To all,
 
I write this in the hope of sheding light in to the College Hockey noise
situation.  There are two issues of concern; band noise and crowd noise.
 
There is a rule in the NCAA that prohibits bands from playing music
while play is in progress on the ice.  This does not prohibit bands from
playing during play stopages or period breaks.  The rule is not
universally enforced but if invoked it can result in a 2 minute "band
penalty".  When I was at RPI, most refs would ignore the rule if the
band made an effort to stop before play resumed.  Most refs also gave a
warning before invoking the penalty.  Occasionally, a ref would assess
the penalty without warning.
 
I believe that the crowd noise rule is specifically directed at noise
makers such as horns, drums, etc.  It is my understanding that this rule
came into being when a couple of schools (Harvard, Brown, and possibly
Yale) complained about noise makers at the RPI Freakout in 1987 (??).
The tradition at RPI was to hand out noise makers to each fan on the
night of the Freakout.  One year, the noise makers were big red horns.
The noise in the Fieldhouse was unbelievable.  I beleive the opponent
for the game was Brown and they were not amused.
 
Hope this information is helpful.
 
Eric Maiwald RPI '87