On Tuesday, Jan. 26, the Oswego State men’s hockey team hosted Geneseo in a game that had been postponed due to a tragedy at Geneseo. Colin Kingston killed his ex-girlfriend Annese, 21, and Matthew Hutchinson, before taking his own life.

The tragedy rocked the Geneseo community and the game that Tuesday night was preceded with a moment of silence and dedicated to those lost.

It was a somber and reflective mo- ment for those in attendance, both from Oswego and Geneseo. It was a reminder of why this was an important and mean- ingful game for everyone involved, and ultimately a bittersweet one for Geneseo as they went on to win.

This also meant that the game was

devoid of the usual cheer and excite- ment that accompanies most games, for good reason. Gone were the belittling chants Oswego state students normally yell at the other team. Gone was telling the goalie that he sucks or screaming profanities at the player who just com- mitted a penalty.

Overall, the crowd was respectful and that is encouraging.

It’s disturbing for two reasons: the first being that this lack of team-depre- cating chanting changed the entire tone of the game. We have become so ac- customed to this behavior that a game without it feels trivial, boring and lack- ing in energy.

The second reason is that it’s worri- some that we as an audience can only be

respectful towards another team in the face of a tragedy. It should not take the death of a student for us to realize that perhaps it is obnoxious to yell “beat that stick.”

This isn’t to say those behaviors aren’t prevalent at other colleges. It’s also not to say that they should stop en- tirely. It’s understandable that students of this school get riled up at a game, es- pecially a hockey game. We’re merely calling attention, because it struck us as a disturbing reality, and perhaps this will make us think about how we act.

A tragedy should not be the only thing that keeps us in check, whether at a game or otherwise. We should not be loud and proud of our team only when we can discredit the other.