Did you now Mariucci Arena is becoming a multi-use facility? No, I am not referring to the basketball state tournament games that were played there last March.

Rather, I happened to walk into Mariucci on Wednesday and what did I see? A stage, with hundreds of seats on the ice.

There was going to be a Welcome Week gathering there that night with 5,600 students and 450 groups leaders expected I was told. And Mariucci was ready.

It had new boards all around, without a single black puck mark. Maybe they should use white pucks to keep the boards clean? What do you think? Silly idea.

The new boards are much more arena-friendly. Sections of them can be taken out easily, even parts of a section, in some cases, so two steps can be put underneath the opening. Then the Maroosh is perfect for a big meeting or concert or whatever.

People can walk straight down the steps all the way to the ice, which they reach with the two-step movable stairs placed in the right spot.

The boards do not have the clear plexiglass panes yet, but soon will. And, a university official said, there will be no hardware in between the panes, to keep them attached to each other, to mar vision. Not sure how that will work.

The inside caps on top of the boards are made of rubber, which should help avoid freaky accidents like the one Tom Pohl was part of last season. Remember Pohl? He suffered a concussion and skull fraction when his helmet came off and his head hit the top of the boards in Mankato.

So the rubber cap — it’s actually pretty hard, not spongy — will be a nice safety update.

Also in the name of safety, there will be huge nets covering the fan section behind each goalie. Mariucci is the last WCHA arena to get these nets.

They are here, but as of Wednesday, were tucked away someplace and not up yet.

Gopher players will start informal practices Sept. 15, the first official practice is Oct. 4. Can’t wait for that. Got to get some black on those boards. Do you think they will let me write my name and date it? I’ll write small so nobody can see it. 

DID YOU KNOW?

U of M full-time students can go to most athletic events for free. This is the second year the U has gone to that policy in hopes more will attend games, matches, meets in sports such as volleyball, tennis, etc. They still have to pay if they want to attend football, basketball and hockey games.

Got to keep the major revenue streams flowing, I guess.  Â

This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Gophers men's hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.