We used to have a smaller rink, sat about 3200, and shit would get loud as hell. It had a low ceiling and noise just reverberated like crazy. The student section was appropriately Section 8, and it was crazy in there (I covered the team for two years, but freshman year when I was writing other stuff, and senior year when I had a column and I didn't need to be in the press box, I was a full blown hockey lunatic during games). Now you still get a good crowd, but it doesn't have the same charm (and I'm 80% sure that's mostly due to the rink...obviously the fact that I'm not a kid going nuts plays some part too, maybe more than I realize). That said, it's a great atmosphere, there's not a bad seat in the house and you'll see some good hockey there if you wanna check it out. Band is fun, students are into it and it's one of the whitest experiences you can have at a Boston sporting event, so it'd be a nice social experiement for ya, hahaha. Worst part about it is the price, it's steep for a college hockey game.

As far as other rinks, Conte is pretty worthless, as are BC hockey fans by and large (the good ones are good, but hockey, despite being by far their most successful sport, is the redheaded stepchild to the football and hoops teams). Harvard is way too dead, but Bright is a cool, old-school feel rink. Northeastern is fucking awesome though. Matthews is an old school barn and has a balcony that overhangs the ice and first row on that balcony is probably the best seat to watch hockey in the city. The Dog House gets loud as hell also and since it's not as huge as Agganis (our rink), it gets louder than Agganis usually does.

Beanpot is fun, but you'll also have large swaths of fans not in attendance during the first Monday (or in Harvard's section). The final gets more fans and is usually a loud and fun game to be at. Basically, it's a tournament played on the first two Mondays in February. First round rotates (this year its BU-Harvard at 5pm, BC-NU 8 pm on Feb 6th), and the winners play the next Monday at 8 (consolation game, aka the worst game of the year, is played at 5 pm the same night). We've owned the tournament, winning 29 of 59 times and making the final 48 times. It's for Boston bragging rights, and a fun fact is that all of the 10 national championships by the teams (5 for us, 4 for those cunts in Chestnut Hill and 1 for Harvard) involved have followed a Beanpot victory. I've seen some epic hockey in that tourney and it's probably really fun for a neutral too.

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BOSTON BRUINS, 2011 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS

2010 OKAY COLLEGE FANTASY CHAMPION