A blue hue falls over the ice as the starting lineup is announced in the brand-new Toscano Family Ice Forum. Loyal fans cheer and the band plays. In the midst of all this, students who have waited in line for hours to get the “best seats in the house” are being told to move from their seats.
The $72 million “barn” as said in hockey lingo is stunning, shining, and brand new. After playing in the XL Center in Hartford starting back in 2014, it has been highly awaited for students to finally have home ice. According to the University Athletics website, the place is completely decked out for both the women’s and men’s ice hockey teams at the University of Connecticut. The Ice Bus has made its final stop on Jim Calhoun Way after years in the making, and yet within days of having it, it’s become an issue.
The Student section
The student section, sections 106-108 plus a student deck, is incredibly tight, holding give or take 200 seats. The student deck is another issue within itself. If you’re not in the first row, you can’t see anything. This also makes the student section the smallest section in the entire rink. Section 107, center ice, is taken up by a pep band, making the section feel even smaller.
Sections 105 and 109, right next to the student sections, are held by season ticket holders. They look identical to one another, causing students to sit there. The lack of designation has become a major flaw in the rink, and this leads to the inevitable “You’re in my seat, get out” speech from the season ticket holders.
The students who actually sit in their correct section have also received this speech. Students will get their free tickets that are marked General Admission, and then sell them to places such as SeatGeek or Ticketmaster, where they’re given a number. Students treat GA as first come, first serve, which is what it is, but then the adults who buy the tickets with a randomly assigned number show up five minutes before the game and boot the students.
Not enough space
Tickets also sell out in a matter of minutes after the transition from XL to Toscano, adding to the list of issues at the new rink. The total seat count is 2,600, which is significantly smaller than other college hockey rinks. The reigning NCAA D1 national championship Quinnipiac Bobcats play in the M&T Bank Arena which holds 3,386 people. Even the historic “Yale Whale” aka Ingalls Rink holds 3,500 and was only $1.5 million to build back in 1958. Students at Sacred Heart University have also felt that their rink is too small, after receiving a new arena around the same time UConn did. But The Martire Family Arena holds 3,600 people. If the Pioneers are complaining, imagine how the Huskies feel.
With all of this piling up upon itself, it’s making students not want to come to the games at all. From an outside perspective, people are shocked after sophomore superstar Matthew Wood was picked 15 overall in the 2023 NHL Draft. It’s become a fight for students to feel comfortable in their own arena. But change is trying to be made.
what’s changed?
As of Nov. 10, 2023, if there are empty seats once the second period starts, students who cannot find a seat can sit there. This seems like a great solution in theory until security guards won’t allow students to move into the open seats. During the following home game on Nov. 18, 2023, it was announced over the loudspeakers, so the issue was resolved. This has continued at the following home games at the Toscano Family Ice Forum. But the camaraderie and community remain behind the net, so spreading out students isn’t helping the cause of creating a sense of togetherness.
There have been thoughts and ideas on how to fix the issue coming from fans and students. One idea includes checking student ID before sitting in the student section. Others have suggested getting rid of the student deck altogether or getting the band out of section 107 and putting them on the student deck. All of these solutions could happen, some easier than others, but all are possible solutions.
I am a student section leader recruited by UConn Athletics marketing to help create tradition and hype around the team and to say it’s been hard is an understatement. With the lack of student tickets and the way students have been treated, they don’t want to come back. Not to mention the fact that the Huskies have only won two games at Toscano, one of them being over winter break so most students weren’t there anyway. For whatever reason, most times the Huskies will lose at home and win on the road. This doesn’t help the hype at all. It’s impossible to get chants started if we aren’t scoring and the band is in the middle so we can’t talk to the other side of the student section. We have no core fan base, which sucks to say, but it’s true. The only way I’ve been able to go to all the home games is the fact that my compensation for my position was season tickets and I have a car. For the CT Ice tournament, which was hosted by UConn, there were no buses provided for students to go to the championship game. Some students had to Uber to the XL Center after waiting for a bus for 30 minutes. It’s unacceptable and I don’t blame people for not coming.
The massive lack of communication between fans, students, staff, and the “bigwigs” is causing a huge rift with hockey goers at the university. UConn has the potential to grow the program, but these minor setbacks have begun to become major for everyone involved. Hopefully, there will be some changes at Toscano within the next couple of months, or else the program will freeze over.