The first time I stepped foot in the John Glas Fieldhouse, I was working for the Gopher Radio Network (don’t hold that against me!). The Gophers came to town in the first year of the D-1 era at BSU. The Gopher Radio Network traveled four of us for the game. The play-by-play and color announcers, an engineer (to run all the equipment) and myself (the producer).

Needless to say, the press box at The Glas isn’t that big! The only thing I could think of was, “I can’t believe this is a D-1 team playing in here!”.

Fast forward to 2004, and I applied for the job as the play-by-play announcer here. My first game at The Glas was against Ferris State. BSU won 5-2. The atmosphere wasn’t nearly what it was that night against the Gophers…but I still said “I can’t believe this is a D-1 team playing in here!”.

I’ve learned to appreciate the ol’ barn…in fact, I’ll miss a lot of things about it: the low ceiling (get’s REALLY loud), the proximity of the press box (CLOSE to the ice), and wooden banners (unique only to BSU).

I wasn’t here for the undefeated season. I wasn’t here to see Bryan Grand score 154 points in 59 games. Now that the lights have been turned off for the last time…I wish had been able to see those things that make Beaver hockey what it is!