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] =