University of Connecticut students have been reporting issues getting tickets for games at the new Toscano Family Ice Forum. The arena opened in January 2023 and has a seating capacity of 2,600.
The new arena is now home to UConn’s Division I men’s and women’s hockey teams, with them having moved from the XL Center and Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum earlier this year.
Many students and members of the general public have taken to social media over the past few weeks to voice their frustrations with the high-ticket demand.
Brandon Ello, an fourth-year mechanical engineering major said a lot of students have had difficulties getting tickets.
“It’s insanely difficult… you have to log onto the student ticket claim right as they become available. And even then the site sometimes crashes and freezes and by the time it comes back all the tickets are sold out,” Ello said. “Everyone I know has this problem, there’s not enough seats.”
Bill Peterson, UConn’s assistant athletic director for Communications, outlined the process for obtaining tickets, which is similar to other sports at UConn. He also stated that all single-game tickets have sold out for the remainder of the season.
“Our student ticket claims for ice hockey games at the new Toscano Family Ice Forum are open seven days prior to the scheduled game and the process is identical to the way students can claim tickets for football and men’s and women’s basketball games. With the arena being brand new, we have a very high demand and with limited inventory, the claims can go fairly quickly,” Peterson said. “We do not have any single game tickets currently available for purchase for the remainder of this regular season, and that is including to the general public as well. For the student game that occurred last night [UConn vs. Alaska Anchorage], we put that up for claim 10 days out (Feb. 13). The claim went live at 9:30 p.m. and all 2,200 tickets for the event were claimed within a 12 hour window.”
Peterson also added that he personally has not heard of any negative experiences from students with claiming tickets.
“As for any issues with the claim process, frankly, this is the first we have heard of any difficulties with the process. The feedback we have received from students, with the claim process for all four sports, is that it has been a positive experience… with questions on the student ticket claim and using the Top Dogs app for the claim process, they can send questions/concerns to marketing@uconn.edu,” Peterson stated.
When asked if there are any plans to increase seating, Peterson said that there has yet to be any decision made but expects demand to be high next season as well.
“As for next season, the administration will meet at the end of the season to evaluate the hockey events at the new rink to make any plans going forward. Nothing has been decided at this time to make any changes. I expect the demand will remain high however,” Peterson said.
While the UConn women’s hockey season has concluded, UConn men’s hockey plays their last scheduled home game against Boston College this upcoming Saturday, Mar. 4 at 4:05 p.m. While tickets are sold out, the game can be viewed on ESPN+.
