Hockey looks normal, stands look different at regional
BRIDGEPORT — Once the puck dropped, everything looked right Friday at Webster Bank Arena, much as college hockey players had said on Thursday that it would. It even sounded right, with teams’ fight songs pumped in over the public-address system.
Stray glances upward, and things looked odd, and not just Bemidji State’s 6-3 upset of top seed Wisconsin in the afternoon.
The arena hosts an NCAA men’s hockey regional this weekend for the sixth time since 2009. This one, in the COVID-19 pandemic, had few in attendance and unusual usage of the areas surrounding the rink.
State regulations limited attendance; venues like Webster Bank Arena open to 10 percent capacity at the end of next week. Members of the travel party got two tickets apiece this weekend.
About 75 UMass partisans for the day’s second game appeared to dot corner Sections 102 and 103. There looked to be a sizeable few dozen contingent three sections away in the adjacent corner from Lake Superior State. (That side was tougher to gauge, because even the media was spaced out, placed into unused suites on the fourth floor.)
Equipment staffs set up behind the harborside goal, where the stands were pulled back, for more distance. There was no glass behind the benches or penalty boxes for better air flow.
Ice conditions took a hit on social media and on the ESPN broadcast after a couple of sultry days in the area, but Wisconsin coach Tony Granato wasn’t having it.
“Let’s face it, it’s 70 degrees outside, and all of a sudden, you (have the) weather change we had the past couple of weeks, it’s hard to keep the ice the same,” Granato said.
“That’s not an excuse for why we lost, just a different track than we’ve been playing. Great teams and teams that win find ways to deal with it . ... Wherever you are at this time of year when you get a day like this outside, the ice is going change. That’s playoff hockey everywhere.”
Sophomore Cole Caufield had two goals and an assist for the Badgers, boosting his nation-leading totals to 30 goals and 52 points, where they’ll stay. Quinnipiac’s Odeen Tufto is second in scoring with 45 points, seven points behind.
Caufield, a Montreal Canadiens prospect who helped the United States win the World Junior Championship in January, said he hadn’t yet thought about his future plans.