I have several fond Boston Garden memories - most notably, perhaps,
the 1988-89 ECAC semifinal win by Vermont over Harvard. Dave Browne
scored the winner in OT and the 8000+ Catamount fans went nuts. In
fact, the Cats' supportors made quite an impression over the weekend
as they outnumbered and outshouted the contingents from St. Lawrence,
Cornell and Harvard. Harvard went on to win the NCAA title and Vermont
lost to SLU, 4-1, in the ECAC final, but Dave Browne earned the key to
Burlington that weekend.
 
I also remember Dwayne Roloson's heroics at the 1993-94 Hockey East
tournament. Although UMass-Lowell didn't win it all, falling to
B.U. in the championship game, Roloson was the tourney MVP after
putting on a goaltending clinic.
 
I'll never forget my first trip to the Garden for the 1987-88 ECAC
tournament (won by NCAA runner-up St. Lawrence). I arrived early
for the consolation game and enjoyed watching St. John's Prep
battle Chuckie Hughes' Catholic Memorial in the Mass high school
tournament. I saw some kid beat Hughes for a shorthanded goal
and it turns out that the scorer was Jeff Kampersal, who arrived
at Princeton the next year and was the Tigers 1992 co-captain.
 
At the same ECAC tournament, I stuck around after the final to
watch the Garden crew change over from hockey to the basketball
floor for a Celtics game the next afternoon - quite an experience
for a lifelong Celtics fan.
 
Lastly, I always loved the Garden -- until the Beanpot last season
when I didn't have a seat on press row for the final. I wandered
around the building, getting ejected from one seat after another,
and watched most of B.U.'s win over B.C. from various obstructed
view seats. I couldn't believe how many bad seats there were or
how many people were willing to pay for them. The Garden has
plenty of character and history, but no fan should pay $20-$50
to watch a 1/3 of the ice surface.
 
Geoff Howell
Drop the Puck Magazine
 
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