Bike thieves and student sections: Why college hockey rules
The first lesson to be learned from the Northern Michigan University bike stealing scandal is that if you're a dude seeking to pilfer another student's property, it's probably a good idea not to swipe a girl's bike. That sight drew suspicion from campus police, and eventually six Wildcat hockey players and another student were charged with misdemeanors for having several stolen bikes in their possession.
The second lesson is that rival fan bases in college hockey are wickedly funny and unforgiving, which should now be pretty obvious to anyone that read the opening to this post and glimpsed the photo preceding it.
According to the police report, they became suspicious when they spotted NMU freshman Ryan Aynsley riding a girl's bike on Sept. 23.
He claimed he was heading to hockey practice, though he's not a member of the team. A public safety officer followed him to the practice facility, noticed a number of bikes that were filling the halls, and questioned a few NMU hockey players about the. Turns out there's a ride-share program on campus that's more like a ride-take program, according to the report via The North Wind:
"Aynsley explained that if the upperclassmen need a bike, they just take it and everyone sort of knows that is the rule," the police report said. It also said that according to Florek and Macaulay the bike swapping has been a "common practice for years."
According to the police report, only four suspects, not including Aynsley, admitted their involvement with the bicycles in question. A total of 13 bikes were confiscated; only three had been reported stolen at the time. Aynsley and [Dylan Walchuk] were charged with receiving and concealing stolen property valued at less than $200, which is a misdemeanor punishable by 93 days in jail and/or $500 or three times the value of the property, whichever is greater."
The rest were charged with receiving and concealing stolen property, and there's a Dec. 6 trial date.
Northern Michigan is currently ranked No. 20 in the USCHO.com Div. I poll, down from No. 14 the previous week. That's thanks to a pair of losses to Ohio State last weekend, both 4-1. More OSU hockey here on Buckeyes Are Deadly Nuts.
The Ohio State Knucklebucks are the official men's hockey student section of the Ohio State University team. They apparently keep up with the news, as you can see from the images here taken during Friday night's game.
They're our favorite people in the hockey world today for this T-shirt mockery. The world needs more hockey student sections and topical humor.
