Spirited Crowchild Classic set to take Saddledome by storm

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Less than five kilometres separate Calgary’s biggest universities and one of U Sports’ marquee rivalry.

For the seventh straight year, Canadian university hockey’s most-hyped and heavily attended event of the year is being held at the Saddledome, which plays host Tuesday as the neutral site for the Crowchild Classic game between the Mount Royal Cougars and the Calgary Dinos.

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The yearly cross-town smackdown doubleheader also plays a pivotal part in the playoff picture for both schools, as just three weekends remain on Canada West regular-season schedule.

On the men’s side, the Dinos have broken ‘Coug’ nations’ hearts with three consecutive double-overtime decisions and hold a 3-3 all-time record inside the Dome, while the Dinos women’s team has also been finding success against its rivals, holding a 4-2 record in the big game including a 1-0 victory one season ago.

“It’s an event everyone looks forward to, (including) both school student-bodies of all four teams,” said Mark Howell, head coach of the Dinos men’s team. “It’s a really unique event for U Sports hockey players who have the support of 10,000-plus fans once a year.”

With the men’s players being rooted from high-level junior hockey, some may have the experience of being branded for this type of an event, but according to MRU men’s head coach Bert Gilling, it’s nothing like the ‘Classic.’

“It certainly is a highlight for these guys,” Gilling said. “This game is louder and has a way better atmosphere than any game they have ever played in their life. It’s always interesting to see the older players guide the younger ones in telling them, ‘No, no, no … you’ve never had a game like this one.'”

Added Howell: “It’s exciting. It’s unique and different. Anytime you can be in that atmosphere that everyone is excited for is great, you know you’re going to get the best out of your players as far as effort and intensity.”

The spirit generated by the fans in MRU electric blue and the Dinos sea of red is an ‘X’ factor neither coaching staffs can control.

“Over the last few years when the numbers got over 10,000 in general attendance, 95 per cent of that attendance is university students wearing their colours, wearing their schools,” said the fifth-year MRU bench boss, Gilling. “This game is a beast of its own.”

Some of the coaching, Gilling says, gets throw right out the window because of the unique setting of the game.

“The passion of the players goes through the roof,” Gilling said. “Watch the first goal of the game, and you’ll see the roof the place get blown off. It’s nothing but energy and adrenaline.

“Sometimes it gets frustrating as coaches, because it’s one of those thing where the emotion just takes over,” Gilling continued. “You can have the world’s greatest gameplan, but when that emotion and adrenaline kick in, those kids are just playing and just going.

“But it’s also a charm in the game, and the results are the results we live with.”

The entertainment value of the event is something that coaches Gilling and Howell believe raises the stakes of the game outside of the already competitive nature of the standings.

“If the product on the ice did not match the environment in the stands, it wouldn’t grow,” Gilling said. “It becomes a challenge for both school hockey teams because we have to make sure we rise up to the challenge and show a great game.”

Howell agreed.

“If they were bad or we were bad, the game might not be as special and be as competitive, but both schools are really good hockey programs,” Howell said. “It’s always a close game which is exciting. Just standing on the bench, you can feel how excited the student body is and not just players.”

From the first edition of the Classic, records keep getting broken for a university hockey game what seems like every year.

“Nobody knew what it was going to be about,” Howell said. “The atmosphere was only OK back then. The set-up wasn’t the best just because from around the rink you couldn’t see anyone around us, but every year, it has been better and better. For the past four or so years, the building’s full … it’s electric. At first, it was unique because it was so unknown, but it grew into something special.”

Today, it’s one of Calgary’s biggest talking points this time of the year.

“People talk about it as early as August and September,” Gilling said. “You can always pick out the first-year (players) and their families walking through. It’s now a marquee event on campus now, and even as a first-year, they know about it. It travels. When people come, you get the wave effect.”

Howell also sees the word get passed around especially around the minor-hockey community.

“Everyone talks about it — it’s not just students and players,” Howell added. “Look at the community … plenty of minor hockey kids and their families come to the game, and everyone around the community gets excited for it, too.”

Women’s puck-drop is set for 4 p.m. Tuesday, and the men follow at 6:45 p.m.

Both coaches see apparent challenges to the game.

One of the challenges Howell sees with the event is translating that very success and school pride onto the regular season games on a week-to-week basis.

“The biggest thing about the student body is how to transfer those same feelings, excitement and energy levels back to your own buildings,” Howell said. “That’s sort of the missing point in all of this. It’s how to bring that same energy and leverage for regular-season games. We ask how are you going to gain interest, how do you learn to advertise to grow that event and then bring that same success to your own buildings.”

Gilling believes the question hasn’t even been considered by the student union of Mount Royal.

“We’re not there yet — not even close,” Gilling said. “But this shows what it can be, and we hope this game evolves to grow into our institutions, and more fans take note of what our student-athletes are doing and coming to these games in supporting them. We’re hoping the student body sits there and says, ‘Geez we’re paying money to go to this school. This is our school, so why not wear some colour and show some pride on a Friday and Saturday night and have some fun.”

Gilling, a former member of the Bemidji coaching staff in NCAA Division I, compares the Crowchild Classic to the same atmosphere that American universities have on a weekend basis.

“When I heard about this game and what in entailed, I instantly thought, ‘What a home run!’ That was a great part of the NCAA — it was like that on a smaller scale but every weekend.

“It was a big plus on why I took the job. There is something in place for a momentum changer for a program. It also brings the whole campus together under one colour.”

He recalls the strong engagement from the community outside of campus and how sport is a mechanism used to tie corners of the community together.

“You would have older people come to games just to feel the energy from the younger people,” Gilling recalled. “You would have bands and figure skaters performing in between periods. It was really great, and the Crowchild Classic is the closest thing to it.”

“It’s one of its kind in Canada,” Gilling continued. “Selfishly, I wish it was like that every weekend.”

Relevance is one of many factors Gilling takes in when looking to grow the brand of MRU and Cougar Hockey.

“You’ve got to show people what you’re all about and make them come back to support you,” Gilling said. “The first thing I thought of was, ‘Hallelujah, we have an event that not only brings in alumni, but it’s also a great recruiting tool for future student-athletes because there is only two teams that get to play in this game, and that’s MRU and the University of Calgary.'”

The game is obviously special enough as is.

Over half the 10,000-plus crowd inside of an NHL arena is comprised of university students, giving the game a very ‘homecoming’ feeling to the night. It’s electric and one of a kind for players to take part of. But in sports, results are what make or break a team and their chances of finishing well in the season.

“For the past three or four years, the game has had more significant meaning in our standings right before the final two weekends of the season,” Gilling said. “It’s a really important game because: A) you want to win the Crowchild Classic because it’s exciting; But B) for the standings, it’s really important … Both coaches and teams know that there’s more at stake than just that game. It has playoff, standings, home-ice implications …

“They’re five kilometres down the road, so it makes it real special to have a geographical rival, which makes the game that more important for us and for them.”

As much as there is a rivalry on the ice and in the stands, the respect between the rivals is a story of its own.

“We haven’t built walls between the schools,” Gilling said. “Instead we have a bridge. The organizing committee is represented by both schools with the (Calgary) Flames people. It’s a joint venture and a community event. It’s cool the schools and arguably the biggest sport entity in the city are all in on this and say, ‘Let’s make this work and make it worth it.’ It’s something we’re all proud of. It’s a respectful and healthy rivalry.”

This year, for the first time in the event’s history, there is a charge for admission. All proceeds from the $5 admission fee will be returned to the two campuses for investment into student wellness initiatives.

And one lucky student from each institution will walk away with $5,000 toward their tuition, with plenty of other games and prizes to be given out throughout the evening.