The Smith Rink was an outdoor

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

on the campus of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The rink served as the home for the Army ice hockey program for 55 years and was the last outdoor venue used for Division I hockey when the program was downgraded in 1973.

History

Because

was too far away from many of the existing rinks at the time, Army's ice hockey team required a rink of their own. The Academy built the Smith Rink for the program after almost 30 years in operation, only the third permanent on-campus venue in the country (after the

Hobey Baker Memorial Rink Hobey Baker Memorial Rink is a 2,092-seat hockey arena in Princeton, New Jersey. It is home to the Princeton University Tigers men's and women's ice hockey teams as well as the venue for club and intramural hockey teams, intramural broomball, fi ...

and the

Davis Rink The Davis Rink was an indoor ice rink on the campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The arena served as the home for the Dartmouth ice hockey program for nearly 50 years and was the last natural ice surface used for Division I ho ...

). The facility cost approximately $120,000 to construct and the team would use the Smith Rink as its home for the next 55 years. In the 1960s, as a member of

ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This re ...

, Army remained in the upper division when the conference was split in two despite not having an indoor arena, one of the league requirements for being considered a major program. In 1973, however, the NCAA introduced numerical classifications for all sports and as a result Army dropped down to ECAC 2 for the remainder of the decade. In 1980 Army returned to Division I, but played a partial Division II schedule until 1985 when the indoor

Tate Rink Tate Rink is a 2,648-seat hockey rink in West Point, New York. It is home to the United States Military Academy Black Knights men's ice hockey team. It is also home to the Army's youth hockey team, The West Point Jr. Black Knights. It was built ...

was completed and Army could again compete on equal footing with their contemporaries. The Smith Rink was demolished less than one year after the team played its last game and the space is now occupied by the Herbert Alumni Center.

References

{{Army Black Knights men's ice hockey navbox Defunct college ice hockey venues in the United States Defunct sports venues in New York (state) United States Military Academy Buildings and structures in New York (state) 1930 establishments in New York (state) 1985 disestablishments in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1930 Sports venues demolished in 1986 Demolished sports venues in the United States