College Sports

Brett Larson excited about improvements coming to Herb Brooks National Hockey Center

ST. CLOUD — St. Cloud State men’s hockey coach Brett Larson expressed relief and excitement about changes coming to the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. After more than six years of asking for state funding to get a new refrigeration system for the arena’s two ice rinks, the state Legislature passed an estimated $12.8 million […]

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ST. CLOUD — St. Cloud State men’s hockey coach Brett Larson expressed relief and excitement about changes coming to the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

After more than six years of asking for state funding to get a new refrigeration system for the arena’s two ice rinks,

the state Legislature passed an estimated $12.8 million in funding on June 9,

for a replacement. The original and outdated R-22 system was originally installed when the building opened in 1989.

“The ice plant was at a point where it could go down, which was a major concern,” Larson said. “The biggest thing for me, and our program, is the investment by the state into this university and into the hockey program. Having the ice and practice (rinks) shrunk. Bringing it down to a hybrid still gives us a home rink advantage and it was essential to the success of this program.”

With the funding passed, the plan is to begin construction work on the project in April 2026. With the new refrigeration system, the floors of both the main rink and the practice rink will have to be dug up to take out the old pipes and put in new ones.

The plan includes having the main rink shrunk so that it will be 200 feet long by 94 feet wide. The main rink has been 100 feet wide since it opened in 1989. It also includes shrinking the practice rink from Olympic sized (200 by 100) to be an NHL-sized rink (200 by 85).

“For years, everyone has wondered if the Olympic-sized sheet is a plus or a minus,” Larson said. “There’s probably a little bit of both. Now, with having the home ice advantage, but also being able to practice on an NHL-sized sheet so we don’t have as much transition when we go on the road sets us up for more success.”

IMG_3796.jpg
Sophomore goalie Isak Posch on the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center practice rink on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025.

Mick Hatten / St. Cloud LIVE

Practicing on NHL-sized rink

One of the differences when players play on the Olympic-sized sheet versus the NHL-sized sheet is the reaction time. With the smaller NHL-sized sheet, there is quicker reaction time to plays.

There are numbers to back up that SCSU could use an NHL-sized practice rink. Last season,

the Huskies

were 9-8-1 at home and 5-13 on the road.

“You can see our team on the road, it takes us sometimes a period to get acclimated to the size of the rink,” said Larson, who recently completed his seventh season as SCSU’s head coach. “In our league, games are so tight and every game matters so much that you don’t want to take a period to get acclimated. You want to be ready to go.

“Having the ability to practice on an NHL-sized rink all week, I think puts us in a better position to be more successful when we go on the road. In the old days, and even in some of the time since I’ve been here, we would go over to the MAC or to Sartell to get on an NHL-sized sheet, especially in playoffs. It’s just not ideal and a great experience for the players. Having this setup now, the hybrid on the main and the NHL on the practice (rink), it’s going to be the perfect for us.”

Getting new boards and plexiglass is also going to help the facility.

“For safety concerns, the old boards in here don’t move at all,” Larson said. “For the aesthetics of the building, we’re finally going to get into the 21st century with the structure of our building. When you add in the new boards, glass and lighting, it’s going to spruce up the arena.”

St. Cloud State’s Barrett Hall (15) takes a shot on goal in a game against Bemidji State on Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.

Contributed / Jason Soria, SCSU Athletics

There will be some adjustments for the St. Cloud State hockey players who train at the facility during the offseason. The construction project is likely to begin in April with the hope of having it ready to be used by the fall.

“It will be a little inconvenient for a summer, but there’s local ice in the area that our guys will be able to get on,” Larson said. “They’ll still have access to our weight room and locker room. We’ll just have to get through a short stretch of inconvenience, but it’s going to be well worth it.”

The Huskies, by the way, recently had their two-week summer camp at the Brooks Center. Larson said that all of the players on next season’s roster were able to make the camp other than goalies Patriks Berzins (Sabile, Latvia) and Yan Shostak (Minsk, Belarus) and

forward Verner Miettinen (Espoo, Finland).

All three of those players are from Europe and Larson does not ask overseas players to attend the camp. The camp is run mostly by SCSU strength and conditioning coach Jake Franczek and the players who will be seniors on next season’s roster.

“It’s a great chance for our freshmen to get in and get acclimated and get to know the team,” Larson said. “It’s also nice for the guys who are going to NHL development camps because they get training before they go off to those camps. Most of them will leave here the day after the draft.”

The NHL Draft will be held June 27-28 in Los Angeles.

SCSU will have five freshmen and three transfers join the team this fall.

The freshmen include forwards

Nolan Roed,

Noah Urness

and

Aiden Welch,

defenseman Tanner Henricks

and Shostak. The transfers are defensemen

Finn Loftus (Massachusetts)

and

Max Smolinski (RPI)

and

Berzins (Maine).

Members of the St. Cloud State men’s hockey team work on special teams during practice on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud. Players in white are the penalty killers.

Mick Hatten / St. Cloud LIVE

Mick Hatten is a reporter and editor for stcloudlive.com. He began working for Forum Communications in November 2018 for The Rink Live and has covered St. Cloud State University hockey since 2010. Besides covering Huskies hockey, he is also covering other sports at SCSU and high school sports. A graduate of St. Cloud State, he has more than 30 years of experience as a journalist and has been a youth hockey coach since 2014. mick@stcloudlive.com

For more coverage of St. Cloud and the surrounding communities, check out St. Cloud Live.





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