William Sangrey wrote:
 
>We all agree that throwing any object on the ice is incredibly stupid.  For the
>morons who will throw the tennis balls anyways, in addition to a warning before
> the game starts, and a 2 min minor when the incident occurs, the AD of Dart-
> mouth might consider offering to forfiet the game to the Tigers if this crap
C^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
> gets out of hand.  This would certainly get the attention of the offenders, as
> well as encourage good sportsmanship, which is more important then any
 individ-
> ual game.  Just a comment.
 
Here at Bowdoin, after some fans threw balls and other objects onto the ice
during our game with Colby in December, Bowdoin President Robert H. Edwards
announced that if this sort of action was ever repeated,
Bowdoin would forfeit the hockey game.
 
And, I might add, we are only talking about a game when objects where thrown
onto the ice *twice*. So, since then Bowdoin has made many attempts to make
certain that there would not be a repeat of even the minimal amount of ball
throwing. For example, the athletic department met with each fraternity here
at Bowdoin to fully explain the situation when the Polar Bears traveled to
Colby for the second game this season. (Of course, as those of you who read
hockey3 know, the Colby fans were far worse -- at least 10 stoppages of play,
fans aiming at the Bowdoin players and bench, including Coach Terry Meagher
and Assistant Coach Joe King, and Bowdoin students finding their tires slashed
after the game.)
 
I guess the point of this harrangue is that the forfeit threat has worked so
far, but I really wonder if a Division I program would even try it. It seems
to me that the best pragmatic action would be for Dartmouth Coach Roger
Demment to make a personal announcement at the beginning of the game.
<<sigh>>.
 
Craig Cheslog '93
Bowdoin College Sports Information Intern