The BFA-MVU girls hockey playoff game Friday night was remarkable in a number of ways.
First of all, there had to at least 1,000 people there, easily the largest crowd ever to watch a girls hockey game in Franklin County, if not Vermont.
I've been to a half-dozen state title games and I don't think the crowds have been any larger at those games than the crowd at Hungerford Rink at the CPSC.
This brings me to my next point - when can we stop having the girls hockey semifinals at Norwich? The place is beautiful, but even if you put a 1,000 people in it, it seems empty.
Better, I think, to have the semifinals at the site of the highest-seeded team and leave the title game to Kreitzberg Arena (it should be played on a neutral rink).
Rumor has it that was a tentative plan for this year, but I guess it fell through. Hopefully, it will change for next season.
Anyone who was at the game Friday night knows why that would be a great idea.
As far as the game goes, kudos to the Comets for their win - and big-time kudos to the BFA-St. Albans boys team for its monumental upset of top-seeded Essex on Saturday.
But congrats are in order, too, for the MVU girls.
They showed they can compete in Division I - as if there was any real doubt - and although they came up short in the playoffs, they played hard - and more importantly - showed real class in defeat.
Both girls teams were great models for the dozens of starry-eyed young girls in the crowd who eagerly anticipate their chance to don the jerseys of their hometown high schools.
I hope to post photos from the BFA-MVU playoff game later tonight.
On the Sidelines
The photos - all 586 of them! - are uploaded!
I will not be at the BFA semifinal game, but I have blocked out Friday night to cover the title game.
I will be at the MVU boys hockey semifinal on Monday night at UVM.