OT: Men's Hockey Possibly to Hockey East

[HartfordHank]

A 8000-10500 seat on campus arena would be awesome....they already handle parking for games at Gampel with no big headaches so a 8000 seat ice arena would be comparable. You can also use that arena to hold CIAC ice hockey championships.

That seems like a large arena to build. It would become the second largest arena in HE, the biggest being UMass with 8329. When BU built their new arena and went with a capacity of 6224 and UNH which also has a fairly new arena went with 6501.

From Wikipedia:

School​

Hockey Arena​

Capacity​

Boston College Conte Forum 7,884
Boston University (men's team) Agganis Arena 6,224
Boston University (women's team) Walter Brown Arena 3,806
Connecticut Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum 2,000
Maine Alfond Arena 5,641
Massachusetts Mullins Center 8,329
Merrimack J. Thom Lawler Arena 3,000
New Hampshire Whittemore Center Arena 6,501
Northeastern Matthews Arena 4,666
Providence Schneider Arena 3,030
UMass Lowell Tsongas Center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell 6,496
Vermont Gutterson Fieldhouse 4,003

 

[businesslawyer]

At this point, I don't think I we know enough of the details to say much.

Like that's ever stopped anyone here.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Does the women's hockey team have scholarships? That'd be the easiest way to make up the difference.

 

[kingdobbs]

Fantastic news for the day. The report about the XL being involved doesn't excite me, because the way to do it as far as I'm concerned is an on-campus arena. XL works as a short-term solution, though.

I enjoy college hockey, but this is a money pit, plain and simple. We will spend a fortune to upgrade the hockey program that will never turn a profit.

Profit doesn't need to be the goal. Self-sustainability is, however, quite a reachable one.

 

[FDNY99]

Go for a 5000-5500 seat arena expandable to 7000-7500. That way if the demand is there it can be expanded down the road. Either way, like I said before...hold CIAC Ice Hockey Championships there as well. The women's team was made full scholarship and went into HE as part of the football upgrade. Since there is no way I can see Marshall coaching UConn in HE, the guy who is hired to replace him...if the right guy is hired...could speed up the building process. The same could be said the other way around...the wrong hire could make the upgrade painful. If this goes through, we need a UConn Hockey section for this board.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

You could all join the wasteland that is the USCHO.com forums! Hockey can really catch on on a campus, but it needs to be on campus. Hartford for anything other than very temporarily is asking for failure.

 

[Dann]

next 3 years:
-get into HE asap
-get the pf built
-get the other sport field built so between those fields and the indoor turf the teams are good practice area wise
-send the bball teams to hartford for all home games until 2020
-gut gampel and make a rink with how ever many seats possible. make it rare but still possible for a midnight madness and concerts type bball floor and seating steup.

2015-2020- all quiet but alot of planning going on sports wise, get storrs center tot he next level

2020:
-build a 15k arena on campus or down the street for bball=no more hartford cept for fball
-also with that build a highway/connector and roads for it and all that jazz. now u have something.
-start planning the other side of the big bball parking lot for your 60k on campus fball stadium in 2050



i'm very excited about uconn puck btw. i think if they do play in xl u have to move the whale. the 2 cannot be together there.

 

[TRest]

Any chance the Freitas could be opened up on the soccer side (IIRC) and seating added to the existing building? I've only been in there when tailgating back in the day, but I remember all the seating being on one side.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Are people out of their god damn minds?

An 8,000+ seat arena for UConn Hockey?

We have a 3-time National Champion Basketball team that plays in front of empty seats at Gampel right now unless it's a Big East game or a marquee OOC opponent. Hockey would be lucky to average what soccer does in Storrs.

 

[SubbaBub]

Not sure on-campus would work attendance wise. Most hockey schools draw at least half their crowds are non-university people from the local area. Don't think Storrs could put 2-3k people in the building to match the 2-3k students. Remember games are Friday and Saturday nights.

On a positive note, hockey facilities don't need to be that elaborate. Most are barns or prefab exteriors. Might be able to get away with a bigger shell over the curent rink for a while.

 

[Adios]

I never imagined I'd see this day in my life. I thought in the back of my head it might be possible. Hockey can succeed in Storrs. The XL Center is too big. If it got packed, I would be surprised.

Nice to be back with UMass and New Hampshire. UNH should aim to join the FBS.

 

[kingdobbs]

Any chance the Freitas could be opened up on the soccer side (IIRC) and seating added to the existing building? I've only been in there when tailgating back in the day, but I remember all the seating being on one side.

Seating is open on all four sides at Frietas.

Not sure on-campus would work attendance wise. Most hockey schools draw at least half their crowds are non-university people from the local area. Don't think Storrs could put 2-3k people in the building to match the 2-3k students. Remember games are Friday and Saturday nights.

It doesn't need to be limited to just Storrs, or even the NE counties as a potential audience. There's gotta be enough fans between Hartford and the NE counties to draw at least 3K per game, if you market the team right.

Hartford, on the other hand, would not be a cromulent solution long-term. They'd be, at best, fourth priority for scheduling dates, and even a stellar estimate of 6,000 per game (which exceeds the WhalePack currently) still leaves a half-empty arena. 3K in a 5K looks a lot better than 4K in the XL.

 

[Dann]

does uconn have a club team for puck? the blue dogs or the whalers would be good names.

 

[kingdobbs]

does uconn have a club team for puck? the blue dogs or the whalers would be good names.

Speaking as a hockey fan, yes, they do have a club team. They just happen to also call it the varsity team.

 

[Jimdish255]

There's a lot of hockey being played in Connecticut. Not just youth leagues which are among the best in the country, but by 50+ hackers like me. These guys are hard core and they know what's going on up and down the competitive landscape. That doesn't guarantee anything except a fertile foundation, and the hole left by the Whalers doesn't hurt either.

With committment, exposure and a competitive league Connecticut Hockey really has no limitations as to how far or fast we can go. Heck we used to have fans to our intramural games in the open arena in the 80's! If Union NY can succeed I haven't got a clue as to why we cannot.

 

[Adios]

There's a lot of hockey being played in Connecticut. Not just youth leagues which are among the best in the country, but by 50+ hackers like me. These guys are hard core and they know what's going on up and down the competitive landscape. That doesn't guarantee anything except a fertile foundation, and the hole left by the Whalers doesn't hurt either.

With committment, exposure and a competitive league Connecticut Hockey really has no limitations as to how far or fast we can go. Heck we used to have fans to our intramural games in the open arena in the 80's! If Union NY can succeed I haven't got a clue as to why we cannot.

We need a new coach.

 

[huskypantz]

I'm a fan of the on-campus, 3-4 K seat arena approach. I would love to see something like what Quinnipiac built in Storrs.

 

[uconnbaseball]

I never imagined I'd see this day in my life. I thought in the back of my head it might be possible. Hockey can succeed in Storrs. The XL Center is too big. If it got packed, I would be surprised.

Nice to be back with UMass and New Hampshire. UNH should aim to join the FBS.

UNH shouldn't go FBS until they get more state support and better facilities. It'd be nice, and isn't a complete pipe dream, but they are many years away.

Hey: Oklahoma and Nebraska have NO BUSINESS being any good in football, yet became powerhouses over 50 years ago.

 

[MattMang23]

does uconn have a club team for puck? the blue dogs or the whalers would be good names.

Yes they have a club team. As has been mentioned, many would probably mistake the varsity team for the club team but they are in fact, two different teams.

As bad as the UConn varsity team is, I played for one of the best high school hockey programs in this state and my former teammate, who is second all time on our high school's career scoring list was cut from the UConn varsity team trying to "walk-on" (which I guess everyone is walking on technically since there are no schollies, but he wasn't recruited). So as bad as the current UConn players are, they're still really, really good players and if this upgrade goes through, they'll only be that much better. UConn alums will soon pop up all around the NHL!

 

[Dann]

Yes they have a club team. As has been mentioned, many would probably mistake the varsity team for the club team but they are in fact, two different teams.

As bad as the UConn varsity team is, I played for one of the best high school hockey programs in this state and my former teammate, who is second all time on our high school's career scoring list was cut from the UConn varsity team trying to "walk-on" (which I guess everyone is walking on technically since there are no schollies, but he wasn't recruited). So as bad as the current UConn players are, they're still really, really good players and if this upgrade goes through, they'll only be that much better. UConn alums will soon pop up all around the NHL!

what program if u dont mind me asking?

 

[MattMang23]

Conard- West Hartford

 

[coachcap]

Any chance the Freitas could be opened up on the soccer side (IIRC) and seating added to the existing building? I've only been in there when tailgating back in the day, but I remember all the seating being on one side.

And to think that the original blueprints for Gampel included a 7500 seat hockey rink that was deleted just to get the appropriations by the state legislature in order to get the building erected.

 

[Dann]

nice matt, your alam usually has a decent program on there hands.

for uconn getting ct kids, it will take time. the best will go else where at first for a bit. there are great puck roots in ct from minis up thru hs and club. the wolves and pics(springfield) come to mind as good feeder programs among others i'm sure in the area. i would say it would be realistic to grab a couple ct prep kids a year from any of the great prep schools(ch/Steven Krajewski/aof/salis...). those are easily way above all hs puck in ct. there are only 2 ciac programs that would even have the talent on a good year to play with those guys, those schools are hamden and fairfield prep. there league is easily the best/deepest in the state every year and its not even close for ciac and usually those 2 programs are way ahead of the rest. those schools have some big time alum in the nhl(drury and quick both were on the last team usa) and would be a good place to start recruiting wise on a local level if uconn is looking to reach the public thru school systems even with the talent not being on par with what they need. but for uconn to be competitive in HE they won't have a roster full of ct/ne kids, no where close actually.

i expect a normal uconn roster to be 50% northeast, 50% non northeast. over time being in HE i think that will become more northeast heavy but it will be hard to win recruit battles in ny/pa/ne until were more established or we have a facility that trumps the rest of the league, plus from what i hear a new coach. but hey, get that guy on the food network going with the media and lets see what happens. i would love nothing more than the next quick, drury or archebelo to be from uconn.

also ct-yale/uconn/quinn/shu at the xl or outdoors at the rent every year for the "insert name here". GET IT DONE!

 

[Dann]

And to think that the original blueprints for Gampel included a 7500 seat hockey rink that was deleted just to get the appropriations by the state legislature in order to get the building erected.

ppl keep hating me for talking about it, but its pretty clear what the future of gampel is going to be.

puck in gampel. gut the place and make it nice. just like we did for fball. going all in on the facility helps u quickly build with the brand name already being established.

big boy sports (bball/fball) in hartford for the fanbase to fill it up and continue to grow and reach the whole state. other sports on campus and the student do a great job supporting them and there all going to be fresh/new....

 

[MattMang23]

UConn, with schollies to hand out and a new rink will be able to compete more quickly than most programs upgrading to the top levels of D1.

Marshall would have to be canned, but the brand is there. It will be much easier to sell a HE-affiliated UConn than a program like Quinny, Merrimack, UMass-Lowell, or Union just because kids in MN, MI, and Canada will know the UConn name right away. That's a huge advantage right off the bat.

Obviously Minnesota, BC, Michigan, BU, etc have waaaaay too much of a head start to compete with recruits for immediately but there's no reason that UConn couldn't be a mid-level HE team right away.