Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/972939
FROM THE MOMENT the lights went down and the Bentley University Falcons skated out, the arena was a den of noise. Every seat was packed. Spectators who couldn't sit, stood. Students chanted President Gloria Cordes Larson's name. "I can't believe that I could be a part of something so amazing," says Jillian Offermann. The sophomore was leading the media control room on Bentley Arena's opening night. As a media and culture major, she kept her eyes on 10 high- definition cameras filming the game and played music and video over the arena's four screens. Dean of Students Andrew Shepardson hasn't seen that kind of enthusiasm in the 25 years he's been at the university. "You're so close to the ice and you feel like you're a part of it," says Shepardson. "The oohs and aahs of every shot on goal, or every potential opportunity for scoring, you could really feel it in the space. It really draws the fans into the game." It was game No. 1 of the season, but it was apparent that from that moment on the facility would be full of excitement through the future. Triple Threat The arena was a long time coming. As the first building constructed on campus since Bentley's centennial in 2017, the space models the values that the business university wants to teach its students. "For Bentley, it's an example of both our future being bright and having a modern facility, but also being smart and thoughtful about how we impact our environment," says Shepardson. "And then it's about the whole community. It's not a standalone sports facility. It is a commitment to the entire university as a gathering place for everyone to come, whether it's for a Division I hockey team or a lecture by a major speaker." After all, the arena allows for the venue to host a hockey game one night, a comedy show the next and hockey practice the next day. The space is also an apt lesson in sustainability. "We knew we had to be thinking about what we preach to our students, which is triple bottom line: people, planet, profits," says Amanda King, the university's director of sustainability. She added later, "If we're talking about reducing carbon emissions and building new buildings, we have to make sure we're really pushing as much as we can to build the most sustainable kind of energy- conscious building that we can." King was a longtime athlete and hockey fan, but never worked with ice rinks before the Bentley Arena. Joining 600 colleges nationwide in a campaign to fight climate change, Bentley had committed to cutting its carbon footprint by 70 percent before 2020. Most rinks eat a lot of energy. King was excited to build one that didn't. "[An ice rink is] a building at war with itself," King says. "Basically, from an 18 / MAY.JUNE.2018 USICERINKS.COM Bentley University unrolls a sustainable new arena // by EMILY ZAK GREEN TEAM Featured Rink Bentley Arena | | Waltham, Mass. PHOTOS: BENTLEY ARENA The