Mohegan

We can be a bit stuffy around here, unwilling, really, to cut loose, at least not without the help of a few Heinekens. And what were the odds, really, of 5,768 people, upon entering Mohegan Sun Arena for this new, loud, violent, strange-looking endeavor Friday night, howling like wolves by the end?

Maybe that was the best story of all.

AHHH-OOOOOOOOOO …

The new team in town, the New England Black Wolves, brought professional indoor lacrosse to our corner of the world Friday night and left to a standing ovation, not to mention choruses of AHHH-OOOO. Werewolves of (New) London. Pretty safe bet many of the patrons will return, too, after the Wolves' 12-8 victory that featured a number of glitzy goals, not to mention a fight that would have Terry O'Reilly taking notes.

This franchise relocated from Philadelphia, where it played to friends and relatives last season inside the cavernous Wells Fargo Center. Oh, how this was different.

"There was excitement, a great venue," Wolves coach Blane Harrison said. "There were a lot of fans into it and the players feed off of it. When you're in a big arena with not too many folks, you can hear crickets and conversations going on across the way. It's nice to have that din. A couple of Bandit fans tried to get a chant going and our fans drowned them out. Kind of cool to hear that."

That's about the only thing you could hear. The din inside the arena, not necessarily engineered by the fans, was louder than a chainsaw most of the night. Think about the combination of a bowling alley on a Saturday night, the Copacabana, a bus terminal, and a forest (accounting for the AHHH-OOOs).

That, combined with the pace of the game - think coffee on amphetamines - made concentration difficult. But then, the current video game generation will love it. This has the chance to be a smash hit. Here's why: You needn't know all the rules of the players to appreciate the spectacle.

"The fans were just great," Wolves forward Kevin Crowley said. "Hopefully we can build off that, word out mouth, people tell their friends how much fun they had."

The arena's capacity was a bit short of 7,000 (it's about 10,000 for the Connecticut Sun). Much of the lower bowl seating was pushed in to accommodate the playing surface. There were, however, "VIP boxes" that looked like (and were next to) the penalty boxes, a few feet from makeshift bars on the arena floor. The playing surface is surrounded by glass and boards, much like hockey. One advertisement on the boards merited a gold star. Team slogan for the Wolves: "Some teams play. We prey."

The fight was a keeper. Normally, you'd need a batting cage to see more swings than Wolves forward Kevin Buchanan and Buffalo's Steve Priolo took at each other. Penalty box operator (and Coast Guard sports information director) Jason Southard reports that Buchanan stepped into the box and uttered many of George Carlin's seven words you can't say on television.

"Tremendous," Sully said.

The fight, about 10 minutes into the game, awakened the crowd. Not that the crowd could be sleeping, of course, with the music jackhammering.

The teams play six aside, counting the goalies. There are penalties and power plays.

The Wolves are next at home Jan. 10 at 7 p.m.

This is not for the weak. Turn your hearing aids down. Geared to the youngins. But there's no denying an entertainment value akin to nothing you've ever seen before.

Plus, the guys playing it have real jobs during the week. They do this because they love it. No sniveling millionaires wanted.

"We're trying to build a family. Not just with the team, but with the tribal council and whole organization," Harrison said. "We thought, 'let's just go have fun, break some windows and see what happens.'"

AHHHHH-OOOOOO.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius