3M Arena at Mariucci ( ) or 3M Arena is the home arena for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. The arena is located on the Minneapolis campus and seats approximately 10,000 fans (9,600 in the main bowl plus club room and suite seating). The arena opened in 1993 and is named after John Mariucci, the longtime Gopher coach who is considered the "godfather of Minnesota hockey." Under the gate is a quote from Mariucci: "Through these gates walk the greatest fans in college hockey." The ice sheet was Olympic sized () from 1993 to 2023, when construction began on reducing the rink floor size. The women's

team played at Mariucci from 1997 until 2002 when they moved to Ridder Arena, which is connected to Mariucci via a tunnel.

Features

Mariucci Arena has been host to prominent regional, national, and international competitions, including the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

West Regional of the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship, the 2006 NCAA Women's Division I Ice Hockey Tournament, and the 2006 World

Short Track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

event. 3M Arena also hosted the inaugural Women's Frozen Four on March 23 and March 25, 2001. The Minnesota State High School League state hockey tournament holds its consolation bracket at Mariucci. On March 19, 2022, 10,774 fans watched the Gophers take on the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except wo ...

in the B1G Tournament Championship Game, the largest crowd to watch a game at Mariucci Arena. From 1950 to 1993 the hockey team played in the hockey arena section of

Williams Arena Williams Arena is an indoor arena located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home arena for the University of Minnesota's men's and women's basketball teams. It also housed the men's hockey team until 1993, when it moved into its own building ...

. That arena was renamed Mariucci Arena in 1985. People now generally refer to that as the "old" Mariucci Arena. In 2007, ''Sports Illustrated on Campus'' named Mariucci Arena one of the top ten venues in college sports. The facility was the only ice hockey arena to make the list. Before the 2012-13 hockey season, the University of Minnesota upgraded Mariucci Arena, which saw the replacement of the old scoreboard with a new state of the art Daktronics videoboard and the addition of a fascia display that rings the arena. In May 2014, a proposal for an $8 million renovation to the arena was announced. The renovations would include reducing the ice sheet to approximately , increased seating capacity, improved sightlines and an upgraded weight room. The proposed renovation would be funded privately. The reduced-size playing surface would allow for playing style to be more similar to the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

, which has a standard . On July 10, 2017, Maplewood-based 3M bought the naming rights of Mariucci Arena for for 14 years. In September 2020, the arena was again renovated by Gopher Athletics. The renovation spanned 11,000 square feet and included a new training center, a new 'M' Club alumni room and a remodeled office suite. Ice surface reduction and renovation finally began with removal of the concrete arena rink base shortly after the March 18, 2023, Big Ten championship game. The Minnesota FFA Association hold General Sessions during the Minnesota FFA State Convention at the arena.

References

{{Minneapolis skyscrapers College ice hockey venues in the United States Ice hockey venues in Minneapolis Minnesota Golden Gophers ice hockey Minnesota Golden Gophers sports venues 1993 establishments in Minnesota Sports venues completed in 1993 3M 1990s in Minneapolis