Happy belated 100th birthday, Hobey Baker Rink.
The venerable stone-sided, peaked Gothic structure set among more modern buildings on the Princeton University campus in central New Jersey celebrated the century mark in early January. The longtime home of Princeton Tigers hockey, it also has served as a launching pad for professional, Olympic, Paralympic and various other careers.
“It’s perfect for Princeton, and it fits Princeton,” said Penn State men’s hockey head coach Guy Gadowsky, who guided the Tigers to NCAA tournament berths in 2008 and 2009. “It’s got a really magical feel.”
Named for the university’s former hockey and football star, and the second oldest collegiate arena in the U.S., the 2,054-seat facility opened its doors in 1923 as the first on-campus, purpose-built college hockey facility, and has served the Princeton community ever since. Along with all kinds of skating, Hobey Baker Rink also housed Princeton men's basketball in the 1940s and even served as a makeshift dormitory to help handle the overflow of students who returned stateside after World War II.
