They Stepped Into the Freezer – Syracuse Crunch and Utica Comets Play Largest Indoor Hockey Game in Continental History
By Jay Flemma, Special to Facewash Magazine
SYRACUSE, NY – Syracuse Crunch owner Howard Dolgon set out to prove a point and he did – upstate New York is a national hockey epicenter.
30,715 ardent hockey fans braved the aftermath of a crippling blizzard to attend an AHL game, but in doing so, they also made a cultural statement: We love hockey.
The Frozen Dome Classic at the Carrier Dome was everything that was promised – outstanding hockey, a celebration of the game, a historic moment, and fun, fun, fun. The Syracuse Crunch defeated the Utica Comets 2-1, while SUNY Oswego and Utica College skated to a 4-4 tie, but that was beside the point. The goal was to break the North American record for attendance at an indoor hockey game, and they did it, shattering the old mark of 28,138 at Tropicana Field for a Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Philadelphia Flyers game…and they made it look easy, filling up the very corners of the Dome.
Let that sink in for a moment: one of the largest indoor basketball stadiums in America was filled to 95% capacity for a minor league hockey game, a local college match-up, and a fire-fighters vs. police officers tilt. They set a record for attendance for an indoor hockey game of any size, at any level.
That’s what a community pulling together looks like.
“This market mobilizes when it’s challenged to do something big, and we will be breaking the indoor record come Saturday,” said Dolgon in a pre-event press conference where – ever the outspoken and bold promoter – he predicted that “This record will fall. There’s no question. It has been bananas here.”
The people of this region need “bananas” actually, because winters here are fantastically cruel. Once again, the region’s reputation for snow and ice proved well deserved as a whitewashing out of the pages of the Last Judgment buried Buffalo under 11 feet and dumped a foot all the way from Rochester to Albany.
It’s not even December yet. In fact, it’s snowed on and off almost every day since November 12th.
“Living here, that’s a weekly occurrence,” said hockey fan Sarah Zarella. “It’s like God nominates us for the Ice Bucket Challenge every day.
Then there’s the deep freeze, that bitter, biting, face-freezing cold. By January Old Man’s Winter’s frozen rump is settled firmly on the region. Usually it never gets warmer than 20 degrees for the entire month. Step into the freezer indeed.
It’s perfect hockey weather though.
“Syracuse has always loved hockey – the Crunch have done well here for 20 years – and now there is a remarkable revival of the sport in Utica,” explained sports commentator Bruce Moulton. “To be exact, in Utica, it’s been more a rekindling. They’ve always loved hockey there, they just longed for a winning team for almost half a century.”
He’s right. Yes the Crunch have two decades of history – sometimes noted more for silliness than great hockey, campy ideas like Al the Ice Gorilla Mascot and Crunch staff member-turned-topless gyrator Mark “Big Sexy” Hayes wiggling his big belly to the delight of the crowd rugged element. But Syracuse is driven by college basketball first and foremost. (The Carrier Dome is the largest indoor on campus arena in America.) It’s Utica that’s the serious hockey town, and the spunky Comets and the resurgence of the game in the hearts of the Utica area fan base were the keys to the record falling. Without Utica’s commitment and fervor, they don’t break that record.
Now both cities’ teams are peaking. The Crunch played for the Calder Cup two years ago, losing in the finals to the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Detroit Red Wings AHL affiliate. The Comets came into the game as the top team in the entire AHL, though they left with their second consecutive loss – the first time this season they have dropped back-to back games. Meanwhile the Crunch have won five of their last six and are tied for the lead in the AHL Eastern Conference Northeast Division.
It all made for a perfect storm last night.
As it has so often in the past, Syracuse came out on top, sending Utica fans home dismal and grim.
“We had to win this game,’ grumbled devout Comets fan Pete Connors of Utica, one of many fans who have built shrines to the Comets in their homes. Another, James Longa of Marcy, has a tabernacle full of Comets memorabilia, the centerpiece of which is a bobble-head of Comets star Darren Archibald standing atop a prone Crunchman underneath a banner which reads, “Puck Cuse.”
“Crunchman,” he scoffed indignantly. “What’s his superpower? Turning the puck over in his own end, or watching from the penalty box while we score on the power play?” Then he echoed Connors’s sentiments exactly. “We had to win this game. It’s a cultural thing.”
“You have to hate Syracuse, they are like the Dallas Cowboys to me,” added Eddie Napoli, who is obviously also a Giants fan. “They’re like the big brother that slams you in the dirt, and then acts all superior. It goes back to the days of the Thruway and I-81. We’re constantly in their shadow.”
This was Utica’s first chance for bragging rights in a long time. The Comets entered the game not only as the league’s top team, but as the darlings of the entire AHL. Their plucky little club survived an 0-10 start last year to surge into playoff contention and finish the season as “the team no one wanted to play.” This season they were selected to host the AHL All-star weekend, came within a hair’s width of having goalie Jacob Markstrom set an all-time record for consecutive shut-out minutes, and are showing a breadth and depth of talent that makes them solid Calder Cup contenders. And when Alex Friesen scorched a wrister – the Comet’s first shot on goal – into the net just 3:12 into the first period, it looked like Utica would finally beat Syracuse at something huge. But that’s when Crunch goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy (26 saves) and the Syracuse defense took over.
“I saw everything tonight. The defense did a great job of keeping it clear for me,” said Vasilevskiy. “And then we got ahead and we go to play with the lead.”
“The defense was great tonight,” added winger Joel Vermin, who scored the tying goal at 16:00 of the first period on a deflection. “We kept them out of the crease so [Vasilevskiy] could see everything and he made all the plays behind us.”
Specifically, the Crunch kept forwards 2 and 3 above the puck on the forecheck as much as possible, so the defense could stay tight and prevent those odd-man rushes by the Comets that result in so many Utica goals. Offensively, they worked the puck out of their own end as a five men unit, then played dump and chase behind the Comets defense into the neutral zone or Comets end. It was a Brooklyn street fight rather than an Olympic boxing match to mix sports metaphors, and it resulted in a somewhat ugly, disjointed game with little flow or momentum shifts either way.
It worked, however, as the Comets never got rolling after the first period. Yanni Gourde’s deflection of a Jonathan Marchessault shot early in the second period proved the game winner.
“Way to grind it out, and thank God for bouncing pucks,” breathed a grateful Crunch coach Rob Zettler, as he spoke to his team after the game. The Crunch and Comets will face off again Wednesday night at the Utica Aud, where both the Comets and their fans will seek a modicum of revenge…and believe me, these fans don’t like each other.
“Not here!” shouted one Crunch fan at a gaggle of Utica fans that started a loud and raucus “Let’s Go Comets.” That scene was repeated a number of times during the evening, especially when another chant of U-TI-CA! broke out. And after the game local bar patrons exchanged taunts everywhere from Tully’s to the Blue Tusk.
“We put Utica right where they belong,” boasted one Crunch fan in an Al the Ice Gorilla jersey, “Crunched beneath the heel of our jack boot!”
“Oh go ‘do your thing,’ losers!” replied fans in Utica College jerseys and sweatshirts, mocking Syracuse’s ridiculously stupid new slogan. “Do your thing!” they shouted again, “lose in second round to Vermont or Richmond,” referring to S.U.’s penchant for early exits in NCAA basketball tournaments. Of course the other guy had to shout something back – something we didn’t quite catch about the Mafia and meatballs – but the Uticans came right back over the top of them again.
“Yeah, okay, go to your mall guys. It’s your Destiny!”
Even so: yes, two teams that don’t like each other tangled, and yes two cities had bragging rights on the line that will resonate for a decade. But collectively, everyone won. The eyes of the hockey world were upon us, and we acquitted ourselves well.
I had a hater friend of mine rudely dismiss both hockey and this remarkable accomplishment with a haughty, “30,000 people must have had nothing to do tonight.”
No, 30,000 people made history. 30,000 people showed what happens when whole communities embrace their local treasures. 30,000 people showed that “We Are Hockey!” (There’s your slogan, people…) And those memories will keep the northern half of New York State warm for years to come, even in the dead of winter. After all, that’s perfect hockey weather.
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They booed the refs when they were introduced.
