A History of Hockey
It’s not a new thing that glulam can cross some massive spans, like seen in The Kartrite Indoor Waterpark. Being able to traverse these large clear spans makes glulam a great building material for sports arenas, and most importantly right now, hockey rinks.
We’ve been building hockey rinks and arenas all over the Northeast since we started our dedicated glulam division in 1963. Below is a photo of Loring Arena in Framingham, MA built in 1963 and still being used by many local teams and organizations.
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| Loring Arena, Framingham, MA 1963 |
Two years later, just down the road, the town of Newton, MA put up their own rink, The Daly Rink, in the same style as the Loring Arena.
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| The Daly Rink, Newton, MA 1965 |
While the barrel arches can give you a large open span so too can our bowstring trusses without requiring large buttresses at the ends, like seen here at the Veterans Memorial Rink in Somerville, MA.
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| Veterans Memorial Rink, Somerville, MA 1969 |
Both options offer a sustainable alternative to steel and concrete with all of the same structural capabilities. Preservative treated glulam performs better than steel in the harsh and corrosive conditions of indoor hockey rinks, making it a better choice for longevity than steel.