At 1:01 PM 11/30/95, Barkan, Jon wrote: >Hello kids...... Graying already? :-) >No offense to Mike Machnik, but the Volpe Complex to me is the worst rink >I've ever been in.......it's always cold and it looks like a high school >rink to me because it's attached to the basketball arena... No offense taken...although I have been in rinks "worse" than Volpe, mostly non-college rinks. Of course, you have to remember that the Volpe was built way back in the DivII days over 20 years ago. At the time, for a DivII rink, it was a good facility. The school didn't need anything more than that. But since Merrimack moved to HE, although some improvements have been made (locker rooms upgraded, new scoreboards, concession stand, etc.), it would take either a new building or a major renovation of the current one to bring it up to DivI standards. Fortunately, although things can move slowly at Merrimack, there is light at the end of the tunnel...the first steps have been taken with the recent decision by the trustees to raise funds for a new student center on campus that would include an Olympic-sized hockey rink. Apparently the architects who designed the new UNH rink have been retained for this project too. I'm hopeful that at the latest, by the turn of the century, Merrimack will have a rink that is at least comparable to many of the other schools in HE and possibly better than many. And the student center facilities should make Merrimack a more attractive option for potential college students. >...but even with >all that, it still has character.... That's one of the things the cold brings! I love seeing Ben Smith dressed like an Eskimo when Northeastern comes in. And what other college hockey team has its national anthem performed by Huey Lewis & The News. BTW, for next Friday's BU at Merrimack game, it has been announced that Merrimack will be donating the gate receipts to the Travis Roy Fund. A good turnout is expected, as BU's only visit last season resulted in the largest home crowd of the year for Merrimack (2,783). The number for ticket information is 508-837-5341. --- --- Mike Machnik [log in to unmask] *HMM* 11/13/93 >> Co-owner of the College Hockey Lists at University of Maine System << ***** Unofficial Merrimack Hockey home page located at: ***** ***** http://www.tiac.net/users/machnik/MChockey/MChockey.html ***** HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.