game wide open on their way to a 7-4 win.
Just after the goals, the Huskies took a tripping penalty deep in their zone, right below the DogHouse, and that is when things unraveled. A water bottle, chucked by some idiot in the crowd, sailed within inches of a referee’s head.
The game stopped dead. The Huskies were nearly assessed a two minute penalty and every true fan of the team was mortified.
That school on Commonwealth Avenue (Boston University) had to establish a code of conduct for fans, and threatened to remove people who can’t handle themselves properly. But I thought we were better than that.
What, I ask our unknown thrower, were you hoping to accomplish? Were you going to hit the ref so hard he forgot he called the penalty? Were you so drunk before 9 p.m. that you thought it was chuck-a-puck time?
Fans like you are the reason sports venues and schools have to adopt childish punishments for their fans. I hope the police who canvassed the crowd after the incident found you, and that you never have the pleasure of attending so much as an intramural scrimmage at Matthews Arena again.
You disparaged the reputation of this university and its hockey team, and more than that, you disparaged the reputation of the DogHouse, the few and proud students on campus who actually support our teams.
I know the leaders of the DogHouse, and I know they are just as upset about this as I am. I hope this incident is truly isolated, and that the DogHouse I know and love is still there – The DogHouse with class.
– Peter Martin is a middler journalism major.
