By Nathan Vaughan
Yesterday morning, hundreds of students lined up to get their hands on highly coveted Beanpot tickets for the student section, also known as the DogHouse.
The line started inside the doorway, went beyond the Snack Bar and wrapped around the ice rink to the opposite end’s face-off circles. Students kept adding to the line throughout the day. They got up early, skipped classes, left the line only to return and stand in line for hours just to get tickets.
“It’s never been like this,” said John Gruppo, athletics business and tickets manager.
To be the first in line, freshman business major Jeff Sakowicz arrived at 10:45 a.m. with a large group of friends. They skipped their 10:30 a.m. classes to earn the first-in-line spot and secure seats, they said.
The Northeastern ticket office received 1,400 tickets. Of that allotment, 700 to 750 went for $32, and sold out by 2:45 p.m. This was the first time the tickets have ever sold out on the first day, said Peter Roby, athletics director.
Just hours later, at 6:25 p.m., the remainder of the $42 tickets were gone.
While the tickets went fast, students were the only ones to snag them. Season ticket holders recieved their seats in November. These, however, are not located in the student section.
After numerous announcements that the tickets were almost out, people stood their ground, hoping others would leave. At 6:20 p.m., it was announced that there were only 15 scattered singles left. No one budged.
With students still lined up far into the lobby, middler chemical engineering major Todd Eaton landed the last single ticket of the 1,400 available.
Eaton, who had arrived at 12:20 p.m., couldn’t wait it out the first time, and left for classes. He decided to return and try to get tickets again, and his gamble paid off.
Eaton said he felt bad for everyone who had waited in line, but was unsuccessful in getting a ticket. Two years ago, Eaton said he nabbed Beanpot tickets a week after they went on sale.
This newfound popularity for Beanpot tickets wasn’t received warmly by some loyal hockey fans. Freshman architecture major Chris Deegan was disappointed by the long lines.
“The problem is that people who don’t attend the games [regularly] are in line for tickets,” he said.
Deegan and his friend, freshman business major Matt Annese, didn’t arrive until 12:15 p.m. They planned to stick it out until they got tickets or there were no tickets left.
They were surprised by the long lines due to the recent success of the men’s hockey team.
When the box office was sold out, there were many disgruntled students, including those on co-op who were unable to come to buy the tickets because of work. Kevin Ryan, a sophomore marketing major, was unable to get to Matthews Arena before 6 p.m. because of his job.
“It would be awesome if [co-op students] could get them online,” Ryan said. “Half the student body is on co-op. We should have something that caters to those kids.”
Although all of the allotment of 1,400 was sold out yesterday, there is still hope for those without tickets. After a few hours of selling tickets, Gruppo contacted Harvard in an attempt to gain any extra tickets they might have, since Harvard has never sold out.
Gruppo said he will find out Friday morning if he can acquire more tickets and is hoping for between 100-200 tickets from Harvard. These tickets will be available to everyone, including faculty and staff.
Tickets might also become available if anyone is caught scalping their seats. On average, 15-20 students are caught each year for scalping, and with the speed tickets sold this year, Gruppo is afraid there might be a larger amount of scalping. If caught, the tickets will be voided and Northeastern will have the ability to resell them.
For those who aren’t Northeastern students but still want to attend, tickets are for sale at the TD Banknorth box office and at ticketmaster.com., ranging from $27-37 per ticket.
