Jim writes:
>Not all the money required
>for this was simply allocated by the legislature, however; current UNH under-
>graduates approved a ca. $100/semester increase in their Student Activities
>Fee to partially fund the Student Recreational Center, and approval of a new
>Arena was contingent on much of the expected cost(s) to be borne by private
>fund-raising activities, rather than an out-right grant from the beleaguered
>NH taxpayers.
 
Some may not know...NH remains one of the few states with no state income
tax - I effectively got a significant raise when I became employed in NH
instead of Mass.  But what this means is that there was no way they were
going to defray the entire costs of this with money appropriated by the
legislature.
 
>with Snively under renovation and no new Arena in
>place, where will the Wildcats play their home games ??
 
Am I the only one who sees the answer?  Play on that pond right in front of
Snively. :-)  Sure, it's outdoors, but hey, UConn does it. :-)
 
>UNH has frequently played exhibition matches in
>Manchester (I saw them take on the 1984 Olympic squad there), but seating
>capacity (including SRO) is only 1500 or so at best.
 
Manchester is also not too near Durham - it would allow the Wildcats to
remain within NH and maybe even bring the state's team to some fans who
don't normally get to see it, but it is almost as much of a hike as many of
the other options and small as you say.
 
I don't like the idea of leasing opponents' rinks to play "home" games
against the normal occupants.  Even when Conte Forum was being built, BC
was able to work out a rotation whereby Walter Brown was their main "home"
rink, but when they "hosted" BU, those games were switched to the Garden,
and they also played a handful at Northeastern and Harvard when Walter
Brown was occupied.  UNH won't have that luxury, but I still think that
they'd be better off playing BU somewhere else than BU, NU elsewhere than
NU, etc.  If it were up to me, I'd pursue the idea of playing home games at
either Merrimack or in Portland, or even in Manchester - the three somewhat
nearby rinks (~an hour or so) with any decent capacity.  Why "host"
Providence in Providence, for example?  Why not play in Portland?
 
The first year of the two that BC spent without a home rink, they went
31-8-0 and ran away with Hockey East - maybe UNH will have similar
luck? :-)  Of course, it also would help to have players of the caliber of
Janney, Leetch, Stevens, Shea, Hodge, Greg Brown, Littman...
 
>... UNH ends up playing their "home" games at some combination of the Port-
>land Civic Center, Merrimack or Lowell, particularly if UNH were to return
>the favor in another few years when the Warriors and Chiefs are displaced by
>new rink construction on *their* respective campuses.
 
BTW, if/when Lowell builds a new rink on-campus in Lowell, their current
home (Tully Forum) will still be available and presumably will serve as
home until the new one is done.  Likewise, if Merrimack builds a new one,
they'll still have the Volpe Complex, although it's also possible the
decision would be to renovate THAT one - in which case I'd bet the plan
would be to do it in the offseason.
 
>(Spoken by a now older, but still cocky fan who sat behind the 3rd base
>    dugout wearing a Yankee Cap that fateful Fall afternoon in 1978 :-)
 
As if I needed to be reminded of that. :-(  The Green Monster gives and it
taketh away...
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   Color Voice of the Merrimack Warriors
alternate address days: [log in to unmask]             *HMN*  11/13/93
(Any opinions expressed above are strictly those of the poster.)