Dave Hendrickson wrote:
 
> I would have The Whittemore winning hands down.  Actually, I'm not
> all that fond of Walter Brown.  It has the worst parking problems of
> any Hockey East facility, being orders of magnitude worse than most
> others.
 
Actually, Northeastern has far more serious parking problems than BU.
 Besides having very little on street parking near Matthews Arena,
you have to pay to park in the nearby lots and garages.  Furthermore,
the BSO is usually performing at Symphany Hall, two blocks from
Matthews Arena, and that makes the parking problem even more severe.
 
As for BU, it has free parking in a lot next to Walter Brown Arena,
and although it does fill up, I find the parking at BU better than at
UMass Lowell Forum when they have played BU the past two years.  And
at least at BU you can usually get out of the lot/street parking
quicker than at the Forum after a game.
 
Maine also has parking problems, as its lot always fills up, and
again, it only has three exits from the lot, two onto the same main
street in front of Alfond Arena.
 
At New Hamphire, most of the parking lots for the Whittemore Center
are a long walk from the rink, as you have to walk to the road, up
stairs, over the railroad tracks, then back down on the other side
and to the arena.
 
Even Providence and Merrimack have parking problems, at least when
they host the Terriers.  As for Boston College, they used to have
parking problems until they recently built there new parking garage.
 
Only the Mullins Center at UMass has good access and lots of parking,
although much of it is a bit of a walk from the arena.
 
I have also been to most ECAC rinks and they also have their parking
problems.  If I had used parking as a criteria for the best rinks, it would be
very, very hard to list even one good arean in the East.
 
Sean
Sean Pickett            E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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