I'll look forward to hearing from some people who were actually there, but
from what I saw on NESN, I have some thoughts.  Basically, I am very much
looking forward to seeing this place in person, as Merrimack will be at UNH
next Friday night.  (Nice that UNH has already won a game there so they
have that out of the way. :-))
 
First, the building was dedicated Friday and is named Whittemore Arena, I
believe.  I do not know anything about the person it was named after other
than that he gave a lot of money...a relative (son? grandson?) was shown
presenting UNH with a check for $1 million as the first installment of
their donation.  The rink portion is named after a former UNH player (last
name Towes? again, I defer to the UNH people) who played a part in helping
the project happen.
 
This place was built for hockey.  Everything else falls into place from
there.  They will use it for other events, athletic and otherwise, but it
seems clear that hockey was the prime consideration.  It looks like all of
the 6,000 or so seats are in one level (no upper level like at BC and
UMass), all are angled towards the ice surface, and I didn't see any
walkways in front of any of the seats like at some other rinks.
 
The seating area completely surrounds the rink.  There are bleacher-like
seats behind both goals, apparently for students, and seats with backs in
the rest of the stands.  Looking at the place on tv, the closest comparison
I could make was a split between Clarkson's Cheel Arena and Minnesota's
Mariucci Arena.  Whittemore Arena is in between both of those in terms of
size.
 
This may well be the best place to watch a game in HE.  Of course, I
haven't been in it yet.  But even the farthest seats don't seem that far
away, unlike BC, Maine and UMass.
 
And what I liked the most is the roof.  It's not too high like BC and UMass
and not too low like Merrimack - just right, as the Three Bears would say.
The result is that the place is LOUD, because of the roof and because the
seats surround the ice surface.  On NESN's "Front Row" nightly sports show
just before the game, they cut to UNH for a preview from the two Bobs, and
they could not hear the questions from back at the studio because the fans
were so loud.  Throughout the game, the crowd came across great and it made
for an exciting atmosphere.  And again, that's just from tv.
 
There are some other issues I don't know about yet, like how is the ice
holding up and how are the boards constructed - are they backed by cement
like BC was at first (ouch) or is there padding behind them.
 
And for those who care about some things, how is the press box...it tends
to be far away at these modern arenas.  Some of my favorite press box
locations are at the older rinks like Lowell, Merrimack, Northeastern, and
Providence - places where you are close and right on top of the action
(granted, some of these press boxes are small and uncomfortable, but this
is hockey and who cares about such things :-)).  You need binoculars at BC
and UMass, as well as Maine where an additional problem is that the press
box is not only far away but not high enough.  When the fans in front all
stand up, you almost have to be Shaquille O'Neal to see over them and find
out what they're yelling about. :-)
 
It looks like the press box at UNH might be a nice compromise.  I'll have a
better idea next week.  Hopefully, I can get down there early enough to get
a good look before the doors open.  I also have got to see what they've
done with Snively - which was converted into a three floor recreation
building with courts, a track and what looked like a couple of floor or
roller hockey rinks.
 
This certainly seems like a project that UNH can be proud of.
 
If you see this message before the Prime re-broadcast of the game this
weekend, I encourage you to tune in and get a look at the place.  Oh, and
the game wasn't a bad one either. :-)
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
>> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System  <<
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