Winter Classic was new territory for UBC Athletics
UBC’s first ever Winter Classic was a disaster on the ice, but a decisive success in every other way. The Calendar, partnered with the AMS, put on a marketing campaign that clearly worked -- they played on students’ oft-hidden feelings of Canadiana and enticed them with “UBC’s largest EVER hockey game!”
The goal from the outset was to beat the previous attendance record at Doug Mitchell Stadium of 1,012. They crushed it. 3,049 students came out to cheer for the Thunderbirds, making Friday’s game the second most attended sporting event in UBC history, bested only by this year’s homecoming football game (which ended in similarly disappointing fashion).
Obviously, UBC sports are gaining traction and popularity among students, and that’s in no small part thanks to the Calendar. The university’s student-run hub for social events is a promotional Goliath, able to entice UBC’s population into record-breaking attendance and pump up school spirit to the breaking point.
On a side note, although UBC didn’t perform up to par on Friday, goalie Matt Hewitt had his first CIS shutout in their 5-0 Saturday game. The team has talent, it’s just a matter of getting them to use it consistently.
Regardless, it’s clear that if UBC Athletics wants to continue this upward trend of game attendance, connecting with them on a more personal and relevant level -- as The Calendar has helped them do -- is the way to go.
Campbell proves AMS execs aren't all just hacks
Last week, one of our editors had the incredible opportunity to interview Canada’s only female Prime Minister -- Kim Campbell -- about her time at UBC. While Campbell immediately came across as friendly, intelligent and above all, inspiring, the thing that struck us the most was that, back in the mid-1960s, she was a student just like all of us. A student who was trying to settle into university life and joined the AMS simply because it sounded fun.
It is no secret that, in Vancouver, many of us often feel disconnected from federal politics and view our local levels of governments slightly boring and trivial. That said, Kim Campbell’s experiences in Canadian politics show us that we shouldn’t scoff at AMS and student politicians too much -- you never know who will become Prime Minister one day.
(Note the insistence of the 'too'. We will, of course, not stop making the occasional good-natured jibe at the AMS’ expense for as long as this paper is in existence.)