By Bob Lindquist
“Our team is a direct result of having an arena on campus.”
The Sullivan Arena at Saint Anselm College was officially dedicated on September 27 with great fanfare—a black-tie reception in honor
From left: Jessica Tobin, Kaira Ellis, Lauren Struzik, Karen Spellman, Terese Goulet, Meriah Magri. |
of Robert and Miriam Smith, whose generosity made the facility possible. The arena provides true home ice to the men’s hockey program, whose players have always had to travel to nearby rinks for home games and practices. The arena will provide a new large-scale venue for campus events. It will also provide skating and recreational opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and the community. Numerous scheduling requests from community hockey and skating programs rolled in long before the rink opened.
But long before the completion of the arena, plans were underway to bring woman’s hockey to Saint Anselm.
“Our team is a direct result of having an arena on campus,” says former men’s assistant hockey coach, Dave Flint, who was named last spring to lead the women’s hockey program. Having a rink on campus was an enormous help to Flint as he recruited his first team. The plans initially called for a three-year schedule to build the team into a varsity level sport. The first year would focus on practice and organization, followed the second year by competition as a club sport, and finally going varsity the third year.
Based on the success of Flint’s recruiting efforts, the level of interest and the talent of the players, the initial plan was shortened by a year and the team jumped right into competition as a club sport in September 2003.
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