By Brittany Burke

I spent a lot of time in a hockey rink this weekend. Three hockey rinks. Four different games in three days and I loved every minute of it. While each game is always different, there was one interesting link; each of the four games went into an overtime situation.

With as much hockey as I sat and watched this weekend, I also couldn’t help but let my eyes wander to the other fans sitting in the bleachers. I have never seen as many fans at a CCSU hockey game as I did on Friday night, and it was not only amazing but loud.

CCSU students filled the rink-side bleachers, they yelled, pounded on the glass, insulted the opposing team and most importantly cheered on a team that was representing their school. As the game went on and word got around that a fan on the opposing team was tapping the glass behind CCSU goalie Greg Coco, the fans only got louder and directed their screams at the University of New Hampshire goalie as payback.

Personally, at that point I thought the crowd had reached its peak, but then the game was tied with eight seconds left and overtime was forced. The crowd went wild, the Newington rink was filled with noise and I couldn’t help but thinking about how a crowd could affect the outcome of a game.

While it is the athletes who are playing and will ultimately determine who walks away with the win, loss or tie, the fans play just as big a role. Having a large, boisterous crowd can lift the spirits of the athletes when they’re down and fuel their momentum to keep going. Knowing that people are their pulling for you and cheering can definitely lift morale. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be a huge crowd, a few loudmouths would even do the trick.

I drove home from the rink that night thinking about just that, then the next night as I sold 50/50 raffle tickets at the first CT Whale home game and the crowd of 8,900 made noise for the team I thought about it again.

There’s a reason why so many organizations continuously try to get the fans involved, and why being at home equals an automatic advantage … the fans are that extra something that could really make a difference.

Whether or not the home team walks away from the game with a win, the fan-created atmosphere still matters. The importance of the fans is why everyone should support athletics. This weekend I saw first-hand what power fans have over a game, so why wouldn’t you want to help the team you support? If no one supports the athletes or show they care, what reason do they have to give it all they have each week?

It’s only midway through this fall season and I’ve already seen an increase the amount of CCSU fan support, for both NEC and club sports. Now that the support has begun, it has to be kept up, especially during the tail end of the football season and into the start of basketball.