In so far as a penalty for roudy fan behavior, we had an incident
here during lacrosse season that's relevant. UMass has a fierce lax
rivalry with Syracuse. This past season both were in the top 15 when they
played on a perfect spring Saturday afternoon before at a packed Garber
Field. UMass fans relentlessly threw oranges at the Syracuse goal after
each score (a frequent occurrance for those who know lacrosse). Soon the
PA announcer warned the crowd, but the oranges still flew, so after each
goal UMass received a peanlty for delay of game, giving Syracuse the
faceoff and a :30 advantage. UMass trailed and their comeback attempt was
stimied by the man-down sitautions. In addition, the fans got a taste of
their own medicine as the Syracuse players started to fire the fruits
back at the crowd, and you get some good velocity with those sticks.
        The differance between this and the fish is that the fish is
controlled. There is a regulated system for throwing it, and it is done
in almost a ceremonious fashion, not a crazy drunken one. Being on the
opposing side I obviously hate seeing the fish fly, but I will defend it
as being one of the unique rituals that makes college hockey such a
wonderful thing. The octopus in Detroit existed for a long time as just a
single throw, it wasn't until all the media hype around their playoff run
that everyone and their uncle decided that they had to toss one. Credit
the UNH fans with showing the self-restraint to refrain from keeping the
Towse ice from looking like the New England Aquarium. This tradition is
unique and harmless. No harm is done, it's thrown onto the ICE, not a
player, so no trouble comes of it. However much I dislike seeing it as a
UMass partison, I think it's a great tradition and hope it continues until
the Whittemore Center is looked at as being "historic."
 
Leigh
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