A swarm of students were turned away from the Mullins Center on Friday night as the student section filled up early for the University of Massachusetts hockey team's home opener against Boston University. Police had to get involved when the crowd of disappointed students became, as one student referred to them, "an unruly mob."
Students resorted to sneaking in Mullins Center side doors, discussing strategies of entering without a ticket, or calling an audible on their night and drinking the rest of it away.
"Should we just go get hammered?" said one student to his companions as they were some of many turned away at the door.
Police had to get involved when things got physical between two students fighting over access to a portable rest room just twenty feet from their desired entrance.
"Everyone getting arrested or blacked out tonight, it's UMass and the Mullins Center's fault," UMass student Hannah Perlmutter said after being denied entry to the game.
Another particularly upset student was Laura Lyman, who arrived at 5:50 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. game.
"I would say about one-third of the students that tried to get in got turned down," Lyman said.
At 6:50 p.m. a police vehicle pulled up to the crowd of students and the officer inside spoke to the mass of student bodies over the vehicle's loud speaker. "There are no more seats in the students section," could be heard from the vehicle. "Please clear the area."
Five minutes later, a boisterous collective cheer emanated from near the Mullins Center entrance. The students who did not disperse after the announcement by the police, and were still milling around the area, were let in and awarded for their persistence.
When asked why a formidable group of students were let in after so many were turned away, one of the people working security at the event said it was a matter of "too much too fast."
Now the question is, should UMass increase the number of free admission seats that are reserved for students?
Lauren Kirchberger arrived at 6:20 p.m., and was turned away immediately.
"Right when we got here we heard someone yelling that they're not letting anyone else in," Kirchberger said. "Especially if they know it's going to be a big game like BU, students should have priority no matter what."
"It's our school, so we should get a majority of the seats," Sarah Shaible added.
[Pictures of the student section at the start of the game]
[Picture of the opposite side at the same time]
Kameron Moore attempts to attend every UMass hockey game, and says that this is a common problem. He suggests that students try to get to games as early as possible to avoid being turned away at the door.
"I've been shut [down] most of the times I've been here for games," Moore said. "I blame myself for today. We just got here [at 6:45 p.m.]. We didn't anticipate for it to be this crowded."
The larger than normal crowd and the alarming rate of diminishing student section seats were most likely products of Friday night's game being the home-opener for UMass, as well as BU being a tough opponent and rival in the Hockey East division. The result was a gathering of 7,021 fans, a UMass hockey record for a home-opener, according to the UMass athletics web site.
[Listen to the crowd here]
Despite the huge crowd, those students who were turned away from free student section tickets did also have the option of buying tickets for $14, a price that not everyone was happy to pay.
"I would buy a ticket if it were under $10," UMass student Kelsey Crowell said.
Some students just can't afford that price in their current situation.
"Now there's a [large number] of kids running around with nothing to do because we can't afford full price tickets," Perlmutter said. "I have $7 on my UCard so that's not going to happen."
The Minutemen (0-3-1) dropped their second consecutive game to BU (3-0-1), this time 4-3 after the Terriers put up three goals in the second period. UMass' next game with be the first of two straight against Providence (1-4-0) who will enter the Mullins Center Friday night with the puck dropping at 7 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment