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A tale of two hockey teams
by Stephanie Hemphill, Minnesota Public Radio
November 13, 2003

The women's hockey team at UMD is a 3-time national champion. But that success has so far not been reflected in attendance at games. (MPR photo/Stephanie Hemphill)

The college hockey season is underway. The women's hockey team at the University of Minnesota Duluth is defending its national championship. But you wouldn't know it by the size of the crowds.

Duluth, Minn. — The UMD women's hockey team has been the national champion for three years running. President Bush has invited the team to the White House - twice.

At the first home game, the squad lined up on the ice. The crowd cheered as their latest NCAA championship banner rose to the rafters.

	Joshua Stotts

But the fans filled only a few rows close to the ice. There were 413 people.

Joshua Stotts comes to as many games as he can. His sister plays on the team.

Stotts says a lot of fans think the women's game isn't intense enough, because they can't slam each other into the boards. But he disagrees.

"Hockey's not all about checking and fighting and stuff like that," Stotts says. "It's more about finesse and fundamentals. Obviously the girls have great fundamentals and they're a great hockey team, so I think more people should come out and watch them, personally.

There may not be checking, but fan Jim Knuckey says women's hockey is plenty entertaining.

"People don't realize how physical girls' hockey is," Knuckey says. "They're just more clever with it than the boys and men are."

	UMD men's team fans

A couple weeks later, the UMD men's team played St. Cloud, a big rival. It was a very different scene. When the women played, there were 5,000 empty seats. When the men played, there were 5,000 cheering fans.

The men's team seems to be pulling out of a slump. They haven't been to the national tournament in 10 years. But this year they're ranked in the top 20.

The women's team may be a national champion, but it's only been around for four years. People have been coming to UMD men's hockey for 60 years.

Katie Sanford is a UMD student from Rochester.

"I mainly go with my friends and not many of them go to the women's games," she says. "Maybe it's because the crowds aren't as big and it doesn't get as enthusiastic.

Megan, a UMD student from Bismarck, says the men's team is more appealing.

"It's more fun to watch them get in fights and stuff," she says. "It seems elementary, but it's probably what gets me to come."

	Steve Trachsel

Thirty years ago, Steve Trachsel played for the Bulldogs when he was in college. Now he has a daughter playing on a high school team in Duluth. He says girls and boys play a different game.

"This is an action game," he says. "The girls are for fun."

Down on the ice, two players slam into the boards and the crowd roars.

"One of our Bulldogs put a good hit on the Huskies," he says. "He put the body on him and the women can't do that. See, that would have been a penalty in women's hockey. That's why the people are here and not at the women's game."

At the beginning of the season, the UMD student newspaper put out a 4-page pull-out section on college hockey. The entire section was dedicated to the men's game. Co-editor Tim Brandt says students are more interested in the men's team.

"We try and go with what most readers want," Brandt says. "Obviously every sport can't get the same kind of coverage, but we try to do a reasonable amount of coverage on every team."

Brandt says the paper is thinking about doing a section on women's hockey later in the season.

Local TV station WDIO broadcasts 12 regular season men's games and this year - for the first time - the station will carry 2 women's games. Local radio stations carry all games, both mens and womens.

Bob Nygaard is UMD's sports information director. He says it's easier to raise money from local businesses to advertise the men's games.

Nygaard says the school needs a new strategy to bring people to the women's games.

"I would like to nurture a new type of spectator," he says. "And if you go to the women's games you'll see many different faces than at the men's, which I think is a positive."

Nygaard says when he has enough money, he'll market the women's games to women, and especially to girls, who tend not to come to men's games.

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