Holy Half benefits Helping Hands

T hree years and a 12-place ju m p in the polls a p p a re n tly m ake a difference of $55 for Notre Dame students hoping to t r a v e l to th e NCAA h o c k e y regionals beginning tonight in Grand Rapids, Mich. S en io r Jo h n n y M cD erm ott has fond memories of traveling in 2004 to then-No. 13 Notre D am e’s only previous gam e in the NCAA hockey tournam ent. He got a bus trip, a box lunch and a multi-game pass for $10. But as the now-No. 1 Irish p re­ p a re for A labam a-H un tsv ille tonight, students will be paying m o re th e n s ix t im e s th e am ount they paid th ree years ago fo r a c h a n c e to see the Irish on the ice. “I w as kind of surprised that they w eren ’t doing som ething w ith r e g a r d to th e [ tic k e t] p rices,” said M cDermott, who is driving to tonight’s game. T he in c re a se in cost is not th e r e s u l t o f N o tre D am e ra is in g p rices bu t ra th e r the ath letic d ep artm en t’s decision not to subsidize the ticket cost for students as it did in 2004. “T h a t w ould be so m eth in g you’d have to do on your own,” associate athletic director John H eisler sa id of a subsidy for s tu d e n t t ic k e ts . “We can do w hatever we w ant, but for the t ic k e ts th a t we rece iv e from th e NCAA, t h e r e ’s only one price. It’s not like they provide a routine student discount.” N o n e th e le ss , T ick e t Office director Josh Berio said Notre Dame had sold 128 three-day p a s s e s to s tu d e n ts fo r th is y e a r’s action after selling 115 su c h p a s s e s in 2 0 0 4 . As a whole, the N otre Dame ticket office has sold approxim ately 265 three-gam e passes a t $65 a p ie c e fo r th is w e e k e n d ’s events, said M att McCormack, coordinator of athletic prom o­ tions. B ut fo r s o p h o m o re A n n a Jones, the cost was too steep. J o n e s , w ho a t te n d e d th e t e a m ’s c o n fe re n c e p la y o ff gam es and often lined up n ea r­ ly two hours before Irish hock­ ey h o m e c o n te s ts , s a id sh e im m ed ia te ly d ecided a g a in s t going when she saw the dollar figure for the tickets. She said