Originally, I had a blurb here about the history of Princeton University, as this was going to be my first trip down. However, since I ended up going to a [soccer game](2025-10-19_princetonsoccer) a few weeks before this game, it got moved to there. I ALSO had a blurb about the ECAC here as this trip was originally going to occur prior to the [Harvard post](2025-11-04_harvardhockey), but in case you couldn't tell...it didn't.

With those notes out of the way, on to our feature presentation: **Princeton hockey**!

Long time readers will notice that this post is formatted _slightly_ differently than my usual "trip reports". That's because this post is covering two different games featuring two (kinda sorta technically) different teams that happened on different dates: one for the men's team, and one for the women's team!

I linked the Harvard post above, but as a quick refresher: Princeton is a member of the Ivy League, which does not officially sponsor hockey. Its hockey schools are members of the ECAC, but contest a "hockey championship" via head-to-head results (which the league tracks on its website FWIW), and typically start their seasons well after the rest of the country (including non-Ivy ECAC members - though I believe this is the case for all sports). What I probably should have mentioned back then is that this applies to both men's and women's hockey programs; in fact, I recall hearing about how Harvard's long time women's hockey coach got "taken down" by a BEVY of behind-the-scenes scandals around the time I visited back in 2023.

With that little note out of the way, I'd like to give SOME structure to this as it's going to get a little "buck wild", so I'm going to start by telling the story of

### SELECTING THE GAMES

My original plan was to go to the men's "official" home opener on Halloween (a Friday)[^1], but something came up and I didn't feel like trying to get out of it, so I pushed back a day to November 1 (a Saturday). In doing so, I decided to check the women's schedule and found out that they were home on both October 31 AND November 1st. However, while parking for hockey games (and other athletic events) is free (one of the big reasons I keep going to Princeton BTW), the lots around the arena are not open to the public until 4 PM on weekdays, which solidified the decision to go on the 1st (the women's games on both dates started at 3, so I'd have to get creative if I went on Halloween).

I bought a ticket a few weeks in advance for the men's game...but then something ELSE came up. Not wanting to miss out on that, I pushed this trip back again to the 15th, as both teams were once again home that day (the 8th COULD HAVE worked, but I REALLY wanted to see [Brooklyn FC](2025-11-09_bkfc_womens) that day for reasons mentioned in that post). However...I decided that I wanted to check out [Princeton Football](2025-11-15_princetonfootball) for several reasons, and the timing of their game clashed with the women's game (a 12 noon start for a 3 hour football game vs. a 2 PM start for the women's hockey game), so I ended up going to the women's game the night before (as they were home that night but the men weren't).

Now, let's talk about the historic home shared by the two teams:

### HOBEY BAKER RINK

Opened in 1923 and named after quite possibly the school's most famous hockey alum (for reasons I'll elaborate on in a sec), Hobey Baker Rink is set to become the oldest arena in college hockey (and, from what I can tell, the United States in general), as the only building older than it is slated to be closed and demolished (more on that story soon). Thanks to its age, it features a HIGHLY unusual design by modern standards - and to help explain all of this, you're about to see more photos than I usually put into these posts. 

First of all, while Princeton's football and soccer stadiums are part of a larger "sports complex", Baker is NOT. It's in a different part of campus (with its own parking garage), and is a short walk away from a commuter rail station. Parking at said station is NOT free (even on weekends I THINK), but since very few games clash with the "no parking before 4 PM on weekdays" situation (and sadly, they're usually women's games), it's not really that significant (plus it's further).

As you approach the building from the parking garage and/or train station, you're greeted by this:

![A photo of the box office/entrance area of Hobey Baker Rink](/images/hobeybaker/outside.jpeg)

<figcaption>The box office and entrances to the building</figcaption>

The box office/ticket windows require you to line up/stand outside the arena to "use" them. This is more akin to most outdoor stadiums today, but is rather strange for an indoor arena (and it's not even the only one in the Ivy League that has this). However, what's more unusual is how the building is laid out.

When you arrive at the ticket windows, there are two doors on either side. These serve as the entrances to the arena for (most) fans arriving at games (due to them being adjacent to the parking garage and box office), but these are CLEARLY "add-ons" from who knows when - the entrances to the seating sections appear to be entrances to the building, and feature images of famous Princeton alumni in their "windows". Based on what I've seen of the building historically, however, it is possible that these entrances used to be windows before being converted:

![One of the entrances to the seating bowl at Hobey Baker Rink](/images/hobeybaker/entrance.jpeg)

The areas outside these entrances are basically hallways with with greenhouse-style glass (according to <a href="https://www.collegehockeynews.com/news/2023/07/24_Baker-Rink-at-100.php" target="blank">this article I found</a>, the glass was added in the 1980s). There's no way through the seating bowl without either these or walking through seats, as supports for the roof are present between the entrances. One of these hallways (on what ends up being the "north" side of the ice if you're watching on TV) has physical doors in the entryways; they were closed for the women's game, but open for the men's game (possibly because they were trying to only use the other hallway). Here's the "north" hallway (i.e. the one with doors) during the women's game (thus the darkness outside the glass):

![One of the greenhouse glass enclosed hallways at Hobey Baker Rink. This one features doors blocking the view of the hallway from the seating bowl.](/images/hobeybaker/hallway.jpeg)

At the "far" end of the building (i.e. the one opposite of the entrances/box office) is an area with concessions and a few cool displays of Princeton's history (and a LOT of plaques). Above this concession area is upper deck seating (which is somewhat rare in college hockey arenas); I thought about getting a ticket here for the men's game, but ultimately opted to be (almost) rinkside (though the view was cool - if a bit obstructed). Speaking of seats...be forewarned that it's 100% bench seating here. The benches all have backs with individual "seats", however, so that is nice if you're concerned about the lack of support (though the upper deck lacks this; I should also note that it is NOT easy getting down to the seats up here).

![A view of Hobey Baker Rink from the upper deck](/images/hobeybaker/upperdeck.jpeg)

<figcaption>I should note that it is NOT easy getting down to the seats in the lower rows of the upper deck...</figcaption>

Also, as you may have noticed from the photo, there's no video screens ANYWHERE inside; while there might be other D-I hockey schools without video boards, this is the only one I know of (with conference rival Yale getting a new video board recently). I'm guessing that this is a "personal" decision by the university, as the building has been renovated MANY times over the years - most recently in the summer of 2025.

One last note about Princeton hockey overall before we dive into the games themselves: the awards for the best college hockey players are both named after Princeton alumni. The men's award is the Hobey Baker Award (another reason he's probably Princeton's most famous alum), while the women's is the Patty Kazmaier Award[^2]. Likely due to this, banners commemorating the two are inside the arena (on the wall with the box office), both featuring the message "MAKE _____ PROUD" with the name of the corresponding player in the blank. While I assume they're meant to honor the awards and inspire the players, I also feel like they give off "DO~~N~~IT FOR~~GET YOU'RE~~ HER~~E FOREVER~~" vibes...

![Banners that say "MAKE HOBEY PROUD" and "MAKE PATTY PROUD"](/images/hobeybaker/banners.jpeg)

<div id="womens" />

### THE WOMEN'S GAME

_\*This game occurred on November 14, 2025._

Under MOST circumstances, I'd cover the men's game first. However, I figured that the best thing for this post would be to cover the two games in chronological order, so I'm starting with the women's game.

There's honestly not much to say about the women's team; they've made a few NCAA tournament appearances but haven't done much in the tournament. However, one of their recent players was the first overall pick in the 2024 PWHL Draft (by the [New York Sirens](2025-08-28_nysirens)), another has won with the only team to have won the league's championship, and they hired the (former) head coach of the [Boston Fleet](2025-08-29_bosfleet) this past summer (who was wearing a jacket that looked "Fleet green" during the game).

Since this is the first women's college hockey game I've ever been to, one thing I think you should know about women's college hockey is that it's INCREDIBLY niche. Only a few teams in the country average over 1,000 fans a game, and those teams are mainly in the Midwest. Princeton's average last season was ~500 spectators a game - not that high, but Hobey Baker's small size helps it feel not so empty (though it still kinda did). (Partially) because of the small crowds, tickets are all general admission, and can be had for (as low as) ten dollars (though I'm not exactly sure how to get that price - it's $12 at the door and $15 online).

This game featured the Tigers taking on the Friars of Providence College - a school in Hockey East[^3]. Princeton was pretty dominant this night - vastly outplaying Providence for large swaths of the game en route to a 3-0 win that was somehow not as close as you'd expect a 3-0 game to be. One interesting quirk about it: the officials' locker room was on the concourse, and they had to walk through it after and before periods. Also, women's games typically use the term "linepersons" to describe the officials who monitor the blue lines and such to be gender neutral. This game, however, REALLY put the "men" in "linesmen": the referees (orange armband officials who make rules calls) were female, but the linepersons were male!

Also, shoutout to the dude who somehow made it to the upper deck in the first period; I tried going up there during the first intermission, but the doors were locked (as there's no real reason for anyone to be there with how small the crowd is).



<div id="mens" />

### THE MEN'S GAME

_\*This game occurred on November 15, 2025._

Truth be told, Princeton's men's hockey team is...also relatively unimpressive: they do have three conference tournament wins, but they’ve never won a game in the NCAA’s hockey tournament, and their list of NHL alums doesn't feature any names that "pop" IMO (unless you're a fan of NHL Department of Player Safety head <a href="https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/p/parroge01.html" target="blank">George Parros</a>). However, their helmets are quite interesting, since they're based on the famous design of Princeton's football helmets!

This game featured a visit from hockey independent Stonehill College - a small school south of Boston which only became D-I a few years ago and doesn't yet have a "permanent home" (when I was living in Boston, they were in a community rink; they're now at the Bruins practice facility, but an arena is in the works). In fact, this game marks the first time I saw them live and in person (they're the only current MA D-I college team I haven't seen[^4]). Sadly, Stonehill hockey has struggled since becoming D-I: they lost more games in their first year featuring a D-I heavy schedule (34 losses in 2023-24) than they've won since becoming a D-I program (32 games coming into this one), and despite playing fairly well, this game is another on their pile of losses, as they came up on the short end of a 3-2 contest (I must admit that it is a little strange to discuss the result as it pertains to the *visiting* team). Similar to the Harvard hockey games I saw (one of which, coincidentally, was against Princeton), there was no student section nor band - which meant no straw boaters...

Thanks to this game having a 7 PM start time and the football game I went to in the afternoon ending just before 3, I was able to finish AND publish that post BEFORE this game started (it was either that or aimlessly wander around for three hours). I ended up going to a Barnes and Noble at a nearby mall and working on that post (as well as this one) at their cafe. Also, as an aside, the games I thought about but didn't go to were against one of the most remote programs in college hockey: the Alaska Nanooks from Fairbanks, AK - some 3,300 miles away from Princeton (games which the Tigers won more comfortably).

### MERCH

Some time before this trip, I randomly perused Princeton's online store and found a hockey jersey there! I did have some thoughts about getting it, but wanted to wait until I could see it in person to figure out if I was interested (as it's basically a long sleeved version of a football jersey since the front only features the number).

The Sunday before the soccer game, I ended up making another short day trip to Princeton and got the jersey from a campus store downtown[^5]. Princeton is a Nike school, but the jersey I got is a replica by another company; I bring this up because the other college hockey jerseys I've gotten from Nike (for schools I have yet to see in their home arenas) have two weird features: shoulder yokes that drop down way below where they should, and arm stripes that don't go all the way around the arm. While this replica does a better job with the shoulder yoke, it keeps the "cut-off" arm stripes, which is VERY interesting. 

At the women's game, there was no merchandise - something I probably should have expected given the smaller crowd. A night later, at the men's game...there was STILL no merch. I'm guessing that Princeton doesn't sell merch at hockey games due to the limited space of the "concourse", but it was rather unfortunate for the men's game since it was also the team's 2025 Teddy Bear Toss! I mentioned it in the Harvard post, but the Teddy Bear Toss is a hockey tradition where fans throw teddy bears onto the ice at a certain point during the game; like other NCAA Teddy Bear Tosses I've been to, it happened after the first period (the women also had a Teddy Bear Toss, but it was during a different game).

However, I actually made a quick visit to the arena to scope things out the day I got the jersey, and saw a list of merchandise items for sale[^6]; said jersey was notably NOT on the merchandise list.

One final note about Hobey Baker as a whole: concessions at the games felt a bit limited (not to mention the concession stand being BUSY during intermissions of the men's game). Thankfully, if you need more food (and/or vegetarian/vegan options) before or after the game (as if you leave mid-game you can't get back in), one of the Mid-Atlantic's most famous staples is just on the other side of the parking garage (i.e. at the train station): Wawa! If you've never been to one, they're a convenience store chain known for their large menu of made-to-order items such as sandwiches, salads, and, for whatever reason, pizza (which I have tried - for better or worse). In addition, most Wawas are open 24 hours - this one included, which makes it perfect for getting a meal/snack/coffee pregame OR postgame (especially as the concession stand closes prior to the end of the game and a lot of things in downtown Princeton close around the end).

---

Something I've learned in going to all of these Princeton sporting events: it's probably one of the best ways to watch (decently) high-level sports in New Jersey given that it's the least expensive football/hockey/soccer tickets I've found in the state (not to mention the free parking). Because of this, at least one more trip may be in the cards soon...

### ON DECK

For now, however, I don't have any solid plans - Princeton or otherwise. There are a few dates and things on my radar (including, yes, more Princeton), but nothing is certain (though one thing that is certain: I'm thinking of going to a non-sporting event next Saturday).

---

[^1]: The men's team had an exhibition game against a school from Canada on October 25th.
[^2]: One of the arena's plaques indicated that Princeton's women's team had its own (internal) Patty Kazmaier award, which is given to a senior each year. Said plaque also had no winner since 2022, and Wikipedia's list ended at 2020, so...
[^3]: I've actually visited Providence's hockey arena before, but the only thing going on at the time was a youth game; it'll get a post if/when I visit for the Friars (men and/or women). Also, should the women's team be the "Sisters" or something like that since women can't be Friars?
[^4]:  I also never got to see AIC as a D-I program - which they are not anymore (I mentioned this briefly in my post about [UMass Amherst](2025-10-05_umasshockey))
[^5]: The only other jersey they had was for basketball, but I wasn't really interested in them partially since they were sublimated; had the hockey jersey been sublimated, I likely would've passed on it.
[^6]: There was an intrasquad scrimmage the night before which was open to the public, and social media indicated that merch would be available at it.

Back-to-back nights at a hockey landmark

Princeton Tigers Hockey (ECAC Hockey) @ Hobey Baker Rink (Princeton, NJ)


_\*This trip occurred on November 15, 2025, and there was a [GOOD reason I had the time to post about it on the same day as the game](2025-11-16_princetonhockey). Also, if you haven't seen it yet, every post on this site now has tags! It's part of a bigger update I'm still working on, but I did get one BIG part of it working, so I felt it was good to have them now._

_However, I should also mention that this site now has a new URL! The old one still works (I'm FAIRLY sure), but this new one feels a lot more "official". Now, onto today's featured trip:_

I’ll be honest: I’m not really into gridiron football for a few reasons:

1. Football games tend to be prohibitively expensive to go to - tickets start quite high for the back of the upper deck, and get rather expensive quickly if you want to get closer to the action.
2. I’ve heard that the actual live viewing experience at a football game isn’t that great - it’s more about the pregame festivities than the actual sport. Part of that is probably the stop-start nature of the game, but also because of the social aspects of tailgating.
3. I didn’t exactly go to a “football school” for college. I went to one of the satellite campuses of Rutgers University, and even if I wanted to travel to Piscataway for football games (assuming they let satellite students in at student prices), I graduated around the time Rutgers decided that being Big Ten fodder was better than being competitive against the likes of the University of South Florida, so it would have been a much more somber atmosphere watching Rutgers get demolished by future mid-tier NFL quarterbacks.

However, in starting this site, I’ve decided to try branching out a bit. For example, I looked into going to Metlife Stadium for one of its (bad) football teams, and while that trip may or may not happen this year, it’s still on my radar (and may even be useful for a thing I want to do next year). However, this trip marks the debut of gridiron football on this blog - and my first “live” football game since my senior year of high school[^1]. I won’t go over Princeton University as a school again, as [I've already done so on this blog](2025-10-19_princetonsoccer). Instead, let’s focus on the football team today.

For starters: as I mentioned back when I visited for soccer, Princeton is one of the two oldest college football programs in the nation (the other one being [Rutgers](2025-08-26_rulacrosse)). They were the visitors for the first ever college football game (of any code), and hosted the second game in college football history one week later.

The school lays claim to a whopping 28 national football championships - the most in the United States. However, the NCAA only recognizes them as having 15 - ranking them second in the Ivy League (after Yale’s 18 recognized championships, which leads the country[^2]), and third overall (having recently been passed by Alabama winning their 16th “recognized” National Championship in 2020). The program also doesn’t exactly have the prestige it once did - a large part of that being due to the fact that Princeton is an Ivy League school, and while the Ivies are known for their academics…their athletics have fallen behind a bit (especially in football, where the league is not in the "top" college football division). However, one thing Princeton football is historically famous for: the design of their helmets, which has been copied by schools such as Michigan.

The main thing which made this trip possible: TICKETS ARE FIFTEEN DOLLARS! Sure…it’s technically $20 if purchased online due to fees (which I ended up doing to "control" my seat), but I couldn’t find anything close to that for Rutgers (again, mainly due to their ~~torturers~~ opponents). However, it must be noted that said price applies to every ticket in the stadium - from the back of the upper deck all the way down to the sidelines. Part of this is probably because Princeton isn’t exactly a football powerhouse (the Ivy League being part of the college football division below the big teams like Rutgers), plus attendances are a bit on the “lighter” side (the stadium has over 20,000 seats, but has averaged under 10,000 for a few years). In addition, it's all metal bench seating here, so be aware of that if you're thinking of coming to a game (though I feel like I've heard that metal benches are an improvement on other Ivy League stadiums).

![An image of a play during a football game taken from the first row of the stadium](/images/fieldside.jpeg)

![An image of a play during a football game taken from the last row of the stadium](/images/upperdeck.jpeg)

<figcaption>What $15 can get you at Princeton.<br>Which of these images? Yes.</figcaption>

Anyhoo, let's talk about the football stadium. It was built in 1998 on top of the stadium it replaced (which forced Princeton to play an entire season on the road), and is far and away the "newest" stadium in the Ivy League (with the second newest being 1984, and the rest being from before the Great Depression). I think the best way for me to talk about the stadium is from the "ground" (aka the field) up.

There's a full lower bowl surrounding the field, and a main concourse fully encircling it. Similar to the soccer stadium, the field is oriented more or less north-south; this is fairly important, as the south stands were covered and closed during the game. Also on the south side of the main concourse is access to the stands for an outdoor track and field stadium; in fact, the two stadiums share a tunnel (or two - I'm not fully sure), so there is kinda sorta the possibility of accessing the physical field from it when nothing's going on.

On the other three sides of the field (West, North, and East), there's a walkway that encircles the lower bowl; it does not have access to the south stands (which, again, were closed). The main "building" of the stadium rises from the main concourse on these sides as well - it's basically a horseshoe much like...Harvard.

Attached to the sides of the "horseshoe" (read: not the corners) are upper seating areas; however, the north section of upper seats was also closed. There are very small "upper concourses" for these seating areas which appeared to have concession stands, but none of them were open (I should also mention they only had three concession stands open, which I guess makes sense with the limited attendance).

Finally, while the stadium seems to lack any premium areas/suites, it looked like people were watching the game from inside various upper parts of the "horseshoe". I have NO idea how they got in there, as I didn't see any (or even an elevator); this may be because I didn't really try scoping out the building.

This game featured Princeton taking on one of their "main" Ivy League rivals: Yale. While it was a fairly close game (read: probably pretty bad all things considered), Yale ended up going home winners on a late field goal. I must say, however, that the game DID kinda prove the idea that while watching football plays happen in real time is kinda cool (case in point: Princeton got an endzone interception RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME), it's a bit boring to watch between plays, as nothing really goes on that's interesting, and the breaks kinda feel surprisingly long (I timed a media timeout at three minutes, and a between quarter break at five, plus halftime is 20 minutes).

There are two other things I wanna mention before I go (besides the ol' merch sitch):

1. The Princeton Band was small. I don't know if I SHOULD be surprised by that or not, but it was often hard to hear them during the game (and a little bit during their pregame and halftime presentations). However, one thing I will say about them: they are VERY well dressed with the orange (tartan?) blazers and MOST ESPECIALLY the straw boaters.
2. The Fifth Quarter. I couldn't find much information about its history online, but after the game, there's a fifteen minute period where fans are allowed onto the field to do literally whatever they feel like. The players (mainly the Princeton ones for this game) are also on the field during this time - mostly interacting with their families/friends.

![A photo of fans on the field at Princeton Stadium after a game](/images/fifthquarter.jpeg)

<figcaption>I made it onto an Ivy League field!<br>...Along with everyone else.</figcaption>

### MERCH

About a month before this game (in October 2025), I visited one of Princeton's campus stores and saw shirts for three of their biggest rivals: Penn, Harvard, and the aforementioned Yale (because apparently the other four Ivies are far less relevant to Princeton). In terms of other merch, the only thing that I was even remotely interested in for football was a soft foam/plastic mini football (which, in all honesty, I wasn't actually that interested in).

At the game, a merchandise tent greets fans who enter from the northeast gate; since this is the closet gate to the main parking garage, it's likely to be the first thing most fans see. While they had a lot of shirts and such I wasn't super interested in (and they didn't sell jerseys OR mini-helmets, which is a MASSIVE missed opportunity), they had a few more footballs, and I ended up getting one that was closest to the official NCAA size (and color). 

I almost bought a small plush tiger as well, but ended up not doing so. It wasn't something I was planning on going home with, but as it turns out, [I should have gotten it...](2025-11-16_princetonhockey#mens)

---

[^1]: I do, however, live within earshot of a high school football field, so I hear what goes on at their games when they’re at home.
[^2]: Yale claims 27 national championships.


A visit to a college football landmark - this time for ”the real thing”

Princeton Tigers Football (Ivy League) @ Powers Field at Princeton Stadium (Princeton, NJ)


_\*This trip occurred on November 8, 2025._

Brooklyn FC was established in 2023 by a group of investors. Originally, the plan was for a men’s team to be established in USL League One (the second tier of the USL, and the "third tier" of soccer in America) and a women’s team to be established in the newly formed USL Super League (a top level women’s league)[^1] in 2025. However, the women’s team had their debut moved up to 2024, while the men’s team got “promoted” to the USL Championship (the highest level of the USL and the second tier of US Soccer), but had their debut postponed to 2026.

Unfortunately, it seems as if people don’t know that the club exists or aren’t interested: they (the USL Super League team) finished dead last in attendance by a not-so-insignificant margin in their first season (2024-25), are currently (still) last in (average) attendance, and had one of their matches last season draw just over 200 spectators (good for the lowest single match attendance in the league). Part of that may be due to the much more established [Gotham FC](2025-09-08_gothamfc) two rivers away, but another part of the can likely be attributed to the team not playing in Brooklyn until near the end of their first season due to field issues (they were somewhere in Manhattan).

Speaking of Gotham, there's another factor that may be hindering Brooklyn FC: The USL Super League itself. The Super League was established by the United Soccer League in 2021 as a top level division for women’s soccer, and played its first season in 2024. I don't believe it's "competing" with the more established NWSL, however: the Super League features ZERO players who have played with the U.S. Women's National Team, and many of its teams have players on loan from the NWSL[^2] - but none going the other way. Also, unlike other professional soccer leagues in the United States, the Super League follows the “standard” football/soccer calendar of August-May; thanks to Northeastern winters and their tendency to be WAY TOO COLD, Brooklyn FC has ZERO home games from December-March while the league continues on (two other teams share this schedule quirk)[^3].

The backstory for this trip can be found [here](2025-09-01_bkncyclones2), but long story short: I wanted to come here back in August when a ticket plus jersey package was available, but was prevented from going to that game and ended up pivoting to a Cyclones game. I then looked at a date at the end of September, but prior plans made that date difficult, and then I felt November (i.e. now) would be the best time for this trip (largely due to a 3 PM start time; all of Brooklyn's October games started at 6 PM[^4]).

Much like the MLW post, I won’t get into details on Maimonides Park as anything I would’ve said here has been said [the first time I was here](2025-08-09_bkncyclones) (this game being my THIRD visit). However, I do have to mention that similar to [Yankee Stadium](2025-08-13_nycfc), the soccer layout here is kinda strange. Like Yankee Stadium, the soccer field here does not cross the pitcher’s mound (as confirmed by seeing traces of the soccer field’s lines during the second Cyclones game I went to). Here, however, the field is set with one goal line along the third base side, so given that there are zero outfield seats...no one has a good sideline view; home plate is kinda far from the field, and the first base side, while “better”, isn’t great as it’s not flush with the field (though it is kinda interesting).

![A photo of the field at Maimonides Park set up for soccer from behind home plate. It is meant to showcases how poor the view of the soccer is from these seats](/images/ueckerseats.jpeg)

<figcaption>A great view for baseball...but not for soccer</figcaption>

Field side seats are available, but these are not exactly "cheap", so be aware of that. I also found what I believe is a premium area for Cyclones games that I never bothered to try and explore during either game I went to near the entrance for the field side seats, but there was nothing going on here (only one concession stand was open for this game).

A few sections behind the goal on the third base side are marked as supporters' sections. Unlike Gotham FC, however, the seats are not locked upright, so you can actually sit here if you wanted to. Given how sparse crowds here are, you could feasibly sit just about anywhere, though from personal experience...it's probably a VERY BAD idea. These were also the least expensive seats I found for this game, so I ended up getting a ticket here (and it seemed like 90% of the crowd was back here too, as it's easily the best seats to actually see the game with how the field is set up).

The original match I wanted to go to saw Brooklyn defeat the league's defending champions. However, that was their only win of the season...until this game! Brooklyn ended up winning 1-0, with the lone goal being scored while I was in the bathroom.

### MERCH

I’ve already mentioned pretty much everything worth noting about the store here during the prior posts about this place, but in case anyone forgot: the Maimonides Park team store is a two-level store with various items on both levels. During my first visit, a small selection of Brooklyn FC merch was available, but nothing was available during the second visit.

At this game, merch was sold on the upper level of the store; a "mobile hat display" - which had a bunch of Cyclones and [some rather interesting non-Cyclones hats](2025-09-01_bkncyclones2#hats) - blocked access to the lower level. Despite there being a rather wide display of shirts and such available, there were only a few jerseys (leftovers from last season) - and all of them were quite small. I ended up only getting a scarf, and it seemed like they had very few of THOSE in stock. However, one other thing I thought about getting but ended up not: a shirt/hat commemorating the 2025 South Atlantic League champion Brooklyn Cyclones!

One other note: when my original plan to get the ticket/jersey deal fell through, I ended up just getting a jersey from their online store (as it was half off); I was only able to get an away jersey as they had run out of home jerseys in my size (again, they were selling only the OLD home and away jerseys at the match). It was later announced that several games over the course of 2025 would also receive ticket/jersey packages, and while several of the other packages featured interesting jerseys, this one came with a "replica home jersey" - another reason it became the date I chose to go see the team.

My original intention was to wear the away jersey to the game, and then MAYBE put the home jersey on over it. I did end up wearing another jersey over my Brooklyn FC away one, but <a href = "https://overclocked-overthoughts.netlify.app/blog/2025-11-09_shirts_and_the_city" target="blank">events both here and abroad made me choose a different team altogether</a>, and I ended up not taking the home jersey out of the plastic it came in until I got home...

---

One other note: Congratulations to [New York Red Bulls II](2025-09-22_rbnyii) for winning the MLS Next Pro championship! I thought about going to that game as they were hosting and tickets were pretty inexpensive, but the combination of the long journey to/from Brooklyn, a 7 PM start time, having to pay for parking in Harrison, and weekend PATH scheduling nixed that idea almost instantly - and then the game going to PKs confirmed that going would probably not have been a good idea.

---

[^1]: The league is known as the Gainbridge Super League because SPONSOR
[^2]: Soccer teams loan players to other teams in order for those players to get playing time and experience with a competitive first team. It's a system that is rather unique to soccer, as I don't know of ANY other sport that does this.
[^3]: Both teams are well ahead of Brooklyn attendance wise, so it's not likely that this is contributing to the attendance woes...
[^4]: Also, I must mention how wild it was to see Coney Island so empty as it was WELL outside of tourist season...


After a three month delay, I FINALLY get to see Brooklyn FC

Brooklyn FC (Gainbridge Super League) @ Maimonides Park (Brooklyn, NY)


_\*That’s right - TODAY is Harvard’s home opener (and again, it's a Tuesday); I'll get into why it's so late in a little bit. As for this post, it covers two visits that both happened in November 2023: one on the 3rd and the other on the 26th._

I’m not going to get into any specifics regarding Harvard University here given its status as ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS UNIVERSITIES IN THE WORLD. I also won’t talk about Harvard Square, as its rise as a tourist destination has changed the area in ways a lot of locals believe is for the worse (besides, the sports teams are in a different city altogether, and I don’t feel there’s much to say about them either). Instead, let’s focus on Harvard Crimson hockey: the crimson-headed stepchild of the Boston hockey scene.

Okay, so maybe that’s not completely true, but they don’t exactly have either the profile of BC/BU or a historic arena like Northeastern. They’re also not in Hockey East: they’re in a conference known as ECAC Hockey (from which Hockey East sprung from 40-ish years ago)[^1]. Unlike Northeastern, however, they have an honest-to-God D-I national championship, which they won in 1989; they’ve also won more Beanpot titles than Northeastern (11 vs. 9), and their most recent Beanpot championship is more recent than Boston College’s last title (2017 vs. 2016)[^2].

However...astute readers may have realized that I've yet to mention the Ivy League (the famous athletics conference associated with Harvard) in this post. That's because...the Ivy League does not TECHNICALLY have a hockey conference; instead, the Ivy League schools with D-I hockey teams (Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale) are members of the ECAC (also, ECAC is not currently an acronym[^3]). There does exist an unofficial “championship” for Ivy League Hockey: whichever team has the best record against the others is crowned the “Ivy League Champion”.

One other quirk about the Ivy League: due to its rules limiting how long athletic schedules can be, the six Ivy League teams have notably shorter schedules than most of the rest of college hockey (with the "cut" games usually being non-conference). Case in point: the fact this post is going up on the day of Harvard's 2025-26 home opener - nearly a full month into the season (and is only their third game overall - with one of those games being an exhibition game).

Anyhoo, back to the school at hand: Harvard University’s main campus is in Cambridge, MA (I was actually born about a mile away from it), but most of their sport programs are based in a complex across the Charles River in the Allston section of Boston. In terms of their hockey arena, the Bright-Landry Hockey Center has a somewhat interesting history: it originally opened with a different name in 1956 (thus putting it in line to be the oldest hockey arena in Boston fairly soon), but was substantially renovated in the late 1970s when it received its current name (so even if we considered this to be a wholly separate building, it’ll still be the oldest "college and higher" hockey arena in Boston).

![An image of warmups at Bright-Landry Hockey Center](/images/harvardhockey.jpg)

<figcaption>A real "hockey barn"</figcaption>

The arena feels like a giant “pit”, so to speak: I’d call it a “concourse style” building where you enter at concourse level and there's no real lobby, but with much, MUCH fewer amenities (as in just two small concession stands plus merchandise which I’ll get into a bit later). In fact, there’s an indoor track area adjacent to the hockey arena, with windows overlooking the track.

I came here twice in the fall of 2023; the first game (an "Ivy League" contest against Princeton) technically ended in a tie (though Harvard lost a shootout[^4]), and the other game saw Harvard get blown out against Boston College. There was no pep band OR student section for either game (despite a "Student Section" being labeled on one of the walls - it's in the photo for those who saw it), so the two games I went to kinda lacked the same energy you get from other college games. Also, as the arena’s in the middle of Harvard’s sports complex, it’s hard to give any good food recommendations (I used to do food recommendations with these posts), as they’re relatively far removed from the arena (though there’s some interesting things in Allston proper).

The seating bowl, compared to places like UNH’s Whittemore Center (which, IMO, is the best Hockey East analogue for Harvard), is also MUCH smaller, meaning that you can basically see the ice from just about anywhere on the concourse save for the areas which you can’t - a lounge for season ticket holders as well as the merch area (more on this space below).

One more thing I should mention: in looking back at the details of these visits (to confirm their dates mainly), I realized that the second game was part of one of hockey's most famous traditions: the Teddy Bear Toss. At some point during the game, fans throw stuffed animals onto the ice; I'm not sure when and where this started, but it's become a holiday tradition around the "lower leagues" of hockey[^5]. While a number of leagues (namely the Canadian Hockey League) do it after the home team scores their first goal, this one occurred during the first of two intermissions between periods (I realize I should have mentioned this a LONG TIME AGO, but hockey games are divided into 3-20 minute periods).

This was the first of three teddy bear tosses I attended in 2023 (the other two being [Boston University](2025-10-04_buhockey) and [UNH](2025-10-24_unhhockey)), and the fact that I completely forgot about this, in a sense, should tell you how it was. I will note that the BU and UNH ones were definitely MUCH better though - and I recall one (or both) of them selling teddy bears to be tossed.

### MERCH

Surprisingly, there’s a full fledged merchandise “store” here as opposed to a kiosk/some racks and a cash register along the concourse, which honestly feels a little crazy for a program as “small” as Harvard. Said store felt surprisingly large and had a decent selection of things; sadly, they didn’t have jerseys either time I went, and the pucks I saw were disappointing IMO so I didn’t get one, but I did get a wooden Zamboni as well as a “Hockey Hoodie” with Harvard’s logo on it.

I said I wasn’t going to talk about Harvard Square, but I do need to mention that Harvard’s bookstore (the Coop) is actually quite large and has a TON of things. Most of it is not sports related, mind you, but it’s there if you want to make people think you’re smart/wealthy/connected enough to go to Harvard.

---

[^1]: I don't feel the need to dive into the ECAC's history, but it's the oldest conference in college hockey - on the men's side. There is one conference that is TECHNICALLY older, but it's currently women's hockey only as its men's league disbanded in 2021 after a series of realignments stemming from the Big Ten stepping into the college hockey landscape.
[^2]: If you need a quick refresher: the Beanpot is Boston's annual college hockey tournament between four local schools, and is (probably) one of the most famous tournaments in the hockey world. Also, given how BC's been this year, it looks like this will still be valid for quite a bit longer...
[^3]: From what I could glean, Columbia has NEVER had D-I hockey, while Penn used to but disbanded the program a LONG time ago. Both schools do maintain club teams however.
[^4]: As mentioned in the [Bentley post](2025-10-25_bentleyhockey), college hockey games can end in ties if, after regulation and overtime, they're...well, tied. This game happened before that game, but since that post went up first, I did the explanation of the whole process then. Also, I assume since Princeton won that shooutout, the extra point counts towards the "Ivy League" standings.
[^5]: The NHL does not do this as its rules prohibit fans from throwing things onto the ice.


Hockey at one of America's most famous universities

Harvard Crimson Hockey (ECAC Hockey) @ Bright-Landry Hockey Center (Boston, MA)


_\*This trip occurred on February 24, 2024._

_Once again, I have a situation where two teams had their home opener on the same day. This time, I’m doing Bentley second - mainly as this game happened after the [UNH game I talked about yesterday](2025-10-24_unhhockey). Also, yesterday was (technically) Bentley's SECOND home game; they had an exhibition game against a school from Canada back on October 4th, but I decided to wait for a non-exhibition game as I was WAY too backed up then._

Another university many readers may be unfamiliar with, Bentley University is located just west of Boston in Waltham, Massachusetts. It’s probably best known for its business school, but somehow, someway, it’s neither the only school that starts with a “B” in Waltham (Brandeis University), nor is it the only “B” school west of Boston known for its business school (Babson College in nearby Wellesley, which is PURELY a business school[^1]).

Their hockey team has formally been around since the 1970s, but only became a D-I program in 1998 (as a member of what is now Atlantic Hockey America). While they VERY MUCH don’t have the reputation/prestige of the Boston schools a few miles away (nor have they had any alumni play in the NHL), they did win their conference in 2025, thus making their first ever NCAA tournament appearance[^2]. Of note: Bentley does not have a women's hockey team; of the schools I've visited so far for hockey, they're one of three (the other two being the two Umass campuses with D-I hockey).

Tickets for Bentley are REALLY inexpensive if you’re looking for (college) hockey near Boston - every seat has the same (relatively) low cost, so not only can you get one of the more intimate atmospheres available in the area, you can get front row seats super cheap[^3]! However...parking is another story altogether. There’s VERY limited parking at the arena, and to guarantee a spot in the adjacent lot, it cost almost double the ticket price when I went; I could not find any information on how much it costs now. There are other options that are free, but it seems some of them are quite a ways away from the arena (as the campus offers shuttles for them). I ended up parking down the street from the arena, which was free (but also quite a walk - especially in Boston winter).

![Bentley players salute the crowd after quote on quote winning](/images/bentley.jpg)

<figcaption>Bentley salutes their crowd after winning (but not really)</figcaption>

The aptly named Bentley Arena itself is actually pretty nice. It was opened in 2018 to provide a modern home for the school’s hockey team (they were previously at a community rink in nearby Watertown, MA), and is LEED Platinum rated - the highest rating for sustainable construction in the United States. Similar to some other arenas, the entrance lobby is at "floor" level (as in it's the same level as the rink itself), and then there's a concourse a level above.

There weren’t a ton of students at the game, but there was a band (unlike some games I went to at the supposedly “bigger” schools); the student section is the only part of the arena with bench seating (if that’s a concern). In addition, I found out that apparently Bentley has a “senior trip” to some tropical location; I don’t remember many of the details about it or this game as it was almost two years ago (outside of Bentley “winning” a tied game via shootout), but I wish my university sponsored a trip...well either that or not make us go to class on federal holidays.

One other important note about the game: I mentioned in the prior paragraph that this game ended in a shootout. College hockey is WEIRD in that games tied after 60 minutes of regulation plus five minutes of overtime officially end in ties, but have shootouts to determine a "winner"; you may remember me mentioning that MLS Next Pro does this as well when I saw [New York Red Bulls II](2025-09-22_rbnyii). Like MLS Next Pro, in-conference games award an extra standings point to the team that wins the shootout, but non-conference games...just do it for funsies I guess? I'll stop here as I could go on, but I will end with the fact that this rule was put into effect for in-season tournaments recently (i.e. tournaments outside of the conference/national championships), and fans of one particular tournament weren't fond of that...

(P.S.: If you want to hear bits and pieces of the game’s audio broadcast, sit to the left of the goal Bentley defends twice - unless they moved it since my visit)

### MERCH

I was surprised to learn that not only was there merch at this game, but a pretty decent selection of it as well!

The merch area was neatly tucked away under the stairs leading to the main arena, and to my surprise, they had jerseys (one of which I got). However, it didn’t seem like they sold a bunch, as no one in the crowd was wearing them (they’re those “fan” replica jerseys, and they’re not exactly the best IMO).

Concessions, however, were extra limited. There’s a physical concession stand on the same side as the main entrance, but it was closed the night I went; fans had to settle for a snack shack in one corner and drinks in another near the entrance. There is also beer and wine in a different corner if you’re into that kinda stuff, as well as a premium club with catering (not sure what you need to do to get in though). Waltham has some interesting food options, but campus is a bit disconnected from them, so be aware of that (not to mention the fact that very few things are open late in Massachusetts - even the places close to colleges).

As an aside, this game is, as of now, my only visit to Bentley, so I haven’t seen any other parts of campus (including the bookstore).

---

[^1]: If that's not enough small schools west of Boston for you, I recently befriended a couple who met at Olin College of Engineering, which is right next to Babson (and they've told me about using some of Babson's facilities for various reasons).
[^2]: AHA has something of an interesting history; I wrote about it when I talked about [Holy Cross](2025-10-21_holycrosshockey). Also, obligatory link to <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Atlhocklogo.png" target="blank">their former logo</a> - I seriously cannot get over the fact that this was in use until **2024**.
[^3]: I paid around $12 when I went in 2024, but a check on ticket prices the day before this was posted indicated that tickets are now up to $22 dollars depending on opponent - though that's the "premium opponent" price, so it's still pretty good value (especially for Boston).


A very hidden gem of the Boston hockey scene

Bentley Falcons Hockey (Atlantic Hockey America) @ Bentley Arena (Waltham, MA)


_\*This GAME occurred on December 9, 2023. I did make a quick visit to the arena beforehand, but I don’t remember the date of that._

_Also, I don't have a (usable) photo of the arena for this post sadly._

The University of New Hampshire (UNH) in Durham, NH is somewhere around an hour and a half north of Boston. It is the largest state university in New Hampshire, but is also apparently (according to Wikipedia) the most expensive state university for in-state students in the country (insert your own budget/sales tax joke here). While their hockey program is probably their most notable sport, they haven’t exactly won much: they only have three conference tournament wins but no national championships. Thus, most of their rivals (most notably their biggest rivals at the University of Maine) commonly refer to them as the “University of No Hardware”[^1]. It should be noted, however, that Wikipedia considers UNH one of Hockey East's "Big Four" (the other three being BC, BU, and Maine), which is somewhat interesting to me given that they haven't really been that good since I started following Hockey East (I'd argue that the fourth team right now is Providence, mainly because it feels like UMass is starting to fade)[^2].

In a conference filled with arenas that either utilize a large main lobby or a concourse for most things, UNH’s Whittemore Center (Arena) does...both?

There’s a very large lobby I checked out a month or so before attending a game here which has ticket booths and a merchandise stand, but the concession stands are along a concourse that forms the top of the seating bowl (one concession stand per wall). Also, it seems as if said lobby is fully outside of the ticketed area (again, it has ticket booths), though there’s little of interest in it outside of some history pieces.

Unlike other Hockey East arenas, the concourse is fully visible from the ice and vice versa (save for the press areas on the “south” side). This is partially due to the fact that the suites, unlike BU or UML, are not attached to the concourse at all (they’re high above the ice on the same side as the entrances). Be aware that if you want to sit on the ends of the rink (assuming they’re available; one of them is usually reserved as the student section and sometimes they’re both reserved), it’s bench seating. This gives the arena a sort of “warehouse” vibe, which I honestly think is kinda neat because the whole arena feels more open[^3].

The students were pretty good here especially considering I went to a non-conference game near the end of the semester (aka Finals crunch time) vs. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (a school I know of because I know someone who went there). Similar to [BU](2025-10-04_buhockey), they had “GOALIE” and “SIEVE” signs at the ends, but there was also a “BAD BOY” sign used for the TV broadcast when showing players who had just been sent to the penalty box (sadly, no COPS theme song). However, any discussion of UNH fans would be woefully incomplete without mentioning THE FISH.

Apparently, after UNH scores their first goal at all home games, someone throws a fish onto the ice. I’m not sure why they do it or if it was a student or someone else as it didn’t come from one of the student sections, but it seems to be fairly well known around the area. Also, I’ve heard that it’s only done after the first goal; since the first goal of the game I went to ended up being the only goal of the game, I’m not sure how true that is.

One other thing to note: my seat was in the first row I saw available, but ended up not being the first row in the arena. The ice here was shrunk down at some point (it was once 100 feet wide and is now 90 to be closer to NHL width), and vestiges of the wider ice are still visible (most notably behind the benches).

### MERCH

I mentioned that the arena has a small merch stand, but what I should mention is that said merch stand straddles the lobby and concourse (so that fans can access it once they’ve scanned into the building); this is part of why I feel like the arena does both a lobby set up and a concourse set up. However, aside from the campus bookstore, Durham (the town UNH is in) has TWO additional stores in its downtown that specialize in sporting gear, so there’s no shortage of UNH merch to be bought...for the most part.

Sadly, I must mention the jersey situation: while a lot of fans seemed to have player replica jerseys when I went to the game, only three were available in the merchandise booth - none of which would have fit me. In addition, a different lot of fans (myself included) had these “fashion” jerseys made by some other company that were wildly different in design from the player jerseys. I’ve heard various reasons as to why UNH jerseys are unavailable, but I’m not sure why exactly this situation exists (especially given that they introduced a new alt in 2025). In fact, it's because of this jersey situation that I made at least two prior visits: one where I didn't know about downtown Durham's sports stores, and one where I bought a fan jersey and a mini stick.

---

[^1]: Coincidentally, one of the reasons UNH has "no hardware" is because Maine beat them in the national championship game in 1999.
[^2]: My attempt to have Google back up this claim led to its AI model thinking UMass was the fourth member, which is patently weird as they didn't even have D-I hockey until 1993!
[^3]: Other arenas I went to have a similar “feel”, but UNH is different in that the entrances/lobby are at concourse level. There's another arena coming up that I feel is similar to UNH, but much, MUCH smaller.


Sportventures

Princeton Football (11/15/25)

Brooklyn FC (11/8/25)

HOCKEY CATCH-UP: Harvard

HOCKEY CATCH-UP: Bentley

HOCKEY CATCH-UP: UNH