The Jar

John A. Ryan Arena

Source: http://tinyurl.com/ksk5wu8

Location: Watertown, MA
Opened:1972
Seating Capacity: 1250

The next arena that I will be examining in my blog is the John A. Ryan Arena, which is home to the Bentley Falcons.

I'm going to be extremely blunt when describing the JAR, it's terrible. It is definitely one of the worst arena's that I have played in many years. I have not played at all the arenas in the NCAA, but I feel safe saying that the JAR is the worst arena in the league. It is a local rink that is located roughly 3 miles away from Bentley's campus.

The rink is small, especially compared to others in the NCAA, and it is in poor condition; the arena shows its old age. It has a very damp environment that makes the arena smell funky. The lighting is poor and it makes it difficult to see on the ice. The boards are lifeless and the puck does not react well when bounced off of it. They are relatively stiff too, which makes it painful when getting checked into the boards.

The ice was similar to the Mercyhurst Ice Center ice, which means it was below average. It quickly gets chewed up quickly and makes it difficult to settle the puck down. The arena feels very small and the neutral zones seem non-existent. Because the arena is so small, the pace of play seems super fast compared to other arenas. The ice surface also has a red line going along the entire boards around the arena. This is designed to help young hockey players avoid checking each other from behind and reduce injuries. This feature, however, should not be present on an NCAA ice arena. Not only is it visually unpleasant, but collegiate hockey players do not need to be reminded not to check one another from behind into the boards.

The Falcons do not receive a lot of support from their fans either. This is likely because the arena is located off campus, and because they do not want to sit in this arena for that long. This issue will soon be fixed, however, as Bentley is building a new ice arena on campus for their team. The school is building a multi-purpose venue that will have 2000 fixed seats and have the option to accommodate up to 3400 people for concerts or other purposes. The arena is supposed to open in early 2018, so hopefully I will have the chance to play in the newly designed arena.

I just want to clarify that my opinion in this blog is not reflective of what I think of Bentley University or Bentley's Division 1 Ice Hockey Team. I am simply providing you with the experience that I had during my time at the John A. Ryan Arena. The Bentley Falcons are a tremendously respected hockey program and I am not criticizing the program.

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

- Joshua Lammon

The "M" Den

Yost Ice Arena

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Opened: 1923
Seating Capacity: 5800

The next ice arena I will be reflecting on in my blog is Yost Ice Arena, which is home to the University of Michigan Wolverines ice hockey team.

I was fortunate enough to play two Division 1 hockey games against the University of Michigan during my freshman year at Mercyhurst. It was a dream come true for me to play a college hockey game at Yost arena because I grew up watching the Wolverines play. I've been to Yost countless times. I've helped host a youth 3 on 3 tournament there and I actually got to participate in a shootout during the intermission of a Michigan hockey game. I remember scoring a goal in the shootout and the crowd went wild; that is when I knew I wanted to play college hockey. It was won of the coolest feelings in the world scoring that shootout goal as a little kid.

We played the University of Michigan in October, which is relatively early in the season. My coaches were kind enough to put me in the starting lineup on Friday night, which is an honor being a starting freshman. It was a surreal feeling standing on the goal-line and hearing "At center, a freshman from Jackson, MI, number 27, Joshua Lammon." The skate to blue-line and hearing my friends and family cheer was an unforgettable feeling that I will surely never forget. I remember watching the starting lineups get announced as a child and dreaming about hearing my name be called.

Yost was packed both games that we played that weekend, which was surprising because we are just a small university that doesn't play U of M too often. It was definitely the biggest crowd that I had played in front of at the time. I would estimate that there were at least 4000-4500 people in attendance. I was not nervous playing in front of that many fans; however, I felt more excited and adrenalized than ever.

Yost is a vintage barn and is approaching its 100-year anniversary in 2023. It is an old brick building that provides a ton of character. The seating, music and lighting systems were all renovated in 2012 to modernize the arena. Maize and blue murals and artwork is plastered along the walls of the building. It is also humbling to see pictures of the famous alumni who played for the prestigious program. Playing against Red Berenson was an awesome experience. He has been the head coach for Michigan for 32 years; well longer than I have been alive.

To top off the weekend, I was able to score a goal against the University of Michigan in front of a full house. That was a dreamlike experience. My buddy, Lester Lancaster, who I have played with for the past five seasons, and I had a two on one line rush and I passed him the puck at the top of the circles and he drove the net. I was able to bury the rebound by basically pushing the goalie into the net. It wasn't pretty, but hey, they don't ask how, they just ask how many. He is from Michigan as well so it was an awesome feeling to be able to connect for a goal together.

Obviously, if you couldn't tell, playing against the University of Michigan at Yost Ice Arena has been the most memorable experience of my college career. It had an unbelievable time playing against one of the most recognized school's in the country for college hockey. Without a doubt, I would love to play against Michigan again.

Go blue...and green for the Lakers of course.

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

- Joshua

Wildcat Den

Whittemore Center

Location: Durham, New Hampshire
Opened: 1995
Seating Capacity: 6501

The next arena I will be reflecting on in my blog is the Whittemore Center, which is home to the University of New Hampshire Wildcats.

We played the Wildcats on a Saturday night following a game against the Merrimack Warriors on Friday. Both Merrimack and the University of New Hampshire play in the Hockey East NCAA conference. As I have mentioned in many of my other blogs, it is always exciting playing in venues that are outside of the Atlantic Hockey conference.

The Whittemore Center is an enormous arena. The venue can seat over 6500 screaming fans. The building hosts New Hampshire's men's and women's hockey and basketball games along with various concerts and shows. When we played the Wildcats, I would estimate that there were roughly 1500 fans in the building which was pretty impressive since we do not play in the same conference as them. The student section was rowdy which always makes the environment fun to play in. The student section printed out "player biographies" on a handful of our team's players with fun facts that were fake and comical.

The ice surface is a massive; it has international hockey dimensions which means it is 15 feet wider than NHL ice rinks. While 15 feet may seem insignificant, it has a tremendous impact on the way the game is played. Large ice surfaces benefits benefit teams with smaller and faster players which was evident in New Hampshire's lineup. They were probably the smallest college hockey team that I have played against. There were many players who were well-under 6'0" tall, which is uncommon in college hockey.

The boards and glass were similar to Ohio State's in which the glass is extremely forgiving and the boards are lively which facilitates the fast pace of play. It became very tiresome chasing their smaller players around the humongous ice service. The corners in international rinks are much deeper and it allows for more plays to develop in the offensive zones. I play center and it is more difficult playing in the defensive zone on such a big ice surface.

The arena is located on New Hampshire's campus. Although we did not spend much time on the campus, it appeared to be a very lively and engaging campus with many students walking around. The Wildcats also had great support from their student body as I hinted at earlier. They were lively in the student section and there was chaos in the arena when New Hampshire scored.

I definitely enjoyed playing at the Whittemore Center in New Hampshire. I loved the atmosphere from the crowd and the arena itself is a beautiful venue; however, I was not a huge fan of the long bus ride to and from New Hampshire though.

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

- Joshua

Buckeye State

Value City Arena

Photo Credit: Ric Kruszynski

Location: Columbus, Ohio
Opened: 1998
Seating Capacity: 17500

The next arena I will be viewing is the Value City Arena, which is home to the Ohio State Buckeyes men's ice hockey team and men's and women's basketball teams.

We played the Buckeyes at Value City Arena during my freshman year of college. It was the second Big Ten team I played against, as we played Michigan earlier during that year. It's always exciting for me to play Big Ten teams because I grew up watching them play in the CCHA league growing up. Ohio State had always been a rival to the Michigan Wolverines, who was a team I grew up idolizing.

As I mentioned earlier, the arena also serves as a basketball court for Ohio State, so there is a ton of seating. By ton, I mean 17,500 seats. I think it goes without saying that many of these seats were empty during our game. I believe the attendance sheet said roughly 2000 fans attended the game. In most arenas, this would be a good turnout, but not for an arena that holds nearly nine times that amount. We did, however, play the Buckeyes on their fall break so there were not a lot of students on campus which hurt the attendance.

Like the Webster Bank Arena in Connecticut, the ice surface seems much larger in the Value City Arena compared to many smaller venues. Again, the rink measurements meet NHL regulations, it is simply your mind playing tricks on you. The ice was in great condition as the Big Ten schools have a lot of funding to maintain the ice surface. The boards and glass were also the professional style. The are generally more forgiving and the puck reacts super fast off of them. Value City Arena also has a large jumbo-tron hanging over its center ice. Most of the arenas in college hockey have some sort of digital screen, and like I have said throughout my blog, I believe it is a welcoming feature by the fans and players.

It was an awesome experience to play the Ohio State Buckeyes in their own arena. But what was even better, is that we beat them in it. We won 2-1 on Friday night to stun the Buckeyes. Taking down a Big Ten team was a big moral booster for our us. Although we split the weekend with them, I believe it gave us a spark for the rest of the season and we proved to ourselves that we can compete with any team in the nation.

I really enjoyed playing at Ohio State and I would not be opposed to play there again during my next  two years of college hockey. Hopefully there would be a more impressive attendance next time and that we can come away with two wins instead of one.

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

- Joshua Lammon

Photo Credit: Ric Kruszynski

Photo Credit: Ric Kruszynski

Photo Credit: Ric Kruszynski

Sacred Soil

Webster Bank Arena

Location: Bridgeport, Connecticut
Opened: 2001
Seating Capacity: 8525

The next arena I will be examining in this blog is the Webster Bank Arena, which is the new home to the Sacred Heart Pioneers.

The Sacred Heart ice hockey team moved to the Webster Bank Arena for the 2016-17 campaign, and from what I've heard through the grapevine, is a very good thing. I never had the opportunity to play in the Pioneers' old barn, but I have heard that it was not a pleasant place to place. Webster Bank Arena also serves as home to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League. We actually we able to watch the Sound Tigers practice before our morning skate that weekend which was pretty cool.

The arena, being home to a professional team, obviously seats many fans. Let's just say that I hope the Sound Tigers receive better support than the Pioneers because there were not many fans at the game. Despite the lack of energy in the stands, however, the venue was still an awesome place to play in.

The arena has an advanced lighting system and when the Pioneers score, the lights go dim and this is a light display. Although you don't wish to see it being the road team, its a pretty neat celebration to watch. There is also an enormous jumbo-tron display hanging over center ice which really adds a lot of character to the building. It is much bigger than most jumbo-tron screens, and its always cool to be able to watch the game on the screen while catching your breath after a long shift.

The ice surface, if I recall correctly, was very sticky and slow. This oftentimes happens with big arenas because its much harder to keep the ice and building cool. The boards were very lively, as are most professional arenas. I would say that is one of the primary differences between professional arenas and others; the glass and boards are made with higher quality and it allows the players to make better plays off of them. The ice rink always appears to be much larger in arenas with stadium seating as opposed to bleachers. I believe it is simply an illusion because the building is typically much bigger as well.

We won our game against the Sacred Heart Pioneers 5-3 at Bridgeport Arena. I was able to put a puck in the back of the net that game as well. It was definitely a big relief to get the monkey off of my back as I had not scored in quite a few games prior to that goal. I am 1-0 in the Webster Bank Arena and I hope to preserve my perfect record during my last two years of college hockey.

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

- Joshua Lammon

Warriors, Come Out and Play

Lawler Arena

Source: http://tinyurl.com/mrsfcof

North Andover, Massachusetts
Opened: 1972
Seating Capacity: 2549

The next arena I will be examining in my blog is Lawler Arena, which is home to the Merrimack Warriors ice hockey team.

Merrimack is one team that is does not participate in the Atlantic Hockey League. Instead, they play in the Hockey East Conference with schools such as Boston College, Boston University, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The arena is a cool college arena that is part of a multipurpose sports complex located on Merrimack's campus. There is a basketball arena located across a hallway from Lawler Arena.

Like that of Holy Cross' arena, Lawler Arena has painted stanchions. These stanchions are yellow instead of purple.
The arena has individual seating on three sides of arena. The seating is blue to match the Warriors' uniforms and rises to roughly ten rows. I believe the arena underwent renovations in 2010 which added the seat-back seating and the student section seating behind the goal-line. These renovations were said to have caused a rise in attendance.

Merrimack's arena also has an awesome digital screen that is located on the end of the rink without seating. It is made from a bunch of individual smaller screens that are in sync to create one larger display. It is a very cool technology and it gives the fans varying perspectives on the game.

I have only played one game at Lawler arena, but from what I can remember, the ice surface is rather quick and hard. Like I've said many times before, this creates a favorable environment to play on. The boards seemed to be rather lively which also facilitates a faster game speed.

We played the Warriors on a Friday night and there was a pretty good turnout in attendance. I really enjoy having the student section seated behind the goal-line as it seems to increase the volume of their voice. I definitely think it was an enjoyable atmosphere that I would definitely want to play in again.

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

- Joshua

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