Hello, UVM freshmen. And transfers. And people here on study abroad. And students that are trying to get into UVM hockey for the first time…you get the point. You want to fit in at Gutterson Fieldhouse in the student section, but don’t know where to start. Have no fear, I am here.

When and where should I show up?

Doors at Gutterson open an hour before puck drop. If you want the best seats, arrive early; you can catch warmups too. AND if you arrive early and there’s a promotion that night, you can get your hands on some merch. For example, there’s a cowbell giveaway on Saturday against Quinnipiac!

WARNING: Do not bring bags, unless it’s like a Ziploc. I hate the Gutterson (and Patrick) bag policy too, it’s garbage and doesn’t actually make me feel any safer (in fact I’m more afraid of theft, as I did have a hoodie stolen at a game a couple years ago…which also had my dorm key in it), but it is what it is, and we have to abide by it. (Which doubly sucks for women fans…)

The student entrance is in between Patrick and the main entrance, kind of tucked away. Having a student ticket gets you general admission seats in sections 9-12, where you can sit anywhere in those sections. If you want the rowdiest, best experience where you’re gonna shout yourself hoarse, look to the back of Section 12. Our student section is called “The Den” as the result of a contest held in 2016/17, with the winning entry submitted by Tyler Davis, a former UVM SGA vice president and one of the most passionate UVM fans to be around at a game.

The pep band is between sections 9 and 10. If you don’t want that noise blasting in your ear, don’t sit in those sections. (This isn’t meant to insult our pep band, who is excellent, moreso a warning to people overwhelmed by loud noises; I myself am autistic and get overstimmed by audio a lot, so that’s part of why I tend to reside in 12.)

Help, I can’t decide what to wear!

Just wear something UVM or hockey related! Surely you’ve got something between those two. Preferably a hoodie or jersey, as Gutterson can be pretty cold. There’s no one color that the student section wears as a giant blob.

Okay, I’m in the student section, UVM/hockey apparel and all. What now?

First rule: STAND UP. Or we’ll chant at you to do so. If you physically cannot stand up due to injuries or something like that, that’s fine! But if you can stand and you’re not, you’re doing it wrong. (We don’t usually do this for exhibitions, such as Thursday’s game against Laurentian, but for Quinnipiac on Saturday you better be standing!)

We’ll start with “special times” chants.

OTHER TEAM TAKES A PENALTY

“Skate! Skate! Skate! Skate!” Repeat as long as they take the long journey to the box. When they get into the box, “Sit dowwwwwn!” (Many students add “BITCH” to that, and while I think it’s a little questionable, I can’t police it as I’m just a student myself)

AFTER A GOAL

Scream your head off while the pep band plays the fight song. Once they’re done, “IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” basically until puck drop.

After the goal announcement, there’s usually a “Big Cats Gotta Eat” chant as well.

OTHER GOALIE LIFTS HIS MASK IN FRONT OF STUDENT SECTION

“UGLY GOALIE!”

If UVM is attacking that end and our goalie takes his mask off, sometimes there will be a “SEXY GOALIE” chant.

UVM MISSES GOLDEN CHANCE OR OTHER GOALIE MAKES BIG SAVE (and, occasionally, after an opposing team goal)

“YOU GOT LUCKY”

UVM GOALIE MAKES GOOD SAVE(S)

“WE LOVE (insert tonight’s UVM goalie’s name here)” (so it’s usually “WE LOVE LEKKAS”)

OTHER TEAM CHANGES GOALIE

“BACKUP GOALIE”

CATAMOUNTS LEAD BY MULTIPLE GOALS LATE (< 3 min remaining)

“START THE BUSES”

LAST MINUTE OF PLAY IN THE PERIOD

“WE WANT FRIES” (Context: if the Catamounts score in the final minute of a period, all attendees receive free fries. Last year it was from Archie’s Grill in Shelburne, but in previous years it has been McDonald’s.)

And now for chants you’ll hear occasionally throughout the game:

“U V M”

“Go Cats Go”

One or two people: (other goalie’s name shouted in jeering fashion) Everyone else: “SUCKS!”

Sometimes other specialized chants will appear out of nowhere. Usually the crew starting the chant (which is usually, again, section 12) will tell everyone what we’re about to chant so people are aware. Feel free to pitch chant ideas at the game, too! (so long as they aren’t racist, homophobic, or anything of that nature…we can heckle the opposition without being a jerk).

Who are our rivals?

…We don’t really have any rivalries where the hatred is mutual in hockey (as our chief rival in other sports, Albany, does not have varsity hockey). The closest teams to us are Clarkson, St. Lawrence, and Dartmouth, all of whom are in a different conference now (UVM switched from the ECAC to Hockey East in 2004), and thus those rivalries kinda died off as a result. We don’t even play St. Lawrence this year, the first time since 1970/71, and when we do play Dartmouth it is often midweek. (The Clarkson game this year is over winter break, too, which doesn’t help.)

But for most students, it’s Boston University, Boston College, and New Hampshire. BU and BC are both teams we’ve played in high-stakes games in the last 10 years (BU at the ’09 Frozen Four and BC in the ’08 Hockey East championship game), and UVM has a lot of students from Massachusetts so there’s often family bragging rights on the line. As for UNH, they’re the closest Hockey East team to us, and the games between UVM and UNH are often very competitive and bring out a lot of UVM students. Loudest game of the year last year was the UVM/UNH game around Halloween that finished in a 4-4 tie. That said, all three of these teams have rivals they’d put ahead of us (BU and BC with each other plus Northeastern and UNH with Maine).

How can I stay connected with UVM hockey outside of the games?

Social media and the internet, obviously! The UVM team’s twitter is @UVMmhockey, and this blog commentates on games as well at @TheVTHockeyBlog.

While there is no specific subreddit for UVM hockey as its online presence is fairly small, Reddit’s college hockey community is /r/collegehockey. It’s a great community and probably the best place to talk college puck. The USCHO.com fan forum also exists, but that site tends to skew much older than Reddit, and thus I’d recommend Reddit more for students (and we have weekly trash talk threads and nightly game threads on there which are fun).