At 9:19 PM 3/3/96, Sean Pickett wrote:
>Leigh Torbin wrote:
>> BEST ARENAS
>
>> Apparently noone who voted has been to the Mullins Center yet. I've been
>> to most of the eastern rinks myself and the more I go on the road, the
>> more I learn to appreciate its amenities.
>
>I have been to the Mullins Center three times, and while it is a
>great new arena, I do not consider it one of the best in the East.
>At all three games, despite good crowds, as a fan, I never felt interested, or
>involed in the games. For me, it is not a hockey arena, but a
>basketball arena in which hockey happens to be played.
This comment by Sean sums up what my opinion is about Mullins. It is a
top-notch facility, but it lacks in hockey flavor because it seems to be an
arena built for basketball with hockey an after-thought. I know that the
history of the arena would suggest otherwise. I remember as far back as
1985 that the process to build a rink at UMass and re-start hockey was
underway. But the way it ended up, it does not have the feel of being a
hockey building.
Still, I do not see much difference between Conte Forum and Mullins, so I
think Leigh has a point about wondering why Conte was on the list and
Mullins was not. If you list Conte, you almost have to list Mullins too.
Something I have found interesting is that on the official UMass hockey
home page, it is claimed that Mullins is "the best college hockey facility
in the country". But out West, Mariucci Arena is a building that matches
Mullins in terms of facilities and gets the nod from me because it is a
hockey building. The key is that total seating is close between the
arenas, yet all of the seats at Mariucci are close to the ice. Mullins,
like Conte, has a "balcony" section which is actually set far back from the
playing surface, and I can see how people who sit there might not enjoy
being that far from the action. It is certainly very comfortable, however.
My personal ranking of HE arenas, at least, is swayed by the time I have
spent in the various press boxes. From a press standpoint, I don't like
BU's endzone press box, nor BC, UMass, and Maine's faraway press boxes.
UNH ranks in the middle because it's a new rink that takes the style of
Mariucci and thus keeps the press box close to the action.
The arenas that most would consider the lower echelon of HE - PC, Lowell,
and Merrimack - are the ones I like the most from a press standpoint
because you are closer and more into the game. The same is true at
Matthews.
>> TOUGHEST ARENAS TO VISIT
>
>> Are we talking as a fan or as a player here?
>> As a fan I agree 100% with Volpe.
>> As a player though MC is not a tough place at all. The crowd's
>> usually under 1,000 and not too vocal, and there's nothing wrong with the
>> ice itself. The locker rooms are fine as well.
>
>Well, for BU games there have usually been 2500-3000 plus in
>attendance. Also, the lighting is poor in my opinion, plus the roof
>is low. Also, Merrimack has played BU very tough at Volpe over the
>past several years, plus they have played some very good games
>against Maine there recently.
Jack Parker once said that visiting Volpe with BU was like "going to the
dentist". He said that several years ago, back before Merrimack started to
play BU tough on a regular basis, and I think he was referring to the fact
that the comfort level for him and his team was not an enjoyable one. I
can certainly understand that, since Volpe is effectively a DivII rink
being used by a DivI program. The locker rooms and benches are small, the
rink is cold, etc. Teams accustomed to a better selection of amenities
would probably not consider Volpe one of their favorite places to play.
I would also think that it is split from a fan standpoint. The bleachers
are uncomfortable, and of course it is cold, but on the other hand you are
closer to the action than almost anyplace else. The low roof allows a
small crowd to make a lot of noise, but on the other hand, when Leigh has
visited with UMass, the crowd has tended to be much smaller than when BU
has come in.
When there is a large crowd and the game is a good one, the atmosphere is
tough to beat. You think about the cold more when the game is one-sided
and no one is there. :-) The loudness of the boards is unmatched in HE,
and it definitely contributes to the physical play that Merrimack
demonstrates at home. I remember in high school that players would say
that they wanted to slam more guys into the boards just because "it sounds
good".
Still, although Volpe has that small school atmosphere, the school does
need a new facility to be able to compete better for top players. Looking
up and down the lineups of HE, Merrimack was probably the one team that
does not have a bonafide sniper, and I can only imagine the difference that
the presence of one such player might have made this season with all the
close losses. I'll give up that atmosphere if it means a chance to land
more good players.
On the same note, through the grapevine (i.e., not from anyone official), I
have heard that the administration may not have been too happy with the Bob
Monahan piece in the Boston Globe last Friday - a piece which I posted
here. If you missed it, Bob basically wrote that Merrimack needs a new
facility to compete for better players, especially with all of the other
new rinks around the league, and he finished up by saying, "[Coach Ron]
Anderson has done a fine job with his program. He needs help from the
Merrimack alumni and hierarchy."
This was apparently seen by some as a shot at the administration, who may
have wondered if the story was planted by various factions at Merrimack who
want the rink built yesterday. That wasn't the case. Bob apparently did
some investigating on his own and decided it was a story worth writing
about. As an alum who wants to see the rink built (I have not heard
anything for a while about its future), I see it not as a shot at the
administration but as an indication that people outside the school also
think the current situation hinders recruiting and thus hinders the
program's advancement. In other words, many people around the program have
been pushing for a new facility for a while, but they have an inherent bias
because they will benefit. When people who have no connection with
Merrimack say that it is needed, as have other coaches, media members, and
NHL scouts, then it is only more support for the idea that building it will
be the right way to go.
One of the jokes I hear from Merrimack followers is that they hope BU will
get its new rink built soon, so that Merrimack can buy Walter Brown and
cart it off to North Andover. :-) A gentleman came up to me after
Saturday's game at UNH and said, "Are we going to get a rink like this?"
(UNH's Whittemore Center) All I could say was, "I hope so." I have not
heard anything for a while as to where the process currently stands, but I
would be more than thrilled with a Whittemore II on the campus at
Merrimack. It seems to be the way to go for schools who want to build a
rink that size, in design and facilities, that will be a hockey rink first.
Finally, the cynical side of me is fearful that the rough season that
Merrimack suffered through this year may wind up derailing efforts to
construct a new rink. A successful season that attracted a lot of interest
to the team might have helped speed things up - I don't know - but I hope
that the administration is not waiting for the team to win to decide to
replace the rink. It would be a catch-22...no rink if you don't win, but
you may not be able to win without a new rink. I am optimistic about their
chances next season, so perhaps this will be a non-issue a year from now.
--- ---
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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