St. Thomas hockey to open new arena on Oct. 24 against Providence

Originally posted on Bring Me The News | By Tony Liebert | Last updated May 20, 2025 1:40 PM ET

The new Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, which will host University of St. Thomas basketball and hockey games, will officially open on October 24 with a pair of hockey games. The Tommies' men's and women's programs are taking on Providence College in the first games at the new state-of-the-art venue, the school announced on Tuesday.

The future arrives.

NEWS: @TommieWHockey, @TommieMHockey to open Lee & Penny Anderson Arena Oct. 24 presented by @Wings_CU

Guarantee your spot for opening night by getting your season tickets today: https://t.co/rlaZC2CDUh #RollToms pic.twitter.com/DCNSpQIBUu
— St. Thomas Athletics (@TommieAthletics) May 20, 2025

St. Thomas made the unprecedented jump from Division III to Division I before the 2021-22 season, and construction for a new multi-purpose basketball and hockey arena broke ground in 2024. It is expected to hold 4,000 fans for hockey games and 5,500 for basketball.

The school announced that it surpassed its $131 million fundraising goal for the arena this April, after a record-breaking $75 million donation from the Andersons in 2023 — the "single largest monetary gift ever given to a Minnesota university."

The Tommies' men's and women's hockey teams finished 19-14-5 and 9-25-2 last season, respectively. They will open the 2025-26 campaign with tough tests against a Providence program that is routinely among the contenders in the Hockey East Conference on both the men's and women's sides.

The school has yet to announce the first basketball games that the arena will host.

This article first appeared on Bring Me The News and was syndicated with permission.

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