It took a little time for me to thaw out, and even more time to figure out what happened Saturday at Beaver Stadium — and, more importantly, what it really meant.
A hockey game, with 74,575 fans braving winter temperatures in the low teens to watch two teams ranked among the nation’s top five.
A hockey game, with a college football atmosphere — Blue Band and all — at a school that a decade and a half ago did not have a varsity program.
Honestly, when Penn State announced last summer that the men’s hockey team would play a game at the stadium, attracting even 30,000 fans seemed like an ambitious and maybe unrealistic goal to me. My mistake.
Fans embraced the event, and everything about it. It was the first ever. It was two top-five teams. It was Gavin McKenna on a big stage.
Fans bought the $100 parking spots near the stadium. They tailgated, maybe not from the moment the parking lots opened but they turned out in good numbers and proved hearty for several hours.
Once inside the stadium, fans bought the $15 beers, $13 pizza slices and $9 pretzels.
Late-arriving fans found long lines and traffic. They probably searched for parking spots longer than they wanted. It that way, it was a typical gameday Saturday at the stadium.
On the ice, the second game of the Michigan State-Penn State series was compelling and entertaining. It was the second-largest crowd to ever watch an outdoor college hockey game (Michigan State-Michigan drew 104,173 in 2010, according to the Guinness Book of World Records) and those in attendance benefitted from the culmination of months of hard work by so many people to make the event a reality.
On that front, kudos all around. Seriously, what an impressive effort in terms of organization and execution, from concept to creation and start to finish.
Where Penn State’s outdoor hockey game fell a little short was because of a lack of focus, though. Or, it was a focus on something other than the fans who attended in impressive numbers and paid to make it a success.
Athletic director Pat Kraft has consistently discussed and displayed the athletic department’s commitment to its student-athletes. He’s said that’s priority No. 1, and his actions and those of his department have backed that up. From facility upgrades and revenue sharing to an ever-growing administrative team, investing in support staff and travel upgrades, Penn State has reliably protected its athletes.
One small sign of that at the outdoor hockey game was the presence of the football team during pregame festivities, with each football player wearing a personalized hockey jersey. It was a nice touch — and a few more of those kinds of things would’ve made the day better and the event even more special.
After the game, Kraft visited the locker room and encouraged the hockey team by reminding them about the last time they dropped an outdoor hockey game. They followed that performance, against Notre Dame last season at Wrigley Field, with a late-season run to the program’s first Frozen Four appearance.
Again, Kraft’s no-doubt enthusiastic message was clearly a bit of athlete-focused encouragement.
You know who could’ve used some encouragement and a public thanks from Kraft, though? An attaboy and attagirl for buying tickets, braving the weather and making the event a success?
Yep, the fans.
With so much downtime in the action during the Beaver Stadium game, and clearly with the technology available to deliver a moving image and sound to the videoboards, there were numerous opportunities to thank fans for the success of the event. To express appreciation and even a little awe that they showed up.
Heck, even to admit there were probably some hiccups, but we’ll do better the next time and we’re so proud and thankful for all you do for us. At the same time, Kraft could’ve shared the information about the attendance and led a “We Are …” chant.
Maybe someone would try to tell you the AD prefers not to be in the spotlight. His actions generally contradict that message, though. And, after all, it’s his job to thank the fans.
He’s the head of the athletic department — the unit asking people to invest and support, to give and give again. An enthusiastic, personal message would’ve been, well, personal and probably meaningful.
It’s just clear that fans are not the athletic department’s primary focus. Oh, they’re near the top, but they’re clearly behind the players. Remember, someone took care of all the details to get the football players in the stadium and wearing hockey jerseys. But nobody thought about having enough merch to meet demand or more staff to man the gates?
The lack of focus on fans was evident by the sometimes plodding, or nonexistent, gameday approach. There were good things, just not enough of them.
If that gap between serving athletes and serving fans could get a little closer that would be a good thing because while a hockey game might not happen again soon, it or something similar will be back in that stadium.
If you can get that many people to show up on a cold winter day, it’s an opportunity for income that only exists otherwise on football Saturdays. For an athletic department looking for every possible dollar, that means more stadium events are guaranteed.
Maybe a hockey game is a labor-intensive and pricey endeavor — after all, not even the most tradition-rich programs are playing them on a regular basis. Maybe it is just a special event.
At the same time, putting as many people into the stadium as often as possible is a necessity. And even with 50,000 fans, maybe the math works. A lot of schools would gladly take that many fans for a football game.
Plus, the hockey game was a Penn State athletic department show — the best possible time to thank blue-and-white fans. At a concert, the connection is just not as obvious. Oh, the monetary impact might be the same, or even better, but saying thank you at the right time matters.
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