I'm typing this from the press room at the St. Pete Times Forum, where Canadiens beat the Lightning, 5-2, to the delight of the crowd, whicd has an impressive number of Habs fans, complete with chants of "Go Habs Go," and big cheers on Canadiens goals. It reminded me a bit of a Cornell road game in that regard (Maybe it's a Ken Dryden thing, I don't know), which I'm sure makes for a nice familiar feeling for Ryan O'Byrne, who played his 10th game of the season tonight for the visitors.

I caught up with O'Byrne after the game and asked him about the support. The former Big Red rearguard said, "It was cool to come down here and get that support. I wasn't expecting it, but it's nice."

Asked about the similarities to being on the road with Cornell, he said, "It's very similar. Walking into Harvard, there was always a hell of a lot of Cornell fans there, and everywhere, so obviously, playing for Cornell is a treat."

Still, this is part of the festivities surrounding the Outback Bowl, so I decided to catch up with some Outback Bowl participants.

Those are Wisconsin football players enjoying the game, and as one might or might not expect, there are some Badger hockey fans in that crowd. Backup quarterback Scott Tolzien even broke out a Chicago Blackhawks t-shirt for the occasion, although he's not that frequent a visitor the the Kohl Center, having attended two games last season.

Backup linebacker Erik Prather, however, has season tickets for Badger hockey, and the native of St. Joseph, Ill., has enjoyed making use of them.

"It's an electric atmosphere," Prather said. "The fans are very exuberant. It's a lot of fun, both men's and women's."

Having been to the Kohl Center myself - and awarding the crowd there a Ratty Award last year for their atmosphere - I know what he's talking about, and that as big as the 19,758-seat St. Pete Times Forum is, the atmosphere doesn't quite compare.

Tolzien agreed.

"It's kind of like the difference between pro football and college football," said the redshirt freshman from Rolling Meadows, Ill., "with the band there, and the element that it brings to the game. It definitely adds to the atmosphere. Everybody knows the fight song and everything like that. It brings a unity to the fans."

That unity is one of the things I love about college hockey, and college sports in general. I went to a New York Rangers game against the Carolina Hurricanes a couple of weeks ago, and while the Rangers' effort that night certainly didn't help matters, I couldn't help but notice how dead the crowd felt. I found myself pining for less than 10 days earlier, when the World's Most Famous Arena was packed with college hockey fans - and Cornell fans, at that - using that unity to fill that hallowed venue with sound.

Well, I'll be getting my Cornell fix tomorrow. Be sure to check out Power Plays for all the action from Estero tomorrow, and from here in Tampa on Saturday and Sunday.