Opened in 1975, the facility, first known as Achilles Rink, has housed the men’s team for 50 years, and the women since the 1999-2000 season. It’s an old-school hockey rink, where the fans are on top of you and the noise level is so loud that it can intimidate visiting teams and their supporters.
Next season, the two teams will be playing at Mohawk Harbor Event Center. The women’s team will play the first-ever game Friday, Sept. 26, against an opponent to be determined. The men make their debut Saturday, Oct. 4, against Army West Point.
Before they can think about next season, both teams still have home games to play this season. The women play their final two regular-season games this weekend, hosting Colgate on Friday at 6 p.m. and Cornell at 3 p.m. Saturday. They are hoping for one more home game in two weeks if they can earn an ECAC Hockey tournament first-round game berth. With four games remaining, Union is a half-point behind Brown for the final home-ice slot.
Meanwhile, the men have four regular-season home games remaining — next Friday against Quinnipiac and next Saturday against Princeton, and then Feb. 28 versus Cornell and March 1 against Colgate to end the regular season. The men are looking to play home games in the ECACH tournament, either in a first-round game the weekend of March 7, or the best-of-three quarterfinals March 14-16.
Once the hockey season is done, what is the future of Messa Rink? The Daily Gazette sat down with Union Athletic Director Jim McLaughlin to discuss that. Answers have been lightly edited.
Question: Jim, what can you tell us about what the future holds for Messa Rink once the hockey season is done there?
Fans pack the bleachers behind the players benches at Messa Rink. After 50 years, Union will play at a new rink next season.
Peter R. Barber
Answer: We're really excited about what we're going to be able to do with Messa Rink. While Mohawk Harbor is outstanding for both of our hockey programs, … it's going to free up a lot of square footage for the remainder of our 24 sports here. So it's going to provide us additional locker room space for some of our programs. And what we're really excited about is that we're in the planning stages right now to convert Messa Rink, where we will remove the boards, glass and bleachers, and that will become an indoor turf facility, which will be outstanding for all of our sports. Particularly as I'm looking at our spring sports right now, lacrosse, baseball, softball and the weather outside, it'll be a great place for them to train and practice, but for all of our sports throughout the year.
Q: When does work begin on getting rid of the boards, the glass and the stands?
A: We’re still finalizing the date. First and foremost, we've got to make sure that we've got a home at Mohawk Harbor, which we're confident on the schedule and timing and different things like that. But until we see that facility up and running, we're not going to touch Messa Rink until we're completely done at Mohawk Harbor.
Fans wave as they are caught on camera on the big screen over center ice at Messa Rink on Jan. 18.
Peter R. Barber
A: From everything that's being reported back, the project remains on schedule. The original intended [completion] date was Sept. 1, and it looks as though they're on track to meet that. Now anything can happen in construction, but I'm really confident about this team, Lechase [Construction] and Galesi [Group], and their ability to get this project done in time, if not ahead of time.
Q: As far as locker room space right now, you have the men's hockey locker room, the visiting locker room, the women's hockey locker room and you have some lockers downstairs. Do you expect more locker room space in Mesa once the hockey is out?
A: We don’t, but we certainly expect to repurpose existing space. We're not going to need a visiting hockey locker room any longer, so we can turn that into space for one of our teams. And we have two outstanding locker rooms that we can utilize for our existing teams, as well. We're still planning through exactly where we're going to place our teams, between Messa Rink and the [Memorial] Fieldhouse, but it's good to have some flexibility to be able to utilize that space.
Q: What do you think the cost is going to be to get all this done?
Union takes on Vermont at Messa Rink Saturday, December 14, 2024.
Peter R. Barber
A: It's with the architect now, so I'll wait until they come back with some cost estimates. We had some preliminary renderings that they gave us, but right now they're working on the cost analysis for it.
Q: With getting rid of the bleachers, the boards and the glass, how much more room do you think you'll have?
A: Just rough preliminary estimates, it's about 70 by 40 yards [of extra space]. You’ve got the ice sheet itself, and we know what that is. But taking out the bleachers really gives us some additional room there, so it will give our teams plenty of space to get the work done that they need.
Q: Is the building in good shape and that there's no structural issues or anything like that?
A: The building’s in terrific shape. It's our hub of athletics, and it’s going to continue to remain our hub of athletics, from our training services to strength and conditioning to a majority of our locker rooms, as well. It's a beautiful building with the dome and all of the trusses and arched wood that come together. So it's going to remain a beautiful building that's in great shape.
