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Cleveland Barons

Hockey Not Hooky
Students in Cleveland recently received an on-ice education, courtesy of the Barons.

Dan Hickling
MinorLeagueNews.com

Cleveland, Ohio -- On any given weekday morning you'd likely find parents all over Greater Cleveland using every device just short of dynamite to try to get their kids out of bed and off to school.

Not on "School Is Cool" morning though.

Students from all over the area had extra incentive to get up and out the door on Oct. 21, 2003, because the classroom was Gund Arena and the subject of the day was hockey.

The Cleveland Barons and Syracuse Crunch gave the kids plenty to study, as they staged a regular season game with an unorthodox face-off time of 10:30 AM.

"It was sure different," said Syracuse defenseman Anders Eriksson, whose team outlasted the Barons, 6-4. "Especially having a 7:30 AM pre-game meal."

Barons’ winger Jon DiSalvatore, who happened to be making his professional debut, didn’t mind the early start, but he was concerned it could affect the team’s intensity.

"We practice every day at 10:30, so it wasn't a total shock to our bodies,” DiSalvatore stated. “But mentally, you get up every day and go to practice, you don't have the same focus as you would for a game. So mental preparation was probably the biggest thing about this. When you wake up in the morning and it's still dark out, you say to yourself, 'Am I really going to a game?' It's a little different."

Much was different about this "Hockey No Hooky" affair, beginning with the size of the crowd, 4,076, a robust figure for a market that in the past two seasons has trailed the entire AHL in attendance.

"This was about three times what we would have gotten for a Tuesday game," said Mike Mudd, Barons Vice-President of Operations.

Of course, midweek dates in any sport are not the most coveted and usually are poorly attended.

In recent seasons, at least a few clubs have attempted "school day" type promotions, often with great success.

"After we got assigned this date," said Mudd, "We went to the league and said that we had an opportunity to do a 'School Is Cool' day. Every one is trying to come up with a new gimmick to try and draw in traffic. It's just another thing we are trying to experiment with."

If you ask the kids, this is one experiment that earned straight "A's".

"This is awesome," said one teenage boy who said he didn't mind passing up a day of slaving over a pile of books to cheering for the Barons.

"I like the fights," said another, who with his friends was treated to three on-ice tussles.

Of course, just as hockey is far more than just fighting, so are "school days" events more than just about hockey.

The Barons arranged with outside entities such as NASA and the local historical society to put up educational exhibits along the mezzanine, where the long lines replaced those normally queued up to buy beer.

"Some of the kids didn't know whether to come in and watch the game or stay outside with the educational stuff," said Kathy Burrows, the Barons' Director of Ticket Sales who oversaw the promotion. "We had to get them away from NASA. They were having too much fun."

The kids did have a little fun at the game as well.

The proof was in the cheering, which in all its high-pitched, eardrum piercing splendor began before the first drop of the puck and rarely let up, even though the Barons trailed 4-1 after the first period.

"On 'Education Day'," we got an education in what happens when you don't prepare very well," said Barons coach Roy Sommer. "That team came to play and to battle and to win the loose-puck wars. We didn't. By the time we woke up, it was too late."

Still, the youthful throng brought plenty of energy and enthusiasm into the building.

"They kind of went on cue," said DiSalvatore. "They would scream as loud as they could. It was a good atmosphere. With a 10:30 game, you couldn't really ask for more. I think the kids had a lot of fun, and it was a lot of fun having them. I think their cheering helped us. It's always good to have someone cheering for you."

Said Sommer, "(For) probably a lot of them it was probably their first hockey game. They were just happy to be out of school, I think."