The Whitman-Hanson boys hockey team will have some brand new uniforms when they take the ice in a few weeks to start their season, and the hockey boosters are hoping they can also bring a brand new atmosphere to Rockland Rink for the 2011/12 season.

The Panthers will host the Quincy Presidents at Rockland Rink at 7:40 p.m. on Dec. 10, and booster president Jack Glynn and president-elect Stan Pendrak are trying to spread the word to sell out the rink and, hopefully, raise some money for a good cause.

The Panther home games are usually sparsely attended by loyal fans and family members, but that is not the case in other parts of the state Glynn said.

“We went to Dennis-Yarmouth last year for the first game of the season, and every girl and every guy was body-painted top to bottom,” he said. “The excitement that was in the place was fun, so we’d love to do that. That adrenaline rush should be something special.”

“Hockey is one of those weird sports where the only people who are there are relatives and parents usually,” he added. “It’s a close-knit sport because we’re all up at 5:30 and 4:30 in the morning all these years to get to this point. We’re trying to encourage anybody to come. We want to fill the place just once … I want to encourage people to flood the place and get it crazy. Where it goes from there, who knows.”

Glynn said he began to work on the idea after watching the Dennis-Yarmouth game, and has gotten some help from new Whitman-Hanson athletic director Bob Rodgers. Rodgers instituted the Superfan program with the Whitman-Hanson student body this year, and has announced that any student who shows their Superfan card at Rockland Rink on Dec. 10 will be admitted for a dollar.

“We’re trying to get the excitement instead of just having the hockey parents there showing support, having the student body there the new AD is really giving them an opportunity to build that up,” Pendrak said.

Glynn and Pendrak said they want to bring a playoff atmosphere to Opening Day with player introductions, the Star Spangled Banner and a rowdy crowd, but they and the team are also hoping to show support for members of the Panther family. This year, the players will be wearing stickers in memory of Jill Eaves, mother of Matt Eaves, who died over the summer, and will be wearing orange tape to show support for the fight against leukemia. Proceeds from the Opening Day 50/50 raffle will be donated to Gregg Deveuve, a former booster who was recently diagnosed with cancer.

“We’ve been taking a hit,” Pendrak said. “It’s been a rough one so this is going to help them out.”

While the boosters will be donating the proceeds from Opening Day, they are also hard at work fundraising to support the hockey program and, in particular, the JV team which was cut from the school budget a few years ago. This year, the boosters are running a lottery-style 50/50 raffle where the winner will take home $5,000. The boosters are selling 100 tickets for $100 apiece and the lucky number will be a combination of the middle two numbers from the Daily Numbers game on Feb. 17.

“If 1,2,3,4 comes out, whoever bought that 23 raffle ticket will win $5,000,” Pendrak said. “Fifty perfect of the tickets have been sold already, we have some parents who have really taken the bull by the horns on this. We have to continually fundraiser and support the program because without the parents and boosters we wouldn’t have a JV program.”

Both Glynn and Pendrak are hoping that a strong Opening Day will raise awareness for the boosters and the team, as well as providing a more entertaining atmosphere for the loyal players, fans and parents.

“They’re going to leave there that night going ‘Wow.’” Pendrak said. “Maybe it shows everybody a game they’ve never seen before.”