 Sean Marshall and Tyrese Rice have a pre-game ritual of thier own, a body bump as the BC starters are announced.
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Before every game, the men's ice hockey team listens to a particular song to get everyone ready to play. You'd think it'd be some AC/DC track, something like "Thunderstruck" or "Hells Bells."
The Boston College team, however, takes a different route when it comes to pre-game routines.
"We listen to 'C'est La Vie' by B*witched. We're all excited and jacked up before games to a point where we might be a little bit too tense. It takes the edge off a little bit more, so we can really get focused on the ice and settle down," said senior forward Brian Boyle.
Check out "C'est La Vie" in your spare time if you can. You'll remember it from the late '90s, an all-girl group pop song that made me cringe and laugh at the same time.
Pre-game rituals are a large part of high school and college teams around the nation. These rituals range from simple high-fives from teammates before a game, to coordinated team dances or cheers, to the playing of bubble-gum pop songs to loosen up the tension in the locker room.
I remember my high school soccer team and how we used to listen to the same rap song before every game ("Lose Yourself" by Eminem).
I had my own personal rituals before every game. I'd wear the same socks (without washing them) during a winning streak.
I'd fist-pound my fellow defensemen and then the goaltender right before the opening whistle. Boyle revealed a personal ritual of his own: it started two years ago, when the then-sophomore forward was not happy with the way he was playing.
"I have a personal prayer that I say to St. Jude. I started saying it, I think, sophomore year. I had a turnaround and I started playing better and I stuck with that, and it's helped me out a ton," said Boyle.
You can count on seeing these types of rituals every game.
In college basketball, the group "circle and sway" has become popular in recent years. Last year, former BC point guard Louis Hinnant would stand in the middle of such a circle and yell different types of messages to his teammates.
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