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2008 02 15

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Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v05n04)

Tammy's Take - by Tammy Lieber

posted: Feb. 15, 2008

Mid-winter is one of those times when it's easy to get stuck in a rut. If it's not gray and dreary outside, it's wet and muddy. Go to work, come home, don't leave the house again till morning.

A few weeks ago I was shaken out of my midwinter blues by what I can only describe as a cultural experience at 38th Street and Fall Creek Parkway.

A friend invited me to an Indiana Ice game at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. She'd been given two tickets by a friend who'd bought a ticket package, including a Zamboni ride, at a charity silent auction. While we, unfortunately, weren't privy to the Zamboni ride, we had a great time just soaking up the atmosphere.

My friend Andrea, like myself, grew up on basketball and football. Neither of us went to a hockey game until well into adulthood, when semi-pro teams started springing up. Our Ice tickets that night were four rows back from the ice, so we were sitting among the diehard fans.

"I feel like I'm in a foreign country," Andrea said a few minutes after we made our way to our seats, actually un-numbered metal folding chairs arranged in semi-orderly rows between the rink and the permanent seats.

I knew what she meant.

Periodically, seemingly apropos of nothing, someone nearby would shout out, "Hockey!" and a few people would answer in unison, "HOCKEY!"

We pondered transferring that enthusiasm to other sporting events and performances. Shouting out "Basketball!" during a Butler game, for instance, or perhaps yelling "Theatre!" during intermission at Indiana Repertory Theatre.

The Ice belong to the U.S. Hockey League, an amateur league for players under 20. Friends who know more about hockey than I tell me it's a premier league-while many of the players go on to college after a stint in the USHL, some go straight to a professional league.

You won't find a lot of showboating and gimmicks on the ice-those kids are there to play. While minor skirmishes broke out, the Ice game didn't follow the joke, "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out."

Whenever a member of the opposing team would rack up an infraction, the crowd escorted him to the penalty box by yelling, "Cheater!"

The atmosphere off the ice, however, is a different story. As a league independent of high school or college governance, the USHL relies on corporate sponsorships. Beer is served at the concession stands and by vendors, even though the players on the ice can't legally drink it.

The night we attended, stylists from Knockouts salon were giving $5 haircuts in two barber chairs set up rinkside. Knockouts, for the uninitiated, is a chain of salons targeted to male customers that recently opened a local location. Think of it as Hooters with scissors.

A group of teenaged males sat in front of us, clutching their calendars featuring Knockouts girls. During every intermission, the announcer entreated fans to "Get your hair cut by a real knockout!"

The knockouts didn't upstage the Hardees Chill Girls, though. The Chill Girls are, according to the Ice website, "the official promotional team of the Indiana Ice." They are available for booking at your next party or event. During breaks, they'd scamper about the coliseum, dancing to hip-hop hits and throwing T-shirts into the crowd.

"I wish they'd throw White Castles," Andrea said, noting one of the other prominent Ice sponsors.

The following night, the announcer informed us, the big attraction was to be Christian recording artist Storyside:B. If I hadn't already had plans, I might have returned just to see what the crowd was like then.

I've always enjoyed live sporting events more for the people-watching than what happens during the game. But watching the heart and enthusiasm of the players has me following the team now. The Ice are at the top of their USHL division, so it's a great time for sports fans to watch, too.

The team has a half-dozen home games left this season, two of them at Conseco Fieldhouse. But the atmosphere seems better suited to the Pepsi Coliseum, where the rough-around-the-edges ambiance fits with the team that bills itself "Indy's Blue Collar Team."

Tickets are $15 and $11, with discounts for children and seniors. I can't think of a cheaper way to leave the country and still stay close to home.

Tammy Lieber is a freelance writer who lives in Meridian Kessler, otherwise known as SoBro. A former reporter at the Indianapolis Business Journal, she now writes journalism and marketing pieces when she's not fixing up her house or enjoying the company of friends over a pint of Guinness. Her favorite spectator sport is politics, except on Sundays during football season. Email her at tammy@broadripplegazette.com

tammy@broadripplegazette.com

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