Hockey

[Nidaros]

Re: Hockey

Well I am a hockey fan (grew up playing it), but I still don't think that SDSU should have a team in the forseeable future. The Larson Ice Center is a great facility, but not for a college team. There was a story in the Register this weekend about improvements they are doing to the facility. http://www.brookingsregister.com/V2_...&story_id=3629
They are adding seating to the oposite side of the current seating, which was in the original plans of the rink, as well as doing some cosmetic improvements. I'm not sure what this would bring the capacity to, but I doubt they could hold more than 4,000 in the main rink. Brookings would be better served by a Junior 'B' team (a few levels lower than the Stampede) that could play in the Minnesota league. Hockey at State just doesn't make sense.

I also found a virtual tour of the rink if you're interested
http://homepage.mac.com/techase/Larson/Larson06.html
The Red rink is the main competition rink. In this shot you can see the side where they will be adding seating to enclose the rink.

Larson Manufacturing has done a great deal for hockey in Brookings and it looks like they will do more, but generally Dale does not miss many bb games. I have sat in back of him for a number of years. If hockey can be scheduled so as not to conflict with SDSU athletic events, I would not have a problem with it. Who knows I might even attend a match. My point though is Brookings market for sports is very limited and conflicts even with high school events seems to hurt overall attendence at SDSU. This is a factor to be mindful of. Good luck with the hockey and I am happy you enjoy it.

Seems like a few years back UND was moving BB games up in time or back so as not to conflict with home hockey matches.