True fans know you play five at a time: the ECAC stages a quintupleheader, and 11 hours, 8 minutes later, some want more

Sporting News, The, Dec 13, 1993 by Bill Heller

Throughout the Challenge, there were ads for Albany's entry in the American Hockey League, the River Rats. Patrons of the Challenge were urged to "Get Rat Fever" and to "Join The Ratmosphere." There scoreboard said, periodically, "Call For Rat Tickets." Actually, the Rats were kind enough to cede the building for the Challenge in between home games Friday evening and Sunday afternoon at 5. As soon as the Rats lost, 5-3, Friday night, Arena staff began the four-hour process of scraping the ice with a Zamboni and putting down a basketball floor on top of the ice. After Saturday's basketball finale, they did it again in reverse order.

The 40-minute break between Games 2 and 3 gives the fans a respite, but not Derek Tucker at the Arena box office. On Friday, he celebrated his 26th birthday. On Saturday, he checked in at the Arena at 8 a.m. He worked through until 11 p.m. He had somebody fetch a sandwich for him for lunch, and he split a pizza with co-workers for dinner. As if the Challenge hadn't been challenging enough, the Arena also put tickets for a January 18 Billy Joel concert on sale at 9 a.m. Customers snaked around the building in a long line; the concert sold out in 3 1/2 hours.

"There was a huge crowd around the building," Tucker says. Basketball fans were spared the ordeal with a separate window for purchases. Tucker spent most of his long day in a back office working on comp tickets for players and coaches, and the returns from each school's ticket consignment. He also stepped in at the windows during lunch and dinner breaks. "I got to see a little bit of the RPI game, about two plays," he says. "Most event days are fun, but this is a tough one."

Up a level and on the opposite side of the Arena, Frank May, 55, was having a kinder shift, 3 to 11 p.m., supervising his food concession stand. He also works at nearby Hudson Valley Community College as a library cataloger. He has worked at the Arena since it opened four years ago. "This is an interesting job, different people and different events," he says. "For something like the Ice Capades or Disney, people eat more popcorn, pretzels and candy. It's more of a theater crowd with more children. Snacks are easier to hold on to. Tonight, people buy more nachos and meatball sandwiches."

At the next stand, cashier Deanna Dolan, 20, was on a shift from 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. "I couldn't tell you what ECAC stands for," she says. She worked the hockey game Friday night and would work the Sunday hockey game. And, she had two papers due at Hudson Valley, where she's studying criminal justice.

By the end of Game 3, clock operator Doug Dickinson was headed for his seventh cup of coffee. "As long as I can get a cup of coffee between games, I'm all right," he says. "I love my coffee, cream and sugar, a little of each." Dickinson, 48, a tax examiner for the New Yorkc Departments of Labor, has served as scorekeeper at every level of basketball the area has to offer. "I'm a basketball freak," he says. "The more games I can see, I'm in my glory. My goal is to do seven games in one day." Saturday night, his partner on the clock was his 22-yea-old son, Mike. Mike's sister, Kim, formerly was P.R. Director of the Albany Patroons in the Continental Basketball Association.