Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/599904
STARRINKS.COM NOVEMBER.DECEMBER.2015 / 17 I "IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME." Normally, this classic movie quote from Field of Dreams is more associated with baseball in the cornfields of Iowa than with hockey in suburban Boston. Yet despite the difference in sport and geographic region, this quote might as well sum up the existence of Endicott College's hockey program over the past decade. On one hand, the small, private college in the Boston suburb of Beverly had a booming club hockey program. The sport was consistently popular on campus, the team won lots of games and the school's club hockey program was one of the best of its kind in New England. On the other hand, the school's admin- istration deeply believed that its hockey program was capable of so much more. For years, Endicott's goal was to graduate from club status to Division III. The obstacle was the lack of a suitable facility that the school could call its own, which would offer the ice time availability and amenities needed to house a competitive college program. "The rink that we were playing out of, which is about 10 minutes away, there were no showers," Endicott College ath- letics director Brian Wylie said. "So you can imagine what that's like. The ice is the most important thing, but it's those other things that when you travel to other are- nas, compete against them and compare the haves and the have-nots, we realized we didn't have access to the ice as much as we needed to." Without access to enough ice time and an adequate facility for college hockey, all of Endicott's attempts at graduating to Division III were unsuccessful. This cycle, at times frustrating for the school's administration, finally ended when Raymond J. Bourque Arena opened on Endicott's campus in September 2015. In sync with the arena's grand opening, the school's men's and women's hockey teams will both compete at the Division III level for the first time this season. "It's really been a long time coming," Wylie said. "I was the first coach at the club level. We started 13 years ago. We had always dreamed of getting our own facility within the city of Beverly. We talked a lot about it. Now that it's the Raymond J. Bourque Arena here, it's a dream come true of a lot of people that have worked to get it done. What it means for our community, for our students and to our men's and women's hockey play- ers, it's remarkable. The brand of hockey and having Endicott on the landscape of Division III hockey, it's going to help Endicott immensely." , Continued on page 18 , The new Raymond J. Bourque Arena has elevated Endicott College from club to Division III status for the first time in school history.