I see that my esteemed colleague Carol White managed to get the news out
 before I did, but I'll supply my two cents worth anyway. The Minnesota Golden
 Gophers should be playing in a new on-campus arena by 1992. Not many details
 have been released yet, but the new arena will apparently seat between 8,000
 and 10,000, and cost about $10 million. Those of you who are familiar with
 Mariucci Arena know that 'the Barn' is full of tradition and a great place to
 watch college hockey, as well as a difficult place for visiting teams to win.
 On the other hand, it is very old, and suffers from a shortage of seats with
 good sightlines. Much as I will hate to see the old place go, it is time to
 move on to more modern surroundings. I am very pleased that Gopher hockey will
 be staying on campus, where it belongs!
 
 We have heard in the past that the new facility will have an Olympic-size
 rink, but I don't know if that is still in the plan. How do the rest of you
 feel about Olympic-size rinks in college hockey? The new St. Cloud arena has
 one, and I suspect that several more will be built in the next few years. Will
 this have a good effect on the game?
 
 Go Gophers!
 
 = Erik J. Biever                               (612) 625-9777 =
 = Plant Pathology Library               BITNET: e-biev@uminn1 =
 = University of Minnesota   INTERNET: [log in to unmask] =