Hockey club hails crowds, hurts competition

While averages in attendance are floundering for other so-called major sports here at Sac State, there’s a club sport that attracts a bigger than usual group of fans to its games.

With what coach Dave Mello calls a combination of contact like football, driving through the court like basketball, and scoring goals like soccer, ice hockey is the latest hot new thing in Sacramento.

According to Mello’s estimates there’s an average attendance of about 200 people per game at the ice rink where the Sac State ice hockey club plays.

“The game is fast and exciting,” Mello said. “It’s a non-stop combination of other sports.”

But how does Mello get his team together, and a competitive one now sitting on a 3-3 record, in this part of the country where warm weather and sunny skies are predominant? Or better yet, how does he and his team attract the fans at every home game even though the ice rink they call home, Skatetown, is in Roseville?

Well, Mello says that the hard part is to let people know that his team is here, even though “here” is a few miles north on Business 80.

“Once people know we are here and watch a game, they get hooked,” Mello said. “Also, there are a lot of hockey players in the area that are transplants from the East Coast.”

This, according to Mello, makes the sport grow in fans and popularity.

Another factor for the growing popularity of the sport is the growth of usage of inline skates, which is the prelude to ice-skating.

“On the West Coast we’re getting more into it because of inline skates. Kids are playing hockey on the streets with inline skates,” said Mello. “They say ‘well we played in the street now lets try it on ice.’”

Also, Mello says that many of the fans that attend the games are not students, and that maybe the distance between the ice rink and the school is a factor in the attendance numbers.

“I’m sure that if there was an ice rink closer to Sac State, more students would go,” Mello said. “Although, the Roseville rink is the best facility in the area.”

Mello added: “We have great fans who enjoy the games. There’s a group of fans that show up to every game and are not students. Once they find out that there is good hockey in town, they show up.”