Dawg Pound proves CCHA takes center stage

By Geoff Gagnon

Daily Sports Writer

BIG RAPIDS -The rhythmic bang of the boards sent an echo through the rink, as the reverberating glass bounced the light of mirror balls and spotlights through the dark arena.

A chorus of boos and chants welcomed the Michigan hockey team to the ice as a sleepy West Michigan campus shrugged off the freeze of winter to thaw in the glow of fluorescent-neon lights and flashing sirens.

As Michigan players skated to the critical roar of the Ferris State fans, a fur-clad Bulldog mascot warmed the Carhart-clad audience as CCHA hockey took center stage and gripped the sport's fans in the tiny college town.

Each winter weekend, from Kalamazoo to Oxford, Omaha to Marquette and Sault Saint Marie to Bowling Green, places like Goggin Ice Arena and "Taffy" Abel Arena are jolted as CCHA hockey takes hold of some of the conference's smallest and most spirited schools. Such was the case Friday night at Ferris State's Ewigleben Arena.

With unsurpassed enthusiasm, fans in Big Rapids form an irreverent student section known as the Dawg Pound - pound being the operative word as the bleachers and boards could attest.

Led by a back-flipping, plunger- wielding, high-fiving canine, the Ferris State faithful are drummed into a spirited frenzy, complete with tasteless chants and foam dog paws.

Nestled ruthlessly and literally on top of the ice, the Ewigleben fans give Ferris State an advantage that every student section should give its team.

They also brought a few smiles to Michigan netminder Josh Blackburn's face on Friday night.

"I flashed them a smile every once in a while to let them know I heard them," Blackburn said. "They really get on us, but they were pretty creative."

The story is the same at tiny rinks all across the league - places short on seats, but high on enthusiasm.

"I love playing in these types of places," Blackburn said with a smile. "The fans really get you, but that's what fans are supposed to do. It's a lot of fun.

Since Michigan joined the CCHA in 1981 - and even in the conference's ten year history prior to that addition - the CCHA has created unlikely rivalries between some of the country's largest athletic institutions and some of its least known.

As predominate athletic powerhouses such as Ohio State and Michigan share ice time with the likes of Northern Michigan and similar small schools, the one constant that binds the two - the nation's most competitive hockey - remains.

So, week in and week out, thousands of fans who are left out of the glow of other major athletic conferences cheer team's like Nebraska-Omaha or Lake Superior State with an unrivaled fervor.

And while the big and the small of the league compete with relative equity - witness Northern Michigan currently in second place in the conference - the contrasts of the programs are tough to miss.

With its insulation-coated ceiling rising just high enough to suspend a Big Rapids High School hockey banner above the rink, Ewigleben Arena is a far cry from the posh palaces constructed on the campuses of the conference's larger schools.

But don't try telling the folks at Miami's Goggin Arena, where fans line the boards to see games, that the home of their RedHawks pales in comparison to the Schottenstein Center where, on most nights, Ohio State plays for more empty seats than fans.

For schools like Ferris State and others, empty seats are rarely a concern. On campuses where hockey is the only NCAA Division I sport in town, seeing collegiate hockey's elite becomes a unique opportunity for a collection of small towns.

Consider Alaska-Fairbanks. With only its hockey team competing at the Division I level, the Nanooks' proudest accomplishment off the ice in recent years was its 1999 rifle national title.

So maybe its not hard to understand why the Bulldog faithful pack Ewigleben every weekend. After all, just like at arenas in a handful of other conference towns connected by the criss-crossing backroads of the Midwest, hockey takes center stage.

KIMITSU YOGACHI/Daily

Dave Huntzicker and the Michigan hockey team have been treated to rabid fans and raucous arenas all season long as their CCHA season has taken them on the road.