They might be on ice, but Iowa State men’s hockey team is red hot. The team has proven to be talented and quite an attention grabber for ISU students. After all, besides women’s basketball, there haven’t been too many winning season sports for the Cyclones.

Not only is the team gifted, but they, along with others who use the ice at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena were handed a gift Tuesday — an overwhelming vote approving a bond issue to help build a new ice arena.

That’s great because a new rink is desperately needed. Too often, it’s not large enough to seat the growing following of men’s hockey fans. It can be a chore to find a seat in the student section.

Also, the boards for the rink are in disrepair. They’ve been battered and beaten with no remorse, which is a good thing if you like checking, but they need to be replaced. The ice is actually uneven. If you look at the ice, you can tell it is uneven with the yellow line at the base of the boards.

Now, $1.7 million from the city and another $2 million from ISU will build a new ice arena, beginning about the fall of 1999.

From living near the ice arena, I know that the facility is used by so many more people than just the men’s hockey team. There’s a growing ISU women’s team also skating and roughing it on the ice, as well as a high school league and other youth leagues. People take their kids there during open skating times so they can get their chances on the blades. (However, it can be difficult to skate when hordes of kids are there.) Intramural broomball participants also frequent the ice.

Also, skating lessons are given by private instructors and by the ISU physical education department. I know this because my roommate and I took a skating class last semester. It’s something that everyone should try at least once. Besides, it is a fun class if you need an extra credit. Now, if I watch a professional hockey game or ice skating competition on television, I get all excited because I know how to do some of the skating maneuvers — well, kind of. (I am just glad I learned how to skate backward.)

From my experience of going to hockey games and ice skating class, I know a rink is needed to accommodate both the city and the university.

It’s great to see such an exhibit of support for a project like the ice arena. Although voter turnout for the bond issue was only about 4,000 (pretty sorry considering the population of Ames), it’s safe to say that a large part of those voters were students. Hockey Coach Al Murdoch and his players pushed for the vote by visiting students and encouraging them to register to vote in Story County, and then visit the ballot box on election day.

A whopping 83 percent approved of the ice arena, by unofficial counts. Only 60 percent was needed for the go-ahead.

It’s uniquely comforting to see students uniting to support something on this campus. You can see enthusiasm for ISU hockey and the ice arena itself, not only from Tuesday’s vote, but also from the students. I see more and more hockey hats donning the heads of ISU students. I see more jerseys, too. But the most important is the support for the team at the games. You can see the spark and excitement in fans. You can tell they aren’t there simply because they want to tailgate. These people love the ice arena.

Although I won’t be here to see it, I know the new arena will be a success. However, I do have a few suggestions.

The new arena will use the existing parking lot to save on costs, but more parking is needed. Cars line the road leading to the arena, and they usually get ticketed. If the cars don’t park there, they park in nearby apartment lots (which sucks when you live there), or pay a few dollars to park in church lots.

The arena needs to ring in its opening by painting “Cy” on the zamboni machine.

And lastly, the student section needs to be located closer to the concession stands or vice versa. Why? So students can get to the beer easier. It would only help the arena because the beer is so pricey.

Support the ice arena. If you haven’t been there, go and see what it’s like. You’ll like it, but it will make you realize the need for the new facility. You can get pumped up for the new arena and support that, too. Why? Because it’s just plain fun.

---

Erin Payne is a senior in journalism and mass communication and political science from Rock Rapids.