New Hockey Barn Concept Art/Floor Plan on Display?

[huskypantz]

Does it make sense to try to create an entertainment district with the XL and baseball stadium, the hooker brewing co and whatever else they can dream up all in the same area?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

So ... I guess the open-air arena won't be coming back?

I understand progress and all that, but I still would be amazed to see them knock down Freitas to build a new arena. That one was constructed a scant 16 years ago.

I'm still amazed that a scant 16 years ago they built a hockey arena with a capacity below 2,000 that couldn't be expanded. They were basically saying "we have no intention of ever attempting to compete at the highest level in men's ice hockey" a sport that we naturally should be among the best in the country in.

 

[Husky Pete]

I'm still amazed that a scant 16 years ago they built a hockey arena with a capacity below 2,000 that couldn't be expanded. They were basically saying "we have no intention of ever attempting to compete at the highest level in men's ice hockey" a sport that we naturally should be among the best in the country in.

Sounds like another Jeff Hathaway debacle.

 

[FDNY99]

So ... I guess the open-air arena won't be coming back?

I understand progress and all that, but I still would be amazed to see them knock down Freitas to build a new arena. That one was constructed a scant 16 years ago.

I wouldn't be surprised to see them keep Freitas...turn it into the Women's Hockey team/practice facility and/or use it for public skating, intramural's, club sports, rental ice. It would definitely be worth it if the ice making system is still good. Practice time would be a non-issue (which they just solved for basketball).

 

[FDNY99]

I'm still amazed that a scant 16 years ago they built a hockey arena with a capacity below 2,000 that couldn't be expanded. They were basically saying "we have no intention of ever attempting to compete at the highest level in men's ice hockey" a sport that we naturally should be among the best in the country in.

HATHAWAY!!!!!

 

[dbmill]

I'm still amazed that a scant 16 years ago they built a hockey arena with a capacity below 2,000 that couldn't be expanded. They were basically saying "we have no intention of ever attempting to compete at the highest level in men's ice hockey" a sport that we naturally should be among the best in the country in.

It doesn't seem that college hockey was as big a sport 16 years ago as it is today. Besides, in the late 1990's UConn athletics had all it could handle transitioning to Division 1-A football, and at the time it seemed that UConn athletics could only take on one sizable project at a time. For instance, they were talking about a new soccer facility at that time, and that still hasn't come to fruition.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

While Hathaway was an employee of our athletic department at that time, shy of actual evidence I don't see how the blame can fall on him for the size of Freitas.

What I was getting at was more the lack of foresight than anything else. It would not have been all that difficult to build Freitas with the ability to add an addional 2k-3k seats.

I remember in the early 1990's hearing a then executive with the Whalers (I believe Rutherford) talking about the early planning stages for what ended up being Gampel and he claimed that there waere a number of hockey proponents, including high ranking Whale officials trying to convince the school to make the commitment to men's hockey and build an arena that could handle both basketball and hockey (somewhat similar to Conte & Mullins) and were shot down repeatedly. My gut tells me that at that time there was a faction of the decision makers who absolutely did not want UConn to try to be a major player in men's ice hockey.

 

[freescooter]

While Hathaway was an employee of our athletic department at that time, shy of actual evidence I don't see how the blame can fall on him for the size of Freitas.

What I was getting at was more the lack of foresight than anything else. It would not have been all that difficult to build Freitas with the ability to add an addional 2k-3k seats.

I remember in the early 1990's hearing a then executive with the Whalers (I believe Rutherford) talking about the early planning stages for what ended up being Gampel and he claimed that there waere a number of hockey proponents, including high ranking Whale officials trying to convince the school to make the commitment to men's hockey and build an arena that could handle both basketball and hockey (somewhat similar to Conte & Mullins) and were shot down repeatedly. My gut tells me that at that time there was a faction of the decision makers who absolutely did not want UConn to try to be a major player in men's ice hockey.

I agree with this. When Freitas was announced I had heard that is was being built bare bones, with easy expansion potential, but clearly that did not happen. I also heard that the design was going to be such that it would be realtively simple to replace the bleacher seating with "real" seats. I'm not sure that's true either. My sense is that there were a few things at play. First and foremost was the football upgrade. That was paramount and everything else was behind it. Second, I've heard from a few people close to the program over the years, and I have followed it since D3 days to some extent and more closely since MAAC days, that there were some people in the athletic department that didn't want to see another sport rise to compete with the two crown jewels for money and prestige. We sometimes forget just how small minded Connecticut and UConn's leadership was up until fairly recently. While Lew Perkins had a relatively broad outlook, his wasn't the dominant one in the department or the university for a long time. I've even heard there were folks inside the department who opposed the football upgrade for similar reasons and actively campaigned against it with legislators and others. FWIW, neither Calhoun nor Geno were among those who were opposed to football or hockey.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

If the AD, Calhoun and Geno did not oppose hockey or football in the department and they were the dominant players, who did?

 

[DarthGrumpy]

If the AD, Calhoun and Geno did not oppose hockey or football in the department and they were the dominant players, who did?

It would be outside of the Athletic department, look to the faculty leadership (see UMass and Rutgers) and/or the Board. I can even see a few old time donors being against it because they wanted to see UConn keep playing URI and UNH like the Huskies did during their glory days in Storrs in the 1950’s. It’s New England after all.

 

[freescooter]

It would be outside of the Athletic department, look to the faculty leadership (see UMass and Rutgers) and/or the Board. I can even see a few old time donors being against it because they wanted to see UConn keep playing URI and UNH like the Huskies did during their glory days in Storrs in the 1950’s. It’s New England after all.

As well as some mid-level civil servants within the UConn athletic department and the administration. For example, back when the first football stadium was proposed,for the UConn campus, there was a big hullabaloo about a footnote on some projections of attendance. And there was another one on yet another footnote on a traffic study. Both came from "leaks" inside UConn to opponents of the upgrades.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Was just curious about the folks inside the AD that opposed the upgrades. Faculty and local opposition sure.

 

[hockeyfan44]

Okay lets get to more important things here. Will you be allowed to purchase beer at the XL Center or at the Bridgeport Rink during the college hockey games ? Thirsty minds want to know.

 

[huskypantz]

Was just curious about the folks inside the AD that opposed the upgrades. Faculty and local opposition sure.

I have no inside knowledge but I would imagine that folks in the corner of olympic sports like soccer probably felt that BCS football's place in the AD pecking order could be a threat to them.

 

[dbmill]

I have no inside knowledge but I would imagine that folks in the corner of olympic sports like soccer probably felt that BCS football's place in the AD pecking order could be a threat to them.

I'm more inclined to think of the finances of UConn athletics in the 80's and 90's. During the late 80's the big project was Gampel for men's basketball (sorry to say, women's basketball really didn't enter the equation back then). After that, the focus in the 90's was the football team going Division 1A, with additional scholarships needed and a new stadium and other football related facilities to be built. Increasing scholarships for men led to Title 9 scholarship considerations for women's sports. Think of all the money this took, and to me it is no wonder that a team with an outdoor rink was pretty much an after thought with UConn athletics at the time.

 

[primus74]

Okay lets get to more important things here. Will you be allowed to purchase beer at the XL Center or at the Bridgeport Rink during the college hockey games ? Thirsty minds want to know.

I'm sure beer will be available. Beer is available in Hartford for basketball.

 

[MASSconn]

I just love that the Hockey East requires on-campus arenas. duckk the State and their pressures to play 40 minutes west. Football is already enough. Can't wait for this new arena. Going to be so great for the student body, community and players. I hope they work with some engineers to get the acoustics right for a loud crowd. The future is bright.