Students on campus at UMass quickly made their way outside to celebrate the men’s hockey team’s first-ever national championship Saturday night.
After the Minutemen easily dispatched of St. Cloud State, 5-0, in Saturday’s NCAA Division I title game at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh to win the first hockey title and third national championship of any kind in school history, students in the Southwest Residential Area gathered outside the dormitories in celebration of the accomplishment.
Massachusetts State Police and Amherst Police were on the scene, blocking off the Southwest Horsehoe, and students eventually moved toward the center of campus and congregated around the school’s Campus Pond near the W.E.B. Du Bois Library.
Celebrating sporting event accomplishments is not an unusual occurence at UMass. The school has seen its share of gatherings over the past two decades, from Boston Red Sox World Series appearances in 2004 and 2007, to New England Patriots Super Bowl titles throughout the 21st century.
UMass students congregating near the Campus Pond following @UMassHockey team’s 5-0 win over St. Cloud State in the national championship game pic.twitter.com/27MCvYuBEt
— Jeff Lajoie (@Jeff_Lajoie) April 11, 2021
After the Super Bowl gatherings in 2002, UMass police stepped up its efforts to curb celebrations on campus. In 2004, police arrested 22 people associated with gatherings that hovered around 1,000 students following the clinching game of the World Series win against the St. Louis Cardinals.
In 2006 after the UMass football team lost to Appalachian St. in the FCS title game, nearly 2,000 students gathered, and police estimated nearly $100,000 in damage from broken windows and other issues in and around Southwest.