Hockey in Connecticut

Submitted by poorlywrittenriffs t3_yeqyxt in Connecticut

I understand people’s pleas of wanting an NHL team to come back to Hartford, yet the same people don’t realize we have some incredible hockey teams here still!

Quinnipiac - Both programs are nationally ranked within the Top 10. Incredible arena for a NCAA team too.

Yale - Men’s program needs improvement, but the Women’s program made it to the National Championship last season, but lost in 2OT! Women’s games are free as well.

UConn - Another nationally ranked program.

Hartford Wolfpack & Bridgeport Islanders - Rangers and Islanders affiliates respectively. I go to more Bridgeport games and they have a good start to their campaign so far!

Who else enjoys going to these games? Tickets are anywhere from $10 - $25 depending on the program and are always a fun time!

EDIT - Wow this thread turned out to be way more engaging than I thought! There were definitely some teams I left out that I’ll add further!

SACRED HEART (NCAA) DANBURY HAT TRICKS (FPHL) CONNECTICUT WHALE (PHF)

With that being said hit me up if you’ll be a Yale v Brown this Saturday!

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MISSLIPPYSCARISGREEN t1_itzfnhn wrote

UConn play BC tonight at 7 at the XL center. UConn are also ranked top 10 in the nation.

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bmcmillan534 t1_itzmbgx wrote

Future NHL top 10 pick on the team right now, which is kind of insane. He's also 17 years old lol

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MISSLIPPYSCARISGREEN t1_itzo71v wrote

Yeah and they have a kid from Finland that had visa issues that’s supposed to be really good. Third round pick for the Devils last year. Just joined the team and should start playing next week against Maine

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iveo83 t1_iu031aj wrote

how is he 3rd round pick for Devils but on UConn this year?

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MISSLIPPYSCARISGREEN t1_iu04c4b wrote

In hockey, you can get drafted and still go to college and play. The NHL team holds your rights for four years. You can see a lot of NHL prospects playing college. Owen Power was the first overall pick in the 2021 draft after his freshman year at Michigan. After he was drafted he went back to Michigan for his sophomore year.

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iveo83 t1_iu04r4o wrote

oh wow I know nothing about hockey. That's pretty cool though!

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DicNavis t1_iu0pjfj wrote

I think it’s one of hockey’s biggest advantages over other college sports. You can watch future NFL, NBA, and MLB players play in college but you don’t know which ones will be playing for your favorite teams. In hockey you get to devote energy into following the specific prospects who are most likely to play for your favorite team. You even get guys like Cale Makar who goes from winning a national championship with UMass to being a key addition to Colorado’s playoff run.

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MISSLIPPYSCARISGREEN t1_iu0uvcp wrote

The Finnish kid is actually playing tonight.

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DicNavis t1_iu0vgmb wrote

Fuck yeah! No reason he shouldn’t, tbh. He’s been playing with his U20 team in Finland while awaiting his visa, UConn was sorely lacking at center against BU, and even if systematically he isn’t quite ready to play a regular role on a line, he could be used as the extra skater and certainly benefit more from it than whichever freshman defenseman was gonna get a handful of shifts through the whole game. Add the question of Amonte’s availability into the mix and they’d be crazy not to dress a talented center.

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doihafta t1_iu37d6l wrote

And the game was SO GREAT!!! U! C! O! N! N! UCONN! UCONN! UCONN!

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stinkbeast666 t1_itzha8g wrote

I went to a Yale game at the Whale (Ingalls Rink), its a great facility. The fans were passionate and the arena give you a lot of close up access to the action.

The building itself is pretty unique as the architect also designed Dulles airport, the classic TWA building at JFK and the Gateway Arch in St Louis.

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gglidd t1_iu0jwbe wrote

Yale games have an excellent old-time hockey feel.

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DicNavis t1_iu0prd0 wrote

I love the stripped down atmosphere. No video boards, no distractions, just great hockey. Of course there are times where you wish you could watch a replay, but it’s a nice break from gimmicks for the hockey purists out there.

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gglidd t1_iu0wcow wrote

Totally agree. You're right there by the ice on wooden bleachers; the students who show up to watch the games are spirited. Just a good vibe that's increasingly hard to find in college sports.

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poorlywrittenriffs OP t1_iu0xqdu wrote

That’s my thought too. The way i look at it is that you can get the stripped down rink at Yale or drive 15 minutes up Whitney to QU for a more modern arena. Best of both worlds.

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DicNavis t1_itzq1yw wrote

Don’t forget Sacred Heart who’s about to transition from playing off campus in Bridgeport to a brand new building on campus which is going to finally give them that real college hockey atmosphere.

UConn is also opening a new arena but that’s going to be a tough ticket to come by for the first few games there this year.

As a hockey junkie, I absolutely love the abundance of very affordable options around the state. I grew up at Wolf Pack games and attend about a dozen of them each year now, and I’m a UConn season ticket holder. I also make it down to Quinnipiac a few times a year.

Definitely should mention the Connecticut Ice tournament, where the four D1 men’s hockey programs compete for bragging rights in Bridgeport on January 27th and 28th!

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poorlywrittenriffs OP t1_itzrzsr wrote

Ahhh yeah SHU as well! Having lived here for a little over 2 years now I’m amazed of all the hockey I can go to at nearly any given moment.

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flatdanny t1_iu0k88d wrote

And SHU won the CT Ice tourney last year!

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DicNavis t1_iu0msfp wrote

Quinnipiac won it last year, SHU won the inaugural one in 2020.

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flatdanny t1_iu0nvhg wrote

Thanks. Ill conveniently blame the pandemic for my Faux pas.

I root for all 4 teams.

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DicNavis t1_iu0oufj wrote

It took me a long time to calibrate that 2020 tournament as actually having taken place in 2020 after essentially writing off that year of college hockey of having no conference or national tournament champions.

I only specifically root for UConn and Quinnipiac but always support Connecticut hockey teams in general as well. I’d really like for them to start alternating sites of CT Ice between Hartford and Bridgeport, it’s always been talked about but never been assured as a plan for the future.

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Relevant_Link_ t1_iu1741b wrote

The women’s version of this is the Nutmeg Classic and it happens around Thanksgiving. It’s awesome and a ton of fun. Strongly recommend it as a post Thanksgiving activity for Friday and Saturday.

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DicNavis t1_iu17yln wrote

And for people with kids, especially daughters, who are interested in sports, the collegiate women’s hockey (and all athletics) is such a good atmosphere to expose them to. Even more affordable, some of them are even free, and the lower overall attendance at most of those games makes them even easier to bring a family to, they can get right up to the glass to appreciate the play, they have space to move around and burn off energy during the intermissions, and damn do those athletes appreciate fans, especially young girls like they once were, coming out to support them. The new arenas in Storrs and Fairfield are only going to make those experiences better.

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IMNOT_A_LAWYER t1_itzs0jl wrote

#HOLD UP

When the fuck did the Soundtigers rebrand to Islanders? I know they’ve always been an Islanders affiliate but this feels like a notch-style landgrab by Long Island…

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DicNavis t1_iu0qn6j wrote

It really came down to Islanders executive Lou Lamoriello’s crusade against anything fun. I also suspect they’re trying to strengthen the link between Bridgeport fans and the New York Islanders, in hopes to flip them away from Rangers fandom. Still haven’t figured out what Island they think Bridgeport is on…

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poorlywrittenriffs OP t1_itzsddt wrote

Last season they started with the new branding to “have a stronger identity to NYI”. Honestly those BST jerseys were sick and it bums me out I wasn’t living here at the time to snag a BST jersey.

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IMNOT_A_LAWYER t1_itzt8ia wrote

My outrage is immeasurable. It’s a shame that that bum DiPietro was cut long ago. I somehow blame him for this.

Great post though, I haven’t checked out a Yale game in a while and I think that’s be awesome.

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Whaddaulookinat t1_iu2gut9 wrote

Nhl wants their ahl affiliates to reverend under the larger brands. It honestly really sucks.

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BronzedAppleFritter t1_itztj20 wrote

A notch-style landgrab is when the belligerent state takes a total redneck grease trap of a town from you (i.e. Southwick). I just wouldn't say that about something I liked haha.

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1984isnowpleb t1_iu0aw6l wrote

I’ve said it before in this sub Reddit we don’t deserve an nhl team given all the great hockey we have in this state and people are literally unaware they even exist

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ZeBridgeIsOut5 t1_iu1hvi2 wrote

That seems harsh. I don't think people were unaware, it's more that guaranteed, top level, NHL talent only recently started playing college games here. UConn hockey led the conference in attendance last couple years, did they not? QU and Yale have always been solid.

I don't think you can count sound tigers and wolfpack games. They are fun diversions but AHL atmosphere is nothing compared to the NHL. Can't say CT doesn't deserve NHL because they don't have some sort of rabid AHL fanbase, because show me an AHL team who does...

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1984isnowpleb t1_iu1jq53 wrote

Laval rockets game be going nuts same with a few other ahl squads. Look I’d love an nhl team I just don’t think there’s the interest to back it. Anyone that likes hockey already probably wouldn’t even switch their fandom from their other local team. I am glad uconn is getting better because even with QU and Yale being powerhouses for years now, uconn in a few years has made a bigger splash than those two teams facing off for a national championship back in 2013 I think

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ZeBridgeIsOut5 t1_iu1lm2r wrote

Lol okay but that's an AHL team in Quebec. You have got to see that as an outlier.

I think it's underestimating interest though, if the only metric is 'interest in things other than Pro teams'. I mean, c'mon, the CT Sun sold out their playoff games. Pro has extra panache.

If NYC only had AHL teams, you can bet people would be going to Broadway or smorgasburg or whatever else instead.

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1984isnowpleb t1_iu1nc23 wrote

Oh 100% an outlier but I had to give you at least one 🤪 Quebec or the south get another nhl team before we do imo. AHL is pro though literally better than every other league in the world besides the nhl and maybe a handful of khl or liiga teams. If the game keeps growing at this rate in another decade when the nhl finally decides to expand again, maybe we will be a legit contender for a team at least I hope so. For now it’s just a pipe dream.

Ct suns average game was 5.7K fans, I’m not sure what sold out is for them but that’s more than the Wolfpack or the BPT isles which says more about nhl growing the game to me than anything

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ZeBridgeIsOut5 t1_iu1rvug wrote

Haha, gotcha. Yeah the Quebec example is like saying "Championship level teams in England get good turnout why doesn't the USL" 😜

And I'm sure you're logically right about the level of skill in the AHL but it's still 'minor league' in America and likely perceived as such, as minor entertainment.

Also of course an NHL team is a pipe dream, and needs a lot of fortuitous luck. But to say it isn't "deserved" because of apathy based on up-to-this-point mediocre college and AHL teams... is a stretch, IMO.

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Veryexpensiveggs t1_itzkngd wrote

I also don’t think people remember what happened the last time CT had a hockey team.

The Danbury Trashers

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NKevros t1_itzf3v4 wrote

I went to QU a couple years ago for a game and it was great fun, but I have trouble getting invested in college sports in general.

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jpr_jpr t1_iu001au wrote

I went to the UConn club seats at the civic center a couple of years ago. They had a nice buffet, drinks, etc. for a reasonable price. The game was fun and it made me very nostalgic for all of the whalers games I went to.

College hockey is definitely a fun alternative.

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CoolAbdul t1_iu01c95 wrote

Everything you say is true... but The Whale is in peoples' blood.

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Pancrat t1_iu063ll wrote

My stepfather and his family go to some of those games. Never got invited. Fuck you Bruce

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dhb113 t1_itzzjrb wrote

hitting Brewport then walking over to the arena, with the train station right there is a great night.

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itschipbtw t1_iu06mtq wrote

Love a good Danbury Hat Tricks game. Play like a couple steps up from beer league. super entertaining and cheep tickets

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Squirts_Faygojizzer t1_iu0hye9 wrote

Yale won the men's national championship in 2013 against Quinnipiac

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CTLI9 t1_iu0hs5e wrote

UConn's new rink opens on Jan 14th.

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nvfh33 t1_iu0r75b wrote

We realize. We also recognize that none of what you mentioned is the NHL

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poorlywrittenriffs OP t1_iu0x560 wrote

Hartford doesn’t deserve an NHL team until attendance is better for at least the AHL teams was my point. You can’t ask for an NHL team if you don’t invest in the hockey community that already exists here. Point being, there’s a great list of teams to watch that need more attention.

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nahmatey t1_iu28eur wrote

There’s not enough money for a team in Hartford. We already have three teams within this small radius of the northeast (Rangers, Isles & Bruins). And Hartford is too small and dumpy of a city. Sad, but it’s the truth. It’ll never happen. The latest expansion team is in Seattle - a huge city everyone knows of, that has an NFL and NBA team. They aren’t going to bring a team back to Hartford. The Whalers had like two successful seasons.

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Jaymez82 t1_iu0xbc7 wrote

Honestly, I had no idea any of those teams existed, besides the Wolfpack. I'm shocked that UConn has a team as I've never seen news coverage of them. Growing up, I followed college hockey as I lived in Maine until high school.

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Relevant_Link_ t1_iu17c8v wrote

It’s a shame how hockey doesn’t get the coverage it deserves in CT. After college basketball it is easily our top sport.

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Jaymez82 t1_iu17huk wrote

Is it really? I would have thought football and baseball were more popular.

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waterford1955_2 t1_iu02ant wrote

You can take your kids to watch the Wolfpack play for short money. They have a lot of promotions too.

But I'll never forget going to the watch the Whalers.

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nofishontuesday2 t1_iu0xecn wrote

You want to see some good hockey? Go watch a game at The Kent school.

Those high school kids are pretty good. Well, at least when I last saw a game when my kid was there around 15 years or so ago.

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1984isnowpleb t1_iu1ghhd wrote

South Kent school is way better than Kent will ever be. Literally just pumping out D1 kids. The banners for guys who got drafted stretch across a whole Side of the rink

But you are right Any of the prep schools around will give you a decent game for free too!!!

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nofishontuesday2 t1_iu1i9e9 wrote

Back in the day Kent school had a player go straight to the NHL if rumors are true. Regardless, these CT private schools do have some pretty good games.

Hell, they better for the tuition cost. My ass is still puckering from sending my kid there and that was almost 15 years ago

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FireyToots t1_iu14uv2 wrote

Dude you are missing Danbury Hattricks which are getting a couple hundred people on slow nights, and 1000ish people there on packed nights.

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Nyrfan2017 t1_iu1a5xy wrote

I agree with you the colleges are becoming top programs .. I love supporting Hartford Wolfpack however the ticket prices need to come down for minor league your looking at over 100 dollars to take a family of four

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LizzieBordensPetRock t1_iu1kbw8 wrote

You have to keep an eye out but there are usually promotions to get cheaper tickets, especially week night games.

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CHECK_FLOKI t1_itzv372 wrote

Well the Yale hockey team (men and women) has been shit for years. The women's performance last year was a welcome surprise. The men's team sucks like they always have.

And yes, Hartford needs a hockey team.

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DicNavis t1_iu0rwqq wrote

Yale was a pretty regular fixture in the NCAA tournament in the early 2010’s and won a title in 2013. Taking a full season off for COVID killed them and most of the other Ivy’s. Almost all of their top players transferred. Harvard was really the only Ivy that didn’t suffer heavily last season. Yale’s gonna build back to being in a cycle of periodic contention, Allain is a good coach.

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CHECK_FLOKI t1_iu0wudi wrote

I agree. Allain is a good coach and the players respect him - - for good reason too, but the team has been slowly going downhill since 2015 even before covid.

Yale has never been past the quartfinal stages in ECAC championships since 2016 i believe, and the team has good talent so idk what the problem is frankly. I hear what you say about covid, but I don't think that's strong enough as an excuse for the performance.

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DicNavis t1_iu115ji wrote

Yale’s built to be a cyclical team in college hockey. They were in a low point of that cycle in the last few years leading up to 2020 but you really can’t understate how badly these teams suffered from having to take a full season off while most other programs kept playing. Beyond the players lost, it’s the year of experience lost from the players they were able to retain… that’s huge when it comes to competing with teams like Quinnipiac who’s returning loads of experience and Harvard who’s suddenly carrying more NHL draft picks than anyone in the country because their recruitment timeline happened to be the only one out of the Ivy’s not brutally impacted by the year off. It’s not going to be that easy for Yale to climb out of it quickly because they can’t capitalize on the new transfer rules as well as other programs, and they don’t take graduate seniors at all.

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the-crotch t1_iu0c77c wrote

if people had gone to see the whalers they'd still be here. people don't want hockey they just want to complain

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Taurothar t1_iu0r9zk wrote

That's revisionist. The owner promised to keep them here if sales targets were met, and then removed the partial season passes that were the most popular, and even when those sales targets were met despite that, he moved the team anyway because he wanted to have his businesses in a more tax friendly state in the South, backed by the NHL commissioner who was pushing his own Southern expansion strategy, and a Governor Rowland who was focusing on courting the fucking Patriots in a farce to move them to CT so he didn't care when a lowly NHL team left.

Fuck Karmanos.

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DicNavis t1_iu0razw wrote

Yes and no. The NHL never really wanted a team in Hartford and a group of way more influential owners badly wanted the team out. Hartford has a relatively low ceiling for a sports franchise, it would perpetually be a small market team. So they orchestrated the sale to an owner who wanted to move the team, who then did his best to suppress attendance to build the case for relocation. Hartford fans met the attendance and season ticket sale goals Karmanos said he needed to keep the team in Hartford, and he moved it anyway.

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PoisonIvyItch t1_iu24fqm wrote

Came here to mention Bridgeport Islanders as well.

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nahmatey t1_iu285iu wrote

Isn’t Bridgeport called the Sound Tigers or did they change their name?

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poorlywrittenriffs OP t1_iu2emnb wrote

Last season they switched to being called the Islanders. Logo change and all.

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Yourbubblestink t1_iu2hxyr wrote

Missing the brawls that were Whalers games in the late 80s

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Megamann87 t1_iu2oyjd wrote

Ct Whale, the WNHL team is great as well

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Jason4hees t1_iu33kge wrote

Bring back the trashers

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asimplescribe t1_iu16mjp wrote

Lower level hockey is very sloppy and a lot slower.

I just doesn't hit the spot at all.

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poorlywrittenriffs OP t1_iu18406 wrote

This is a grossly inaccurate statement. On TV maybe, but I’ve seen an incredible amount of talent out there at the AHL and NCAA level that is just as competitive as NHL. Especially AHL since those guys are literally battling out there to get called up to their NHL squad.

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SuckaMc-69 t1_itzqibp wrote

And who wants to be crushed in a small campus rink with sweaty kids to watch a college game? Bridgeport and sky box, is where I go!

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hasek3139 t1_iu01w5r wrote

Have you been to the Quinnipiac rink? It’s very nice, and you don’t get crushed by anyone..

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SuckaMc-69 t1_iu0d5c0 wrote

Yes I have, and it’s still tight. They should have made it scale up.

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hasek3139 t1_iu0xvyj wrote

What’s tight? lol

I just went to a devils game in jersey, that felt way tighter…

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SuckaMc-69 t1_iu0zusu wrote

I goto MSG as a rangers fan .. down vote me all ya want. It’s my fucking opinion. This place amazes me. If you don’t agree with someone, just cancel them out and they are wrong. Because you say!

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hasek3139 t1_iu10zud wrote

I also go to MSG a lot, it gets packed there too lmao

Not sure what you’re crying about

I’ve been to 17/32 NHL rinks, I can tell you, they are just as packed as a college rink

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SuckaMc-69 t1_iu14h2w wrote

I’m not crying! I responded to a question and then this shit.

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