St. Norbert’s men’s and women’s hockey programs will have new locker room space and amenities as part of a rink addition at the Cornerstone Community Center in De Pere, Wis.
The Green Knights will have dedicated locker rooms, athletic training and coaching and support staff space as part of the new rink, which is scheduled to open in fall 2025. St. Norbert has privately fundraised $1.5 million for its part of the rink addition. The overall project, also using dollars fundraised by the Cornerstone Community Center, will cost about $22 million.
“This transformative project will greatly enhance our student-athlete experience pillar while reinforcing a longstanding community partnership,” St. Norbert athletics director Cam Fuller said in a statement. “It reflects our dedicated efforts to optimize our athletics department as we strive for competitive excellence.”
The new rink, which will be located directly south of the current St. Norbert men’s home ice sheet, will feature bowl seating for about 3,000 people. Groundbreaking on the new arena will be held at 11 a.m. on Aug. 27 at the building site.
“Providing our varsity and ACHA hockey programs with first-class training and competition facilities amplifies our pillars of community building, athletic competitiveness, and student-athlete experience,” St. Norbert president Laurie Joyner said. “This public partnership benefits both our hockey programs and the community, positioning us to fight for championships.”
St. Norbert’s men’s program moved into its current facility in fall 2000, while the women’s program has called the adjacent Resch Olympic Pavilion home since the program began in fall 2010.
“Twelve Frozen Fours, nine national championship games, five titles, 60-plus All-Americans, five national players of the year…the men’s program has created an impressive legacy, and the best is yet to come,” St. Norbert men’s hockey coach Tim Coghlin said. “To be able to move into the new rink at the Cornerstone, and to build the facilities that our athletes deserve, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we are excited about it.”
“This is such an exciting time for the Green Knights hockey programs,” St. Norbert women’s hockey coach A.J. Aitken said. “The new rink addition to Cornerstone and state-of-the-art locker rooms is a once-in-a-lifetime dream to be a part of. We can’t thank enough to all the people behind the scenes working on this project and more importantly the donations and support for all those that have contributed. I am so honored to be a part of the new rink addition and the legacy of the Green Knights hockey community. I thank you all for your generosity and commitment to growing the game of hockey in Green Bay.”
St. Norbert’s ACHA men’s hockey program will start play in fall 2025. That program will take over the current women’s hockey team locker room space at Resch Olympic Pavilion. The ACHA team will play in Resch Olympic Pavilion as well as the new rink as scheduling allows.
