New Hockey Rink
The recent announcement of President Hopkins that funds to build a new hockey rink had been accepted from an anonymous donor is welcome to the many devoted followers of the winter sport. It is expected that the rink will be ready for use for the opening of the season, immediately following the Christmas vacation. Construction has already started on the $60,000 structure. For many years, hockey partisans have hoped for an enclosed rink, but other needs of the College were more pressing and had to be met. It was realized that only by means of a gift specifically for that purpose could the rink be built, in view of the many calls for funds now existent in the College, both for endowment and for new buildings.
More than a year ago the Dartmouth trustees voted that a hockey rink should be built as soon as funds were provided for the purpose. At that time it seemed probable that a group of alumni, headed by one already a generous benefactor of the College, would contribute toward the building of an arena to house an enclosed rink. The plan did not develop in time to build a rink for use during last season. Active agitation for a rink has been carried on in the meantime, however, by a group of Dartmouth alumni interested in hockey. The donor of this latest gift en- ables the College to fill what graduating classes have often voted to be the greatest athletic need of the College.
The cost of construction of the rink is estimated at $60,000. J. Fredrick Larson, college architect, describes the building as a simple structure with main points balancing the Davis Field House on the opposite wing of the gymnasium. Viewed from the exterior, the rink will appear low with two prominent main entrances, one facing Park Street at the east and the other at the west near the gymnasium. There will be four exits in addition to the entrances. The rink will be 220 feet long with a roof span 116 feet wide and 33 feet above the ice. A patented truss which has been developed for airplane hangars and hockey rinks will be used, making possible a large arch without any supporting trusses. The ice surface will be 188 feet by 85 feet. All of the exterior walls will be of brick to match the general architecture of the College.
Natural ice, considered much superior to artificial ice for hockey, will be formed in the new rink by the use of vents opening from the walls under the stands. These openings will fill the rink with cold air during the night and once a good body of ice is formed, it will be possible to hold this during any protracted thaw. This method of forming ice has been used successfully throughout Canada and in many rinks in this country. A notable example of the results obtained in this way was demonstrated to the Dartmouth team last winter when a game was played at Hamilton College on excellent ice at a rink very similar to the one under construction here. The outside temperature was above freezing, but the ice was successfully held through the thaw. Not only will the building provide good hockey ice, but it will also be comfortable for spectators. The seating capacity of the rink will be 1,700 with standing room for about 1,000.
President Hopkins said that the plans adopted were in accordance with the suggestion of Mr. H. R. Heneage, Supervisor of Athletics, whose ceaseless insistence upon the need of a rink and whose suggestions in regard to practicable plans had induced the gift. Mr. Heneage stated that "the new rink will fill a long-felt want in the development of Dartmouth athletics. It assures us a proper reception of visiting hockey teams. It will now be possible to carry through the hockey schedule without interruptions due to unplayable ice. There will also be much more improved facilities for spectators."
