But for one weekend, and for two Belfast schools in particular, the SSE Arena became the center of the NCAA hockey world when the two colleges squared off in the Friendship Series, the third time the tournament has been held and the first since the Covid-19 pandemic .
Broadcast live in the United States on NESN and featuring headliners including Canadian Olympic gold medalist Sarah Fillier, the tournament is one of the highlights of the collegiate calendar, the only opportunity for these athletes to compete outside of North America.
A 6-1 scoreline won't make many waves here, Princeton triumphing thanks to two goals from Issy Wunder and Sarah Paul as well as further strikes from Gabby Kim and Fillier. Nor the outcome of Saturday's rematch, again at SSE (2pm).
But the impact of the tournament will go far beyond what happens on the ice at the weekend, although the hope is that it will come full circle and on the ice again down the line.
“The Giants have done a great job paving the way and playing hockey here. We're trying to keep that going, developing that, showing that the women's game is different than the men's game, but it's just as exciting,” says Providence head coach Matt Kelly.
“It's a skill game, it's a fast game. It will be a lot of fun for young fans to see this and to see young women helping to grow the sport.”
When it was founded in 2018 as an expansion of the already established Friendship Four, the men's college equivalent, the Friendship Series was always intended to be more than just ice hockey. It's about community, relationships beyond the rink and growing the game.
Colleges are encouraged to not just come thinking they are here to play ice hockey, but are on a trip of a lifetime. They take trips to the Giant's Causeway and the Titanic Museum, experience black cab tours and immerse themselves in local culture for their week on our shores.
Indeed, it is no coincidence that both of these teams have followed their men's teams who have competed in the Friendship Four before, Providence playing in 2017 and Princeton coming in 2019, their experiences more than enough to convince the powers that be to bring the women. the teams are over too.
“I've been asking for five years now if we could come to Belfast,” reveals Princeton head coach Cara Morey, a former National champion with Brown during her playing days.
“Covid obviously stopped it for a while, but I think asking enough was why we were the first to be asked once it came back! We more than jumped at it.
“I think this opportunity for our players is something they will never experience again in their lives. I look back on my college experience and my team when we played was very successful, we went to the National Championship three times.
“My memories are of the trips I took with my teammates, when we would go out and play in a pond or go to Canada on road trips.
“For me, this is much more important than the records at the end. They will remember this for the rest of their lives.
“They will forget about wins and losses. They'll remember some Championships, they'll remember whether we're a successful team overall or a competitive team, but they won't remember wins or losses. Well, they probably won't remember if they won or lost here. But this trip will stay with them forever.”
Even before that, however, there is a desire for these annual events to have a more lasting impact than the weekend, and hopefully one day it can translate into a team returning for the Friendship Series with a Northern Ireland player among them. classes.
Despite a number of male players featuring in various teams across the UK, there have only been nine female players and of those nine, only three are currently playing – Kaitlyn Morrison and Aisling Rafter in Whitley Bay and Ellie Patrick in America .
It is a stark realization that while it is difficult to be a male player in Northern Ireland, given that there is only one public rink on the island of Ireland, in Dundonald, it is even more difficult to be a female player.
While the Giants serve as role models for both genders, the reality is that there are no women's ice hockey role models to look up to in Northern Ireland.
But that's where we hope an event like the Friendship Series can fill the gap. Both teams made school visits, with Princeton visiting Brooklands Primary and Providence going to Rosetta Primary to talk to the children about their experiences as college athletes and learn about some of our own sports such as slingshot.
“I think our visit meant more to our players than to the children at school. It was really great,” adds Morey.
“I loved seeing our young women as role models and exposing them to something new.
“The conversations they had with the little girls were really inspiring.
“It's nice to bring hockey, but it's even nicer to see these women and hopefully these girls in Belfast will have more role models to look up to because of it. Was amazing.”
And there the discussion must continue. Rather than the Friendship Series being a week-long event, we hope it will encourage someone to pick up their skates and pick up a stick in the hope that maybe one day they too will be skating the SSE Arena as part of an American college.
That way, maybe things will come full circle.
A tournament set up to bridge the gap and help promote the sister city deal between Belfast and Boston could lead to Northern Ireland getting its own female ice hockey player to inspire a future generation, which will it was welcomed on both sides of the Atlantic.
“Hopefully, some of these kids might look back on this week as a watershed in ten years,” suggests Kelly.
“And maybe one day, we'll have someone from Belfast on our team. That would be really nice.”
