Hartford

Even now in the high rent district of college hockey, there won't be a Rockefeller every night on the menu. This was going to happen: Some nothing Tuesday night in November and the opponent called RPI, which our basketball-centric state probably identifies as "Ratings Percentage Index" before "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute."

Which is why Tuesday night at the XL Center illustrated as much, perhaps more, about UConn hockey's newfound perch in the state's sporting hierarchy. Put it this way: It was a good night to stay home, given the hideous cold spell, and still, 3,879 fans showed up. This wasn't to watch hated Boston College. This was RPI.

Perspective: BC's home game last Tuesday at Conte Forum vs. Harvard drew a comparable 4,706. The crowd of 3,879 is more than 400 more than the average gathering for the XL Center's other hockey tenant, the Hartford Wolfpack, who play virtually all of their home games on weekends.

UConn hockey: something new and refreshing and getting better.

"I thought that was a great crowd," UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said, after the Huskies tied RPI, 1-1. "It's a Tuesday night. RPI is not a league game or a foe maybe the fans are as familiar with. For 4,000 to come out, I'm very happy with that support. From what I hear, we're over 5,000 for Friday (for Vermont) and even more for Saturday (against No. 3 Boston University). I know they're going to open up the upper bowl.

"It's exactly what I expected from this fan base," he said. "If we keep competing like this, I know they'll want to come back and support our team."

Cavanaugh's reference to Saturday's game, with potential butts in the seats in the upper bowl of the XL Center (unlike the BC game when tickets weren't sold up there) is worth watching. Here's why: It's a 3:30 start against a brand name. More families might attend because of the start time and other curious eyes might come to watch one of the nation's best teams. Should any of us be surprised if there's a higher (legitimate) turnstile number for UConn hockey than UConn football?

The football team plays (yawn) Cincinnati at (gulp) 8 p.m. at Rentschler Field. Think about the team's record, the temperature and draw your own conclusions.

You wonder, too, if the turnstile number for the basketball games Saturday at Mohegan Sun (UMass-Notre Dame and Providence-Florida State) might out-draw UConn football, too.

Meantime, UConn hockey draws more hosannas.

"You can see why they've had some success against good teams," RPI coach Seth Appert said. "They play really hard and block a ton of shots. I felt like our best 15 scoring chances didn't even get to the net. It made the game very difficult."

UConn dominated the third period, for the record, against a program that's won two national titles, leads the Eastern College Athletic Conference and has defeated No. 12 Notre Dame and No. 2 Union already this season.

"That's what we signed up for," Cavanaugh said. "When Seth called me and said asked if we wanted to play, I said absolutely. They're a historic program with a couple of national championships. I wanted to also get nonleague games that are going to challenge us in addition to Hockey East. I think our kids are ready for that challenge. I hope fans keep coming back and supporting us."

Cavanaugh said that defending national champion Union and perennial college hockey power Colorado College will be on future schedules.

And so now the Huskies get a few days to prepare for a doozy of a weekend. Vermont at 5:35 on Friday night - Cavanaugh hopes the after-work crowd in downtown Hartford takes in a hockey game - followed by BU on Saturday afternoon. No longer is a UConn hockey weekend Mercyhurst and Canisius.

Note to Vermont and BU: The Huskies have allowed exactly one goal this far this season at the XL Center. Can you imagine what might happen when Cavanaugh gets his full allotment of scholarships?

"I hope people keep coming out," Cavanaugh said.

They came out on a Tuesday night in November for a non-sexy opponent.

Who knew?

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius