The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2002 - 33
JOE
SMITH
" Yost with the most: Fire, ice
mix loudly at hockey haven
The legendary brick building sits still now,
sleeping for the summer. It's placed right
in the heart of Michigan's South Campus.
And for good reason, as for a few dozen nights in
the dead of winter, it's the center of attention.
Its mystique :.. the raucous fans that engulf it
each winter ... the familiar, nearly small-town
feel of the 79-year-old building ... all bring
every hockey fan back year after year to what
many call "the best college hockey venue in the
United States."
It also transforms, in a matter of a few nights,
someone who may never have watched the sport
before into a crazed fanatic.
It's Yost Ice Arena, home of the storied Michi-
gan hockey program and source of thousands of
memories ever since the original "Yost Field-
house" was created in 1923 to house wrestling,
basketball, track, baseball and football (for prac-
tice, with the high ceiling to accommodate punts).
It's one of the only sports venues in the nation
that has been labeled with such esteemed regard
as a "cathedral," while at the same time being
described as a bunker where "terrible people"
torment and use language unsuitable for children.
But the chants are no more bothersome than
the lack of parking, choice at the concession
stands and lumbar support (it's bleachers all
around). And that's why it's a must-visit for you.
It's hard not to see the cathedral parallels to the
building: the high ceiling, the brass band blasting
familiar tunes and fight songs you can hear from
the street, the flashing police lights you pass as
you walk in, the pack of fans donning the maize
and blue, who all seem to know each other
through this common bond.
Several banners hang from the rafters, each
having its own special Yost memory. Most play-
ers on the 1998 national title team admitted that
the underdog Wolverines may never have won the
national crown had it not been for the jump and
adrenaline absorbed from the frenzied fans in the
NCAA Regional held at Yost - helping them
come back to defeat top-seeded North Dakota
after falling behind 3-1 and then riding the
momentum into the "magical" Frozen Four run.
"We've hosted recruits and taken them to football
games and they are overwhelmed," Michigan coach
Red Berenson has said. "Then they see a game at
Yost and can't believe how much noisier it is."
Note: Football games are played at "The Big
House," which holds more than 110,000 people.
Yost's capacity is just under 7,000.
While the winning tradition of the Michigan
hockey program and its record nine national titles
keeps the fire burning in Yost, it's the fans that
ignite the flame each night and create the Yost
experience - and alot more memories.
Where else will you find an animated band
director receiving a larger ovation than players on
the ice for his usual dance from the stands during
a stoppage of play?
Where else would you find a grown adult
jumping flights of bleachers to take a swing at a
Michigan student in the student section -just
for directing the traditional chant of "Ugly girl-
friend" at his daughter?
Where else will you finda legendary coach
like Michigan State's Ron Mason, the winningest
coach in college hockey history, walking off the
ice for the final time being bid adieu with the tra-
ditional "Ohhhhhhhh Cya......" chant from the
Yost faithful?
Harsh? Maybe, but it's just the crowd follow-
ing tradition, a kind of respect that says that no
one is larger than Yost.
And where else can you find chants of
"Molly's easy" directed at a cheerleader for the
St. Cloud State hockey team after she labeled
Michigan hockey fans as "terrible people" ina
local St. Cloud newspaper.
The much-dismayed parents of Molly called
The Michigan Daily the next day with a few
choice words for publicizing her comments days
before the teams faced each other in the 2002
NCAA West Regional.
But that's all part of the Yost "experience" -
one that cannot be replicated or topped.
Cya... there.
- Joe Smith can be reached at
josephms@umich.edu
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