The 1984 Big Red Freakout featured the notorious horns, but to my knowledge,
the noise rule put an effective end to that, as well as the old cowbells and
the twirl-grinders that surfaced against BC in 1980. The Brown coach who
was responsible for all this was Herb Brooks, and it stemmed from one Freakout
several years ago..possibly '81 or '82. Brown was vying for the #8 seed playoff
spot, and had to beat RPI at the Field House to get it. A win would assure
Brown the seed, a loss meant Brown's hopes would go down the drain. Anyway, the
game was hyped up in the Troy paper, and 5000 horns were ordered to give out
to fans wearing red to the game. The Field House was jammed that night--about
5600 fans turned out, and from about a half hour before the game there was a
constant drone -- so loud that it was impossible to think. It was impossible
to hear announcements, whistles, etc. Brown, from the very start, was flustered
by the noise. RPI came out flying and wound up beating Brown by 5 or 6 goals.
Soon after the game, Brooks appealed to the NC$$ to institute a noise rule --
actually he didn't really appeal, because he sat on the NC$$ Ice Hockey
committee at that point, so it was a matter of relative ease for him to
pull a few strings to get it on the books. It was tied up in "red" tape for
awhile, but in the meantime, Harvard's Bill Cleary jumped on the anti-noise
bandwagon after RPI fans stormed Bright Center with the obnoxious horns.
After the 1st period of that RPI-Harvard game, Bright Center staff descended
upon the RPI section and confiscated all noisemakers. However, Harvard fans
were allowed to keep theirs, and this a sore spot between the two for many
years. So, Brooks and Cleary got their way, and even today, the rule stands.
A couple years later, RPI shut out Harvard in Cambridge then beat them
in the ECAC finals...also, Brown hasn't won in the Field House in at least
10 years. Even though both Brooks and Cleary are no longer in their respective
positions, the rivalries between RPI and Harvard and Brown are still intense.
                                             -- Sid