Members of the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity recently waited outside the Rensselaer Union in this year’s Hockey Line to be the first to purchase season tickets, which went on sale Monday.
The group passed the time by watching television and playing Atari and Nintendo Classic console games.
The hockey line tradition is "one of the pillars that support the true college experience," said John Damalas ’05.
Students in the group noted that time spent waiting in hockey line provides "a good way to bond with friends" and allows those waiting in the line to get more sleep than they usually do.
They expressed concern, however, that student involvement in the hockey line tradition has greatly lessened in recent years.
"More people should do hockey line. It is a wonderful tradition that is being lost," said Allan Libby ’04.
"It is a good showing of school spirit and school pride, and it’s too bad to see the tradition getting lost," said Jennifer Parker ’02.
"It’s too bad more people don’t participate because it’s a lot of fun," said graduate student Aaron Townsley.
The hockey line tradition started in 1973, when structural support columns in the Houston Field House hindered spectators’ views from many seats.
To purchase seats with an unobstructed view, hockey fans from the RPI community would line up around the Union for weeks before season tickets went on sale. The groups waiting in the line were permitted to rotate people holding their position on the line to allow students to eat and to go to class without the group losing the position.
Although renovations made to the Field House 11 years ago have eliminated the spectator obstructions that started the hockey line, Rensselaer fraternities have maintained the tradition.
The record for the amount of time spent waiting on hockey line, 171 days, was set on September 25, 1985 after RPI won the NCAA Championship the previous season.
The Institute’s hoc-key program, one of the oldest in the nation, dates back to January 25, 1902 when the team—then known as the Bachelors—lost to Williams College 4-2 in a game played in Cohoes.
During its 99-year history, the hockey team has changed its mascot from "The Swarm" to "Puckman," and won NCAA championships in 1954 and 1985; the ECAC Tournament in 1984, 1985, and 1986; and the ECAC Championship in 1984 and 1985.
The team has played its home games at the Houston Field House since 1950 and has been known as the Engineers since the 1960s.
