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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

erie

A final NJCAA hockey champion is crowned

March 7, 2017

Hockey is quite a unique sport – it is fast, has a lot of technical skill, and there is a lot of physicality. Depending on the level of hockey, it can be really good, really bad, or somewhere in between.

When I was a kid, we’d play on the local rink around here as much as we could. Our boards were snowbanks and our skills were nothing special. I’m shocked to this day that none of us lost any teeth or broke any bones.

OK, so I did get a concussion once, but that wasn’t during “game action,” though it came on the ice.

Shooting hockey for a weekend was a lot of fun, especially when getting creative.

When in graduate school, I went to a Division I school – Quinnipiac. At that time, they played at a local rink (I still need to make my way to the school to see a game at the new rink) and I loved it. Since then, I’ve kept tabs on QU, attending games yearly in the Albany area when they make their trip to play Union and RPI.

Because my niece was a member of the SUNY Broome CC women’s soccer team (a team, mind you, that won a national championship this past fall), I see updates from the school and such on occasion. Something caught my eye early in the winter season – that the school would host the final NJCAA hockey championship in late February.

I marked it on my calendar, hoping I’d get a chance to watch. As it worked out, I had taken the Friday of the tournament as a vacation day and had the weekend pretty free. So, I went.

One thing I rarely get to do is shoot hockey. For the majority of the weekend, I was pretty close to the action, taking photos in different ways and seeing what I could capture. There was some good hockey. There was some sloppy hockey. And, again, there was some in the middle.

But it was hockey.

Action on the ice!

On the line was the final NJCAA championship. It’s the last championship because the NJCAA is eliminating the sport from its competition. That makes sense, though, as there are just five schools remaining that have hockey in the NJCAA – four in New York and one in northern North Dakota.

The tournament was played as a round-robin, so for three days Broome’s rink played host to two games each day. The final game proved the seeds were correct as Dakota College at Bottineau faced off against Erie CC for the second straight yet. Dakota, the reigning national champs, were the top seed.

But for three days – hockey lived in Binghamton. Hudson Valley and Mohawk Valley were the other two teams involved. There was physical play, some pretty play, and some … “did that just happen?” sort of things.

I’ve long been a supporter of community college/JUCO athletics. For 20 years, my hometown school – SUNY Delhi – hosted the NJCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament. I worked at that tournament for many of those years and always loved it. I’ve seen other national championships at this level and there’s something pure about it.

I had never watched the NJCAA hockey championship before, so this was the perfect time. Broome has a tremendous rink, with bright lighting and a crisp surface. It’s perfect for photography, which I found out.

Quick stop.

I can’t lie, though – I’m not a fan of a certain Division I North Dakota college hockey team. Can you blame me, though? They whitewashed Quinnipiac in the national championship in 2016, so I have hard feelings.

That being said, there was something to like about this North Dakota team playing in Binghamton. They knew how to really play the game. Not to take anything away from the other three teams – but it was easy to cheer for Bottineau. They had skill, and speed, and could get physical. The goalie play was excellent. They also seemed to have a joy to be on the ice.

That says something about a program, too.

When you can be out there and seem like it’s not work – that it’s still fun, yet still be that successful – you’ve found your payday.

I don’t know any of the player’s names. I only know the coaches name by sight, because I saw it in the program and in a few other things I saw. I looked up the history of the school and this championship was their 10th overall – pretty cool to have the final NJCAA title be your 10th.

Not having a vested interest in the tournament wasn’t a bad thing – it actually allowed me to watch, take photos and enjoy what unfolded.

The championship game ended about 35 seconds short when an Erie player dashed out of the box and shoved an official to the ice with a lot of force, the one black eye to a really good weekend of hockey. The two other officials, once everything was settled (you can Google this incident to see video and followup), had the remaining time run off the clock, allowing the Dakota players to have their well-deserved celebration in a 7-4 victory.

Champions!

Nothing will take away what this team achieved this past weekend. Three straight days of hockey isn’t easy, especially when you consider most of these teams don’t have the plethora of lines major teams might have. This Dakota team did something truly special by winning the back-to-back crowns and giving their school the 10th title. And no matter what happens with junior college hockey in the future, it’s something they can carry with them for a lifetime.

And being able to be there and watch was pretty cool, too. It allowed me to do some hockey photography close to the action, as well as challenge myself not just in the action sports sense, but in the creativity side as well. Oh, and I got the newspaper feel again, too, as I was contacted by a newspaper in North Dakota to

Eventually I’ll have all the photos processed and up on Flickr and will link back to this post, as well as mention it on other social media. Mind you a lot of times when shooting sports, I am on rapid fire and get a lot of sequences and hope to get just one shot out of it — but for the weekend, I shot just under 10,000 images (remember, one sequence can be anywhere from 4-5 photos to 25 or more), so that’s a lot to sift through!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: My world, Photography, Sports Tagged With: broome, Dakota college, Dakota College at Bottineau, Dakota College at Bottineau Lumberjacks, erie, erie cc, hockey, njcaa, njcaa hockey, njcaa hockey championship, north dakota bottineau, suny broome, suny broome cc

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Summer of Baseball: Erie gives an intimate experience

August 16, 2016

This summer has been full of baseball, that’s for sure.

As of me writing this review, I’ve been to 50-plus games, and I’ve loved every inning of it. I don’t even want to think about how many miles I’ve been to watch these games. But it’s totally worth it.

With all the new stadiums I’ve been to, I’ve gotten behind on the reviews. On a hot summer day, finishing up the trip to Cleveland, we hit up Erie on the way home.

Jerry Uht Park is the home of the Double-A SeaWolves, an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. In the past, I used to keep a lot of tabs on this team because of when I covered the short-season Single-A affiliate of the Tigers. In the past few years, it’s because they are in the Eastern League and I’ve attended many EL games.

Erie can now be crossed off.

This was an interesting park, that’s for sure. The park opened in 1995 is located in Erie. Originally home to a New-York Penn League (short-season A) team, the SeaWolves moved to Double A in 1999. According to the team’s website, more than 3.5 million fans have been to games since the team started in 1995.

Stamped in at Erie.

Stamped in at Erie.

This park is definitely right in the city. It’s tucked in nicely and we came on a Sunday afternoon game, so the attendance was sparse at best. We had called ahead and found out where there might be some shade and we ended up in the second level on the first-base line, which was named one of MiLB’s top 10 “seats” in 2008.

The park has some quirks, which makes it cool. Remember those second-level seats? Well the ones on the first-base side and third-base side are nothing alike. As I noted above, the stadium is built within a pre-existing city block, so it’s a little tight. The third-base side is more traditional with the seats leading up. Those first-base side ones, though, are stacked on top of the concourse and the back row of the lower seats. It’s a pretty cool place to watch a game from as you overlook the infield and don’t feel distant, despite being in the second level.

In left field, there’s an arena and it’s basically part of the wall for the baseball field.

Not many people were in attendance the day we were there, so we had the chance to sit back and watch. The sight lines are solid and you can walk around the field some and still see what is going on. There isn’t a full wrap-around concourse, but there’s plenty of space on the other concourses.

One thing, though, is when we were there, not all of the concession stands were open. It makes sense with the crowd they had, but we’re taking June. I can understand not having everything open if attendance is not doing well, but it seemed almost like a ghost town in parts of the stadium – including the stands. Still, people were friendly and helpful when needed.

The heat didn’t help that weekend, that’s for sure. And it was also Father’s Day, so that could put a damper on the attendance.

The team store is definitely more like a short-season A one as it’s barely something to walk into, and it has some rolled out areas and then the check out. Still, there were some good selections of items and it was easy to find the Passport stamp, which is good.

Free programs were also a positive and it seems like many teams are catching on to this idea, which is good. People don’t want to have to pay $2-$5 each game they go to for a program. Many teams sell the same program each game. In fact, one other Eastern League team sells the same program each game (no updates) and doesn’t insert stats/standings – you only get those if you are a season-ticket holder. Many teams who do the free programs make them smaller, and some even update them every home series or month, depending on the team.

The food selections seemed decent. We had already eaten that day, so I got the normal hot dog (above average) and souvenir cup soda. I didn’t try the MiLB food fight item because, honestly, I was way too full to try it. They had real ice cream that you could easily find (not just dippin’ dots), which is always good.

In the end, Jerry Uht Park was a positive experience and a stadium worth checking out. The ambiance wasn’t great, but there weren’t many people there. So I rate it a little lower in that category, but have a feeling it’s better when there are people in the stands. We parked across the street in a parking garage, but there didn’t seem to be an overabundance of parking. I wonder how this place would be on a night when they drew a good crowd. I imagine it could be tough.

It’s a good stadium worth checking out if you are close.  Plus, Double-A ball is usually pretty solid to watch.

Park Notes:  

Jerry Uht Park
Erie, Pennsylvania
Home of the Erie SeaWolves (Double-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers)
Visited on: June 19, 2016
Opponent: Bowie Baysox (Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles)

Ratings (out of 10)

  • Stadium: 8/10
  • Concessions: 7/10
  • Parking: 8/10
  • Ambiance: 7/10
  • Friendliness: 8/10

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: Baseball, My world, Sports, Summer of Baseball, Travel Tagged With: aa baseball, baseball, baseball of summer, baseball stadium, baseball stadium review, double-a baseball, eastern league, erie, erie seawolves, minor league, minor league baseball, minor leagues, SeaWolves, stadium review, summer of baseball, summer of baseball 2016, tigers

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A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Bingham A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Harper got her first foul ball (as you can see she enjoyed!) and we also had the chance to grab a couple others and give them to some other dogs. All in all, four dogs walked away with balls! 

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