Northeastern Huskies
Rink: Matthews Arena
Capacity: 19,289
Built: 1910
League: NCAA
City: Boston, Massachusetts
Home Of: Northeastern Huskies
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: November 16, 2024 vs New Hampshire
Unique Arena: #100
NCAA Arena: #2
The Boston Arena originally opened in 1910, but was destroyed by a fire in December 1918, so a replacement Boston Arena was rebuilt on the site. It opened on New Year’s Day, 1921, and continues to operate to this day under the name of Matthews Arena which it was given in 1982 after Northeastern University Chairman George Matthews. The university itself did not take over the arena until the fall of 1979. The arena was actually the original home of the Boston Bruins, who played their first ever regular season game here on December 1, 1924, beating the Montreal Maroons 2-1. The Bruins played here until the opening of the famous Boston Garden in 1928.
The photo above might be my worst exterior arena shot on this website. Unfortunately for me, I had gone to the Bruins game that afternoon and couldn’t get down to Matthews Arena until after dark. There was also construction going on in front of the arena and this regrettably was the best shot I could get.
Once you enter Matthews Arena and have your ticket scanned, you enter into a large hall area which feels like it could host galas or wedding reception-type events. This area runs behind one end of the rink itself, and has the only bathrooms and concession stands in the building. There is also a small souvenir table set up. There are archways and large chandeliers hanging, which as I said, gives it some kind of grand ballroom feel. It’s very of the time from when it was built, over 100 years ago. On one side of this space there is a bank of windows and doors that lead into the rink itself at the top of the lower bowl behind one of the nets. There is a narrow concourse that goes around the top of the lower bowl, but only in a U shape. Same goes for the upper bowl concourse as well. In the lower bowl the far end of the rink houses the Zamboni garage area. The upper bowl does fully circle the building, however, the upper bowl in the far end has been deemed not safe for crowds to gather, as the actual structure of the building itself does not pass code. This end of the upper bowl is blocked off now completely from fan access and the seating area itself is tarped off. Originally the rink only had one bowl, and the upper bowl was added later, fit into the existing structure of the arena. Due to this, the upper bowl is incredibly close to the ice surface, more so than any other arena I’ve been in. Sitting in the front row of the upper deck you actually have to lean forward to see the near boards and look almost straight down at the ice in front of you. It’s a fantastic view of the game, however this means if you’re anywhere further back than the first row, your view is slightly obstructed. There are only about four rows of seats in the upper bowl down the sides, while the ends expand to nearly ten rows, much like a mini Quebec Colisée.
Most of the lower bowl seats have a decent enough view of the action. In true old building fashion, the good seats are great, but the bad seats are really bad. The best example of this is in the corners of the lower bowl where the seats extend much further up. Unfortunately for people in those seats, they got so far up under the overhang of the upper bowl that some seats have as much as half the ice surface blocked off from view. Also, a whole centre ice section of seats in the lower bowl are blocked off for media and cameras for the game broadcasts. There is also a proper press box high in the rafters on the opposite side of the ice.
The thing that has always appealed to me the most about NCAA hockey is the atmosphere. My first NCAA game was at Yost Arena in Michigan, and it was incredible, with a giant student section with soccer-like songs and chants that were definitely not PG rated, a band and tons of fans supporting the team. At Northeastern the student section is the non-condemned end of the upper bowl. They give it a good effort, but were nowhere on the level of Michigan. The rest of the building on the night we were there was also half full at best, so the atmosphere was a tad disappointing. Now comparing a much smaller school like Northeastern to one of the largest programs in the country (Michigan) probably isn’t fair, but it taught me to temper expectations when going to smaller NCAA schools in the future. The walls of the upper bowl are dotted with the team flags throughout the same conference as Northeastern and the rafters are filled with banners showing off the Huskies success over the decades of both the men’s and women’s teams, as well as a banner commemorating the arena as the original home of the NHL’s Boston Bruins. One of the only signs of new tech in the building is the scoreboard hanging over centre ice, which is crisp HD quality and set up more longways with super wide screens for the sides and smaller screens for the ends much like in Kalamazoo. All of this is under a beautiful arched wooden roof.
Matthews Arena is not long for this world, as it was found in recent years that the foundation is actually slowly sinking. When we attended a game here in November 2024, we were under the impression that it was already the final season for the arena. That proved to be false as its life has been extended slightly, but as of this writing the final game is scheduled for December of 2025. After that the plans are to demolish the building and build a new arena for Northeastern University on the same site, which will evict the Huskies for a few years. While I was slightly disappointed with the atmosphere and the game itself was a bit of a bore, I was so happy to experience Matthews Arena before its date with the wrecking ball. If you have the means to get there before December 2025, I highly suggest giving it a try.
