Hartmeyer Ice Arena
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Hartmeyer Ice Arena is a 3,500 seat multi-purpose
arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...
in
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...
. It has ice surfaces for
hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
,
figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the Figure skating at the 1908 Summer Olympi ...
, and open skating, but can also have the ice removed for other events, such as indoor football. The building was constructed to play host to the
Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey The Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team that represents the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. The team plays at the Kohl Center and is currently coached by Mike Hastings (ice hockey), Mik ...
team, but only served that purpose for four years before the team moved to the Dane County Coliseum, now known as the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the campus of the
Alliant Energy Center Alliant Energy Center is a multi-building complex located in Madison, Wisconsin. It comprises of greenspace and includes the Exhibition Hall, the 10,000-seat Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Willow Island, several multi-use pavilions, and the A ...
.


Wisconsin Badgers' hockey

Hartmeyer Ice Arena was constructed by Fenton Kelsey, Jr., a Madison business owner and avid hockey supporter. In the late 1950s and early 1960s,
University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
Athletics Director
Ivy Williamson Ivan B. "Ivy" Williamson (February 4, 1911 – February 19, 1969) was a player and coach of American football and basketball, and a college athletics administrator. He played college football and basketball at the University of Michigan from 193 ...
grew to enjoy watching youth hockey in Madison and began envisioning bringing the sport back to the varsity level at the university, which had not formally fielded a team since 1934.On Wisconsin! The History of Badger Athletics
p. 105, retrieved December 29, 2010.
Sensing the need for a
stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
-like facility were such a team to come to fruition, Kelsey stepped up to construct the Hartmeyer Ice Arena in 1960. In 1962, the university agreed to pick up hockey again and fielded a team by posting fliers around campus. The team played its first game in front of 695 fans at the Hartmeyer, losing to St. Mary's of Winona, Minn., 13-6.2009-10 Wisconsin Men's Hockey Fact Book
, University of Wisconsin Athletic Department, retrieved December 29, 2010.
Wisconsin Hockey grew quickly and spectator demand soon strained the capacity of the arena. While legendary coach Bob Johnson led the team through his first season at the helm, construction neared completion on the
Dane County Coliseum Alliant Energy Center is a multi-building complex located in Madison, Wisconsin. It comprises of greenspace and includes the Exhibition Hall, the 10,000-seat Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Willow Island, several multi-use pavilions, and the A ...
, which featured a multi-purpose design capable of hosting hockey and a capacity almost three times that of the Hartmeyer. The Badgers would move their hockey program to the Coliseum for the 1967-1968 season and play there until moving to the
Kohl Center The Kohl Center is a multi-purpose arena located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States. The arena opened in 1998 and is the home of the university's men's basketball and ice hockey teams, and the women's basketball team. The ...
in 1998, winning five
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
and 11 WCHA championships in that span. Scheduling conflicts would force Wisconsin to move postseason hockey games back to Hartmeyer twice in 1977 and twice more in 1978.


General use and youth hockey

Though no longer suitable for collegiate hockey, Hartmeyer was still the premier skating, amateur hockey and youth hockey facility in Madison for many years and one of few in the region capable of holding over 3,000 spectators. The Patriots Youth Hockey Association began using the arena in 1984 and still holds many events in the facility. Since 2006, Hartmeyer Ice Arena has also been home to the Madison Eastside Lakers Hockey team a Co-Op team consisting of Madison La Follette High School and Madison East High School. Prior to 2006 La Follette and East had separate hockey teams. The Eastside Lakers formed another co-op that still occasionally uses Hartmeyer. Monona Grove High School calls Hartmeyer its home ice, having their own locker rooms for Varsity and Junior Varsity. The City of Madison operated Hartmeyer into the 21st century, despite the arena beginning to show signs of age. With an older surface that did not fare well in warmer months and competition from newer facilities, the arena became a financial strain to the city. In 2004, it was sold, along with the Madison Ice Arena, to Madison Ice, Inc., a
not-for-profit organization A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...
committed to supporting skating and youth hockey in the Madison area. In 2008, Madison Ice paid for improvements to the surface, allowing for the facility to be used year-round. On September 25, 2010, Hartmeyer celebrated its 50th anniversary with a free, open-skating day for the general public.


Wisconsin Wolfpack

In 2010, the Wisconsin Wolfpack of the
Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor American football, indoor American football, football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as ...
announced plans to play its games at Hartmeyer. The move had historic overtones as the Wolfpack's inaugural indoor season was played at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, meaning the Wolfpack was essentially reversing the course taken by Badger Hockey over 40 years earlier. To facilitate the games, the ice was removed from the arena surface and the Wolfpack's turf, recycled from the Pensacola Barracudas, was laid. On April 3, 2010, a game between the Wisconsin Wolfpack and the Miami Valley Silverbacks became the first non-skating event to ever take place in the facility. The Wolfpack won the game, 38-32. Among CIFL facilities, Hartmeyer quickly developed a reputation as a very unwelcoming building for opponents due to its age, loud environment and low ceiling, which frequently obstructed kicks and passes. The Wolfpack won six of its seven home games in 2010, including a
playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
game against the Fort Wayne Firehawks, before announcing the team would not return in 2011.


Wisconsin Whalers

In 2013, the
North American 3 Hockey League The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) is an American Tier III junior ice hockey league that consists of teams from Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, ...
approved the relocation of the Quad City Jr. Flames from
Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...
to Madison. The team was renamed the Wisconsin Whalers and has used Hartmeyer Ice Arena as the home venue since the 2013–14 season. In 2015, the Whalers moved to the Oregon Ice Arena in
Oregon, Wisconsin Oregon is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 11,179 at the 2020 census. A suburb south of Madison, it is part of the Madison metropolitan area. The village is located mostly within the Town of Oregon. His ...
.


References

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External links


Official Hartmeyer Ice Arena website Official Patriots Youth Hockey Association websiteOfficial CIFL website Official Wisconsin Wolfpack website
Sports venues in Madison, Wisconsin Wisconsin Badgers men's ice hockey Ice hockey venues in Wisconsin Indoor arenas in Wisconsin