Officially, tomorrow night’s Alper-Crown broomball match is only an exhibition game, but given the names on the guest list, it’s easy to see why the players aren’t taking it lightly.

On hand to watch residents and expats of Alper and Crown battle it out on the Midway Ice Rink will be the two men who gave those houses their names: Chairman of the Board of Trustees Andrew Alper (A.B.'80, M.B.A.'81) and James Crown, who was chairman before Alper and remains a member of the Board.

At stake (besides the chairman’s congratulatory handshake) is the Chairman’s Cup, which Director of Student Housing Katie Callow-Wright described as “a fairly large trophy” that will go home with the winning house.

Though Callow-Wright and her staff have been responsible for planning the game, it was originally conceived by Alper, when he took over Crown’s post as chairman of the Board last spring. At that time, the Board decided to recognize Crown and his wife Paula by naming a house in South Campus Residence Hall in their honor. With Houses named after the two most recent chairmen, Alper thought it would be fun to see their respective broomball teams square off.

“One of the joys of naming a House is seeing the great spirit and traditions that develop around the House community,” Alper said in an e-mail interview. “Mr. Crown and I both hope that this tournament will become an annual event that will continue long after no one remembers who we were.”

To that end, the Cup was designed with ample room around the base for the names of each year’s winner to be engraved and immortalized, and the participants in tomorrow’s match aren’t taking lightly the chance to have their house’s name inscribed on the cup first.

“A strategy book has been created, which will be showcased to the whole House during an upcoming strategy session before the game,” said Dustin Shaw, a first-year in Crown House, by e-mail. “We have also planned a pep rally for the whole House before the game, and have coordinated several surprises for the match.”

Shaw said that the excitement surrounding the match was enough to pique the interest of residents who normally wouldn’t play or attend the games. Those who do venture onto the Midway tomorrow night—as of press time, the forecast calls for a wind chill hovering around zero when the broomball hits the ice at 8 p.m—will be treated to more than the normal game day festivities. The national anthem will be performed a cappella at 7:45, and hot chocolate and brownies will be available in the warming hut before and after the game.