Ellie Davis estimates she’s spent more time at Matthews Arena than in her apartment.
The junior marine biology major at Northeastern University has a special appreciation for the historic arena located in the heart of Boston’s Back Bay.
Davis has experienced Matthews Arena from both sides of the glass — as a member of the Dog House, Northeastern’s boisterous student section, and a member of the school’s women’s club hockey team.
“I swear, I spend so much time at this rink,” Davis said. “To me, it’s a second home. I still haven’t fully wrapped my head around that I’m not going to be here next semester. It meant so much to be able to play here, this incredibly meaningful, historic place.”
The venerable barn, which will tie a bow on its 115-year history with Saturday night’s men’s game vs. Boston University, opened in 1910 and hosted the first home games of the Boston Bruins (1924) and Boston Celtics (1946). In addition to college hockey, Matthews (originally Boston Arena, purchased by Northeastern in 1979 and later renamed for benefactors George and Hope Matthews) has hosted figure skating, boxing, basketball, and even political rallies including appearances by presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“I grew up going to the Beanpot and rooting for any team other than BU — which ended up being Northeastern a lot of the time,” said Davis, who hails from nearby Somerville, Mass. “One of the things that drew me to Northeastern was going to Beanpot games and just seeing the immense student section that would come out to support, even against teams like BU, that have a prominent student fan base, Northeastern has outnumbered them every time. I love hockey and being part of a hockey school was so important to me.”
Misha Ankudovych was immediately drawn to Matthews and the sport of hockey soon after he arrived on campus his freshman year. In just a few years, the senior from Long Island, N.Y., went from never having attended a sporting event in his life to the de facto leader of the Dog House.
“Even sports in general, we didn’t watch anything,” he said. “Maybe the Super Bowl, that was it. My freshman year, the home opener, they’re playing (Long Island University) — I had to go. It went to overtime (a 3-2 Northeastern win). I was all the way in the back, and I was like, what’s going on over here? People were taking their shirts off. Who are these people? I went back and back and back. It was a community. Now, four years later, I’ve gone to hundreds of hockey games.”
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Matthews Arena’s date with the wrecking ball is looming, but in its place will come a new arena — on the same St. Boltoph Street footprint — for Northeastern’s hockey and basketball teams. Capacity will be 4,050 for hockey and 5,300 for basketball, and is expected to be ready for the 2028-29 season.
It’s been a bittersweet experience for the Northeastern players, coaches and fans, saying goodbye to a beloved arena while anticipating the arrival of a modern facility.
“I think people will miss Matthews, I think they’re going to be sad when it’s no longer here,” Hockey East commissioner Steve Metcalf said. “The other side of the coin, they’re going to have an absolutely gorgeous, state-of-the-art arena. It’s going to impact so many teams and people at Northeastern, which I think will be incredible for the university. In this day and age, when you’re trying to recruit young (players) to come play hockey at your school, you need something that can compete against (more modern arenas). This will be a crown jewel for Northeastern.”
The ties to the arena run deep. Jerry Keefe has been with the program for the last 15 years, first as an assistant coach with the men’s team before taking over as head coach in 2021.
“My kids grew up at this rink,” Keefe said. “That’s a big deal for me. My daughter was 1 year old, and my son was 4. He was here with me at the rink nonstop, if he didn’t have a hockey game. The wife and the kids never miss a game.”
While some recruits might find modern facilities more appealing than one with more than a century of history, Keefe said selling players on Northeastern and Matthews has never been as challenging as one might think.
“A lot of people love this rink,” Keefe said. “They like the ‘old school’. We’ve got a great fan base — the Dog House. They love playing here. It’s a little more blue collar, but some people like that. Some people like a little more shiny and new. At the end of the day, we’ve had everything we needed to have success.”
It’s a sentiment shared by many. Northeastern women’s assistant coach Melissa Piacentini grew up watching her aunt, Julie Piacentini, an inductee into the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame, play for the Huskies at Matthews in the late 1980s.
“Everyone who comes into this arena, they love it,” Melissa said. “(It’s) cool when you’re walking around underneath, there’s stories in this building for so many years (about) the people who have come through this building. It’s a very bittersweet moment for us.”
The women’s team wrapped up its tenure at Matthews on Dec. 6 with a 4-2 win over Boston College.
“This season’s definitely very special,” Melissa Piacentini said. “It’s a historic building and we’re so lucky to be able to be here. It’s definitely a sad farewell, but we’re excited for the future, for that new building.”
The women’s team made their final season at Matthews a memorable one, going 10-1-0.
“They don’t want to waste any last moment they have in the arena,” Northeastern women’s coach Dave Flint said. “They’ve been making the most of it, every home game they have.”
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In the meantime, the men’s and women’s teams will face the challenge of being road warriors the rest of this season, and for two more years after that. While the Huskies’ practice location will be static (Boch Ice Center in Dedham, Mass.), the hockey teams will play home games at a patchwork of locations. To close out the current season, the men’s team will play home games at Boston University’s Walter Brown Arena; Harvard; Portland, Maine and Lowell, Mass. The women’s team will play their remaining home games at Bentley and Walter Brown.
For athletic director and former men’s hockey coach Jim Madigan, who also played for the Huskies from 1981-85, Northeastern’s situation is not a cross to bear, but rather a rare opportunity to usher the university’s athletic department into a new era.
“It’s almost like it’s a privilege to go through this,” Madigan said. “The privilege is progress and the new facility. Admittedly, there’s going to be some disruptions, some distractions. But what still remains is, we’re in the best conference in college hockey, (we) play in the Benapot, we’re in Boston, one of the best cities in the world. We’re still a top-50 institution academically. Those things don’t go away.”
Currently, the Dog House student section perches itself on a balcony in one end zone of Matthews Arena, and artist renderings of the new facility appear to have the student section in a similar imposing position. In the meantime, Misha Ankudovych said this year’s edition of the Dog House will make every effort to be at the Huskies’ remote home games, continuing to make it difficult for opponents.
“The Dog House will live,” he said.