As I was driving around my beautiful city during my lunch break, I happened across W. Ellsworth Ave. There in my car I was reminded of my first season as a DU hockey fan. If you’re any kind of college hockey fan, I’m sure you’ll understand why I was thrown back into the days of drunken frat boys yelling obscenities, dirty chants that turn out to be hockey related, and the smell of freshly spilled beer. That’s right, every time I cross paths with W. Ellsworth Ave., I am reminded of former Michigan Tech goalie Cam Ellsworth.
It was a cold February day. I’d been invited to the game by several friends who were only casual hockey fans. As was usually the case in those years before DU’s back-to-back national championships, we bought tickets 5 minutes before the game started and raced to the student section for the best seats available. Those happened to be three rows up from the ice directly behind the opposing team’s goalie. As we settled in, the SAE’s (that’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon) were commenting on the easy pronunciation of this goalie’s last name (this in the time of goalies such as McElhinney, Dubielewicz, Reichmuth, and Bruckler).
About 7 minutes into the first period Jeff Drummond (later to be known as Mr. Saturday Night) scored the first goal of the game against Ellsworth, assisted by Kevin Ulanski, and Scott Drewicki. After we all cheered and danced (yes, there was dancing) in celebration, the SAE’s began the ritualistic goalie cheer, with all the students joining in. “Ellsworth, Ellsworth, Ellsworth, YOU SUCK!” 7 minutes later Kevin Doell scored. Once again the cheer began “Ellsworth, Ellsworth, Ellsworth, YOU SUCK!”
Seven times during that evening I heard the glorious cheer. Luckily for Cam Ellsworth, DU was unable to score during the second period, when he was on the opposite side of the rink. However, during the third he was scored on 5 times and in return he heard the gleeful cheer of the student section “Ellsworth, Ellsworth, Ellsworth, YOU SUCK!” Kevin Doell scored 4 times that night, earning the admiration (and hats) of the 5,000+ fans in attendance. 
So as I drive across W. Ellsworth Ave. I think of that night and the cheers of the student section. I also wonder whatever happened to Cam Ellsworth. Courtesy of The Internet Hockey Database Cam spent his remaining two years at Michigan Tech, never winning more than 10 games in each of his four seasons. In the 2005-2006 season he signed with the Augusta Lynx of the ECHL only to be traded, after playing one game (a tie in which he allowed 4 goals), to the Greenville Grrrowl of the ECHL. He played 34 games with the Grrrowl winning 22, losing 10 and tying 1. He then moved on to the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL, playing 33 games last season (14-13-3).
I hope you enjoyed my sojourn in the past…but let me leave you with one last thought: “Ellsworth, Ellsworth, Ellsworth, YOU SUCK!”
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Memories...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Marvelous memory. I saw my first hockey game at the old DU arena in February of 1964, and have been in love with the sport, and that team ever since.
Many years later ('79-'81) I had the good fortune to be a penalty box keeper during WCHA games there at the old arena. The insight and entertaining view of the game from that perspective is one that I'll never forget.
One particular night rings the bell for hilarity though. I can't for the life of me remember the team DU was playing but the Pioneers were destroying them. Some clever and forward thinking fan had the presence of mind to anticipate the slaughter on the ice and rendered unto the ice a dead chicken - probably from King Soopers - when DU achieved a five goal lead. Much laughter, and the rink rats went out and scooped it up, and play continued.
The DU defenseman, (Jim Turner? Barry Hudson?) turned the wrong way a few minutes later and Pat Tierney was caught completely by surprise and the opposing team scored a goal. Less than a minute later Denver scored again to bring their margin to five goals, and once again a deceased barnyard fowl landed on the ice in front of the opposing goalie. Rink rats on the ice.
Referee Tony Obrien skated over to the box where I was an picked up the in house phone to announcer Jim Hunsaker. "One more dead chicken", Obrien advised, "and DU gets a two-minute penalty for delay of game." Hunsaker dutifully made the announcement. Chorus of boos, and a few remarks from the student section that Obrien lacked male genitalia.
Well, events have a funny way of repeating themselves. The opposition scored again, cutting the margin to four. Less than a minute later - Ed Beers launched a drive from just inside the blue line that lit the light. At this point a live - I kid you not - live chicken was launched onto the ice and began to cluck it's way around in a frenzy to get away from the rink rats trying to capture it.
In the three years I was a box keeper there I never saw Tony Obrien laugh like that. He couldn't call the penalty because he'd clearly admonished the crowd regarding dead chickens, and this one was clearly alive and clucking to beat the band.
I've often wondered at the thought process of not only bringing two dead whole chickens to a hockey game, but the presence of mind to bring one that was live, and get it past the cops and ushers, anticipating the chance to have some fun at the expense of the other team.
That's one of my favorite hockey moments in Colorado.
Post a Comment