When winter comes around, people begin searching to find a good ice rink where they can spend time with their friends. While Beaver County has Brady’s Run, right outside is Robert Morris University (RMU). Unlike some colleges, RMU shares an ice rink with the community. With obvious prioritization when practicing and playing, people can sometimes miss out on the ability to have a good time ice skating.

“Based on the last time we played there for Central Valley hockey, there was not a lot of room, and lacked enough space for everyone to practice,” Noah Fessides said.

RMU has been a powerhouse for men’s and women’s hockey, with two Division 1 teams, RMU has their work cut out for them. While the teams are knowledgeable, they lack the space to practice. With a single shared ice rink between both teams and the whole community, consisting of a multitude of different hockey teams, skating lessons, figure skating and regular skating with friends, it is hard to have space or room to practice at such a high level. With the hope of building a new ice rink for not only themselves but also the community, RMU has the responsibility to give everyone enough room to enjoy skating.

RMU plans on not only making it easier for the teams to have time and a place to practice but also a broader media outlook for the team. Given a 28 million dollar budget, RMU has big plans for the upcoming ice rink. While the current ice rink is located off campus they plan on building this new rink on campus so it is more accessible to the players and coaches. While they predict the new rink will be ready by the Colonial’s 27-28 season, RMU has a long road ahead of them.

While RMU has had such a successful past in men’s and women’s hockey, it is undoubtedly hard for small private universities to be recognized by the NCAA. With so many big colleges taking funding, and just naturally having more funding than local colleges makes a huge difference in practice times, game times and so much more. RMU’s hockey teams have a lot of potential, but some might say they lack the space or funding to create an outstanding program. While it is hard to be recognized as a small school, the Colonials are predicted to have a killer season with or without the new ice rink.

“I feel like Robert Morris’s ice rink could be really good with the budget they have. They have such a talented team and amazing players, they just lack the ability to get thorough and hard practices in because of the lack of space,” Chase Grable said.