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Boston College Hockey Leads Hockey East In 2011-12 Attendance

By Brian F.
Presswire

Your National Champion Boston College Eagles men's ice hockey team not only brought home a ridiculous amount of hardware this season, they also won at the turnstiles. The Eagles enjoyed the highest home, road and overall average attendance this year -- both in Hockey East play and overall.

Here are the 2011-12 home attendance totals overall. The 6,171 home attendance average was down slightly from last season (6,292) but up significantly over recent years, particularly 2009-10, when BC finished with an average just a shade over 5k (5,012).

Rank Program Games Total Attendance Average Capacity Pct. Cap.
1 Boston College 16 98,737 6,171 7,884 78.27%
2 Boston University 18 89,338 4,963 6,224 79.74%
3 Maine 18 79,866 4,437 5,641 78.66%
4 Massachusetts 16 73,794 4,612 8,329 55.37%
5 UMass Lowell 18 88,277 4,904 6,496 75.49%
6 Merrimack 17 41,815 2,460 3,000 82.00%
7 New Hampshire 16 84,750 5,297 6,501 81.48%
8 Northeastern 14 33,999 2,428 4,666 52.04%
9 Providence 19 35,619 1,875 3,030 61.88%
10 Vermont 18 64,319 3,573 4,003 89.26%
Totals 170 690,514 4,062 5,577 72.83%

With the second largest barn in the conference, logically it would follow that BC would enjoy the largest average crowds in the conference. But you can see the program also filled Conte to 78 percent capacity during the season, which was significantly higher than the league average of 72.83 percent.

Here are the home attendance totals for Hockey East games only.

Rank Program Games Total Attendance Average Capacity Pct. Cap.
1 Boston College 13 83,719 6,440 7,884 81.68%
2 Boston University 13 67,715 5,209 6,224 83.69%
3 Maine 13 58,914 4,532 5,641 80.34%
4 Massachusetts 12 59,304 4,942 8,329 59.33%
5 UMass Lowell 14 74,014 5,287 6,496 81.38%
6 Merrimack 13 31,859 2,451 3,000 81.69%
7 New Hampshire 13 70,707 5,439 6,501 83.66%
8 Northeastern 14 33,999 2,429 4,666 52.05%
9 Providence 14 27,829 1,988 3,030 65.60%
10 Vermont 13 47,487 3,653 4,003 91.25%
Totals 132 555,547 4,209 5,577 75.47%

Interestingly, these trends aren't just confined to home attendance. Here are the 2011-12 road attendance figures for both conference play and overall.

Program Overall G Overall Total Overall Avg. HEA Games HEA Total HEA Avg.
Boston College 16 86,009 5,376 13 68,067 5,236
Boston University 16 71,627 4,477 14 64,176 4,584
Maine 15 74,239 4,949 13 51,325 3,948
Massachusetts 17 62,944 3,703 14 52,890 3,778
UMass Lowell 16 56,865 3,554 13 49,178 3,783
Merrimack 18 81,029 4,502 14 67,038 4,788
New Hampshire 19 76,889 4,047 13 53,148 4,088
Northeastern 16 72,713 4,545 12 47,321 3,943
Providence 16 62,027 3,877 13 50,405 3,877
Vermont 15 68,248 4,550 13 51,999 4,000
Totals 132 712,590 5,398 132 555,547 4,209

When it comes to road attendance, there are plenty of added variables that don't paint an entirely clear picture -- did your program travel to Orono for two games? Did you get two games at tiny Lawler Arena? etc.

But once again, Boston College is atop the conference when it comes to both home and road attendance. To a great extent, this is only logical -- BC is centrally located within the conference's geography footprint and has been the class of Hockey East for several years running now. A Boston College sports program whose fans travel well ... who'd thought?

Looking forward to the Eagles skating in front of a cavernous XL Center crowd and curb-stomping that club team from Storrs.

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