Hillsdale’s athletic program is missing the best game, the game that many Michiganders grew up with, the game that the state is known for: The good old hockey game.
Therefore, as its next construction project, Hillsdale should build a regulation-sized indoor ice arena, and its next sports team should be a hockey team.
A hockey team would boost student morale and Charger pride. At last Saturday’s home basketball game, the student section was electrified. Students devotedly dressed to the USA theme and cheered loudly the whole game, and showed passion, pride, and unity by storming the court after the game-winning dunk.
Students need more chances to show this Hillsdale pride than four to five home football games to watch in Michigan Fall weather (i.e., freezing rain) and a few home basketball games, half of which fall on busy Thursdays. A typical Division II hockey season starts after football ends in November and continues through March. It would bring this extra entertainment to campus, especially in the lull between the football and basketball seasons and after the basketball season fades away as second semester begins.
A rink and a team would also attract prospective students, especially out-of-staters who associate the sport with Michigan, where Detroit is known as “Hockeytown,” and the Red Wings have made the playoffs for the past 23 consecutive years.
They would also bring students interested in hockey and figure skating to campus. The fact that the nearest rink is in Jackson (and it lacks figure skating ice time) made choosing Hillsdale much more difficult for me.
Likewise, hockey games would entice alumni to return, especially members of Hillsdale’s hockey teams from the ’70s. What could be better than watching a Charger fly up the ice on a breakaway and score one top shelf? Or wrecking someone with a clean check against the boards?
Building a rink and creating a team from scratch would be a large investment, but wouldn’t lack return. Last fall, USA Today ranked Detroit the No. 1 sports city in America, and in 2010 Forbes ranked Detroit Red Wings fans the third-best sports fans in the country. So obviously there are local hockey fans who would flock to Hillsdale for games, not only bringing revenue to the college, but stimulating the local economy. An arena would help the town by creating rink management jobs as well as simply bringing people who would surely patronize local businesses.
Additionally, the talent and interest in skating already on campus demands a rink. Many of Hillsdale’s baseball and football players once played hockey, as did students not currently involved in athletics because this sport is missing. A rink would also give SAB more chances to unite campus through open skate nights and pick-up hockey games. Professors and their children would even enjoy using the ice.
Waking up in the morning and heading over to the rink, having open, clean ice waiting to be skated on: It seems like paradise, especially during hard times. Skating is a stress relieving activity that everyone can enjoy and a beautiful art that would benefit our liberal arts education.
This idea has received the same response since I’ve been here: ‘but we have had a rink,’ the outdoor ice rink that sat in the middle of the quad during the coldest months. While outdoor rinks are fun, they are almost impossible to keep smooth and depend heavily on the weather.
Craig Connor ’77, owner of “The Rink,” the outdoor 140-by-75 foot outdoor ice rink where many students skate on the weekends, said that on warm years he’ll only get up to eight days of use out of his ice; in other years, he’ll get up to 80.
To unite the student section, to add an attraction for prospectives and alumni, to stimulate the local economy and bring revenue into the college, and to add a source of stress relief and good times for students, Hillsdale should build an ice arena.
