Boosters supporting the University of North Carolina club ice hockey team recently purchased nearly four acres of land in Chapel Hill's Carraway Village development with the goal of building a permanent hockey arena to help the team achieve its fullest potential while also further benefitting the local hockey community.
As reported by WCHL radio in Chapel Hill, booster club president Greg Morey became aware of the college team’s challenges of finding ice time at the Orange County Sportsplex’s rink. According to the hockey team’s head coach Adam Dauda, the program is only able to formally practice twice a week for a total of two hours because of the Sportsplex’s cost and availability.
“In a perfect world,” said Dauda, “during our practices I would like to cover several teaching points such as team systems, special teams tactics, pre-scout of our upcoming opponents and individual skill development. With our current situation at the Sportsplex, covering all of that is impossible in the limited time we have. However, with a new rink, our hope has been to get priority time slots and more ice time availability which would significantly help me cover all of those bases.”
“We got really frustrated,” Morey told WCHL, “and we just sort of looked at each other and said, ‘Why aren’t we building our own rink?’ If we want to set this program up for success to potentially be a [Division I] opportunity, we need our own rink anyway. It’s one of the requirements.”
Presently, the UNC ice hockey team is at the club level, meaning it competes against other schools in the Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League while being largely self-funded. Instead of falling under the umbrella of the UNC athletic department, the booster club of former players, alumni, parents and hockey fans helps coordinate the team’s travel and expenses. "While its goal is to eventually move to Division I, the program and club are more focused on ensuring success and quality experiences for players year in and year out," WCHL's Brighton McConnell reported.
“I think the NCAA as a whole is undergoing a lot of change which has been putting athletic departments all over the country under some stress,” said Dauda. “Due to that, I think it would be difficult for any department to add a hockey program in the near future. However, if we keep continuing to create great experiences for the students and have all the pieces in place — such as a facility and a team that’s playing at a high level — I hope it’s only a matter of time until we are elevated to NCAA DI and compete for national championships.”
Morey said the program and its leadership looked for two years to find land for an arena. The land purchase at Carraway Village was announced in October.
Morey said the UNC club team will have a permanent home and more ice time without constraints, while also benefitting the broader Chapel Hill community. Moreover, Morey said the facility will give the program a chance to add a women’s team.
With plans for the future arena to seat more than 2,000 fans, Morey added the program hopes to draw much more of the campus community than before because of the arena’s proximity to UNC and public transit.
“You know, this land and this project sits right next to the [Chapel Hill Transit] park-and-ride lot, which has direct public bus access to campus,” said the booster club president. “So, the opportunity for this team to pull students and fans into the games is at a level that it’s not ever seen before, right? I mean, it’s not a 15-minute jump to Hillsborough and somebody with a car. This is the same bus system that probably takes them home to their apartment or to their, to their housing.”
The latest renderings for the arena by Richard Gurlitz and his architectural firm show a facility with UNC branding on the exterior and windows providing a glimpse of the ice from the outside while letting natural light in. Beyond the rink, there are men’s and women’s wet locker rooms for showering and changing out of street clothes, and a dry locker room that’s the more typical athletics locker room for players to be in. The club team will have offices in the building, workout rooms for its players, and a bar and grill area to offer a year-round business to the Carraway Village community.
Gurlitz's son once skated in Carolina blue, McConnell reported.
Morey said much of the project will fit within the special use permit already granted to the Carraway Village developers, although some aspects of the arena will need to be reviewed and approved by the Town of Chapel Hill.
Buying the land and designing the arena are just the first few steps in a much longer process, with Morey saying the booster club is now exploring its options for financing the estimated $20 million project. He said while there’s much work to do, progress has already been made raising money and a rink for Carolina club hockey “isn’t just a pipe dream anymore.”
As reported by McConnell, if all goes to plan, Morey said the program hopes to have the arena finished in time for the club to open its 2025-26 season.
