An inside look at the new USA Hockey Arena

 

By @MichaelCaples –

PLYMOUTH – As it stands now, things don’t look much different inside USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth.

When the construction and rebranding is done, however, it will be a whole new building.

USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program officials gave MiHockey an exclusive look at blueprints, artist renderings and a walk-through tour of how the new USA Hockey Arena will one day appear, and there are plenty of things to look forward to over the coming months.

“I think part of the objective in doing this for USA Hockey was, A. to have a home for the NTDP and its national programs, but B. to be able to do what we’ve done with the NTDP, which is try to set a bar on how you do things,” said Scott Monaghan, senior director of operations for the NTDP. “It’s going to be a process for us for a few years, but we want to be able to be looked at in a few years, and say, ‘That’s how you run an arena.’ It’s run right, and it sets standards that people want to replicate.”

The former home of the Plymouth Whalers will be undergoing an extensive renovation throughout the 2015-16 hockey season.

A three-prong approach to the renovation process means general maintenance, wall-to-wall rebranding and construction work – an addition of two stories (10,000 square feet apiece) off the back of the Olympic-sized ice sheet on the east side of the building and complete rework of the locker room set-up.

A 20,000 square-foot addition

The bottom level of the addition will be 10,000 square feet of training equipment – a new state-of-the-art facility for strength and conditioning coach Darryl Nelson and his staff to continue developing elite hockey talent. Monaghan pointed out that the facility – which will house dryland shooting stations, skating treadmill, a track and more – can handle more than just a 22-man NTDP roster. Sixty to 70 athletes can be in the new NTDP training center at a time, allowing opportunities for combines, league events and more.

 

On the second story, there will be conference rooms, classrooms, a theater room and offices for USA Hockey staff members. The NTDP wants to make the space available as meeting space for youth hockey organizations, the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association, and USA Hockey education programs.

Locker room overhaul

Meanwhile, the locker rooms will undergo a conversion to accommodate not one but two junior hockey programs. A common room between the NTDP Under-17 and Under-18 Teams will accommodate a hydrotherapy station, a set-up for the training and equipment staff, a lounge, a kitchen and more for the players. Their individual locker rooms will branch off from that main room, all creating one central location for the two teams.

“The fun part, I think, for players and coaches always starts out with the locker rooms and what we’re going to have down there,” said Danton Cole, a Michigan native and NTDP head coach. “We had a great situation at The Cube in Ann Arbor and the way it was set up and designed with how the two teams were at both ends of the same locker room, and I think we’re going to keep some of the aspects of that, and then add to it and improve it. It’s going to be a great area. With a lounge area and nutrition and for our medical and equipment guys, it will be great – a little more spacious, and designed really for a great teaching environment for us and for getting the guys out on the ice.”

Next to the NTDP rooms will be a third USA-centric locker room, built for hosting other Team USA clubs. National teams – women’s teams, select teams, Olympic teams – can utilize the space either for games or practices. As Monaghan noted, with them finally owning their own building, the new USA Hockey Arena can be a home for all U.S. teams, with amenities not previously available in Ann Arbor.

Improvements for the fan experience

What fans will notice, however, is the rebranding across the arena. In what Monaghan described as “a new shrine for USA Hockey,” the new USA Hockey Arena will feature remarkable imagery and state-of-the-art designs. Gone will be the simple concrete walls and outdated in-arena technology. Video boards, a new sound system and digital signage will enhance the fan experience, something that may have not always been properly tended to during the previous regime’s occupancy.

“The rebranding and the fan experience are our No. 1 priorities,” said Denise Ronayne, the Whalers’ director of sales and marketing who now holds the same role with the new club. “It’s not going to feel the same. When you walk in here, the walls will be different, the floors will be different, the ceiling will be different – they’re going to visually see that this is a new place to be, and it’s a special place to be.”

 

The front lobby and concourse will be fully rebranded, with artwork and signage to celebrate USA Hockey and its many achievements throughout. Digital messaging, trophy cases, displays and photos will pay homage to Olympic teams, prominent USA Hockey figures and notable NTDP alums.

Created to support not only NTDP, but youth and international hockey

The rebuild will take time, as Monaghan and the NTDP staff want to make sure that “everything is done right.” The goal is to not only provide an enhanced environment for the NTDP teams, but also to support youth hockey. The addition of conference rooms and classrooms allow for coaching education classes, refereeing classes, youth hockey meetings and more. The new building owners also will be making sure Compuware remains one of the elite youth hockey programs in the country, and they will be improving the individual team locker rooms for those AAA teams.

Aside from the construction projects already mentioned before, NTDP officials expect to install brand-new boards and glass next summer, and they will make sure that the benches are sled hockey-friendly so USA Hockey Arena can one day serve as host for national and international sled hockey competitions. Monaghan also mentioned a complete repaving of the spacious parking lot outside of the building and roof repairs as long-term projects already being analyzed.

Construction equipment will be a familiar sight both inside the arena and outside, considering that there is a hotel being constructed just off of the north side of the parking lot. That part isn’t a USA Hockey operation, but having a brand-new hotel right next door certainly won’t hurt in planning future events at the upgraded two-sheet facility.

In Monaghan’s mind, all of the changes create the perfect situation for Plymouth to be a new home for international hockey events.

“We’re going to open with an event in February, a Five Nations tournament, we’re firming up the details on that, and that’ll be the best Under-17 players in the world from five countries including ours,” Monaghan said. “But I think our goal is, within a year or two, to have an ongoing international schedule. It may be the NTDP in one event, it may be the women’s national team coming in for another. They will have an opportunity to see all of our best players on both the men’s and women’s side and we’re hoping to be able to see our sled team and the sled programs from around the world, which is really a growing and exciting thing to watch. …Our goal is to bring some of those events into the building on a regular basis, so that we really become, metro Detroit becomes a little bit of a home for international hockey in the United States.”

MORE: USA Hockey announces 2015-16 schedules for U17, U18 NTDP squads