For Bulldogs, there's no place like home

By Dan Brodhead

This season, it's not just the men's hockey team that has seen bigger crowds; the women's squad and both basketball teams have seen attendance increases as well. In any sport, the home team has a tangible edge. The advantage can come from a familiar rink, court, or river, and from the contagious tumult of the roaring crowd.

Electric

Nowhere has the home advantage phenomenon been more evident than at The Whale. A squad that coach Tim Taylor has called "the strongest team on paper that Yale has had in years," is bolstered by the support of the packed rink. The team stands at 20-5 overall and is currently ranked fifth nationally.

Numbers reveal that the home ice gives any team a distinct advantage. This year in ECAC play, home teams have posted a 56-41-12 record. Last weekend, the home teams went 8-3-1. The Elis' home record certainly fits this pattern of success. Going into their final regular season games against Dartmouth and Vermont in The Whale this weekend, the squad has maintained a perfect 12-0 record at home. On the road, meanwhile, the Bulldogs are 8-5.

This year the fans have made their presence known in record numbers. Both season attendance and average attendance are up in Ingalls Rink. By the end of the season, the all-time attendance figure will undoubtedly be broken.

"There's no doubt about it," Taylor said of the impact of the home crowds. "There's a certain electricity to the atmosphere. The fans have made Ingalls a really exciting venue and we're comfortable playing there."

"When the crowd shows up early and fills the seats, we feel that much more at home," Ben Stafford, BR '01, said. "That kind of support makes practice pay off. It makes what we're doing worthwhile." Defenseman Jeff Glew, BR '98, agreed with Stafford and Taylor: "When you get out there on the ice for the first time and hear the band playing and the crowd screaming, you get a rush."

Players on the men's basketball team can also point to specific contests in which the home crowd propelled them to victory. In the game against Harvard on Sat., Jan. 31, the Elis pulled out an overtime win in front of a packed house. Led by the band, the crowd served as a "great sixth man on the court," according to Dick Kuchen. "This kind of support does have a dramatic impact on the players. It's difficult to describe but you can feel it."

"It's always a thrill to play at home," women's basketball coach Cecilia DeMarco said. This weekend, the women finish up the season with two home contests against Dartmouth and Harvard. For the seniors, it'll be their last chance to enjoy the fans. "It's every senior's dream to end their career with a win this weekend at home with the crowd behind them--there's no holding back," DeMarco said.

More than the crowds

The crowds, however, are only part of what constitutes the home advantage. The home course itself benefits the home team. "There is definitely a home-river advantage in the fall," rower Scott Proper, ES '01, said. "Your coxswain knows how to steer the river, you're familiar with the landscape and, you can tell where you are in the race and how much you have left."

In a crew race, landmarks along the river become part of the course. "On our course, when you see the purple barn, you know the race will be over in five minutes," Proper said. Unlike the basketball court or hockey rink, a river has no standard shape; crew programs must adapt to the quirks and irregularities of nature. Some schools' courses are straight, others are curved; the Housatonic River, where the Bulldogs row, has a sizable turn in it.

"When you practice on the Housatonic," Cameron Gridley, TD '98, said, "you get accustomed to the stagger and the advantages and disadvantages of the turn; these things help you pace yourself." On rivers like the Charles, with its winding turns, coxswains who steer the course every day clearly have an advantage in races.

The hockey players say that another part of the home advantage comes from small details that are easily overlooked. "Each player has his own pre-game warmup routine," Glew said. "Before each game, I get to the rink early, ride the bike, run in the hallways, stretch on certain tables.... When you play at other rinks it changes your pre-game routine."

On the hostile road

Unfortunately for all Elis, only half of the season's games are played at home. Road games always present a difficult task, whoever the opponent is. When the men's hockey squad was defeated at Clarkson on Fri., Feb. 20, the crowd affected their game. "It was an intimidating atmosphere," Stafford said. "The crowd helped Clarkson gain momentum and get back into the game after they scored their first goal." This crowd- driven momentum helped the second-place Golden Knights score five unanswered goals and march on to a 6-3 victory.

"It's crucial to be able to win on the road and to be able to deal with a hostile environment," Taylor said. "No matter how well you play at home, 50 percent of your games will always be away." DeMarco agreed that focus is key. "One of the tough things about our schedule is that you have two games every weekend, and often they are both on the road."

"The crowd noise affects you at the beginning of an away game," Glew added. "But once you're on the ice, you block it out. Besides, it's intense. I'd rather play in a hostile, full rink than a half-empty one." Cornell and Vermont, two schools notorious for their fanatic followings, have the most perenially wild atmospheres. "Yale is right up there this year," Glew said.

Right up there, indeed. Tickets to the Harvard game on Sat., Feb. 14, sold out a week before the game and reserved seats to this weekend's matchup against Vermont were gone more than a week ago. Facing incredible demand for tickets from students, local residents, and players' families, Athletic Director Tom Beckett even considered moving the Harvard game to the New Haven Coliseum.

"It would have been great to see such a huge turnout," Taylor said. Emphasizing the importance of the home ice advantage, however, most of the players seemed to prefer the friendly confines of The Whale to the unfamiliar setting of the Coliseum.

This weekend, as the Bulldogs skate out onto the ice with the goal of maintaining their perfect home record, they will hear thousands of cheering fans, see the uniquely curved ceiling above them, and know they are at home.

FABIAN E. ROSADO/YH

 

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