Yost Ice Arena wasn't always the raucous venue that it is today. "You could sit anywhere you wanted then," said Red Berenson, referring to his first season as the Wolverines coach in 1984. "We couldn't give away tickets."
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Yost Ice Arena wasn't always the raucous venue that it is today. "You could sit anywhere you wanted then," said Red Berenson, referring to his first season as the Wolverines coach in 1984. "We couldn't give away tickets."
Yost Ice Arena is Michigan's hockey hot spot
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When the University of Michigan's Yost Ice Arena was renovated in 1996 and 2001, its historic ambience was preserved, as was the old-school approach of selling it to recruits.

No fresh coat of paint was needed to augment coach Red Berenson's straight-talk speech about the arena affectionately known as the "old barn" by some players.

"What I tell kids is that if you want to go to the school with the nicest rink, go straight to Grand Forks, because (North Dakota) has the nicest rink," says Berenson, 68, former NHL player and coach. "But if you want to play in a rink with a great environment and a lot of history, then you should come to Michigan, because Yost is a player's rink."

Built in 1923 as a field house and converted to an ice arena in 1973, Yost offers one of the most stirring hockey experiences in the country because of the intimacy and charm of its 6,637-seat rink and the zaniness and zealousness of its fans.

"This building is a big part of why I came here," Michigan captain Kevin Porter says. "On my first recruiting visit, the crowd was so unbelievable I wanted to get on the ice and start playing right then."

The No. 2-ranked Wolverines (27-5-4) are 13-2-2 in Yost this season, and over the past 10 years Michigan has won about 78% of its home games.

The magic took over Jan. 18 after Notre Dame took a 2-0 lead in the first period. The home crowd seemed to be playing a role as the Wolverines scored just 21 seconds into the second period, tied the score about halfway through the period and won with 20.3 seconds left in regulation on a goal by freshman Louie Caporusso. The overflow crowd of 6,984 was the second largest since Yost's 1996 renovation.

"I've been to a lot of major events, and yet I've never heard anything quite like Yost that night," says Art Regner, who hosts a Central Collegiate Hockey Association pregame TV show. "The players said the crowd ignited them. It really was like the crowd willed them to win."

As sophomore defenseman Chris Summers insists, it's difficult to describe all that goes on during Michigan games, with spontaneous ribbing and insulting of opponents, off-color chants, pep band contributions and the energy of the building. "But once you have been here for five minutes of a game, you understand," he says.

No one appreciates Yost's history more than Berenson. When he was a Michigan hockey player in the early 1960s, games were held in an arena that didn't seat 2,000. To him, Yost Field House was where the basketball team played, named for Fielding H. Yost, Michigan's football coach and athletics director in the early 1900s.

When Berenson took over the Michigan team in 1984, he didn't anticipate Yost would become a hockey shrine.

"You could sit anywhere you wanted then," Berenson says. "We couldn't give away tickets, but as our team got better, our student body got invested in the team and the program and got excited."

CCHA Commissioner Tom Anastos played for Michigan State against the Wolverines at Yost in the 1980s and his opinion of Yost is the same today as it was then.

"It's a hostile environment and that's why I think it's fun," Anastos says. "I just think it captures the entire college atmosphere. The stands are right on top of you, and the fans are active and vocal."

Berenson says the advantage at Yost was more pronounced in the 1990s because opponents have learned to deal with Michigan's crowd and feed off its energy.

Told of that, Michigan State coach Rick Comley says, laughing, "Baloney. It's a tremendous advantage, especially when they get out of the blocks quickly."

Comley says he doesn't believe the players truly hear everything the Michigan crowd yells. "But it's just the noise volume. It's not that it intimidates the other team, it's just because it jacks Michigan's team up so much."

The Wolverines have no doubt they are helped. "When we are down a goal, they give us life," Summers says.

Fans understand the game

Yost faithful are knowledgeable fans who will do anything to get their Wolverines an edge. "If we don't bring it in the first period, the crowd will let us know, 'Hey, wake up,' " Summers says. "It's not just the student section. It's the entire arena."

Fans like to chant the names of key players, particularly junior goalie Billy Sauer. Porter, a senior hopeful for the Hobey Baker award as college player of the year, hears "Hobey Baker, Hobey Baker" in pregame introductions. Fans did the same for senior Chad Kolarik when he scored four goals Feb. 15 to beat Lake Superior State.

Yost fans are not as kind to opponents. It's a long-standing tradition at Yost to ride the opposing goalie mercilessly. After a Michigan goal is scored, fans start pointing at the opposing goalie and yell, "Sieve! Sieve! Sieve! Sieve! Sieve! It's all your fault! It's all your fault! It's all your fault! It's all your fault!"

"What I like are the chants that they make up on the spot," Summers says. "We played Boston University and they have a player named (Brandon) Yip and fans started saying, 'Yip, Yip, Yip,' every time he came on the ice."

When Michigan State comes to Ann Arbor, Yost fans like to say players who can't get into Michigan "go to State."

With the intimate seating arrangement, players hear everything. "I find myself giggling at times," says Kolarik, the alternate captain. "I like it when they say, 'You aren't a vacuum, you're a black hole.' "

Young opponents are always surprised when Yost fans start picking on them about where they are from or what junior team they played for before coming to college. "They can get personal," Berenson says.

Before coming to Michigan, Kolarik was playing for the U.S. National Team Development Program and had an exhibition game against the Wolverines. He scored a goal. His parents stood and cheered.

"So Yost fans started chanting, 'Ugly parents, ugly parents,' " Kolarik says, laughing. "That's what Yost is all about."

Berenson recalls fans poking fun at an opposing parent about her "polyester suit."

"They got into where she shopped and started chanting 'Kmart,' " Berenson says. "And they are all in sync. It's amazing. I felt bad for the parent."

To minimize abuse of opposing parents, Berenson says they have moved their seats to a "less conspicuous" place.

Scrutinizing crowd behavior

As much as Michigan celebrates the Yost atmosphere, school officials monitor it closely to make sure fans don't cross the line.

"Some of the fan vocabulary is not what we want and we have toned it down," Berenson says. "The administration and the band and our staff have asked our fans to be enthusiastic and creative without being obscene."

But Michigan fans know what's going on with recruiting. When forward Phil Kessel, now with the Boston Bruins, was trying to decide on a college, he came into Yost to play for the national development team. Fans started chanting his name to tell him they wanted him to come to Michigan. He ended up at Minnesota.

The fans like to be clever. When a goalie didn't have a name on the back of his sweater, fans started chanting, "Who are you? Who are you?"

"They are brilliant — they go to Michigan," Kolarik says. "And they come up with weird chants all of the time."

Berenson says: "I don't know who organizes, or if it is orchestrated, but I can tell you it doesn't come from our staff."

He marvels at the consistency of fan effort, considering one-fourth of the student body turns over every year. Every season, the fans seem just as knowledgeable.

"We have prospects come in and all they talk about is the rink," Berenson says.

Although being inside Yost is like stepping back into the 1950s, the player comforts in Yost are 21st century.

"You get a feel for history here, but you also get a modern, NHL-style setup with the locker room, the training room, the sauna. … It's not like in the old Yost Ice Arena," Berenson says.

Michigan has pride in Yost. "When you go in our locker room, it's spotless," Berenson says. "We don't let anything slip. When something is on the floor, it's picked up."

Berenson says he knows Yost will be replaced eventually, "but they will never be able to replace what they have here."

"If you want to capture what being a true Michigan fan is all about, it's at Yost Ice Arena," Regner says.

"People say Michigan has an arrogance. But the bottom line is that Michigan fans care about Michigan and they don't care about anybody else."

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Yost Field House was the home base of Michigan varsity sports, including track and basketball. In addition to Wolverines hockey, the arena now hosts area high school hockey teams, and recreational and intramural hockey/broomball leagues.
University of Michigan
Yost Field House was the home base of Michigan varsity sports, including track and basketball. In addition to Wolverines hockey, the arena now hosts area high school hockey teams, and recreational and intramural hockey/broomball leagues.
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