OT- Uconn's new $45 mil Hockey Arena
- Thread starter the Blades
- Start date
" UConn averaged 4,291 at the XL Center last season and the university has received criticism from fans for building a much smaller facility on campus, although UConn officials say the arena could later expand to 3,500. "
As someone who's donated to the Uconn Hockey team for 25 years, played the game for 20 and even spent 5 years with the Whalers, there's way to much wrong with this article below. First of all the students have never supported hockey on campus, even for free. So that's a myth....The people who scream the most about how things should be would never drive to Storrs for a hockey game, especially mid week. They always want bigger and better and always scream about on campus....but would they support it ? `The answer is no.....As Calhoun just told Hurley, " There are four million people in the state of Connecticut and three million of them are Husky fans. You better know that, son,’”.......
There's a reason Uconn has been at the top of attendance in HE since they started. It's because of the Uconn fans who will buy tix in Hartford who are willing to drive to a central CT location. But that attendance will be cut in half not because of the size of the arena but because of location...if the team moves back to it's NE corner of CT in Storrs. I watched it for years when students never came to the games ( but I did) and Freitas was lucky to have 500-600 fans. Even when the students were actually on campus, not when school was shut down for a month and a half, while Storrs was a ghost town right in the middle of hockey season ... Is the plan to costly ( welcome to creative funding during bad fiscal times) or could it be bigger, sure. But it's a facilities upgrade for training & recruiting, gives Uconn what it can afford now, along with rink options for scheduling ASAP. This is Uconn with a statewide fanbase ...and always has been ( HELLO, basketball at the CIVIC CENTER since the 70's) . Not some fantasy regarding packed houses (full of students) on campus ( that rarely exist) even with other neighborhood HE schools that draw from a 15 mile radius. And if students will be so engaged with "4,500 seats and forcing every team that comes to play UConn to play in front of a raucous crowd with lots of students ( not) ".......have you been to a hoops game in Storrs lately ?
There's a reason Uconn has been at the top of attendance in HE since they started. It's because of the Uconn fans who will buy tix in Hartford who are willing to drive to a central CT location. But that attendance will be cut in half not because of the size of the arena but because of location...if the team moves back to it's NE corner of CT in Storrs. I watched it for years when students never came to the games ( but I did) and Freitas was lucky to have 500-600 fans. Even when the students were actually on campus, not when school was shut down for a month and a half, while Storrs was a ghost town right in the middle of hockey season ... Is the plan to costly ( welcome to creative funding during bad fiscal times) or could it be bigger, sure. But it's a facilities upgrade for training & recruiting, gives Uconn what it can afford now, along with rink options for scheduling ASAP. This is Uconn with a statewide fanbase ...and always has been ( HELLO, basketball at the CIVIC CENTER since the 70's) . Not some fantasy regarding packed houses (full of students) on campus ( that rarely exist) even with other neighborhood HE schools that draw from a 15 mile radius. And if students will be so engaged with "4,500 seats and forcing every team that comes to play UConn to play in front of a raucous crowd with lots of students ( not) ".......have you been to a hoops game in Storrs lately ?
Last edited:
Good discussion and glad Mike Anthony and the guys at the Courant cover most of the bases with this:
Also does anyone even remember what Athletic director Warde Manuel said a few years back ? " UConn is looking into what needs to be done "to elevate [Freitas Ice Forum] to Hockey East standards, even if it's not used as the competition facility." ....."We're trying to look at meeting the needs of Hockey East as well as balancing that with playing downtown and the fan support we've got playing downtown," Manuel said.
And now everyone is surprised by this ?
And now everyone is surprised by this ?
Funny thing is I live in southern CT and the only time I ever saw UConn hockey was in Bridgeport, and I wish they played more games there. I saw UConn beat Union College, then the defending national champion, a few years ago in Bridgeport. Union outplayed UConn for the game, but UConn scored a really good tiebreaking goal halfway through the 3rd period and after that Union seemed to become unglued. In the last 10 minutes of the game Union took several bad penalties including a game misconduct and UConn was essentially on a power play for the last 10 minutes of the game.
I enjoy watching games in the Bridgeport arena. They also had very good food vendors. I have seen several hockey games there also including the Bridgeport Sound Tigers which are a minor league team affiliated with NY Islanders.
Also saw UConn hoops there a couple times including renting a box with a group of buddies for a game against Columbia. That was an awesome time. Show southern CT some love UConn and we will show it back!!!!
I enjoy watching games in the Bridgeport arena. They also had very good food vendors. I have seen several hockey games there also including the Bridgeport Sound Tigers which are a minor league team affiliated with NY Islanders.
Also saw UConn hoops there a couple times including renting a box with a group of buddies for a game against Columbia. That was an awesome time. Show southern CT some love UConn and we will show it back!!!!
Well that's kind of my point, I have met plenty of season tix holders that live in southern CT and they don't mind driving to Hartford for hoops and hockey, but that's as far as they go and don't have tix to Gampel and never will drive up that far for hockey either and who could blame them.... by the way this podcast talks about Uconn's rink situation (guest John Buccigross of ESPN sees it just like me) and a CT Beanpot type tourney in Bridgeport with Yale, Quinnipiac, Uconn and Sacred Heart.
College Hockey N'siders Podcast
College Hockey N'siders Podcast
While some question size of new UConn hockey arena, data shows attendance is slipping
Well Cavanaugh putting together his first HE winning season might help the numbers.... but also, Gee you think ?
Benedict has also pointed out that fan interest for games in Storrs could be lower than it is for games in Hartford, a larger population center.
“There’s no guarantees that everyone who watches us downtown is going to come to campus,” Benedict said. “We see that with our men’s and women’s basketball programs right now, that we have more people going downtown than they are coming to campus.”
Well Cavanaugh putting together his first HE winning season might help the numbers.... but also, Gee you think ?
Benedict has also pointed out that fan interest for games in Storrs could be lower than it is for games in Hartford, a larger population center.
“There’s no guarantees that everyone who watches us downtown is going to come to campus,” Benedict said. “We see that with our men’s and women’s basketball programs right now, that we have more people going downtown than they are coming to campus.”
The Courant writer brings some sanity to those fans who don't have a clue:
" That fan base has lost its marbles. Check that. A vociferous faction of that fan base has lost its marbles, taking the planned capacity of just 2,500 as an affront to its dedication and labeling what initially was a $45 million project as a waste of money at the center of a half-baked plan. The fans’ passion is evident in their response, and that is to be respected and celebrated. It’s just misguided. "
.......Just like the article I linked in the 3rd post ...... and as the HC points out: “There’s a lot more good coming out of this (new facility) than bad,” Cavanaugh said.
Mike Anthony: Guess what? UConn's plans for on-campus hockey rink are more than adequate
" That fan base has lost its marbles. Check that. A vociferous faction of that fan base has lost its marbles, taking the planned capacity of just 2,500 as an affront to its dedication and labeling what initially was a $45 million project as a waste of money at the center of a half-baked plan. The fans’ passion is evident in their response, and that is to be respected and celebrated. It’s just misguided. "
.......Just like the article I linked in the 3rd post ...... and as the HC points out: “There’s a lot more good coming out of this (new facility) than bad,” Cavanaugh said.
Mike Anthony: Guess what? UConn's plans for on-campus hockey rink are more than adequate
Last edited:
