Opinion
Silent curse by boyfriend haunts Hunt
March 1, 2007
As soon as I found out St. Scholastica would be playing UW-River Falls in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association semifinals of the playoffs, I was both nervous and excited.
I knew the Saints would be riding an emotional high after beating border rival, UW-Superior in the first round of playoffs. Scholastica’s victory over Superior was the team’s first win against the Yellowjackets since 1990.
I also knew Scholastica would come ready to play this past weekend, after beating us at the beginning of the month. The fact that they had beat us so recently made me quite nervous.
But the worst part about this game was the verbal bashing that would ensue during the week leading up to the game. My wonderful boyfriend attends St. Scholastica and loves to talk trash.
Although he cheers for River Falls, when not playing Scholastica, I knew this weekend would be different. It all started Sunday night, at 9:28 p.m. when he announced the bashing would begin.
On Monday morning, he put a silent curse on our beloved Hunt Arena. I was pissed. I thought it was a low blow, but I also thought it was very stupid. I normally don’t believe in curses, so after the initial anger I didn’t think anything of it, but to laugh.
Later on in the week, while talking to a prominent member of the hockey team, I told him of the rivalry that was taking place between my boyfriend and myself. I continued to tell him about the curse and how silly it was. The hockey player agreed and said that maybe they would score a couple quick goals to set the pace.
On Saturday, game day, my boyfriend came down to see the game with my parents. The roads were full of snow and traffic was considerably slower than normal, meaning they had extra time in the car to chat - or bash - whichever you prefer.
He spent a good portion of the four hours trying to convince them to cheer for St. Scholastica, and when he was not doing that, he was making fun of River Falls.
Almost as soon as he got to River Falls he was making fun of me and my favorite team. He would pinpoint certain players and talk about how his star team was going to crush them.
Game time came and he was proudly wearing his Scholastica gold about town.
He wore it in the new University Center and even in Hunt Arena. He was sure to show everybody who noticed him being there he was wearing St. Scholastica gear.
We proceeded to talk a little trash and make a couple jokes before getting settled into our seats.
My spot so happened to be in the press area, so he sat next to me and cheered for Scholastica. As if sitting by one Saints fan wasn’t bad enough, I had three or four of their players next to me. Throghout the course of the very exciting and intense game, I surrounded by a number of people with the opportunity to pick on me at any given moment.
When all was said and done, the Falcons lost 2-1 to the Saints and are waiting to find out if an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament is in the future. The Saints will travel to St. Norbert see if the magic stays alive.
Even though I said I didn’t believe on curses, the thought of it was still in the back of my mind all week.
As the game went on, and we were behind 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1 with only a few minutes left I thought, maybe I should believe in curses.
Sarah Packingham is a former member of the Student Voice staff.