Hockey Line
About
Owing to its origins as a military warehouse, most views in the Houston Field House were obstructed at least some angle between the rink and the seats due to large support columns that held up the Field House's roof. This led to the birth of what is known simply as "hockey line." Groups of people - usually members of various fraternities and sororities - take a place outside of the RPI Student Union building. Traditionally, the line began sometime during late July or early August prior to the beginning of Fall classes and continued until tickets went on sale in mid-September. People in line are allowed to buy up to eight tickets and can have people hold their place in line while they eat or go to class. Students set up beds, couches, television sets, and, more recently, computers and video games to pass the time as someone occupies each place in line on a 24 hour basis.
Following the Engineers' 1985 national championship victory, the Epsilon Iota chapter of the Psi Upsilon fraternity set a hockey line record by beginning the line on the very next day - March 31, 1985 - and continuing the line through the summer until tickets went on sale on September 25, 1985 which beat the previous record of 33 days with 178 days. (Excerpts from Hockey Line on Wikipedia.)
In 2011, Hockey Line was changed to add a march of the participants from the Union to the Field House, where in addition to the sale of season tickets there was a free skate and ice cream and pizza served by the men's and women's hockey teams.
History
- 2011: The Pep Band led a march over Freshman Hill from the Union to the Field House and then performed in the Field House for a short time while ticket sales began. The setlist included 25 or 6 to 4, Raider's March, Final Countdown, Watermelon Man, YMCA, Sweet Caroline, Just Dance, Build Me Up, Buttercup and Hail.