Crowchild Classic ignites rivalries, school spirit

By Ashton Chugh

During an evening for the record books, 6,016 raucous fans attended the Crowchild Classic at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The night was full of school spirit and sporting debauchery, as students from both the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University had an experience like none other.

“I fucking love it,” said second-year U of C communications major Jordie Ogilvie. “It has been great. The school spirit is awesome. People have pride in the Dinos. Everyone loves them and wants to be there to cheer for them.”

“It was much more substantial than last year,” added third-year U of C environmental sciences major Michila Sugar. “It was really lacking on the MRU side last year because they were not as established.”

In a show of school solidarity, Dinos and Cougars fans were segregated in the stands. Manager of operations for the Dinos men’s basketball team Dean McCord offered his opinion as to why this was.

“It’s kind of like the Flames and Oilers rivalry,” said McCord. “We have got that same feeling towards MRU. Having the Dinos fans on one side and the Cougars fans on the other creates the blue and red zones, and we see who can be the loudest. Our side looks better because it’s red, and we just look scarier with our Dinos.”

For many fans, the prospect of consuming the Saddledome’s supposedly high-alcohol-content ‘heroin beers’ sweetened the deal.

“Can’t really go wrong, you know — the Saddledome, a couple beers and friends,” said fourth-year MRU journalism major Erica Pollack.

During the second-period intermission, a contest was held at centre ice that had students from both MRU and the U of C team together to compete to win one year of free tuition. Mario Jean, a third-year bachelor of sciences student from MRU, was ecstatic about his free money.

“I pay for school myself, so this to me is honestly the most amazing thing because I feel like I have worked so hard, and my hard work is finally paying off,” said Jean. “I am thrilled to my soul.”

On the Calgary side, first-year arts major Tristan Cote was already in the process of making plans with his new cash.

“Feels great. It can never hurt, so I’m pretty happy,” said Cote. “I’m on the swim team. Two weeks from now we have Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships, and a couple years down the road we have Olympics.”

Due to the nature of the hockey game itself, the prospect of fighting often remains in the back of the fans’ minds. Many of the fans had differing perspectives as to whether there would be a fight amongst the fans themselves.

“The Cougars would be the instigators and the victors,” said first-year MRU health sciences major Joel Peltonen. “It is because we are in the south end of the city. We do not mess around. We fight for fun and for sport.”

Proceeds from the 50/50 lottery draw went to the kinesiology departments at the two universities. However, MRU student Pollack was not pleased about this.
“As if the U of C needs more money,” said Pollack.