Walker Center (Clarkson University)

Walker Center
Former names	Clarkson Arena (1938-1975); Walker Arena (1975-1991)
Location	Clarkson Ave.; Potsdam, New York 13676
Coordinates	44°39′57″N74°59′33″W / 44.66583°N 74.99250°W Coordinates: 44°39′57″N74°59′33″W / 44.66583°N 74.99250°W
Owner	Clarkson University
Operator	Clarkson University
Surface	synthetic
Opened	1938; (81 years ago)
Tenants
	Clarkson Golden Knights ice hockey (1938-1991)

Last updated April 01, 2019

The Walker Center (formerly the Clarkson Arena and Walker Arena) is an indoor multipurpose facility located in Potsdam, New York. It was the home of the Clarkson varsity ice hockey team from 1938 to 1991. It is currently used by Clarkson University for a variety of purposes after a $1 million renovation in 2008.^[1]

Potsdam is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The town population was 17,029 at the 2010 census. The ZIP Code is 13676. Potsdam is a cultural and educational hub of Northern New York. When SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University are in session, the population increases by approximately 8,000 students. The town is named after the city of Potsdam in Germany. The Town of Potsdam also contains a village named Potsdam. Potsdam is centrally located within the county and northeast of Canton, the county seat.

The Clarkson Golden Knights men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Clarkson University. The Golden Knights have been a member of ECAC Hockey since 1962, and play their home games at Cheel Arena in Potsdam, New York. Although it is said that the first Clarkson hockey game was played in 1916 against the Hogansburg Indians, they were established as a hockey club in 1921, under the tutelage of head coach Gordon Croskery, and led by captain Bill Johnson. The Knights won their opening encounter against Alexandria Bay, 6–4, and finished the year with a 2–1 record, their first of 72 winning seasons.

Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent's net to score points. The sport is known to be fast-paced and physical, with teams usually consisting of six players each: one goaltender, and five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team.

History

Ice hockey began at Clarkson in 1921 when Murray Walker and Gordon Croskery organized an ice hockey club for the college. The team became popular and successful enough that the program was formally established in 1935 and an indoor rink was needed to replace the outdoor surface at Ives Park. The Clarkson Arena was completed in 1938 and played home to the ice hockey program for the next 53 years. The building was renovated multiple times, first in 1952 when artificial ice was installed then again in 1971 when heating and additional seats were added.

Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus located in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate program and research facilities in New York State's Capital Region and Beacon, N.Y. It was founded in 1896 and has an enrollment of about 4,300 students studying toward bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in each of its schools or institutes: the Institute for a Sustainable Environment, the School of Arts & Sciences, the School of Business and the Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering. Clarkson University ranks #8 among "Top Salary-Boosting Colleges" nationwide. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifies Clarkson University as a "Doctoral University [with] Moderate Research Activity".

In 1975 the building was renamed the Murray G. Walker Hockey Arena (known as the Walker Arena) in honor of the father of Clarkson ice hockey.^[2] By the late 1980s the building was beginning to show its age and plans for its replacement soon came to pass. The Walker Arena was sent out on a high note, however, as the 1990–91 men's team won its first conference tournament in 25 years with their two quarterfinal wins being the last games played at the Arena.

The 1990–91 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season began in October 1990 and concluded with the 1991 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament's championship game on March 30, 1991, at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. This was the 44th season in which an NCAA ice hockey championship was held and is the 96th year overall where an NCAA school fielded a team.

The ECAC Hockey Tournament is the conference tournament for ECAC Hockey. The winner of the tournament received an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament which has occurred every year the NCAA has allowed automatic berths into the tournament. The ECAC tournament champion has only once not received an invitation to the NCAA tournament, that coming in 1963 when Harvard won its first conference championship.

After the hockey team transferred to the Cheel Arena The building was renamed the 'Walker Center' and remained mostly disused until a major renovation turned it into a multipurpose facility with a synthetic turf used by the soccer, lacrosse and other field programs.

Cheel Arena is a 3,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Potsdam, New York at Clarkson University. Cheel Arena was opened on October 26, 1991, and is named after Helen Snell Cheel, a long-time benefactor of Clarkson University, who provided a major gift towards the project.

Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. Players use the head of the lacrosse stick to carry, pass, catch, and shoot the ball into the goal.

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References

↑ "Clarkson University's Walker Center Renovation Dedicated". Clarkson University. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
↑ "Clarkson Walker Arena". New York Heritage. Retrieved March 29, 2019.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[1] "Clarkson University's Walker Center Renovation Dedicated". Clarkson University. Retrieved March 29, 2019.

[2] "Clarkson Walker Arena". New York Heritage. Retrieved March 29, 2019.

v t e Clarkson Golden Knights men's ice hockey
Playing venues	Ives Park (1920–1938) Walker Arena (1938–1991) Cheel Arena (1991–Present)
Head coaches	Gordon Croskery (1920–1929) Jack Roos (1929–1948) Bill Harrison (1948–1958) Len Ceglarski (1958–1972) Jerry York (1972–1979) Bill O'Flaherty (1979–1985) Cap Raeder (1985–1988) Mark Morris (1988–2002) Fred Parker (2002–2003) George Roll (2003–2011) Casey Jones (2011–Present)
Seasons	1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19
Conference affiliations	Tri-State League 1950–1972 ECAC Hockey (1961–Present)
Rivalries	St. Lawrence RPI
All-time leaders	Dave Taylor (251 Points) Kevin Zappia (103 Goals) Dan Murphy (85 Wins)
Frozen Four appearances	1957 1958 1962 1963 1966 1970 1991
NCAA Tournament appearances	1957 1958 1962 1963 1966 1970 1981 1982 1984 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2007 2008 2018
Conference championships	1966 1991 1993 1999 2007
Clarkson University Potsdam, NY

v t e ECAC Hockey
Teams	Brown Bears men women Clarkson Golden Knights men women Colgate Raiders men women Cornell Big Red men women Dartmouth Big Green men women Harvard Crimson men women Princeton Tigers men women Quinnipiac Bobcats men women Rensselaer Engineers men women St. Lawrence Saints men women Union Dutchmen men women Yale Bulldogs men women
Venues	Meehan Auditorium (Brown) Cheel Arena (Clarkson) Starr Arena (Colgate) Lynah Rink (Cornell) Thompson Arena (Dartmouth) Bright Hockey Center (Harvard) Hobey Baker Memorial Rink (Princeton) People's United Center (Quinnipiac) Houston Field House (Rensselaer) Appleton Arena (St. Lawrence) Achilles Rink (Union) Ingalls Rink (Yale) Herb Brooks Arena (Men's tournament)
Championships and awards	Men's champions Women's champions Player of the Year Rookie of the Year Coach of the Year Best Defensive Defenseman Best Defensive Forward Ken Dryden Award Student-Athlete of the Year Most Outstanding Player in Tournament
Seasons	1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19

Tenants
Former names	Clarkson Arena (1938-1975) Walker Arena (1975-1991)
Location	Clarkson Ave. Potsdam, New York 13676
Coordinates	44°39′57″N74°59′33″W / 44.66583°N 74.99250°W / 44.66583; -74.99250 Coordinates: 44°39′57″N74°59′33″W / 44.66583°N 74.99250°W / 44.66583; -74.99250
Owner	Clarkson University
Operator	Clarkson University
Surface	synthetic
Opened	1938 (81 years ago)
Clarkson Golden Knights ice hockey (1938-1991)

Walker Center (Clarkson University)

Contents

History

Related Research Articles

References

External links