📍 Princeton, New Jersey
🏒 Home of Princeton Tigers hockey

A Gothic-style Ivy League athletic redoubt, Princeton’s Hobey Baker Memorial Rink is the oldest continually used Division I hockey arena and has been the home of Tigers hockey since 1923. Named after football and hockey standout Hobart Baker, the wood- and stone-clad barn is among the most architecturally striking sports venues in the nation.

The rink seats a bit more than 2,000 fans, making it a very intimate college hockey setting. The bleachers are only six rows deep around the ice, putting the furthest fans just twenty feet away from the action, and a little balcony perches above the east end. The venue additionally has no central heating, creating an immersive experience that leaves fans at the mercy of some cold New Jersey nights.

Hobey Baker Rink has undergone few renovations over the years, preserving the venue’s history and heritage for generations. By-and-large, the gameday atmosphere is unchanged from the roaring ’20s. Small wooden doors with intricate portholes lead into the rinkside seating areas, and the hallways which guide fans to these doorways are lined with a smattering of photos highlighting Tiger teams through the years and former Princeton players who have gone pro.

The school’s men’s hockey program began as early as the late 1800s, playing regularly scheduled matches against a variety of different clubs until joining their Ivy League peers in an organized league in 1899. The Tigers have been members of the ECAC since its formation in 1961, having gone on to be three-time conference champs and appearing in the NCAA Tournament on 4 occasions. Many of Princeton’s noteworthy on-ice accomplishments are on display in a collection of see-through trophy cases in the east end of their arena, which also enshrine both Hobart Baker and Patty Kazmaier, an ’80s-era women’s hockey star and daughter of Tiger football great Dick Kazmaier.

These two beloved legends both tragically died young – Baker in an airplane crash in France and Kazmaier from a rare blood disease – but their names are forever etched in the Princeton hockey fabric. For decades, banners have hung off the press box in the west end, reminding fans and student-athletes alike to Make Hobey Proud and Make Patty Proud.