Not a fan of fan-less games

It's a strange feeling covering a college hockey game in a 6,000-seat arena ... with no one sitting in those seats.

Welcome to the pandemic. Welcome to life in 2020/21. Not every college is allowing reporters into venues to cover events. So I considered myself fortunate to be able to cover Saturday's Hockey East game between UMass Lowell and UMass Amherst at the Tsongas Center in Lowell for the Lowell Sun.

It's the fifth college event I've covered without fans. And it's not becoming more normal. Fans provide noise. They provide energy to the athletes. The chants. The screams. Spectators create the atmosphere. Saturday featured two of the top 16 teams in the nation. It was a spirited game. A one-goal outcome. But it wasn't the same without fans.

The last time I covered UML vs. UMass was just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. UML won on a goal in the last minute. A near-sellout crowd in Lowell erupted. Real emotion. Real noise.

Can't wait until the fans return.