Union College hockey 2025-26 thread

[ecachawkeyfan]

Union begins a new era this fall as the team moves to the new M&T Bank Center in downtown Schenectady.

Certainly, Messa Rink had its share of faults for anyone going to a game there. Parking was a challenge. There weren't nearly enough bathrooms. Concessions were limited, and few seats had backs.

The new rink addresses all those shortcomings of Messa Rink. But with all that comes one significant drawback: It's now much harder to get a good seat at or near center ice despite a similar capacity to Messa Rink.

Single-game tickets went on sale the other day, and seats at/near center ice are essentially gone already for any game this season. I was really taken aback by that.

What's largely left are seats in the corners or one endzone (the other endzone appears entirely dedicated to students - kind of curious because student support at Messa sometimes wasn't great). Endzone and corner seats aren't ideal spots.

With Messa Rink, I rarely had issues getting a seat at/near center ice relatively close to gameday - even during the early-mid 2010's heyday when the program was more popular than it is now. I could go online a week before a game, and find something there.

The problem is that there were no endzone or corner seats at Messa. Everything was on the sides. Counting the lower red seats closer to the ice and the bleachers up top, there were probably about five rows down below and maybe another 10-12 up top where the bleachers were.

With the new rink, which has seating spread all around the ice (including corners and endzones), there are as few as 5 rows per section, especially near mid-ice. That's as many rows as the red chairbacks had at Messa - it's like the up top bleachers have entirely been eliminated.

The program isn't more popular now than it was a decade ago when it was contending for league/national titles. The problem is that there are now many fewer seats in the prime locations at/near mid ice. Seats there have essentially been lost because the new rink adds endzone and corner seating, which Messa didn't have.

Like many people, I thought Union needed a new home for years. But from fan perspective, it might be a case of be careful what you wish for.

 

[jericho]

And less supply for the same amount of demand =increase in ticket pricing. TBH, Union student support at Messa was virtually non-existent. Now you’re asking them to venture to a place that requires they drive or a shuttle. Tough ask.

 

[ecachawkeyfan]

And less supply for the same amount of demand =increase in ticket pricing. TBH, Union student support at Messa was virtually non-existent. Now you’re asking them to venture to a place that requires they drive or a shuttle. Tough ask.

I agree. I don't know why they'd devote an entire endzone section to students who often didn't turn out in big numbers on campus. Even worse for non-students - and non-students are the majority of the people who attend Union games - is that the student endzone section is the more desirable end where Union shoots twice.



While the seating capacity of this new rink is comparable, it seems like the figure in the new place probably includes suite seating too (which obviously didn't exist at Messa). The new rink appears to have 7 suites. I'd venture to say the number of actual non-suite seats in the new rink is less, along with far fewer in prime spots.

Five rows of seating in a section, like in section 6 and 14, is pretty puny.

Here’s a good example - a non-conference game in mid-December vs Alaska. Probably one of the least desirable games on the schedule.

The best sections in the rink are 3-6, and then 14-17. Those are closest to mid-ice on the sides.

In those 8 sections, there is a grand total of 1 seat available right now, plus one handicap. Everything else available is in the corners or the one end zone.




Messa, by comparison:



Way more seating in the middle, largely because of the upper seating level that no longer exists in the new barn. And the student section (section 14) was a fraction of the size devoted to students in the new rink.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

The goal of the new rink is to make it more inviting for fans to attend....thereby leading to a full house. Which helps the team with a great environment for home games AND is very beneficial for recruiting. Kids care about amenities these days, and Union now has the newest rink in the league. I am sure the coaches have been leaning in hard to this on the recruiting trail. I have no inside knowledge, but would bet a $2 bill that they are holding onto the middle ice seats in the hopes that they sell a few more season tickets in the next 6 weeks or so. With the site lines in that place, there are no bad seats...they are all on top of the ice.

 

[jjpavano]

I have to disagree w hawkey fan. My kid is entering her senior year at union and I’ve become a fan of the men’s team. First, the capacity of the new arena is about the same as messa: 2200. Second, messa seating was horrible, with most seats being wood bleachers and non ADA or current code compliant-stairs that weren’t even the same rise or height, which is dangerous. Third, Messa had almost zero concessions to speak of. Fourth, no end seating at all and the staff did not allow fans to stand along the glass at the ends. Also I disagree that end seating is bad for hockey. End seating provides full length view of the ice and is good for seeing breakout and rushes develop. IMO low side seating has poor or no sight lines along the boards. Yes could the student support been better? Yes. But I think one of the issues was a poorly defined student section and the students were disbursed around the arena. Now the students will be concentrated in one section. Most college arenas have the student section at the end (better to taunt the visiting goalie!) the new arena is less than 5 min drive from campus. Your concern about the lack of available seating would have been easily solved by buying season tickets like I did (and I live 2 plus hours away). There are some really good places to eat in the new development along the river also (Shaker & Vine especially) and lots of parking, including a free garage. My only observation is that the new rink should have more seating, but I suspect there will be lots of standing room tickets sold, typical for college games. It’s a beautiful new arena which the program desperately needed for many reasons the least of which is recruiting. Kids coming in want Quinnipiac-like facilities. The team seems to had a good recruiting/portal year (I.e, Korpi from Michigan in net etc). I’m looking forward to the first year in the new rink!

 

[DDobert24]

Definitely in the minority, but as a season ticket holder, I'm not looking forward to the new rink. I understand it is totally necessary for recruiting and retainment, but it could have been so much more than it has turned out to be. Don't love that if someone wants to come to a game with my family, they won't be able to sit around us which is my main issue with the seating configuration. The biggest issue is that the casino is running the show, so there will be no value to be had. The reality is, if every game is a sellout, season ticket prices will continue to rise. If every game isn't a sellout, we will see Thursday/Friday and Saturday/Sunday weekends which is bad for the conference as a whole. I personally wouldn't mind Thursday & Sunday games as they would work better with my hockey schedule, but a headache for many. The original rumored facility that was squashed by COVID would have been the perfect scenario with a capacity of something in the 4k region. I hope I'm proven wrong and it's great, time will tell. I just don't want to hear any of the season ticket holders who complained about Messa also turn around and complain about the Harbor.

 

[ecachawkeyfan]

Definitely in the minority, but as a season ticket holder, I'm not looking forward to the new rink. I understand it is totally necessary for recruiting and retainment, but it could have been so much more than it has turned out to be. Don't love that if someone wants to come to a game with my family, they won't be able to sit around us which is my main issue with the seating configuration. The biggest issue is that the casino is running the show, so there will be no value to be had. The reality is, if every game is a sellout, season ticket prices will continue to rise. If every game isn't a sellout, we will see Thursday/Friday and Saturday/Sunday weekends which is bad for the conference as a whole. I personally wouldn't mind Thursday & Sunday games as they would work better with my hockey schedule, but a headache for many. The original rumored facility that was squashed by COVID would have been the perfect scenario with a capacity of something in the 4k region. I hope I'm proven wrong and it's great, time will tell. I just don't want to hear any of the season ticket holders who complained about Messa also turn around and complain about the Harbor.

I think this hits a lot of marks on the head. The new facility was badly needed from a recruitment/retention/competitive balance standpoint... that much is pretty much without argument. But I'm not sure if they got it right for the people who actually go to a game.

My work schedule fluctuates a lot, so I don't always know until closer to a game if I'm working or not. It's the main reason I don't have season tickets. With Messa, I could still get a seat in a good spot near mid-ice closer to a given game - that isn't true in the new facility.

Endzone seating isn't ideal because you're so far away from the one end of the ice. Ken Schott has written about that a lot, as the press box in Messa was at the endzone. He's correct on that.

Corner seating isn't as bad, but when there's only 5-7 rows in those corner sections, they're all relatively low corner seats, which isn't great. If you're in a corner, you'd like to be a little higher.

I don't know how many STH Union has, but I have to imagine most people who go to the games are not STH.

Personally, I think a 4,000 seat arena is TOO big for Union. That said, I wish they had built it a little bigger, say 3,000-3,200 fixed seats. That would have added more seats around the rink and alleviated some of these concerns. Something more comparable in capacity to Appleton or Cheel.

It kind of sounds like Union was lucky to get the money they got for the rink.

 

[Wicked Slappaahs]

Definitely in the minority, but as a season ticket holder, I'm not looking forward to the new rink. I understand it is totally necessary for recruiting and retainment, but it could have been so much more than it has turned out to be. Don't love that if someone wants to come to a game with my family, they won't be able to sit around us which is my main issue with the seating configuration. The biggest issue is that the casino is running the show, so there will be no value to be had. The reality is, if every game is a sellout, season ticket prices will continue to rise. If every game isn't a sellout, we will see Thursday/Friday and Saturday/Sunday weekends which is bad for the conference as a whole. I personally wouldn't mind Thursday & Sunday games as they would work better with my hockey schedule, but a headache for many. The original rumored facility that was squashed by COVID would have been the perfect scenario with a capacity of something in the 4k region. I hope I'm proven wrong and it's great, time will tell. I just don't want to hear any of the season ticket holders who complained about Messa also turn around and complain about the Harbor

Going to the expense of building a 4K capacity rink for it to only be 1/2 full most of the time is nonsensical and a recipe for red ink. Lest we forget, universities in the northeast are facing an uphill battle of declining enrollments and are fighting for their very futures...Covid only compounded the issue. Unless you have billionaire alumni ponying up BIG checks for facilities, small northeast schools aren't in the position for taj mahal athletic facilities. The Harbor arrangement was an elegant solution to a problem the school couldn't remedy on its own ...at least not in a cost effective manner. They preserved the future of the program, fans should be ecstatic.

Just to clarify, the "landlord" is the Galesi Group, not the Casino. The school is relieved of the day to day headaches of upkeep and maintenance and Galesi can market the facility for events outside of hockey season for cash flow. Win-win.