Photography by Megan Mumford
When Union College President Elizabeth Kiss called the new M&T Bank Center at Mohawk Harbor a “game changer” at the venue’s ribbon cutting this past August, she was speaking metaphorically. Yes, the location of the College’s men’s and women’s home ice hockey games will literally be changing, but what Kiss was referring to is the transformational effect the state-of-the-art arena will have not only on Union athletics, but the city of Schenectady as a whole.
An idea that’s been five years in the making, the M&T Bank Center is the most recent project in development titan The Galesi Group’s ongoing effort to revitalize Schenectady’s Mohawk Harbor. The Galesi Group acquired the site, the former home of the American Locomotive Company, in 2010, and eight years later received $12 million in tax credits for cleaning it up as part of New York State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program. Today the Harbor is an exemplar of public-private partnerships that’s home to a 60-acre master-planned community complete with hundreds of apartments, condos, and townhouses; two hotels; 100,000 square feet of harborside retail and dining space; an outdoor amphitheater for live music; 50 dock slips for daily or seasonal rental; and Rivers Casino, one of New York State’s first licensed casinos. Oh, and now the M&T Bank Center, an arena whose identity has been intertwined with Union College hockey since its conception.
For 50 years, Union’s ice hockey teams have been playing at the Union Street campus’ Messa Rink. Originally named Achilles Rink in honor of benefactor Rev. H. Laurence Achilles, Sr., it was renovated and renamed in 2003 for alumnus Frank L. Messa, who donated $1.5 million to the project. The Messa Rink did the trick—it was Union’s home ice when the men’s team made history by winning the Division I NCAA National Championship in 2014. But by the early 2020s it had become a relic of a bygone era, marked by endearing yet woefully uncomfortable wooden bleachers for fans.
Before the pandemic, David Buicko, president and CEO of The Galesi Group, began talking locations for a new rink with Union Athletic Director Jim McLaughlin and then-President David Harris. “We had the choice of redoing Messa or building a new facility,” Buicko says. “We worked with the city of Schenectady, the state, the county, and Union, and we came up with this plan. The needs of the hockey teams were part of our planning process.”
For women’s team senior Stephanie Bourque, who’s been playing at Messa for three years, the move to Mohawk Harbor is exciting, but bittersweet.
“It’s a little bit sad because I loved playing at Messa,” says the New Brunswick, Canada native. “I’d never seen a rink like it, with its circle roof, and I fell in love with it when I saw it. It’s also a really loud rink, so we could always hear the fans.”
At the same time, Bourque recognizes the opportunities the new arena will give her team in terms of recruitment, even if she won’t be there to reap the rewards. “It’s going to be a huge selling point for our program,” she says. “It’s going to help us grow both the men’s and women’s programs.”
Though the men’s team has played at the top level of college hockey since 1991 and the women’s team has been Division I since 2003, it wasn’t until 2022 that the College was able to offer athletic scholarships. Those affiliated with the hockey programs hope that the combination of scholarships and the new rink will boost recruitment and potentially lead to another national championship.
“It’s really, really exciting,” says men’s team Head Coach Josh Hauge, who will be behind the bench for his fourth season this year. “It’s game changing. It’s program changing.”
There’s that phrase again.
Hauge came to Union after seven seasons coaching at Clarkson University. Both institutions play in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), so he’s spent more than a decade coaching at Messa, for either the home or the visiting team.
“We came here for one game when I was at Clarkson,” he says. “My wife was pregnant, and we went as a family. The bleachers were a little bit uncomfortable, there weren’t enough bathrooms, and the concessions were limited. This new building solves it for the fan experience.”
The concessions at M&T Bank Center will be run by the Mallozzi Family, which also provides food service at Rivers Casino and owns Villa Italia and Johnny’s, both in Schenectady. The new arena will also include luxury suites and a dedicated student section in front of which opposing goalies will play for two periods each game.
Though the facility will be used for more than just hockey games, the Union stamp is ubiquitous and deliberate. The design scheme prominently includes the College’s garnet and white colors, and Union’s championship pennants are already hanging from the rafters. In the locker rooms, the team logo dominates the carpeting, the benches, and the storage units.
“We’re going to be adding additional graphics to the locker rooms,” says women’s coach Tony Maci, who’s returning for his second year at Union. He too came to Schenectady after coaching at Clarkson. “There will also be a trophy display in the public area.”
While students and other fans will welcome the front-facing improvements, the players are most looking forward to the behind-the-scenes amenities.
“It feels professional,” says men’s team forward Parker Lindauer, a senior from Madison, WI. “We’ve got our own weight room that we won’t need to share with other teams. We’ve got cold tubs and hot tubs. It’s going to be really beneficial to us as players.”
Maci concurs. “The facility has everything we need,” he says. “We’ve got lots of amenities we didn’t have at Messa. There are kitchens in the players’ lounges and TVs everywhere so we can hit the video side of things. There are also study areas so that players can do their academics there.”
Though the women’s team had a losing record last year, second-year forward Jill Willis is bullish on the upcoming season.
“We’re building off what we did last year,” says Willis, who’s from South Glens Falls. “The scholarships and the new rink are putting us in the right direction, and I’m excited for the freshmen to come in and have the same mindset.”
The new rink is something of a blank slate. It’s still full of new-car smell, and at this point still a little antiseptic—something that both teams know will change as soon as they can get in there to make the space their own.
“We’ve started talking about things like posting our values and the pillars of our Union team in the locker room,” says senior defenseman Nick Young.
“We want to build on the traditions that brought Union a national championship,” adds Lindauer. “And at the same time, we want to create our own traditions—maybe some sort of celebration with the fans that we didn’t have before.”
The regular season for Union’s hockey teams runs from September through February, with league championships taking place in March. The women’s team takes the ice for the first time on September 26 at 6pm against Franklin Pierce, and the men will take on West Point on October 5 at 5pm. But the players won’t be the first ones to break in the new arena; at press time, country star Lee Brice was scheduled to perform at the Center on September 6. Brice’s opening act—the actual first person to perform at M&T Bank Center ever—will be David J, a graduate of Schalmont High School.
Going forward, the venue will continue to host concerts and conventions, and the ice surface will also be open to youth hockey teams, adult leagues, and public skating. “This is meant to be a community facility,” says Buicko. “I’d like to work with city kids in Schenectady, so that they have access, too.”
The players share that perspective.
“I’m super excited,” says Young, who’s from Raleigh, NC. “This will help bridge the city and us, giving us the opportunity to work on more projects. I’m really excited to make a difference on and off the ice.”
The arena will seat 2,200 people for hockey games and 3,600 for other events; unlike Messa Rink, it will also sell alcohol, and it has a parking lot, which could encourage tailgating before games.
Buicko has stated proudly that the $55 million project came in on time and on budget, two achievements for which elected officials repeatedly praised him at the August 14 ribbon cutting. But while those business markers are one measure of success, the same officials are hoping that the arena at Mohawk Harbor will also provide intangibles, both for the team and for the city.
“Hopefully,” Governor Hochul said at the ribbon cutting, “we’ll be sending off Olympic and professional athletes right from this very location.”
Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, who represents the city of Schenectady, was also in attendance. “It’s the next chapter in Schenectady’s comeback story,” he said of the project. “This event center is where dreams will be chased, history will be made, and our community is going to come together in ways we have only imagined.”
Women’s player Willis puts it more succinctly.
“It’s like all those other million-dollar arenas,” she says. “I can’t believe it’s ours.”
