Groundbreaking for the Charles W. "Lefty" Smith Jr. Rink is set for spring 2010 with a rather swift expected turnaround time. Rumors have it that Irish head coach Jeff Jackson presented athletic director Jack Swarbrick and the Board of Trustees with an ultimatum to build the Irish icers a new home or find a new coach.
Such a request was not too surprising as the Irish have a rink no better suited for play than a small municipal venue. Until Jackson arrived there was not much excitement, or merit, to build a new home for the Irish.
Under Jackson's tutelage, however, the Irish program has soared to heights never before seen by the blue and gold including the University's first ever appearance in the National Championship game in the 2007/2008 season.
With a much needed facilities upgrade in the near future Jackson and the Irish faithful are hopeful that Notre Dame will create its own footprint in collegiate hockey in competition to Michigan, Michigan State, Boston College, Minnesota, and North Dakota among others.
What follows are additional renderings of the proposed 5,000 seat arena.
4 comments:
Is the new rink still going to be attached to the Purcell - JACC building?
Great question - if the renderings are any hint I believe the plan is to build a new standalone rink on the edge of campus alongside Edison/Angela Blvd. This would enable easy public access to the rink, which was one of the original goals of the project.
While I was at ND getting my Master of Architecture I produced this design. Take a look:
http://www.bootsma-design.com/arch-design-arena.html
Looks great. Nice work, Boots. Go Irish!
Post a Comment