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Two hockey “superfans”
at the pep rally: history major Michelle
Small ’10 and psychology
major Lessie
Johnson ’10. |
It was an event 35 years in the making. During the week
of Oct. 17, the SUNY Oswego campus celebrated the grand
opening of the Campus Center convocation center/ice
arena, the first new building on campus in three and
a half decades.
Faculty staff, students and community members had a
preview of the Campus Center, with open houses Tuesday
and Wednesday, and a pep rally to cheer the men’s
and women’s ice hockey teams to victory on Thursday.
The big event was Friday, Oct. 20, as the puck dropped
for the first time in intercollegiate play on the new
ice, as the Lakers took on the Utica College Pioneers
in the first men’s home game. The standing room
only crowd of 2,980 cheered the Lakers on to a 4-3 victory
over the visitors.
The women had their inaugural games on the new ice Saturday
and Sunday, handily defeating Chatham College by scores
of 3-1 on Saturday and 6-0 on Sunday.
The reaction to the new building was enthusiastic.
“The new arena is spectacular,” said
Dr. Myles Brand, president of the National Collegiate
Athletic Association, who was on campus for the second
annual Louis A. Borrelli Media Summit. He especially
praised the fact that the arena is physically connected
to academic buildings, Swetman and Poucher halls. “That
shows the campus and president fully understand that
athletics is integrally connected to academics,”
Brand said. “Not only is it great to have this
new building, but it makes a positive statement about
the Oswego campus.”
Students do “the wave”
at the pep rally Thursday, Oct. 19, kicking off
the ice hockey season. |
On hand for the community open house on Wednesday was
Charles ”Bud” Coward
’49, who was instrumental in much of the
campus improvements of the 1960s. Coward, who worked
with Golden Romney to purchase a drill hall from Seneca
Naval Training Base that became SUNY’s first ice
hockey rink (Romney Field House, closed in February),
called the new arena “a shining example, a knockout”
and “long overdue.”
Thursday saw more than 1,000 students pour into the
arena for a pep rally supporting the men’s and
women’s hockey teams.
Free T-shirts proclaiming the wearer an “Oswego
State Hockey Superfan” and emblazoned with “You’ve
Been Iced,” made the student seating section a
blaze of gold and green.
Adding to the festive atmosphere was the pep band, under
the direction of new music faculty member Trevor Jorgenson.
As the band played fan favorites like Queen’s
“We are the Champions” and “Another
One Bites the Dust,” students under the banners
of various residence halls sang along, cheered and did
“the wave.”
A big hit was “Mini Zamboni,” constructed
by technology students under the direction of Professor
Dan Tryon ’89.
The perfect one-third-scale model of the Lakers’
Zamboni (right down to the exact paint color and decals)
delighted the crowd by shooting T-shirts from its exhaust
pipe.
“Mini Zamboni” delights
the crowd. |
Friday’s game opened with a ceremony featuring
President Deborah F. Stanley, Athletic Director Tim
Hale, ESPN anchor Steve Levy
’87 and New York State Sen. Jim
Wright ’71, who secured $17 million in
state funding for the $25.5 million building.
Stanley presented Wright with a Presidential Medal for
his loyalty and support of the college.
She welcomed the fans and the TV audience watching the
game live, with a reminder that the evening’s
celebrations were just the beginnings of Campus Center
related openings. Next fall, the college expects to
open the Swetman Hall portion of the center, featuring
offices for student organizations and a student advisement
center.
Levy said that he had broadcast games form the Boston
Gardens, Montreal Forum and Maple Leaf Gardens, but
that announcing in the Campus Center made him a little
nervous – so many of his former professors would
be in the stands.
Later Levy, who once called games from a wooden bench
in Romney Field House, would give live interviews in
the Steve Levy Press Box, which he donated so that future
student broadcasters would have a professional-level
facility in which to hone their skills.
Hale, in his remarks, hearkened back to the winning
Laker tradition of men’s and women’s teams
and thanked attendees for their support of all the college’s
athletic teams.
For more photos of the opening week activities, please
visit the Web
site. |
The pep band provides the background music for the game. |
The puck drops for the first intercollegiate men’s hockey game in the new Campus Center arena. |
A crowd of 2,980 fans watched the Lakers defeat Utica College 4-3. |
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To November 2006 E-Newsletter |
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