The NCAA Men’s Division I Ice Hockey Tournament Regional Playoffs take place on March 29, 30, and 31 at four arenas across the country. Here is a guide to those arenas:
Northeast Region
SNHU Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire
SNHU Arena is an arena that opened in November 2001 located in Manchester, New Hampshire. It seats 9,852 for ice hockey. During the regular season it’s the home of the Manchester Monarchs of the ECHL.
Nearby bars and restaurants worth checking out are El Rincon Zacatecano Taqueria across the street on Lake Avenue and Central Ale House, about two blocks north of the arena on Central Street.
For more ideas see the RinkAtlas page for SNHU Arena.
East Region
Dunkin Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Dunkin Donuts Center is a 14,000 seat arena in Providence, Rhode Island that opened in November 1972 and was renovated in 2008. During the regular season, it’s the home of the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League.
Bars and restaurants that look promising are The Vig located in the Hilton on Atwells Avenue, or Murphy’s, an Irish pub on Fountain Street.
For more ideas see the RinkAtlas page for the Dunkin Donuts Center.
Midwest Region
PPL Center, Allentown, Pennsylvania
PPL Center is an 8,420 seat arena in downtown Allentown, Pennsylvania completed in September 2014. The Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League call the PPL Center home.
Parking in the garages close to the PPL Center is really affordable for most events, although we’re not certain if the rates are different for the NCAA Tournament than the AHL games. If you arrive early and park in a garage, you can easily walk to bars and restaurants discussed below.
The PPL Center has quite a variety of restaurants within walking distance of the arena. Two restaurants we recommend in the immediate vicinity are The Hamilton Kitchen and Bar about a block east on Hamilton Street, and Fegley’s Allentown Brew Works about a block west on Hamilton Street.
We wish we could recommend Chickie’s and Pete’s, which is a bar/restaurant that’s very popular regionally and in the same building as the arena itself. But most of the people we’ve talked to disliked this location. There is also a Tim Horton’s café located in the same building, which is pretty unique for this part of the U.S., but it serves mostly donuts and bakery items, and it’s only open 6:00am to 4:00pm.
See the RinkAtlas arena detail page for PPL Center for more bars and restaurants from which to choose.
West Region
Scheels Arena, Fargo, North Dakota
Scheels Arena is a 5,000 seat arena in Fargo, North Dakota that opened in 2008. It is home of the Fargo Force of the USHL.
Scheels is the only one of the NCAA Regional venues that’s not in a neighborhood where you can walk to a bar or restaurant after you park before the game.
Some of the more highly rated places within a mile of the arena are The Tavern Grill on 32nd Avenue South, Famous Dave’s on 45th Street SW, and the Blarney Stone Pub on 9th Street East in West Fargo. You must be 21 to enter the Blarney Stone Pub.
More ideas on the Scheels Arena page on RinkAtlas.