When I first pitched the idea of a Thursday evening trip to Drew University to see the Vermont Frost Heaves play, my wife’s response was “I was just thinking we don’t go see enough basketball.” So off to northern New Jersey we went after work.
The Jersey Express, who have relocated to Madison this season after two years at Essex County College in Newark, were already down 11-0 by the time we found Baldwin Gymnasium. While I was told in advance to expect a crowd in the single digits, a couple hundred fans were at the game, most to watch the sizable teen dance troupe that performed at halftime.
The prior minor league basketball game Nicole and I had attended was a Brooklyn Kings game a few years previous at LIU. The Kings play in the USBL and the level of quality in that game was pretty low. Lots of bored former St. John’s players trying to beat each other one-on-one.
My expectations for this ABA game were easily exceeded. The Frost Heaves are a well-assembled group of slashing guards, big men with soft hands and players who share the ball effortlessly. Many have interesting background stories about how they ended up in Vermont. There were two names on the roster I recognized from their collegiate days at St. Joe’s - John Bryant and Dwayne Lee. Watching the visitors play for a few minutes, it is easy to understand why they’re 20-3. The Express couldn’t slow Vermont down and while Jersey was able to get the lead down from 25 to 11 in the second quarter, they didn’t have the energy to sustain similar effort for all 48 minutes. The Frost Heaves can go deep into their bench and don't run just for the sake of running. If I was a coach, I would steal a certain diagonal cut into a baseline screen that they used in the first half for my playbook.
Project: Merch.
Dance Innovations did three different numbers as the halftime entertainment, complete with two costume changes and several props. The entire performance ran long. The countdown to the second half stayed frozen on 10:00 until the show was over.
We chose seats behind the only three obvious Frost Heaves fans we could see. According to team president Alex Wolff, these fans have been to every game this season, from Manchester to Halifax.
The 14 Club of the ABA brought their cowbells down from Vermont, ringing them every chance they had. Imagine 800 more cowbells and that’s part of the Frost Heaves’ significant home court advantage.
The officials and the die-hard Frost Heaves fans appeared to know each other, joking during media time outs.
As soon as the final buzzer sounded, the Frost Heaves met at center court to have a brief conversation with their coaching staff. They then headed directly for the three die-hard fans that had made the trip to New Jersey. Signs were handed out to every player, friends were gathered together and a team photo was taken. I ended up being recruited to take pictures for the group, but couldn’t resist snapping one of my own for the site.
Your final. Still looking for a box score, but I’d guess the two teams combined for 25+ made three point shots. Nicole's only request for our trip was that we get to see a four pointer. There was one recorded by the Frost Heaves under the league's unique "3D" rules in the first half, but the buzzer-beating half court jumper by Terrance Green at the end of the third quarter was judged by the officials as having been released with Green's foot on the division line. Too bad.
