By Angelique Fiske, QBSN Publishing Editor
Director of Athletics and Recreation Jack McDonald announced in a press conference Thursday morning that Quinnipiac has been chosen to host the NCAA’s Women’s Frozen Four in 2014. The High Point Solutions Arena at the TD Bank Sports Center will be the hub of women’s college ice hockey come March of 2014, something that McDonald feels is deserved.
“I continue to tell all of my friends and colleagues that Quinnipiac might not have the biggest building in college sports, but we have, by far, the best building in college sports,” McDonald said. “We tell that to people all the time, and we particularly been telling it to the NCAA and the Women’s Ice Hockey Committee since we’ve been open.”
Head coach Rick Seeley believes High Point Solutions Arena a reputable site, even more so after grasping a new perspective of operations from the inside.
“Having just come off my term on the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Selection Committee, it gave me a great opportunity to view a Frozen Four from the inside out, and it became crystal clear to me that Quinnipiac is incredibly well-suited to host an event like this,” Seeley said.
Quinnipiac will be the first ECAC school to host the Women’s Frozen Four since St. Lawrence welcomed the NCAA in 2007 to Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y.
“But the exposure for the league in hosting this event and for people within the women’s college hockey community to come to this facility and this campus and see what a jewel it is, I think that will be great,” ECAC Commissioner Steve Hagwell said. “It will have ramifications on the positive side for our league.”
As Hagwell praised the benefits for the league, McDonald noted the economic surge the Hamden and New Haven communities will experience in those days. With four teams, officials, families, alumni, and college hockey enthusiasts flocking to fill the seats of High Point Solutions Arena, businesses will welcome warmly the Frozen Four.
“We haven’t really put the pencil to the numbers, but you can see it. It’s probably close to a million dollars in terms of what the impact that will have on this community over that four or five day period,” McDonald said.
Economically, the impact is foreseeable. However, head coach Rick Seeley knows how this will influence the reputation of his team in the eyes of the NCAA and future recruits.
“It certainly helps us moving forward. I think once we have one, the NCAA’s going to want to come back,” Seeley said. “Once you’re on that radar and on that rotation, then you can use it with every recruiting class.”
McDonald also announced that Jamie Schilkowski, the Assistant Athletic Director, and Eric Grgurich, the Executive Director of the TD Bank Sports Center, are at the helm of the event. With the ECAC All-Star Team’s face-off against U.S.A. Olympic team in 2010 to its name, the staff knows the hard work necessary to make such an event successful.
“I don’t think anyone here is under the illusion that ‘if we build it, they will come.’ We know the hard work it’s going to take to pull off an event like this, and that’s another reason I think Quinnipiac is so well suited,” Seeley said.
As Quinnipiac prepares for its opportunity to show the NCAA its prized TD Bank Sports Center, its York Hill and Mount Carmel campuses, and the supportive community behind it all, Seeley acknowledged that its no longer flying under the radar.
“When Cassie Turner, my associate head coach, and I arrived about four and a half years ago, inevitably in every conversation when we’d recruit, we’d say, ‘You know, Quinnipiac is the best kept secret out there,’” Seeley said. “I think the secret’s out.”
While the world of women’s college hockey will have to wait until 2014 to see what Hamden, Conn. can bring, this year’s Frozen Four will be held at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis, Minn. by the University of Minnesota.
