I took my first trip to the Halifax Forum three years ago in February to watch Dalhousie play Saint Mary’s in men’s hockey. It was a sort of pilgrimage. The bus was late, the night was dark and cold, the ticket booth was slow, the arena was a maze. The bus was late again on the way home, too.
There is a magic to the Halifax Forum, where in all likelihood Dal will play their men’s hockey games for the next few years while they build a new arena on campus.
I’m a huge fan of the Forum. It’s an old-feel hockey rink big enough to be real and weird enough to be right for the sport in eastern Canada. The criticism of it is the sight-lines, which does make it nearly useless for big events, but watching a university hockey game there is fun. The press box is suspended on one arm above the glass on the side, and wobbles when you walk. The concourses up top are deserted and locked, but there are always a few souls up in the high seats just to watch.
Sadly, the chances that any of them will be students are virtually nil. It’s a long trek to Almon and Windsor streets from campus.
It’s hard enough to get students out to on-campus hockey games, though usually enough filter in to be respectable. The arena is right across from Risley Hall and two minutes from Howe, so there’s really no excuse for those bored on a Friday night. But Dal is averaging 317 people at games this year, down from 422 a game last year. A perpetually losing team doesn’t help, and Dal are last in league attendance by a mile.
Interestingly, Saint Mary’s are the next lowest, with 614 a game, despite having a good team. The Huskies play at the Forum. UNB have the most, and they play at the Aitken Centre, a massive on-campus arena complex. SMU, like Dal, are also working on a new athletics centre to replace Alumni Arena.
The neighbourhood around the Forum is nice and hopefully some local families will come out to games, but it will be sparse. Students can be a little lazy when it comes to hauling themselves out to watch. To be successful in a market where AUS hockey competes with the CHL and sports on TV, the games need to be accessible. The Forum, for all its magic, is not, at least for students (if you’re driving in from Dartmouth, it’s another story).
I love the Forum when it’s empty. It is an old-time hockey rink of the sort that is disappearing in Canada; it is a connection to the old game that is so much a part of our national myth. AUS hockey, because it is at once both skilled and offers little in the way of serious athletic advancement for its older, amateur players, is the perfect hockey to watch in such a rink: fast, hard and proud.
It’s just a pity so few students will see it.
CORRECTIONS:
“Sometimes the Gazette makes a mistake, and sometimes we don’t notice for awhile. In numerous articles throughout the fall we misspelled the name of women’s soccer player Bianca Jakisa as Biannca Jakisa. The Gazette regrets the error and will amend the online version of the articles in question.”
“In the Jan. 13 issue of the Gazette, the band Trouble Andrew was incorrectly labelled as Trouble With Andrew. The Gazette regrets this and all further errors.”
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