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Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Ice Arena Project Is On Schedule to Be Completed Soon
June 21, 2001 | Ice Hockey
In college hockey, the ice is the same everywhere - cold and hard. It is outside the glass where things have to make a difference.
Twenty-five years ago, Bowling Green State University had a hockey facility that was state-of-the-art, and the Falcons were one of the most powerful programs in the nation. Bowling Green was the dominant team in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association from 1975-85, winning the league title six times. The Falcons won the national championship in 1984.
But slowly the paint started to peel in the BGSU Ice Arena, the metal showed some rust, and the program started to slip. Meanwhile, the rest of the CCHA put up new buildings to house their hockey programs, or made drastic renovations to their existing structures. And many of them passed the Falcons on the ice.
The high school hockey flash from suburban Toronto who knew nothing about Columbus or Cincinnati but could quickly locate Bowling Green on the map due to the success of Falcon hockey was now taking a longer look at Michigan State, Michigan and Ohio State. Bowling Green could no longer battle with the big boys when it came to courting - and landing - top players.
Soon, with an expansion and an upgrading of the BG arena, that is about to change "For recruiting purposes, you just can't compete if you have a drab, old building. That's just the facts of college hockey today," said Rob Blake, a former BGSU player and a member of the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. "We all love that place, but we were also very aware it had to change if BG was going to return to the top of college hockey."
Other than the installation of additional seating and new lockers a little over 10 years ago, the Ice Arena had remained stagnant since it was opened in 1967. When head coach Buddy Powers brings recruits and their parents to his office, they have to squeeze into the 10-by-12 windowless room that is bunkered in concrete under the seats of the ice house.
Powers had sketched out plans for a renovation and expansion of the Ice Arena as far back as 1986, when he was an assistant coach at BG. Fifteen years later, Powers will get the keys to his new office - with windows - when BG opens a renovated and expanded Ice Arena next month.
The project, which will be completed at a cost of about $750,000 and paid for with private funding, did not affect the playing surface and seating areas (5,000 capacity), but included a significant upgrade of the locker room area as well as an addition on the northeast end of the present structure that will house a conference room, fitness and training center, coaches offices and its crown jewel - an Alumni Room that will honor former Falcon players.
That group includes 30 current and former NHL players, BG's two winners of the Hobey Baker Award - college hockey's Heisman - and many other All-Americans. The two Hobey winners were Brian Holzinger (1995) and George McPhee (1982). This past season there were 12 former Falcons in the NHL, including Blake and Greg De Vries on the Avalanche.
"There have been some unbelievable players here who have had a huge impact on the hockey world, and that is something we need to showcase," Powers said. "We need to give kids that sense of our history. This will leave them with a positive impression." Blake, Nelson Emerson, Dave Ellett and Garry Galley were some of the most zealous supporters.
"Success put BG on the hockey map in the nation, and throughout North America," said Emerson, who plays for the Los Angeles Kings. "That reputation has faded a bit over the years, but we can get it back. We hope this starts us moving in that direction again." Powers, who stood outside in the mud and the snow late last fall before construction began and tried to envision what the finished product might look like, said he cannot explain the excitement he'll feel when he brings that first recruit through the new entrance and into the Alumni Room.
"There's a huge sense of pride involved with this because so many people chipped in, in so many ways," he said.
"People just want us to win, and they say, 'how can we help you?' These people are behind us and they have showed their commitment to BG hockey by supporting this project. Now we have to go out and get the players and pack this place, and win games."
