Safer Entry for UMass Students

If you were at last week's UMass hockey home-opener against BU, you probably either bought a ticket, got there very early, got turned away, or got involved in an ugly rush for the doors that police had to get involved in. If you were at Friday night's game against Providence you either waited patiently and orderly in a series of winding steel barricades, or in a single file line that wrapped around the side of the Mullins Center.

Neither of these things were present last week when things got a little out of control. The addition of the barricades added order to the student entrance, and this order spread all the way to the back of the line. The line was as close to single file as a triple digit group of college kids can possibly assemble, and when doors opened around 6 p.m. the entire line was inside the Mullins Center without incident.

So why was Friday night's game so much more under control outside than last week's game?

"[Last week] was a bigger crowd, a rowdier crowd," said a police officer stationed at the entrance, who wouldn't say much about last week.

Some things that could contribute to the smaller number of students could have been the games' proximity to UMass student's Halloween party time, and the fact that this was a regular home game against a Providence team who was 1-4-1 at the time rather than a home-opener against a very talented BU.

UMass worked a 3-3 tie against Providence Friday night, and dropped their game in Providence Saturday 3-2 moving the Minutemen to 0-4-2 on the season.