This past Saturday, Cornell faced Union in a tightly-contested final game before the ECAC playoffs began. As the game progressed, questionable calls and after-the-whistle contact led to some tense emotions.
But while a rivalry between these two schools seemed to be blossoming in that eventual 3-3 tie, there was something missing with Harvard’s absence from Lynah Rink.
Conversely, in another matchup that night, the Alaska Nanooks and Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves battled for the Governor’s Cup. The game was otherwise meaningless for the Seawolves, as they had been eliminated from playoff contention.
UAA’s only motivation was to beat its in-state rival. With that said, what would have been a mere formality turned into quite the entertaining contest as a result.
The game ended up being decided in overtime when, with 19 seconds left, Tayler Munson scored for Alaska to capture yet another Governor’s Cup. The Nanooks now travel to Minnesota State to face the third-seeded Mavericks with a 3-0-1 record in their last four games.
Who knows if an upset could be brewing in the WCHA playoffs just because Alaska had to defeat its bitter rival to get to this point?
If these stories are any indication, the rest of the nation should follow suit and schedule the best college hockey rivalries to conclude every regular season. There are three key reasons behind this theory.
Recipe for fanfare
One of the hallmarks of Boston sports in early February is the Beanpot. However, due to the Patriots’ surprising victory in the Super Bowl, much attention this year was lost for the four local schools battling for the notion that they are the best team primed to make a deep playoff run.
With many smaller colleges struggling to find ways to sell out their rink, what would be a better way to end the season than to have the biggest rival come in?
If the Governor’s Cup is any indication, many of these games will be close, and could possibly go into overtime. The loser can then turn to the playoffs with motivation to ride itself of a bad taste. The winner can ride into its first series with an emboldened sense of momentum.
Speaking of which…
Momentum
When you go into the postseason, momentum is important. The Nanooks may have a slim chance to beat Minnesota State this weekend, but you cannot dispute that they are riding a hot streak after defeating the Seawolves, let alone in the fashion that they did.
These rivalries often entail setting aside friendships and ignoring the fact that your team may be out of serious playoff contention. Bragging rights may be more of a motivator than you think. Just look at the Beanpot as an example of that phenomenon.
“No matter whether you’re having a good season or not,” Northeastern’s director of hockey operations, Mike McLaughlin, told the New York Times, “your whole year can come down to those two Mondays in February.”
The Beanpot is a special case that the NCAA always accounts for when setting the schedules. Imagine if the powers that be continued this process even further, allowing teams with fierce rivalries play each other as the season ends and not as something special for random weekends throughout the year.
Going forward
On Feb. 4, Clarkson hosted St. Lawrence in a game where an old rivalry got renewed once again. However, the unique storyline on this particular night was St. Lawrence coach Mark Morris’s return to Cheel Arena, where he had held the same post in the early ’00s.
Morris was one of Clarkson’s winningest coaches before they parted ways in 2002. He is now the only coach to be on both sides of this rivalry.
“You can sense it. It’s ratcheted up another notch,” current Clarkson head coach Casey Jones told MPN Now at the time. “It’s bragging rights in the North Country.”
And while that game (a 3-1 Clarkson victory) may have been compelling and close, it would have taken on more excitement had it occurred three weeks later.
In the future, one should appreciate that classic college hockey rivalries are a fitting way to end every season. Doing so would guarantee that fans will have something to look forward to while they enjoy the other five months of the schedule. And it will often generate more buzz for the playoff season soon to come.
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