Mavis Staples ought to take over the PA system upon the final pre-holiday buzzer at every NCAA hockey venue.
Staples’ “Christmas Vacation” title track serves more purposes than salvaging a little entertainment value for a slightly overrated movie. Its use at campus ice houses would help to remind us that the college hockey schedule stands alone — and for the better — with its lengthy holiday hiatus.
This past Sunday, three Division I men’s games polished the last of the nation’s slate for a good nine days. Holy Cross will conduct the next contest this Tuesday in an exhibition with the USA National University team.
Last Saturday marked the last of the women’s contests until next Friday, making for a nationwide 13-day hibernation on that side. Every individual program of both levels and both genders will have a gap between games lasting no fewer than 11 days.
One half of the rationale behind this annual December deceleration is uniquely collegiate. These are student-athletes who have first-term finals to think about.
But then they have the chance to go home for a full-fledged change of pace, sometimes with a quick game or two wedged in the middle. Between the two causes for pauses, the college hockey schedule sets a precedent that should be the envy of other sports enthusiasts.
It does matter if you are a direct participant, a team or league employee, a loyal consumer or a beat reporter. Anyone who invests time and energy in a protracted sports season will find themselves physically and/or mentally fried in due time.
The best preventative measure is a prolonged diversion from the regimen at the season’s midway point. It serves a purpose no different from halftime in a football game or the break from academic activity all students are savoring this week.
Expert after expert espouses recharging via pursuits outside of hockey during a player’s offseason. Such a practice wards off physical, mental and psychological overkill, clearing a path to better player development when the game comes calling again.
The same concept holds true for those who work around the game, or those who simply make watching it their topmost pastime.
When an equivalent respite puts the actual season on hold, it makes for fresher legs and heads between and beyond the boards alike for the second half. And is there any time that calls for such refreshment more than the outset of the fast-approaching homestretch and postseason?
While 13-1-1 Penn State is savoring a hard-earned five-week midseason break, Canisius can take time to refuel and refocus as it tries to rectify a 6-8-3 start. (Photo by Amanda Statland/Pucks and Recreation)
With their holiday halftime, college hockey players combine to concoct a better product come March and April than they would otherwise. Coaching staffs will have had time to assess the pluses and minuses of their first-half performances, then turn their findings into a more meticulous second-half approach.
Likewise, fans who capitalize on the holiday hockey fast are that much hungrier for action. Their rinsed and salivating palates allow them to absorb the full flavor of the second half.
No other high-profile winter sports entity offers its producers or followers the same gesture. Both the NHL and NBA adhere to an 82-game marathon for their 30 respective teams, followed immediately by a two-month tournament.
Realistically speaking, to propose a long winter’s nap for either of those leagues would be futile. Any move that whittles down the offseason would not likely fly with a professional players’ association. Any suggestion that entails reducing the revenue-pumping game count would prompt an owners’ tirade.
The only plausible proposition for those professional circuits would be to point to the NHL’s quadrennial Olympic respite for reference. Perhaps the NHL (in non-Olympic years) and the NBA (every year) could envelop their All-Star festivities with a week-plus worth of rest. Ditto Major League Baseball around its Midsummer Classic.
Again, that alone is a hefty request, and even the NCAA’s more revenue-laden satellites do not spring for a slowdown. None of its Division I basketball programs are modifying their game day-off day ratio in accordance with the calendar.
Even while the other students (including their fellow athletes) have dispersed from campus, college cagers are still engaging in extramural activity every two, three, four or five nights in the latter half of December. Their season lacks a meaningful break from all of what is borderline tantamount to two jobs.
Granted, the same goes for bowl-bound football players. But that sport’s itinerary, in both the NCAA and NFL, is more of a sprint than a marathon. It is generally a three- or four-month ride between the fall’s first kickoff and the season-ending snap.
From a freshness standpoint for all parties involved, football has no urgent need for a breather beyond a bye week that falls at different points for different teams. Even when you add the preseason and postseason, you are looking at no more than 20 games. A full season will still not cover half of the calendar.
Everyone else could stand to seek their answer to what the college hockey schedule offers. At a bare minimum, it is worth contemplating.
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