Shari Nelson writes: > A word of warning to Clarkson fans about the cheeseheads (er, Wisconsin!) > Their band, and fans are incredible! They have the most organized > cheering section I've ever seen. During power plays, their drummer > plays constantly, while the fans sing in the background. I didn't think bands were allowed to play while the puck was "in play". I was a drummer in the RPI Pep Band from 1975 to 1978. Even the drums had be be quite while play was going on. During the 1976 playoffs, RPI was hosting BC in the first round. With a close game (RPI trailing 4-3) in the third period, our Pep Band was playing a "cheer" at EVERY break in the action, sometimes running over after the puck would be dropped. We were trying to urge our team on (what good Pep Band doesn't?). It was working too, RPI scored with about 10:00 minutes left to tie the score. So, we went a little overboard and played the LONG version of our school fight song after the goal. The Ref stopped play, and had the announcer say that if the Band plays again while the puck is in play, he would call a Bench Minor on RPI! Our Tuba player offered to go and sit in the Penalty box if the rest of the Pep Band could continue to play B^). What a guy! Granted this was an ECAC playoff game. (Oh, yeah, BC scored in the last minute to pull out a 5-4 victory. Talk about a Ref controlling a game!) The second experience come in the spring of 1979, when the RPI Pep Band was trying to accompany the Hockey team on their annual "North Trip" to SLU and Clarkson. We were told that the Clarkson rink was small, and the Clarkson people didn't want our Pep Band to be allowed into the game. So, our Band Director (student that he was) contacted the ECAC and got them to force Clarkson to allow us into the arena and to let us play. Something about other schools were letting the Clarkson Band into their arenas, so Clarkson HAD TO let us in (and any other Bands that wanted to accomany their teams as well). After our first goal, when we finished the last eight measures of our school fight song, AFTER the puck had been dropped, The Arena manager comes running up to us and threatens to throw us out "if we don't stop playing when the puck is dropped!". I can't remember if he said it was ECAC or NCAA rules that prohibited bands from playing. Needless to say, the Clakson Pep Band seemedto be under no such orders from the same gentleman, they got to play whenever, and however long, they wanted to. Maybe things have changed in 10-15 years. For the Better? I hope so.