Chris writes:
>Mike M. writes:
>>2) UNH is going to build a new rink.
>
>I have heard this as well.  There's a feasability study going on to see what
>can be done.  I believe they're investigating whether renovating Snively is
>an option.  I would tend to think not, but I'm not a structural engineer :-)
 
Forgive me for not being clearer...the word I had heard from the UNH people
was that the study had been done and that building a new rink was going to be
recommended, rather than renovating Snively.  I believe the site is to be near
the football field.  Numbers as far as cost and seating capacity weren't
available.
 
Another rumor: UMass-Amherst, as I have mentioned, has expressed an interest
in joining Hockey East.  The new rink may be ready for the 1992-93 season,
but I don't know what has been done as far as beginning a program.  The
Minutemen would not begin play in DivIII, as I may have said; being a DivI
school, this would not be allowable under NC$$ regulations.  They would begin
as a DivI independent, probably in 1993-94, and tentative plans are for UMass
to play one game with each of the eight HE schools during that season along
with many games versus independents, etc.  The timeframe as far as when they
would enter the league would be worked out in the future depending on how
quickly the program progresses, and I expect it to progress quickly.  This
year it is the UMass hoop team that is getting all the ink, but soon it could
be the hockey team.  The rink will be the largest in the East and one of the
two or three largest in the nation; capacity for hockey is rumored to be over
9,000, with two Olympic-sized ice sheets - that will make playing there for
the eight HE teams very interesting.
 
The addition of UMass-Amherst has led to rumors that the Massachusetts
university system will somehow deemphasize hockey at UMass-Lowell and have
UMass-Amherst as the single state university DivI program, with all the money
problems UMass has faced.  (The money for the rink was appropriated several
years ago, to answer any questions about how they can afford to build a
facility rumored to cost in the neighborhood of $40-50 million.  It will also
be used for basketball, possibly negating the Minutemen's home court advantage
in the form of "The Cage".)  But this was just speculation; the above info on
the 93-94 season was courtesy of Hockey East officials, although it is of
course subject to change.
---
Mike Machnik    [log in to unmask]   mikem@{beanpot,bubba}.ma30.bull.com