Alfond Arena facts for kids
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"The Alfond"
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| Location | College Ave Orono, Maine 04473 |
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| Owner | University of Maine |
| Operator | University of Maine |
| Capacity | 5,712 (basketball) 5,043 (hockey) |
| Surface | 200 x 85 ft (hockey) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1976 |
| Opened | February 5, 1977 |
| Expanded | 1991, 1998, 2011 |
| Construction cost | $1.6 million ($7.73 million in 2022 dollars ) |
| Architect | Daniel Tulley Associates |
| Tenants | |
| Maine Black Bears men's and women's ice hockey | |
Alfond Arena is a popular sports building located in Orono, Maine, United States. It opened its doors in 1977. This arena is the proud home of the University of Maine's Black Bears ice hockey teams. It's a place where many exciting games and events happen!
Welcome to Alfond Arena!
Alfond Arena is a large multi-purpose building that can hold over 5,000 fans. It's famous for its unique roof design, which looks like a wavy saddle. This special type of roof is called a "hyperbolic paraboloid." You can see similar cool roof designs at other universities like Villanova University and Boston College.
The arena is named after Harold Alfond. He was a very generous person who supported the University of Maine for a long time. His name is also on the school's main outdoor stadium, Alfond Stadium.
A Place for Many Events
Alfond Arena is mostly known for ice hockey. But it can also host basketball games! It takes about two hours to change the arena from a basketball court to an ice rink. Changing it back from hockey to basketball takes a little longer, about two and a half hours.
Over the years, Alfond Arena has welcomed many different events and famous visitors.
- In 1983, the famous band The Grateful Dead played a concert here.
- The popular ice skating show, Scott Hamilton's Stars on Ice, started its tour at Alfond Arena in 1986.
- In 1994, Hillary Clinton visited the arena.
Keeping Alfond Arena Modern
The arena has been updated several times to make it even better for fans and players.
- It was expanded in 1992 to fit more people. This allowed the basketball team to move back from a temporary home.
- More special viewing boxes, called "skyboxes," have been added since then.
- In 2008, a brand new scoreboard was put in place.
- New, energy-saving lights were installed in 2006. This helped prevent power outages and saved electricity.
- A new basketball floor was bought in 2009. It replaced the old floor that had been used since 1992.
- A big renovation project started in 2011. This project improved the ice system, added new equipment to control humidity, and installed new boards and glass around the rink. New seats were also put in the lower sections.
