From the Desk of Athletic Director Glenn Hofmann
This is the tenth edition of “From the AD’s Desk”
Photo Gallery of Summer Renovations / 2010-11 Hockey Schedule and Ticket Information / Support Merrimack Athletics / Online Store
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For any of you who have been involved in a construction or renovation project you certainly will understand when I tell you the last couple of months have been filled with many ups, downs and changes. I have tried to keep everyone updated and also been as transparent as possible (some have told me too transparent) in explaining what will be done. Before I go into the specific details of the renovations I do want to thank the over 200 people who have purchased a seat, the numerous people who have recently made donations to the project and the many individuals who have moved up payments of original pledges. Through all of your efforts and generosity we were able to begin the renovations in late May.
We have been able to raise over one million dollars in cash and an additional $200,000 in pledges. Due to the economy we have made some changes to the renovations from the last time we spoke and adjusted some of the timing.
Phase One of construction has begun and will be completed in time for the home-opener on October 16th against UConn on Homecoming weekend. This phase of the construction will include new blue chair back seats on the entire home side of the arena, new bleacher seating behind the goal at the parking lot side of the arena, a direct entrance from the Blue Line Club to the seating area, a new press box on the home side of the arena, movement of the penalty box and scorekeepers box to the home bench side, movement of the graphics portion of the scoreboard to the opposite side, removal of the “tin foil” that was previously on the ceiling (this makes a big difference in that the ceiling seems higher), code work which includes sprinklers, wall reinforcements and ADA compliance, and a paved walkway next to the arena from the parking lot that will replace the man-made dirt walkway.
We have posted a photo gallery online chronicling the first phase of construction. We will continue to post updates throughout the summer on our athletics website.
The next phase of the renovations will be completed at the latest in December following the Northeastern game on December 4th and prior to the January 8th game at home against Maine. Believe me when I tell you that I am hoping that we can get them done much earlier than that, but I don’t want to give a date that we can’t meet. These renovations include new blue chair back seating on the entire visitor’s side, a walkway underneath the visitor’s side for the visiting team with direct access to the bench, new lighting and an additional heat recovery system.
I was hoping to have all of the renovations done prior to the first game. Still, given the length of this project the initial impact is going to be quite impressive. This project has literally covered ten years and it was one of the top priorities when I got here. And we are not done. We still need to renovate the lobby from an imaging standpoint and ultimately I would like to change the entrance to directly from the parking lot. While I think and hope the lobby will be done in the next year my sense is the new entrance is at least a couple of years away.
I truly believe and hope that all Merrimack alumni and fans are excited about the work that is being done. This is a great time to be at Merrimack. We have made significant strides and progress in the past year not only with the hockey program, but in the athletics program in general.
We now have a new President, Dr. Chris Hopey, who is a big supporter of hockey and athletics in general, and the optimism on campus is really high. This is the new Merrimack which embraces the past success and looks forward to how we can make things better moving forward. Thanks for being such a part of this and I look forward to seeing you on October 16th!
Glenn
