“GOALIE, GOALIE, GOALIE, YOU SUCK!”
The cheer reverberates throughout the ice rink as the Pioneers score another goal. Game after game, this cheer and other similarly-toned chants reach the ears of the KHS hockey team, the opposing team and, especially, the unfortunate goalie.
The KHS hockey team has been successful for the last several years, reaching the playoffs consistently and last season winning the Top-Hat Tournament. With this success, the number of fans and the passion they have for the games has been on the rise. Hockey fans are the best in the school, Stephen Bopp, senior and captain of the hockey team, said.
“The fans are great,” Bopp said. “They’re so much more pumped up than at any of the other games, and they are able to express themselves better since it’s a club sport.”
Since hockey is a club sport, it is not school-sponsored. As a result, students cannot get in trouble with the school for any misconduct. However, there is always a police presence at games, and students can receive any of the standard repercussions for drinking or using profanity. The policeman at the Nov. 21 game, Officer Tim Benjamin, emphasized the importance of good conduct at the games.
“Keep everything appropriate, you’re paying for the game,” Benjamin said. “You’re supposed to be supporting your team, so don’t get kicked out. Just always remember that you are representing your school.”
KHS Resource Officer Chad Walton explained that crowd control at sporting events is not a new concept and is sometimes necessary to keep the game a positive experience for fans and players alike. He emphasized that conduct simply comes down to common sense.
“It’s okay to root for the team and be spirited,” Walton said, “but when it comes to being disorderly, with foul language or other misconduct, it makes it no fun for anyone.”
Some of the cheers are a little degrading to the other team, but most students feel that none of their behavior is really inappropriate for a rowdy event like a hockey game. Cheering for our own team and insulting the opponents is just good fun, Pat Maltagliati, senior, said.
“Hockey games are all about breaking down the other team and supporting our own boys,” Maltagliati said. “If we need to yell at the other guys a little, so be it.”
As the defense scurries and Pioneers weave through in a graceful attack, the goalie’s eyes widen like a deer in headlights. The shot is fired, the goalie misses; he puts his head down and prepares for another warm greeting from the KHS fans.
For some students, what they now choose to yell simply comes down to being an honest person and telling the truth.
“If the goalie is bad,” Kevin Howard, senior, said, “I’m going to tell him that I think so.”