Toscano Family Ice Forum Impressions

[CL82]

You’re only off by 32 million…

He said "about..."

 

[CL82]

As someone who has gone to TFIF a bunch (and headed there tonight):

The biggest whiff, by leaps and bounds, is the "student deck." It's functionally useless, an eyesore to boot, and it just screams that this place was thrown together somewhat haphazardly.

This kills me as a band alumnus, and current parent, but i would think a simple, and cheap, fix would be to incorporate a small riser on that deck, for the band. 3 or 4 rows, and these things aren't even custom - normally made for stages.

Good: it would open behind the net seating for students. It would make the band more audable to more of the rink (not that it's a problem now). It puts currently useless space to some degree of use.

Bad: moves the band away from the action (i.e. as spectators).

Agree, although I wonder if it's feasible just to knock it down and put seats there and put there. That would also fix a number of "obstructed view seats."

 

[Bomber36]

He said "about..."

lol…just pocket change.

 

[UCMB88]

Tried to find similar camera angles. Just from a visual aspect, which arena looks more appealing?

 

[Sea Goat]

You’re only off by 32 million…

Info I used came from College Hockey News (1/25/24). It said $40m - take a look.
I didn't pull it out of thin air. Did you look at the 3000+ seat arena? There is a short video - worth the time.

 

[Bomber36]

Info I used came from College Hockey News (1/25/24). It said $40m - take a look.
I didn't pull it out of thin air. Did you look at the 3000+ seat arena? There is a short video - worth the time.

I don’t really care…I’m just growing tired of all the Toscano bashing at this point, and this is not aimed at just you. I’ve been guilty of it as well. I agree with many of the points, but this horse has been thoroughly thrashed. We need to move on. Nobody is taking advice on the subject from us. That’s painfully obvious. Trying to change things at UConn is like steering the Queen Mary. Slow and ponderous. That said, I’m looking forward to seeing us thrash PC tonight. I will be there.

 

[huskymedic]

Nobody is taking advice on the subject from us. That’s painfully obvious.

First step in recovery is admitting you have a problem…

Coach talks about some improvements that are needed @ the 19:15 mark:

It’s the middle of the season - I’ll reserve my discomfort till the off-season when actual work can happen.

 

[CL82]

Tried to find similar camera angles. Just from a visual aspect, which arena looks more appealing?

View attachment 95964 View attachment 95965

The bottom one? The lack of seats behind the net just looks wrong.

 

[Sea Goat]

I don’t really care…I’m just growing tired of all the Toscano bashing at this point, and this is not aimed at just you. I’ve been guilty of it as well. I agree with many of the points, but this horse has been thoroughly thrashed. We need to move on. Nobody is taking advice on the subject from us. That’s painfully obvious. Trying to change things at UConn is like steering the Queen Mary. Slow and ponderous. That said, I’m looking forward to seeing us thrash PC tonight. I will be there.

Great - my real pet peeve with Toscano is the tall table lounge. Delete that and get to over 2800 in capacity and get hockey purists the "behind the net" view.
This ain't a linear game!

As far "turning the Queen Mary" - it's better than trying to turn the Titanic!(

 

[Bomber36]

First step in recovery is admitting you have a problem…

It’s the middle of the season - I’ll reserve my discomfort till the off-season when actual work can happen.

I’d like to hear of some actual plans for specific changes. Hopefully we will, before anyone has to make a decision on season tix. (Just when I thought I was out @huskymedic pulled me back in)

 

[huskymedic]

First step in recovery is admitting you have a problem…

It’s the middle of the season - I’ll reserve my discomfort till the off-season when actual work can happen.

 

[Bomber36]

Good crowd tonight. Give us something to cheer about.

 

[husky8273]

First time at TFIF tonight. No need for the Ice Lounge, lousy seats anyway. They asked students and SRO to fill in the lower bowl at the 10 minute mark in the 2nd period.

 

[zls44]

As much as I’ve criticized this facility- all points correct, of course- I’m almost done doing it for the rest of this year. (See next post)

This team plays such a dreary, depressing, soulless, boring style of hockey that the entire crowd should be off the hook for bad atmosphere.

They don’t even score goals in the MF!

 

[zls44]

View attachment 95956
This is what should piss of fans, celebrating an award that is one meaningless but also preposterous when you factor in how poorly the design of the arena facilitates fanfare

It visually looks great. It’s a wonderful piece of architecture.

Scared Heart and Augustana and Bentley didn’t care about a wonderful piece of architecture. They cared about building a great rink for the team AND THE FANS.

Difference.

 

[pepband99]

So, @freescooter , i owe you a small apology.

While sitting through that debacle last night, and listening to the band - i thought of your earlier post. I think i heard what you're referencing, and i loosely agree with it, but i have a different remedy.

They need to move the drums to the top of the band, i.e. above the glass. For the majority of the rink, you can barely hear the drums at all, and it makes the band sound "soft," meaning there isn't a hard beat to drive on. I think it would fix the issue you referenced earlier.

Yet another reason my riser on the deck idea would work, too.

 

[freescooter]

What I think they need is an exorcist or something to get the curse out of there. They are something like 2-5 there. And lots of them are blow ours. Hard to go out and watch terrible play week after week.

 

[kibblesnbits]

You’re only off by 32 million…

That's one hell of a cost overrun. It was announced as a $40M project but the articles at opening put it at $70M-$75M (citing school officials). How do you even get to that kind of # in South Dakota?

 

[zls44]

Union College, partnered with the State of New York, that famously anti-union labor, cheap to build state is building....a 2200 seat rink for $25m less.

Go ahead and explain it.

New home arena for Union men's, women's college hockey teams to be built at Mohawk Harbor with plans to be ready for '25-26 season - College Hockey | USCHO.com

An agreement has been finalized for a public-private partnership to build a new arena at Mohawk Harbor, the latest investment in ongoing revitalization

www.uscho.com

 

[UC15]

Union College, partnered with the State of New York, that famously anti-union labor, cheap to build state is building....a 2200 seat rink for $25m less.

Go ahead and explain it.

New home arena for Union men's, women's college hockey teams to be built at Mohawk Harbor with plans to be ready for '25-26 season - College Hockey | USCHO.com

An agreement has been finalized for a public-private partnership to build a new arena at Mohawk Harbor, the latest investment in ongoing revitalization

www.uscho.com

Wish they would re-do Messa Rink instead of building this crap down the road at the casino. Union won a national championship in that barn with 0 athletic scholarships in 2013-2014 absolutely incredible. Sad to see the college not be able to update their on-campus rink.
Anywho UConn got fleeced is what it is un-experienced hockey arena aritchect & covid probably made matters worse, who knows.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Tried to find similar camera angles. Just from a visual aspect, which arena looks more appealing?

View attachment 95964 View attachment 95965

Seating was also lost by putting in more sections/less stairways?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Union College, partnered with the State of New York, that famously anti-union labor, cheap to build state is building....a 2200 seat rink for $25m less.

Go ahead and explain it.

New home arena for Union men's, women's college hockey teams to be built at Mohawk Harbor with plans to be ready for '25-26 season - College Hockey | USCHO.com

An agreement has been finalized for a public-private partnership to build a new arena at Mohawk Harbor, the latest investment in ongoing revitalization

www.uscho.com

While I don't doubt that Toscano could have been built at a better cost, I'll believe the savings on this building when I see the final costs (for the record, I'm a controller for a major RE developer).

In NY state you'll end up seeing nearly as many cost overruns as you see in Massachusetts.

 

[Hockey]

Watching (on tv) the next to last game of the season with great hopes for a good showing in the HE tournament. With only 2500 seats how can they have a few hundred sold but empty seats. Can’t the people responsible for the undersized rink figure out a system to give out free tickets to students? Stop waiting for this failure to fix itself.

 

[RSTuthill]

Went to the Women's QF game against Holy Cross yesterday. First time at Toscano. What is the deal with the West parking lot? We snuck in thru the back door when we couldn't find a place to park in the East lot. Is the West reserved for high profile donors? Where is one supposed to park if the East is full?

 

[MKH2317]

Went to the Women's QF game against Holy Cross yesterday. First time at Toscano. What is the deal with the West parking lot? We snuck in thru the back door when we couldn't find a place to park in the East lot. Is the West reserved for high profile donors? Where is one supposed to park if the East is full?

Wanna know the sad truth? They direct you to the south parking garage next to the football complex. That’s where they expect you to park for games at toscano. On the bright side though, you’ll get your steps in for the day