CALIFORNIA CIC MEMBER HOOKED ON SCSU HOCKEY
Hockey has often been described as having it's own underworld of fans. like no other sport, it's a game of speed, grace, crushing body checks and non-stop action. To the neophyte fan, it can be confusing, yet intriguing and usually, never boring . Eventually, the game will hook you and once it does, it's hard to stay away from the rink. Ask CIC member, Jim Phillips about SCSU hockey and like most long-term fans he'll reminisce about his favorite games or players. For Phillips, it's the 4 goals scored in one period by Mark Hartigan on February 15, 2002. He also recalls with fondness the time former coach Craig Dahl's daughter Shelby sang the National Anthem -the little things that make for memories at a hockey game. Or, after many years of watching and listening to Husky Hockey games, getting an opportunity to finally meet former coach Dahl. But unlike most Minnesota natives, Phillips, from Folsom, California, knew nothing at all about ice hockey until a trip to Minnesota a number of years back brought him to St. Cloud. "I was in Ely snowmobiling and was traveling through the St. Cloud area looking for something to do. I had heard there was a SCSU hockey game and decided to see what it was about. It was my first hockey game." The crowd, the game, the environment was exciting. "I was intrigued by the goaltending- it was during the years of Weasler and Moreland". The game hooked him and he's been a SCSU fan ever since. He tries to make the trip to St. Cloud at least once a year scheduling the weekend around his profession as a trial attorney with the State of California Attorney General's office. "Some years, due to the length of the cases I'm involved with makes it impossible for me to make the trip". Most recently, during a Saturday women's game vs Boston University, he was found studying briefs during the intermission - further indication of his dedication to his job while at the same time getting a hockey fix. He's a fan of both SCSU men's and women's hockey and considers it a bonus if he can schedule a hockey trip to St. Cloud and catch both the men and women playing at the National Hockey Center on the same weekend. Looking very much like your typical SCSU fan, he'd be hard to distinguish from any of the other 5,000 or so sitting in the seats on any given weekend. Well, as typical as a fan from California can be...
