Michigan Tech Hockey (YEAAAH!!) wrote: > > Michigan Tech has one of the most "alive and well" pep bands in the > league. In fact, the band has been outlawed at Lakeview Arena in > Marquette, Mich., due to the effect it has on the game. And Pam Sweeney wondered: > > Are you certain that's the reason? A few years ago (must be 7 or so) > the WCHA decided that, as a cost-cutting measure, no bands or > cheerleaders are allowed at WCHA away games. Yup, that is in fact the reason; I was head manager of the MTU Huskies Pep Band some 10 or 11 years ago before the ban on bands at away games was implemented; I can remember one occasion when NMU relented and let us send a band. The condition was that we could only send as many members as their whole band had; at that time, their band was about 50 students strong. Ours was about 175; thus all of the people who went from MTU were those by and large with the most seniority. It was an interesting experience; firstly the average age of the NMU band member seemed to be around 19, and most of the members were from the more formal ensembles making up the music department; the average age of the MTU contingent was at least 22, and ALL of them were engineers. (MTU has a Fine Arts department, but offers no musical degrees.) The two bands were placed side by side, and there was a lot of good-natured razzing going back and forth. (MTU: "WE HAVE JOBS! WE HAVE JOBS!" NMU: "WORKING FOR US! WORKING FOR US!") The real difference between the two bands, however, made itself obvious while I was under the stands they were in, getting a soda. There was a break in the game, and the NMU folks played a cheer. I thought to myself, "You know, they sound pretty good!" And then, the MTU band played: the same number of people, at about four times the volume. It was pretty bizarre. We ended up winning the game, by the way, in a dramatic come-from-behind finish that the MTU pep band played, if I do say so myself (and please excuse the pun) an instrumental part in; the NMU fans and team were less than pleased with us. As I remember, we were also banned from Minnesota for similar reasons; we were just too demoralizing. -- Andy -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MICHIGAN TECH HUSKIES PEP BAND ALUMNI Andrew B. Peed Still crazy after all these years.... [log in to unmask] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.