Rivalries are all relative.  I laugh every time someone says Duke-UNC
basketball is the best rivalry in all of sports.  How does it compare to
Harvard-Trinity squash?  Are Duke and UNC always the two best teams in
the country?  Is the intensity between the two schools as much as it is
between Colby and Bowdoin, or does it have everything to do with a
television contract?

BU and BC are two schools who truly hate each other.  Lehigh (my wife's
alma mater) and Lafayette have the longest running rivalry in college
football, have an intense rivalry, and respect each other.  But there's
no hate, so IMHO their rivalry doesn't count.  I happen to think that
tOSU-Mich football is the best rivalry in all of college sports.

I can live happily knowing that college hockey has great rivalries that
are second to no other sport.  I love BU-BC, UMTC-Wisc, Clarkson-StL,
UNH-Maine, Mich-MichSt, and Cornell-Harvard to name a few.  They're all
great.  I just don't like hearing the media harping on rivalries that
are purely a function of TV ratings.
  
________
Edward N. Moller
Controller and Assistant Treasurer
Mount Ida College
777 Dedham Street
Newton, MA  02459-3323
Tel  617-928-4515
Fax 617-928-4581
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Mount Ida College provides a diverse community of learners a challenging
education that blends the liberal arts with professional preparation.
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-----Original Message-----
From: - Hockey-L - The College Hockey Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Erik Biever
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 3:13 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: St. Lawrence at Clarkson


The Minnesota - Wisconsin rivalry does not lack for tradition and
intensity. 
It goes back to the 1920's, when both programs were established.  At one
point 
brothers Emil and Kay Iverson were the coaches of the Gophers and
Badgers 
respectively.  Here's an excerpt from an article in the Feb. 1926
Wisconsin 
Engineer, which I pulled up via Google:

"Far from being ... considered an uninteresting, poorly attended, and
losing 
sport, hockey has risen from this position to that of a top-notch game.
In other years, Wisconsin has finished near the bottom of the heap, but
this year 
shows a marked change. Some excellent material is reporting for the
team, much 
of it from  the College of Engineering, and under the excellent guidance
of Kay 
Iverson, coach of outdoor winter sports, it has been developed into a
high 
speed conference team, able to make a good showing with the best of
teams.
    ...
"On the following weekend, a real hockey match took place with
Minnesota, whose 
team usually walks off with the conference honors in hockey. Coach Kay 
Iverson's team proved fully the equal of his brother's Gophers for the
two 
fast games ended in ties, the first 0-0, and the second 1-1.
    ...
"These ties, considering the rating of the opponents, and the fact that
this 
year's team is one of the best, are almost as good as victories for
Wisconsin. 
Coach Emil Iverson of Minnesota was certain of victory and could
scarcely 
believe his eyes-every place he looked he said he could see a redcoat,
and he 
counted them to make sure that his brother was not playing too many
men."

<<end of excerpt>>

The rivalry went dormant when Wisconsin dropped varsity hockey in the
1930's, 
but it came back with renewed vigor in the 1960's. There's been plenty
of 
hatred to go around -- consider the rancor between Herb Brooks and
Badger Bob. 
  There have also been comic events, like the time in the 1970's when
Paul 
Holmgren took out a row of Wisconsin trombones that were hanging over
the 
glass.  And then there's that little matter of the Back-Door Badgers
beating 
the Gophers for the 1981 NCAA championship in Duluth.

This rivalry takes a back seat to none.

-- Erik

> Erik,
> 
> Thanks for opening that can or worms, and for not letting sleeping 
> dogs lie.
> 
> There is more to same-state location (all but UM vs. UW) or same 
> conference membership (all but UAA vs UAF, yes UAF not UA) to make a 
> rivalry. There is history and tradition. Maybe Clarkson stole St. 
> Lawrence's cow (leaving them only with the bell) or maybe St. Lawrence

> reprogrammed the Clarkston arena scoreboard to read "Clarkson Good 
> Night". You need these stories, silliness, and hatred to make a good 
> rivalry. BU vs BC and MSU vs UM seem to have that extra edge that make

> a real rivalry. I have not seen that edge in UW vs UM but I do not 
> know enough about CC vs DU.
> 
> But it is the stories that make the rivalry, the history and the 
> tradition. A good brawl -- on the ice or in the stands -- always 
> helps.