Some UND superfans try to hit every Frozen Four
Puck-crazy alums plan annual spring vacations around Frozen Four host cities
LAS VEGAS — The Frozen Core was out in full force once again, for another NCAA Frozen Four tournament – this time, in this hockey oasis of the Nevada desert.
Since 1979, all or parts of this group of UND alumni puck fans, from different parts of the country, have been converging on the annual sites of the NCAA Frozen Four Division I Hockey Championships, regardless of whether their favorite team is playing or not. They do it to rekindle friendships, reminisce and wax nostalgic on old-time UND hockey.
Don’t get it twisted, though. If UND is playing in the tournament, like this year, it’s a bonus.
The Frozen Core comprises Marti Charpentier, ‘77, an accounting alum from Cambridge, Minn.; Mark Miller, ’77, business administration from right here in Las Vegas; Guy Abernathey, ’77, accounting, Lake Metigoshe, N.D., after spending more than 40 years on the East Coast; and John Stewart, ’78, accounting from Minot when it’s nice and Phoenix in the winter.
They’re easy to pick out in a crowd by their UND hockey jerseys – with the “Frozen Core” label across the back and Ben Brien crafted Fighting Sioux logo on the front. It was the nickname of the era in which they attended UND in the late 1970s. The Frozen Core jerseys were first sported by the group at the 2008 Frozen Four tourney in Denver.
1979 heartbreaker
The Frozen Core is one of a few groups of UND alums and friends of the University that plan their annual spring vacations around where in the country the Frozen Four is being played.
They haven’t hit them all, but their personal lists of Frozen Four appearances is impressive.
This author caught up with the Frozen Core between the first and second periods of Thursday’s semifinal game between UND and Wisconsin.
Charpentier is the undisputed king of Frozen Four trips among the group, with 36 since his first one in 1979. Charpentier and Abernathey were the only ones who made that first trip. They were roommates in Minneapolis, working for different accounting firms.
The two trekked to Detroit to watch UND face off against the dreaded Minnesota Gophers, only to see UND lose in a heartbreaker by one – the game-winning point remembered in college hockey lore as the “Neal Broten goal,” due to the Gopher forward’s diving chip shot over the sprawling UND goalie’s left shoulder.
The ‘Suite’ Life
According to Stewart, the group’s self-proclaimed historian, the Frozen Core really got going, in earnest, in 2002, at the St. Paul-hosted Frozen Four. That’s when the group started an impressive run of Frozen Four appearances, rarely missing a chance to reunite no matter what venue is hosting. Well, almost.
“The only one that we didn’t go to was in 2010, in Detroit, because they held it at their football stadium (Ford Field),” Stewart said. The group knew that Frozen Four was going to have issues. And it did, according to them – poorly run, bad ice, and low attendance in the cavernous confines of the large NFL stadium.
“They gave a way a bunch of tickets and still nobody wanted to go,” Stewart added.
In 2003, the Frozen Core was introduced to suites when they joined another alum in purchasing use of a luxury box at HSBC Arena (now KeyBank Arena) in Buffalo, N.Y., home of the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres.
“We experienced the suite life and that was the end of that; there was no going back,” Charpentier said. “It used to be just the four of us sitting in regular seats. Now, we generally have between 14-18 people with us every year.”
College roommates
Miller is relishing this year’s event in his hometown of Las Vegas. He works at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino on the Strip and helped reserve a block of 14 rooms for the Frozen Core and friends in The W Las Vegas, part of the Mandalay Bay complex.
“I’m trying to show them around and they’re getting to experience some things,” Miller said. “But these guys are veteran travelers; they know how to party wherever they go.”
“Or how not to party,” Stewart chimed with a wry smile.
Miller, who has 18 Frozen Four appearances with the Frozen Core, summed up why the annual meet is so special.
“For me it’s all about getting to see the guys again,” he said. “It’s usually the only chance we get to see each other all year.”
Miller and Abernathey go way back to their freshman year at UND, when they were blindly matched as dorm mates.
“I come into my dorm room — and back then you got stuck with whomever — and there he was,” Abernathey said.
Friendship at first sight?
“Well, it was kind of an acquired taste,” Abernathey quipped good naturedly, ribbing his old friend.
Abernathey said the whole group is already has its eye on next year’s Frozen Four in Washington, where he’ll take the baton from Miller as host, after many years spent living and working in the D.C. Beltway.
The ‘Farce’ be with you
Then there’s Marv Leier, a 1982 UND grad who spent many years as a videographer for UND and still can been seen at UND games at ice level providing video support for team broadcasts. He’s best known for wearing any of his varied and often colorful hockey jerseys that he’s collected over the years.
Leier bridges the years between the Frozen Core’s generation and a newer breed of UND puck die-hards that includes Chad Johnson, ’94, Grand Forks; Nate Larimore, ’95, Larimore, N.D.; Denny Strom, UND alum from Grand Forks who spent years with the Grand Forks Fire Department; Shawn Schmidt, ’93 and ’96 (law), Fargo; and the newest recruit, Schmidt’s son, Austin, ’25, a realtor from Fargo.
They were at Tom’s Watch Bar, part of the MGM Resorts complex before Thursday’s semifinal game, reveling with the thousands of other UND fans who had gathered for pregame festivities.
Leier, originally from Linton, N.D., also attended the 1979 Frozen Four in Detroit. It was his first, and he did it as a young member of the legendary UND cheering section, “The Farce,” known for wearing their iconic siren-topped helmets and settling in next to the opposing teams’ penalty box.
“We always called ourselves the ‘sixth man’ or ‘the extra attacker,’” Leier said. “We would do everything we could to get under (the opponents’) skin, and if they went into the penalty box – they really got the business.”
Like a small-town reunion
Leier started attending Frozen Fours consistently with his current crew in 2006. He was a bit of a late arrival, as Johnson, Larimore and Schmidt had been making the annual trips since 1999.
“They’re all special in their own way,” Leier said of their Frozen Four experiences. “But this one is a warm weather environment (just like Tampa was in 2016), and it’s attracted a lot of folks from North Dakota who are ready for some warmth.
“Just look around and you see all these people – all the green. For something like this, where you can be outside mingling with your friends, it’s a lot like a small-town North Dakota centennial or all-school reunion.”
Over the years, they’ve amassed a broader fan group that numbers as many as 18 to 20, including friends from New York and Massachusetts.
Hockey culture at its best
Schmidt, whose friendship with Johnson dates to their days at Ben Franklin Elementary in Grand Forks, says they’ve missed a couple Frozen Fours along the way, but they’re bound and determined to do it every year.
“Growing up in Grand Forks, UND hockey always captures the imagination of the community, and when you’re a little kid and growing up with it – it’s just the greatest thing,” said Schmidt, who, today, works as an attorney in Fargo.
“And now, we get to go to new places every year; it’s so much fun,” he added. “Don’t get me wrong; we’re glad that UND is back in it – it’s been a long break. But regardless, you still get to travel to a different big city every year, and you get to see some things and go to places that you wouldn’t normally go.”
And they, too, are looking forward to their next Frozen Four excursions: in D.C. in 2027, and the year after that in Chicago.
“When we get home, we’ll already start planning, getting hotels lined up and getting airline tickets for next year,” said Johnson, who currently serves as vice president of internal audit at Alerus Financial in Grand Forks. “It’s just what we do.”
This year, the core of the group hunkered down in an Airbnb for the week.
For their crew, if UND isn’t representing, it becomes more about hockey culture, in general.
“It’s about watching jerseys and that kind of stuff and seeing all the other fans from other teams show up. We see a lot of the same faces year after year,” Johnson said. “Obviously, it’s much more enjoyable when UND is here.”
And totally incredible, in those tourneys when the team hits the jackpot and wins it all. On to next year!
