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When I entered Alfond Arena Friday night for the University of Maine women’s ice hockey team’s season opener against Sacred Heart University, I first noticed the crisp, clean scent of fresh ice — a smell that I hadn’t experienced since last winter.
Of course, I also noticed the rich atmosphere of hockey — music playing, vendors shuffling and fans expecting a successful season.
Then I looked up to my right and, much to my dismay, saw a hanging net completely overshadowing a once open University of Maine student section balcony.
I processed my first thoughts about this drastic change and realized, this might not be a bad idea after all. The issue of safety has always been a popular topic of conversation for students and fans fortunate enough to grab seats in the country’s best student section — asking questions like, “Will I be hit by a flying puck tonight?” or commenting on students who actually do get hit.
UMaine men’s ice hockey head coach Tim Whitehead explained the safety netting was put up “so hopefully less people will get hit by pucks leaving the ice.”
Volcanized rubber, the main component of hockey pucks, feels just like it sounds — an object manufactured for both resilience and toughness. Hockey pucks are dangerous by themselves, let alone going at a speed of 80 miles per hour.
From my experience last year, I witnessed many puck-hitting-fan incidents. In the third University of Maine men’s ice hockey game I ever attended — a 7-3 win over No. 2 North Dakota — I saw a puck ricochet off the goal frame and strike a fellow student in the nose. There was blood, and lots of it, but this student was thrilled to have a souvenir puck — posting pictures of the aftermath on Facebook shortly after.
As the season continued, I saw more and more puck accidents. In another game, a puck hit a female student in the band section. After convincing band members she was unharmed, she removed her hand from the top of her head, revealing a wound even a hockey player would be proud of.
In yet another, I recall looking through the balcony bleachers to the seating below and seeing a woman seriously injured after a puck ricocheted off the bottom of the student section into the crowd below. Even more blood was apparent than the prior two incidents, but that didn’t keep her from staying to watch the rest of the game.
All of these occurrences opened my eyes to an entirely new way to watch a sporting event — especially when the next victim of a loose puck was sitting just four feet away.
Second-year civil engineering student Michael Cochrane was hit on the forehead by a puck on Dec. 10 during a 4-3 overtime loss against the University of New Hampshire last year. After hitting the corner of the goal, the puck flew up towards the student section, deflecting off the angled ceiling and straight down into my group’s vicinity.
Cochrane was the unlucky one, taking the hit for all of us. His wound bled for several hours, but when he looks back on the experience, it’s a memory he’ll cherish forever.
“It was obviously unfortunate to get hit by a hockey puck, but that’s the risk you take by sitting up there and it’s simply part of the game,” Cochrane said. “I think the overall experience for students at Alfond Arena will change slightly with this new safety netting feature.”
Cochrane still has the puck from the Dec. 10 game, and has written the game’s date on the puck.
When finding a place to sit last Friday night, I first retreated to the east-side wall of the arena near the media table. From there, I noticed the multiple changes that have taken place since the Alfond Arena Renovation Project. The sound system resonates much louder. Although it still echoes at times, you won’t get a perfect sound because of how the Alfond is shaped.
Also, the overall temperature and air quality of the arena is more comfortable and the ice looks incredibly smooth and flat. All these changes caught my attention for a while, but that safety netting — I couldn’t take my eyes off it.
After a couple minutes, I decided I would watch the game from the student section and see how different the experience was from last year.
It was terrible, and I felt stripped of something having sat there 10 minutes.
At times, looking through a net to watch a game makes it hard to focus, but sometimes it has to be done. If I’m at Fenway Park behind home plate, I’m not complaining about the net.
But when sticks are hitting the ice, players are checking and the puck is sliding around the boards near the student section end of the rink, the instinct at Alfond is to begin watching the game if you weren’t already doing so before — that means get off your phone, stop texting and find the puck — because if a player decides to rip one towards the goal and it gets deflected, you’re going to want to cover your face.
With the safety netting in place, there is no flinch factor, which will hopefully not take the fan factor out of the Alfond.
