At 10:15 PM 12/12/95, D B Doucette wrote:
>I follow Merrimack quite closely as is it the closest rink to my home for
>Maine away games, and that some very involved alumni are friends of mine.
>So, I am hoping for success on their part.  I have another reason:
>
>Remember, as you saw on this list, the recent announcement of the new rink
>to be designed by the same people who brought you the new UNH facility.  If
>a better facility is any indicator, I believe nearly all Div. 1 teams
>moving to a new rink have had a better record in the season in the new
>facility than the year before.  New rinks are great recruiting tools.
>UMass-Lowell should get the same benefit shortly with their new downtown
>rink (shared with AHL franchise) coming.
 
Well, I do believe that the new student center/rink at Merrimack will be
the single biggest factor that may enable them to begin attracting even
better players and build community interest in the program.  However,
chances are that most if not all of the current roster will be gone by the
time the building opens.  Unofficially, it sounds as if groundbreaking may
be planned for Spring 1997 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the
school, and so it is probably not realistic to expect the building to be
ready until at least the 1998-99 season or maybe a year or two afterwards.
 
But the nice thing is that there is something to look forward to, and as
Ron Anderson has said, they are closer to a new rink than they have ever
been before.  There is still, however, a lot more to be done to make this
project a reality, so we will see how it goes.
 
The big question is, is it still possible for them to make significant
headway in the near future with the current roster?  I think it is because
of some of the things I have said before.  They're still a young team and
have shown definite signs of improvement, especially up front where their
biggest problems have been.
 
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                   [log in to unmask]            *HMM* 11/13/93
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