You know winter is coming when you get to see the opening of the college ice hockey season.
We caught a game at the Icebreaker Hockey Tournament in Toledo this weekend, the championship face-off between the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Tigers and the Ohio State Buckeyes. The other two teams in the tournament were Western Michigan and this year’s host team, Bowling Green State University. Western Michigan and Ohio State were ranked 12 and 14 respectively in the 10/7/19 USA Today poll. These positions were flipped in the US College Hockey Organization poll (available at the same link as above). In the USCHO poll, Bowling Green showed up in the #17 slot. RIT did not place in either poll, but beat Bowling Green in their first game, 3-2 in overtime. Unfortunately, they then lost the next night (the game we saw) to Ohio State, 3-1.
What you can’t find in any of the sports reports is news of the RIT Tigers’ Pep Band.
What’s the matter with those sports reporters?
The pep band trekked off to Toledo to cheer their team on, and played like ultra-fans of both music and hockey. I was surprised that Ohio State didn’t have a pep band with them. They didn’t have nearly as far a drive as the RIT Pep Band, and OSU is more than twice the size of RIT, so I would have thought OSU could have scared up some musical motivators.
In any case, RIT Hockey was well supported by RIT’s pep band. They sounded great, kept the beat going, and were enjoyed by some RIT students, alums, and parents who may not have expected such a high level of entertainment beyond the hockey game itself.
We, on the other hand, have seen the pep band in action, and our already high expectations were well-met. Last season we attended a playoff game in Buffalo, and the pep band sounded fabulous then, too. Our oldest, famously known around this blog as Big Girl, is a student at RIT and a pep band member, so we like to take the chance to see her play if we can.
It’s called the Icebreaker Tournament, but I didn’t think they meant it quite so literally
I think this is the first time I have been in an ice arena when it wasn’t packed full. And without enough people heating up the place with all that pesky breathing, the arena was pretty cold. Brrrrr! Even wearing layers and a scarf, I was freezing. The Huntington Center in Toledo is an 8000 seat arena. I’d guess there were maybe 500 attending the game, although for the Bowling Green game that started later I would expect there to be more spectators, since Bowling Green is so nearby.
It was too small a crowd to keep the place warm, and although the Tigers’ pep band tried to fire up the place, I was still ready to get in the truck and turn on the seat heaters when the game was over.
And head home, where I could already hear the hot tub calling me.
Icebreaker, 2019
–Icebreaker Hockey Tournament, Toledo, Ohio
I’m at the ice rink with my nose pinked
and my haunches solidifying slowly enough
I feel each muscle fiber as it gives
up, hibernates, takes a dive for elsewhere warmer.
The Tigers’ pep band plays Tequila. I wish
I had some, tequila and pep both, and possibly
a hot nuke gunpowder hand-to-foot warmer,
a firestarter that would crack the ice open.
Then the Zamboni would come soothe the sharp
ice edges, fill and film ‘em with water.
Glitter it, repair the cracks. And sand
too all my sharp edges. But wishes
could as well be fishes, and even here where
the mascot’s a walleye there’s not enough net
to bring a wish in for a landing so home I’ll go
to the hot tub, to soak my ice cold toes.
Other Big News
Also on this weekend’s high notes: our younger teen, a.k.a. The Boy, got his driving license Saturday morning. That brings a whole new phase of fear and trepidation to our lives, while also bringing a new bit of freedom from the tyranny of high school activity logistics. So I don’t have a poem for that—there are too many mixed messages in my mind to make a poem about adding a driver to the household.
We’ve also added a new line of brick at the end of our driveway, about a foot before the eighteen-inch drop-off at the end of the retaining wall. Just the sort of thing that might remind someone who is parking there that they ought to stop when they feel that bump…
That was my husband’s project. I, on the other hand, am actively working on my purposeful relaxation techniques. To that end, here’s a pic of the lovely last bit of sunset glow we saw on our way home from Toledo.
If you enjoyed Icebreaker, 2019
You’ll find more of my poems on this blog or in the collection Stars Crawl Out From Their Caves, which is available in both ebook and print.
The poem of the week series has been on hiatus for a couple of months — as you can tell, there’s a lot going on when you have a couple of teens to try to keep up with!
Missed a poem of the week? Links to prior weeks are on this page.