Ice Arena - History

With the endorsement and support of then President William T. Jerome and the Board of Trustees, construction of the Ice Arena began in the spring of 1965. Certainly, a number of additional people, such as Dr. Samuel Cooper, were also instrumental in this endeavor. The Ice Arena was completed in the winter of 1966 and opened in February 1967. The facility was constructed at the cost of 1.8 million dollars. In the fall of 1988, the BGSU Board of Trustees approved the installation of additional permanent seating in the north-end of the facility at a cost of $650,000. Seating capacity is listed at approximately 4,700 and overall capacity is 5,000.

The Ice Arena is presently in its 40thth full year of operation. The original intention was to operate the facility from September through May and close during the summer months. However, the Ice Arena has evolved into a nearly year-round operation. The facility is open eleven months of each year and closes only for five weeks in May and early June. During this “shut-down” period, major renovation, repair, and maintenance projects are undertaken.

The primary mission and purpose of the Bowling Green State University Ice Arena is to allocate the utilization of the facility as maximally as possible, with fairness and equity, among diverse constituent groups. The Ice Arena endeavors to accommodate BGSU students, BGSU faculty and staff, and members of the Bowling Green municipal community and surrounding areas.

Moreover, it is the goal of the Ice Arena’s operation to strike a relative balance between hockey, figure skating, and curling activities, as well as a number of other activities and programs. Certainly, the Ice Arena endorses the pursuit of these goals with the university core values as primary concern (respect for one another, cooperation, intellectual and spiritual growth, creative imaginings, and pride in a job well done).

The BGSU Ice Arena is committed, but not limited, to the following:

• Promoting and encouraging physical activity and healthy lifestyles.
• Providing the opportunity to participate in a variety of ice-related recreational activities.
• Encouraging and endorsing the values of sportsmanship, competition, fair play, and teamwork.
• Actively recruiting and retaining BGSU students.
• Effectively fostering the integration and cooperation of the BGSU and municipal communities.
• Providing exposure to BGSU to area school students, as well as their parents, by hosting a variety of special events (i.e. various high school hockey tournaments, figure skating competitions, Falcon Hockey School, Ice Arena Evening Hockey School and Summer Skating School.) Many of these participants and spectators come to BGSU from outside the immediate northwest Ohio geographical region.
• Providing the opportunity for current BGSU students to enhance their formal education with positions of responsibility and decision-making as Ice Arena employees
• Encouraging and advocating a collaborative and cooperative effort on the part of all Ice Arena employees to evidence a “customer first” philosophy, and strive to accommodate all members of our diverse patronage to the very best of our ability.

A varied and diverse constituency of BGSU and Bowling Green community organizations utilize the facilities at the BGSU Ice Arena in the pursuit of their activities:

• BGSU Varsity Hockey program,
• men’s and women’s club hockey teams;
• BGSU Synchronized Skating team;
• HMSLS skating, hockey, and curling classes;
• intramural hockey, curling, and broomball
• BGSU Christian Student Association.
• Bowling Green Youth Hockey Association,
• Bowling Green Figure Skating Club,
• Bowling Green Junior Skating Club,
• Bowling Green Curling Club,
• Bowling Green High School Varsity and Junior Varsity hockey programs,
• Ice Arena Group Skating Lessons,
• individual figure skating programs,
• Public Skating sessions,
• high school hockey tournaments in November and December,
• and periodic figure skating competitions.

Additional patrons utilizing the facility include school and church groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and other individual private groups. Summer activities include the annual Summer Skating School, Falcon Hockey School, Evening Hockey School, and various hockey leagues and private rentals.

Most recently completed is the expansion of the BGSU Varsity Hockey locker room to the north and west of their previous location. Construction was completed in the summer of 2001 at a cost of $750,000.