The world's oldest ice hockey arena and one of the nation's exemplary athletic facilities is Matthews Arena, a recently repolished gem named for George J. Matthews, B '56, and his wife, the late Hope M. Matthews.
The original home of the Boston Bruins, the Celtics and the Beanpot, the arena has served as the center of Northeastern hockey since the program's inception for the 1929-30 season.
Matthews is chairman emeritus of the Northeastern Board of Trustees and the former national chairperson of the Century Fund at Northeastern. As a respected member of the Boston business community, Matthews is president of the Matthews Group, a Boston-based company, and former owner of the Boston Breakers of the United States Football League.
Perhaps more widely known as the Boston Arena, Matthews Arena is home to Northeastern's men's and women's hockey teams. The building is one of the bastions of the country's sporting history and a spectator's dream for live athletic contests. In September 1995, the arena officially made its fourth "reopening" when it unveiled a spectacular new ice surface and lobby at its St. Botolph Street address.
A state-of-the-art ice surface expansion to Olympic-sized 90-foot by 200-foot dimensions has added 2,000 square feet of skating area to the arena, for decades one of the nation's smallest rinks. Completion of the renovation involved a $1.6 million capital campaign designed to make the larger rink compatible with more creative play, the specifications of world championship and international competition, and the needs of figure skating performances.
The old ice house that gave birth to the Boston Bruins, the Boston Olympics and the New England Whalers also was the cradle of high school and college hockey in Greater Boston. The hockey programs at Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, MIT, Tufts and, of course, Northeastern all had their geneses at Matthews.
Tournaments that brighten New England winters such as the Beanpot and ECAC had their start at the arena, as did competitive figure skating. In 1994, Nancy Kerrigan graced the ice at Matthews with an entourage that included Paul Wylie and Scott Hamilton, continuing an 85-year tradition of figure skating that numbers Sonja Henie, Dick Button and Tenley Albright.
The Matthews Arena chronology reads like a Who's Who in American sports, and starts with ground-breaking on Oct. 11, 1909. Legendary pugilists Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney and Joe Louis graced ringside, Paavo Nurmi ran at the Arena in a BAA track meet, and Olympian Henie wove her magic-on-blades to phonograph music. The Boston Bruins played their first home game in the building and defeated the Montreal Maroons, 2-1, on Dec. 1, 1924. Less fortunate in their arena debut were the Northeastern hockey Huskies, who lost, 2-1, to MIT on Jan. 17, 1930.
The arena also has played host to such professional hockey teams as the Boston Olympics, Whalers, Tigers and Cubs. Even the great Babe Ruth, then a young lefthanded pitcher for the Red Sox, was a frequent visitor to the Arena. The Sultan of Swat passed idle time in the winter by playing in hockey scrimmages with the Arena A.C. team. Chuck Connors, alias The Rifleman, jumped center and smashed the glass backboard in the first-ever Boston Celtics game on Nov. 5, 1946. And, the world famous Texas Rangers brought their rodeo in 1932, complete with outlaw horses and wild steers.
Today, the stately Victorian lobbies that welcomed the modest and the mighty for nearly a century cater to the academic and athletic needs of the University. Convocations and a large portion of the intramural docket are conducted at the arena, whose walls once echoed with the podium entreaties of presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. Past arena dignitaries include Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhardt, James Michael Curley, the Rev. Billy Graham, Adm. Chester Nimitz and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. In the summer of 1993, the city of Boston and Northeastern paid tribute to one of its heroes when it held funeral services at the arena for Reggie Lewis, Class of 1988.
The arena has survived two crippling fires, in 1918, and another in 1948, to prosper as a stationary jewel of the community. Structurally, the arena has undergone numerous renovations most recently new seats and new locker rooms for the men's and women's varsity hockey teams.
Northeastern's association with the arena covers more than 50 years, since hockey became a varsity sport at the University in 1929. Husky basketball adopted the Arena as its home in 1981, although the Huskies played a game there in 1936, losing to Rhode Island. For decades, the Arena has been home to countless scholastic hockey teams particularly those in the Boston City League and to its next door neighbor, Wentworth Institute.
The arena is also home to the Northeastern Varsity Club in its newly-constructed, handsome headquarters, which includes a theater-style viewing box. The Varsity Club now hosts "Fight to Educate Night" and NU Hall of Fame ceremonies at the arena.
Neither time nor materiality has disrupted the daily patterns of Arena life, though. In quiet afternoons, there are special hours set aside for free skating for anyone that has a Northeastern ID. As the ancient edifice improves by age, her sensitivity to the common good remains as high as ever.
Directions to Matthews Arena: Click here.