-- [ From: Tom McArdle * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --
 
   With tournament fever rising to epidemic levels, puckheads across the
land ponder memories of past glory or opportunities seized or lost.  I've
seen bench clearing brawls, impossible saves by goalies with reflexes
measured in nanoseconds, shots that seemed to find the net when no possible
opening existed.  I remember celebrating championships, and dragging my
sorry tail away from the area after a heart breaking defeat.  The chants,
the cheers, the bands, and all that goes with college hockey.
 
   The college hockey event that I most remember occurred at the last WCHA
game ever played between the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and Bob Johnson's
visiting Wisconsin Badgers.  The twin domes on the South
Bend campus housed a perennial basketball shrine on the right, and a modest
ice rink/all purpose athletic
facility on the left.  The alumni sat in cushioned permanent seats on one
wall, behind the benches, with the
students standing on bleachers behind their goal and sweeping around to
center ice.  Bucky's traveling road show packed the rest of the bleacher
seats from center ice back around the other goal.  Adjacent to the alumni,
on both sides, projected two rather small balconies. I remember seeing Dan
Devine escorting a small group of obvious prospects to seats on the balcony
over the Notre Dame end.  The home crowd was polite to the coach, knowing
that their football future might ride the shoulders of those sitting next to
the beleguered Mr. Devine.  Like Green Bay's standard of Vince Lombardi,
Knute Rockney's ghost still haunts the coaches office at ND.
 
   But it was the other balcony, the one reserved for the University's
president that made this game memorable.
 
   Rev. Theodore Hesburgh had the box just a few feet above the Wisconsin
crowd.  He was known to enjoy the game and made as many  as his schedule
allowed.  Remember, this was the late 70's  (my aging mind is a bit foggy
here) and smoking was not universally banned in all public places.  Notre
Dame and the State of Indiana had banned smoking in this building, but the
enforcement was selective.  And that was not un-noticed by the fans from
Madison that saw the puffs of cigar smoke floating over them in the first
game of the weekend series on Saturday night.
 
   Badger fans have a reputation of being hockey-nuts and party animals,
most of it an urban legend, partially based in some fact. This Sunday
afternoon they marked themselves in my memory.  It happened just before the
game began.  The Wisconsin fans were unusually quiet, but I attributed it to
overconfidence. They were  just waiting to pounce.
 
   As Rev. Hesburg made his last minute entrance onto the balcony, about two
to three hundred Badgers sitting below the ledge slowly rose off their seats
and turned to face the priest and chanted in unison,
 
                              "GOOD AFTERNOON FATHER TED,  HAVE A CIGAR !"
 
and they all reached into their pockets and raised their hands toward the
box..every one holding a cigar.  The place convulsed with laughter, with
Father Ted reaching over the railing to accept one from the stands below.
The referees, the coaches, even the campus police couldn't hold it back and
chuckled too.
 
   That's my favorite memory, one that brings a smile to my lips every time
I think about it.  If you have a story
that has stood the test of time, let's hear from you.
 
        "It's A Great ay For Hockey"  Bob Johnson
 
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