Heroes' Hat



The Heroes' Hat is a trophy that has been awarded to the winner of the season series between the Quinnipiac Bobcats and Connecticut Huskies, although the future move of the Bobcats to the ECAC Hockey League will likely cause the series to be only one game from 2005-06.

The Heroes' Hat was initially conceived as a means of memorializing the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, but in particular two: Amy Jarret, a flight attendant on United 175, who was the sister of Connecticut player Matthew Jarret, and Joseph Mascali, a firefighter from Staten Island Engine No. 5 of the FDNY, and father of (at the time) two students at Quinnipiac University, who was killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. The two universities, at the time league rivals, agreed to award a memorial trophy to the winner of the season series between the two clubs in 2001-02, and it has continued since then. The trophy itself is a helmet donated by the Staten Island Engine Company No. 5. Since its inception, Quinnipiac has won the trophy every year, winning each season's series 2-1.

In 2002-03, though, a special event surrounded the deciding game of the trophy series. The two schools agreed to play the March 1st, 2003 game, originally scheduled to be at Quinnipiac, in New York City's historic Madison Square Garden. By virtue of a Quinnipiac win November 1, and a Connecticut win February 28, the game at Madison Square Garden would decide the winner of the hat. Over 2000 college hockey fans came to the city to watch the game, which Quinnipiac would win 4-3; after the game, the ceremony awarding the trophy would include members of Mascali's engine company.

Scheduling difficulties will cause the trophy to remain in Quinnipiac's hands during the 2005-06 season, but the two schools hope that in the future, a yearly game can be kept on the schedule for both teams in the hopes of continuing a young and exciting rivalry.