I read the front page article in the Feb. 12 issue of The News, ‘Intramurals face limited facilities,’ with great interest. As a captain of intramural hockey and broomball teams, I can attest firsthand to the limited and inconvenient ice times my teams have experienced. For example, my last two games were on Superbowl Sunday (way to come back Cardinals!) and Feb. 9 at 10:30 p.m., which was the night of the Beanpot championship game. Most of the hockey team, including myself, had tickets to the Beanpot. We hoped Northeastern would lead 10-0 after the 2nd period and we could leave early, but unfortunately, the game was close until the end so we stayed at TD Banknorth Garden and missed our hockey game.
I am lucky enough to even play hockey, as many teams do not get a chance to play at all. According to statistics provided by Intramural Sports Coordinator Jack Butler to The News, 20 intramural ice hockey teams registered this year, but only six teams were able to play. For intramural broomball, 70 teams signed up, but only 24 initially got to play. Later, the Athletics Department was able to accommodate another eight teams, for a total of 32 intramural broomball teams. These numbers of those who couldn’t play are unacceptably high. Way too many students are not getting a chance to participate and enjoy their time at Northeastern playing intramural sports.
I have been playing intramural sports for four years. I have greatly enjoyed playing and think the intramural sports department does an excellent job. They are almost a victim of their own success. The demand to play intramural sports has greatly increased during the last few years. There is only so much time available at Matthews Arena.
There is a simple solution to the lack of ice time:’ rent ice time in other rinks. There are rinks in almost every Boston neighborhood, like in Charlestown or the North End, which are easily accessible by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). There is no reason why Northeastern cannot contact other rinks and arrange to rent ice time from them.
The idea would, however, cause conflicts:’ Students would need to take the MBTA to games or drive in vans provided by the university. Players may be charged an extra fee for ice time since it costs money to rent ice at other rinks. Also, the intramural sports department would have to coordinate games across the city instead of containing the games on campus.
Despite these possible problems, I think the idea could work. Students and employees at the intramural department could rise to the occasion so that any student who wants to can run on ice with sneakers, whack a ball with a big paddle and score on the goalie.

‘- Mark Tassinari is a senior
business major.