College hockey fans can debate for hours about which conference is the best — in terms of depth, talent, history or whatever.
What they can’t debate is which conference is the best for fans to make a trip to every rink in one year.
That’s Hockey East, easily the most geographically compact among major college hockey’s six leagues. With each school no more than a few hours’ drive from even the farthest flung locale (OK, Connecticut to Maine is six hours, so pack a sandwich if you make that trip) the earnest college hockey fan, with a little bit of planning, can make it a goal to see all 11 rinks in a year.
In my third year covering Hockey East for USCHO, I set out to see at least one game in each arena. Luckily, living in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire I’m within an hour drive of more than half the league, so I didn’t even have to put too many miles on my car.
With my Hockey East press pass in hand, I hit the road to see all 11 league venues, and what follows is my summary highlighting what I liked (and a little bit of what I didn’t) about the experience at each building. Since I do little “on-deadline” writing for USCHO, I did my best to see each venue from a fan’s perspective, rather than report only the view from the press box.
Overall, each rink is run by great people, offers great hockey and features great pep bands (the best: Northeastern, the worst (but still pretty good): Merrimack) and student sections (the best: Maine). All of them leave something to be desired in the food department (enough with the Dippin’ Dots already) and too many rely on artificial noise and other gimmicks to increase crowd engagement, which is par for the course at modern sports venues.
What follows is not a ranking (that’s been done a million times) but rather an assessment of Hockey East’s 11 arenas, which I’ve broken down into four categories, starting with…
The classics: Alfond Arena (Maine), Gutterson Fieldhouse (Vermont), Matthews Arena (Northeastern).
With the Black Bears high in the national rankings for the first time in years, a lot of the chatter surrounding the Maine hockey program has made note of how it’s great to see excitement “back” at Alfond Arena. As someone who’s covered college hockey for the better part of the last decade, including several years before my time at USCHO, I can tell you that excitement — at least inside the arena — never left the venerable building in Orono. It says something that a recently announced $320 million investment in the school’s athletic department does not include a replacement for the beloved rink, where students pack the upper balcony that is so close to the playing surface it seems to hang directly over it.
The same intimacy and charm can be found at Matthews, which is where the Bruins and Celtics played before moving to the old Boston Garden, which met the wrecking ball almost 30 years ago. And Gutterson has a wooden roof for goodness sake (though it doesn’t serve beer, which is ironic considering how many cannabis dispensaries I passed on the drive up). Anyone looking to relive the days of hockey past — at least as far as the buildings are concerned — would do well to make a trip to one of these three rinks.
The standards: Agganis Arena (Boston University), Whittemore Center (New Hampshire), Mullins Center (Massachusetts), Tsongas Center (UMass Lowell), Silvio O. Conte Forum (Boston College).
These five rinks are nothing less than great places to catch a hockey game. All are (relatively) modern and unless it’s a sellout (which happens often enough but not nearly as often as college hockey romantics like to think it does) there are plenty of good seats to be had for most games. UNH improved its sound system, which makes it much less of an assault on the senses; Lowell has “Star Wars” night once a year which makes it a great place to meet a Wookiee; BU has a fun mascot; BC has an organ which sounds a lot like a church organ (because it is a church organ); and for me, personally, going to a game at Mullins lets me spend time with my son, a UMass business major whose dorm is right down the street from the arena.
The not-so-great: Schneider Arena (Providence), Lawler Arena (Merrimack). Far be it from me to be negative in this space, but these two places…
There are no good seats at Providence. The bowl is divided by a concourse where people walk back and forth for the entirety of the game — including the Friars’ mascot, who seems like a pleasant enough fellow (he’s a friar after all) but his extra-large head is all too often an impediment to hockey viewing.
Merrimack, often touted as a tough place for opponents to play, is only that way because of noise — and not the good kind. Fans are bombarded with obnoxious sound effects, constant blaring music, and a student section that, while spirited, is surprisingly vulgar for a Catholic school.
The best: Toscano Family Ice Forum (UConn). A palace. Made specifically for hockey in the modern era, the seating area was built at such an angle that fans don’t just feel like they’re on top of the action, they are on top of the action. It’s intimate, the acoustics are great, and will provide a recruiting edge so profound I predict UConn will be a Hockey East contender starting soon and for years to come.
