LetsGoDU

How To Get Your Coach Fired - Part I

(left) Craig Dahl was always considered to be one of the "good guys" in college hockey, but by 2005 Husky fans had had enough. 14 games after this battle with DU he was gone and the Motzko Era was underway a year early in St. Cloud.


Deep Background - With the DU vs. St. Cloud this weekend its always fun to look back on past battles between the teams. Of Course, LetsGoDU likes to delve into the soft underbelly of college hockey and find stories that you won't find in the mainstream media. To set the stage it was January 2005 and DU was rolling towards its second consecutive National Championship.

DU was in the process of sweeping St. Cloud for the second consecutive time that season. Things were not going well for the Huskies at home in the National Hockey Center. I asked SCSU uber-fan Husky Fan Roy to provide us with the details...


Husky Fan Roy - TommyBoy and I decided to stand behind Skeeterman and Boomer's section for the third period. Their section is located right behind the visiting team's bench. As the third period wore on and the ugly play continued (getting out shot while on the PP, sloppy passing and constantly turning over the puck) we started booing loudly and yelling that it was time for Dahl to go (for the record we weren't the only ones, there were quite a few boos around the rink). As the last seconds of the game ticked by and the final horn sounded we walked over a section which was behind the husky bench and continued yell "pathetic" and "Dahl sucks!"
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The arena manager stopped us and yelled at us to shut up and that there was no call to be yelling stuff like that (mind you we NEVER once used profanity). We told him we paid our money and that we could voice our displeasure if we wanted to. He said that we were bush league and that we should support the team and the coach no matter what. We respectively disagreed and let him know that the coach and players need to know that the fans aren't happy when the team comes out week after week and doesn't play with heart or passion. He said that we were bandwagon and should stop coming to games. We informed him that if we were bandwagon we would not be season ticket holders and would not be coming to games all the time. The barbs were exchanged back and forth for a couple more minutes and then we walked away before it became even more escalated.
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It was clearly evident to me that the arena manager's loyalty and friendship with Dahl caused him to step in. Not once during the game or the exchange with him did we use profanity. I am guessing the boos that rained down from the crowd for most of the night, especially the third period, got to him and he crossed the line. I am happy it didn't escalate any further. Each side spoke their mind and separated with no hard feelings.....at least from my and TB's side