New practice facility set to open in 2016
The Bruins' current practice facility (northshoreshamrocks.com) |
Ristuccia Memorial Arena in Wilmington, Massachusetts has been used as the Bruins' practice arena since 1987, but will no longer serve this purpose come Fall 2016.
Bruins President Cam Neely announced today that the team has signed a letter of intent with Boston Landing to build a new practice arena in the Allston-Brighton neighborhood of Boston.
“Since joining the Bruins in a front office capacity, a goal of mine has been to move the Bruins into a first-class practice facility and this agreement moves us closer to accomplishing that goal,” said Neely. “The vision that New Balance has for the Boston Landing project is exactly what we were looking for, and we are confident that through this partnership, we will build a facility that our entire organization will be proud of.”
This new arena will include around 25,000 feet for locker rooms, training, and office space. The project should be completed by the Fall of 2016.
As a resident of Woburn, the next town over from Wilmington, I am a bit disappointed that the team will be moving to a new facility. I grew up attending and playing games at Ristuccia, and will miss having the B's so close to home. However, they needed a new practice rink. Ristuccia is definitely not an adequate facility for an Original Six team like the Bruins, so building a brand new one is well worth it. Bruins Principal Charlie Jacobs said they want to "set the industry standard in everything that we do", and they are on their way to that with the new practice facility to go along with the renovations of TD Garden.
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