Sunday’s hockey game at the Mullins Center was begging for a bad stand-up comedy setup.

“The crowd at the game was so small … ”

“How small was it?”

But what happened on Sunday was no laughing matter for the Massachusetts hockey team. First of all, it ended up being a historical event for all the wrong reasons for the Minutemen. The Connecticut Huskies had never beaten UMass in the Mullins Center prior to Sunday, and UMass had not lost to UConn at all since the program’s reinstatement in 1993. Yet, all the history went out the window, because for the second year in a row, the Minutemen put up a stinker against the Huskies – last year’s season opener on Oct. 9 was a skin-of-their-teeth 6-4 win.

A large part of the reason that the Minutemen lost was that they came out of the gates slowly, slower than game-winning-goal scorer said he and his teammates were expecting. UMass coach Don Cahoon called it a lack of “thoroughness” that the Minutemen didn’t play a complete game. To some extent, that’s very much the case. Other than the second period, the Minutemen didn’t have many very good scoring chances, although they played a solid third period. What’s worse, they nullified a near-spectacular performance by Tim Warner, who is rotating with junior Gabe Winer this year.

But there was another factor contributing to the stale, uninspiring feeling that a spectator at the game must have felt. It was the attendance: 2,038. More accurately, it was the 6,351 empty seats. Although the crowd number spiked in the second period, at the start and end of the game, it was the quintessential “friends and family” crowd. That they had enough people to give the “Chuck-a-puck” winner his $105 prize was one of the more impressive statistics of the game.

Now, there was a perfectly good reason for all this. The New England Patriots, who have managed to be the most underrated record-setting football team, played their game at 4 p.m. The hockey game started at 3 p.m. Short of free admission and a complimentary sundae from Harrell’s, there wasn’t much incentive that would bring more people in. Heck, even those goodies probably wouldn’t have gotten more than another thousand people. Not much is going to tear folks away from the Patriots’ games this year, so it might have been better to just adapt. It’s all guessing at this point, though. There’s no reason to just assume that moving Sunday’s game to, say, Saturday afternoon would be feasible.

What can be done, though, is a change in the start time next weekend, should the World Series go to a sixth game. If the Red Sox are playing the Cardinals in Game 6 Saturday night, whether it’s to fight for their lives or try to clinch their first title in 86 years, there’s a good chance that the number that shows up to Saturday’s hockey game will be less than half of the one that showed up on Sunday. It might even be tough to get enough players from UMass and Providence to suit up instead of finding a spot to watch the game.

So the solution is simple. Saturday is Homecoming, and the football team plays Maine at 1 p.m. That game should finish sometime before 4 p.m. Once the final whistle blows, the Mullins Center is just a few bus stops away, so the crowd can head over for UMass-Providence on the ice. Once that’s over, it’s time for the Red Sox. It would be a fun-filled day of cheers and chants, maybe even a few victories.

Here’s the kicker: It probably won’t happen.

The UMass Athletic Department, which admittedly has been in turmoil for the last three years, has never recognized the changing dimensions of the hockey team on this campus. The skaters have come within one overtime goal of winning the conference championship, sold out the Mullins Center, and hosted its first playoff series, all in the last year. But there’s still an ingrained theory that the men’s basketball team and the football team just have to be a bigger deal.

For what it’s worth, this isn’t about attacking either of those squads, even though football has struggled this year, and basketball has steadily declined over the last few seasons. This is more about the idea of a team that has provided the most excitement over the last two years getting its due. Rather than schedule “Operation 8K” for a game against Clarkson, a team only few outside of the realm of “hockey nut” know anything about, why not instead make it one of the lesser Hockey East games? Even the Nov. 23 clash against future conference foe Vermont? What better way to start Thanksgiving break and send the team off to Colorado than with a packed house full of rowdy, loud fans?

It goes beyond just an attendance promotion. It’s about making a name for the program in the state. It’s no secret that when it comes to marketing, UMass is burdened by its distance from Boston, yet Maine and New Hampshire are well-respected programs in Hockey East. Granted, those schools are longer on tradition than Massachusetts, but there’s no reason not to start the process of making the Minutemen a stalwart now. It’s the little things, like deciding not to hold formal press conferences or treat the game as more than the minor league sidekick to basketball.

There are no excuses for the hockey team’s loss. The Minutemen were outskated, outworked, and finally outscored. But isn’t there a chance that a roaring crowd might have changed the complexion – and result – of that overtime period?

Even further, would it be so crazy to suggest that the University of Massachusetts no longer consider itself solely a basketball school and finally recognize the possibilities that arise when the Mullins Center floor is a slick sheet of ice?

Andrew Merritt is a Collegian columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].