Most fans you've ever played in front of?

[reidy]

Thought this would be a cool thread.

I graduated from Arlington Catholic HS here in Massachusetts last year. I played hockey at AC for 3 seasons, and in my senior year, we made it to the state championship against powerhouse Catholic Memorial (Jim Fahey is a notable alum).

We played the final at the TD BankNorth Garden, and ended up losing 3-1 on an EN goal with 26 seconds left. I never heard an exact number on the attendance, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was around 10,000 - 11,000 people. The entire lower bowl was pretty much to capacity, but the balcony was closed to fans. It was an amazing experience.

What about you?

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[Puckclektr]

I played in the NHL

 

[langs15]

I played in the NHL

And I can fly.........geez


Id say when we went to states for the 1st round there were maybe 1,000 people there...

 

[DaveyCrockett]

Maybe 100, tops. House league tourney when I was 6.

 

[Masao]

About a dozen. Mainly the arena staff, the time keeper, the janitor... perhaps a few players who were waiting in the stands for us to get out...

 

[MrAlfie]

5,000

never been a hockey player though.

 

[Icer]

Probably about 30. I blame the 11:15 pm start times. Who wants to watch hockey that late. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I play in a beer league where the average team has the skill level of a junior varsity high school squad.

 

[Goodwith Sticks]

Around 1,500 in my only game of Junior A hockey as a 20 year old Junior B player - I was kind of a last option call-up because so many guys were hurt. Cool thing was that I scored in the game, not cool thing was that we lost 7-2.

 

[dbbourn]

About 300 for me, but they didn't come to see my team play. They came to see the Devil's Alumni team whip up on us as we stood and watched. Kasatonov was chippy, even for a benefit game.

 

[octopi]

One.

I played low level mixed rec league and one day a players husband showed up and watched. He left to get something after about 20 minutes, so we made a big deal of it "Play harder! Our fan is leaving!"

 

[Pure Rock Fury*]

I played at intermission at a couple Sharks games before. Once at the Cow Palace and once at the San Jose arena.

Then I played a couple games at the Pike's Peak tourney in Colorado at the Air Force Academy, and I'd say there were at least 100 people there.

Other than that, there were usually 40-50 people on average per game.


Now in the adult league it's more like 10-20.

 

[Gallagbi]

I played infront of about 350-400 people for high school championships 3 times, and then a couple hundred at another championship, but mostly it is just parents.

 

[PDO]

Over 100.. maybe over 200 at Rexall place last year during Minor Hockey Week finals.. obviously all parents/family/friends.

 

[FLYLine27*]

Like 100 max. High School game vs one of our rivals.

 

[Terrier]

I played one season on the fourth line for MIT, during my senior year. A good turnout for us was 200-300 people. When I was a sophomore, about 1,000 people showed up to watch MIT play, believe it or not, Caltech.


P.S. Back in February my own adult team got a chance to play a game on the Providence Civic Center ice after a P-Bruins game. One thing I noticed was how hot it felt in an arena like that, especially after playing in normal rinks all the time. Halfway through the game, we were all sweating like crazy. When you played in the FleetCenter(now Garden), was there much of an adjustment, since you played in a fairly chilly rink in Arlington?

 

[TheMistyStranger]

About a dozen. Mainly the arena staff, the time keeper, the janitor... perhaps a few players who were waiting in the stands for us to get out...

Exactly. Once or twice, our game went long, and both [!!!] of the teams that were playing next watched our game finish.

EDIT: DBBourn...your avatar is captivating. I just keep watching it, and it's hard to focus...

 

[Quagmier]

5-6,000

cool story, it was the first time the israeli junior national team came to north america and we were their first exhibition game (my high school team)

we ended up winning 7-4, and 1 of our players turned out to be eligible for their team (dad born in israel) so he got to go to the world juniors.

 

[Heat McManus]

About 100 for an all-star roller hockey game when I was 12 or so.

 

[reidy]

When you played in the FleetCenter(now Garden), was there much of an adjustment, since you played in a fairly chilly rink in Arlington?

Well, we had gotten fairly used to it over the 3 years. In the Super 8, the preliminaries are held at Tsongas Arena (and last year at Agannis, also), which are very warm also. But yeah, it is much harder. The ice is slower, and overall it's just a much different feeling.

 

[Default101]

750-1,000 in a holiday tournament championship game when i was 11... choked in the shootout but we still won

 

[iloveyouzac]

As a hockey player: maybe 20.

In track: about 10,000. Rare for North America, but it was when Ben Johnson was still famous, and he was there. Before that day I'd always thought I was so internally motivated that a crowd of any size couldn't possibly make me try any harder. I was wrong. 10,000 people cheering is a whole other level of motivation.

 

[GWhale*]

Capacity crowd, Ingalls Rink, New Haven, CT (3,486 according to uscho.com).

Connecticut Division II High School Semi-Finals.

 

[Pothier]

Probably around 1000 people for the Finals of an upscale hockey tournament about 6 years ago.

 

[Avery4Byng*]

played at the intermission of canucks game when iw as a young lad, so maybe 15,000?

 

[Tuff Gong]

played intermission at Cancucks vs Anaheim in Anaheim and then the next night Canucks vs LA at the GWF in LA, so i dont know howveer many people watch the intermisssion, 10,000??

But a full game would have to be at the Quebec international peewee Hockey tournament. We went as the Vancouver Canucks, played in the highest division of the tourney and had about 8,000-10,000 people watch us play the Montreal Canadiens. our other game against the Philly flyers had about 6,000 watching. pretty exciting when your only 13 years old.