Purple Eagle Nest

Dwyer Arena
Location: Lewiston, New York
Opened: 1996
Seating Capacity: 1400

Source: http://tinyurl.com/jmqvh9j

The next arena under the microscope of this blog is Dwyer Arena, which is home to the Niagara University Purple Eagles.


Just like the last arena I covered, the Hart Center at Holy Cross University, Dwyer Arena is also plastered in purple. It contains less purple than the Hart Center in the arena itself but the lobby has a lot of the color painted on it. The arena has a very tall, pitched ceiling, which is extremely helpful to players when trying to clear the puck out of the defensive zone. They could be made to be more appealing to the eye. There is an ugly chrome-looking insulation that makes up the majority of the ceiling. Personally, I'd cover that up with paneling.

The arena has bleachers on two sides of the arena, similarly to the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The majority of them are located across from the benches and are made from aluminum bleachers. They have a cool VIP seating section located behind their home team's goalie. There are also suite windows located above the VIP seating that spectators can watch the game through. The arena's lighting is its biggest fault. Because the lighting system sits so high in the rafters, coupled with the dark purple theme, it creates a dim lighting on the playing surface.

The ice surface itself appears much larger than other arenas, but is the regulation size of 200' by 85'. The ice is pretty firm which allows for a good game speed and the puck to be easily settled. Mercyhurst has been pretty successful in this arena since I've arrived as we have only lost once in the arena in my two years here.

The last time our team played there, Niagara's promo team decided to have "bubble races" around the ice surface during media timeouts. In case you are not sure, we have 2 minute media timeouts at the first whistle after the 5, 10, and 15 minute mark of each period. They would have contestants suit up in the large air bubbles and race a complete lap around the rink. These 2 minute timeouts turned into 5 minute circus distractions that lead to nothing but impatience and sleepy legs. If you're reading this, Niagara Hockey's marketing team, please put the races during intermissions, not media timeouts next year.

The arena is located a few minutes off of the highway, directly on Niagara's campus. It is usually dark when we arrive at the arena so I have never really examined much of the campus itself. Despite being located on the campus, the Purple Eagles don't receive much support from their fellow students. There has never been an impressive crowd at our game in Dwyer Arena.

The arena did co-host the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships which is pretty awesome. It was also home to the Buffalo Sabres Summer Development Camp from 2008-11. It is a good sized arena that has a lot of potential to be a unique college barn. It just needs some tender loving care and a bigger fan base to become a memorable place to play.

Thank you for your continued support of my blog. Please feel free to share with your friends and family!

- Joshua

Source: http://tinyurl.com/gwzvand

Source: http://tinyurl.com/h24crnq