The sounds of construction inside the LaHaye Ice Center are gradually being replaced by sounds of skates shaving the ice and hockey sticks slapping pucks against the boards.
A 10-month expansion and renovation project has transformed the home of Liberty University’s five hockey and two figure skating teams into a state-of-the-art arena that will accommodate 4,000 fans (2,800 seated, 1,200 standing) and offer skaters more spacious locker, team, equipment, weight, and athletic training rooms.
“There’s already a lot of excitement in the air,” ACHA Division I Men’s Hockey Head Coach Kirk Handy said before the Flames officially started practice in late August. “There’s definitely a good vibe and a good buzz around the ice rink with the student-athletes back in town. We want them to enjoy the atmosphere here and to thrive in it.”
As outside temperatures drop and the 2015-16 men’s and women’s hockey seasons heat up, spectators will be able to watch instant replays aired on a new four-sided video board suspended above center ice.
“It’s definitely an awesome environment in here,” Handy said. “The scoreboard will be unbelievable, from both a game atmosphere and a fan’s perspective.”
Lynchburg-based Glass & Associates, which renovated the nearby LaHaye Student Union last year, is in charge of the project. It has expanded space in the arena from 59,000 to 89,000 square feet and will nearly triple the seating capacity. Ten new luxury suites have sold out for the DI men’s team’s 19-game home season.
The Flames DI men will unveil the transformed arena for their Oct. 23 home opener at 7 p.m. against Davenport, the same night the defending ACHA DI National Champion Lady Flames entertain Vermont at 9:45 p.m.
“It’s an exciting era, with it being the 30th anniversary of the hockey program and the 10th anniversary of when we moved into the rink for the first time here on campus,” Handy said. “It’s an exciting time for Liberty, for the community, for the hockey program, and it shows that hockey has done well here in Lynchburg.”
Liberty’s hockey program is the only one in the nation to offer a team in every division of the ACHA — DI, DII, and DIII men and DI and DII women.
For the sixth time in the past seven years, Liberty will host the United States Figures Skating Association’s (USFSA) Eastern Sectional on Feb. 27-28. The Lady Flames’ synchronized skating team will compete in the collegiate division for the first time this season, with a chance to qualify for USFSA’s collegiate national championships.
