Penn State Opens Ice Arena Fit for a Division I Team STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Penn State christened its $90 million Pegula Ice Arena with a 4-1 victory over Army on Friday night before an overflow crowd announced at 6,370. And Coach Guy Gadowsky's first words were a salute to the fans who had ushered in a new era for the hockey program. "The student section was definitely the first star of the night, but it was a tremendous night for so many people," he said. What this building does for you is special. It's so motivating to play here. Penn State's previous hockey home was Greenberg Ice Pavilion, where capacity was 1,350 bleacher seats, all along one side of the ice. It resembled a one-story warehouse. Pegula Ice Arena draws other comparisons. "It feels like an N.H.L. arena, but it's more intimate," said Dan Rost, a senior from Waynesboro, Pa., who waited in line for three hours to buy his season tickets in the student section. Army Coach Brian Riley praised the atmosphere of the building, saying, "This is what college hockey should be about." Penn State dropped varsity hockey in 1947, but it returned as a club sport in 1971. The club team won seven national championships and had only two losing seasons. During that time, more than a dozen proposals were made to upgrade the sport to Division I. "There was always some roadblock, the most obvious one being the cost," said the associate athletic director Joe Battista, who played club hockey at Penn State and later coached the team, the Icers, for 19 years. Without the Pegula gift, this wouldn't be happening. Terry Pegula, a 1973 graduate, sold East Resources, his oil and gas company, for $4.7 billion in May 2010. Four months later, he and his wife, Kim, donated $88 million to build a hockey arena and start a Division I program here. The Pegulas also allocated $14 million to establish 18 scholarships. Penn State hired Gadowsky, the former coach at Princeton and Alaska-Fairbanks, before the 2011-12 season, the Nittany Lions" last in the American Club Hockey Association. Last season, Penn State moved up to Division I, competed as an independent and finished 13-14-0, posting road victories over Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin. "Last year exceeded even the coaching staff's expectations," Gadowsky said. That told me we were heading in the right direction in how we were building a foundation for this program on and off the ice. The 5,782-seat Pegula Ice Arena, which has 14 luxury suites and 525 club seats, was designed to maximize Penn State's home-ice advantage. During the planning stage, Pegula told Battista that one of his goals was to build "the most rocking arena in college hockey." The low, flat ceiling lined with sheet metal magnifies the crowd noise. "I want it to be so loud in there, it sounds like a little child inside a tin can with a hammer," said Pegula, who also owns the N.H.L."s Buffalo Sabres. A sharply angled 1,000-seat student section is behind the west goal. Its 22 rows of bleachers stretch from ice level to the top of the building; the band sits in the middle. Pegula addressed the players in the locker room before the game, after which, Gadowsky said, "they were ready to tear through metal." The freshman forward David Goodwin said: "That speech was incredible. He's such a humble man, but he has incredible passion for hockey and passion for Penn State. Three minutes 12 seconds into the game, Penn State defenseman Nate Jensen, one of four players on the roster from the last club team, scored the first goal, a shot from the blue line past Army goaltender Rob Tadazak. The score remained 1-0 through two periods, as Penn State spent most of its time killing penalties. For the game, it took 11 penalties to Army's three. A short-handed goal by Curtis Loik 3:24 into the third period gave Penn State breathing room, and Goodwin's goal at 12:27 started the celebration in full. The Nittany Lions begin their 20-game schedule in the new Big Ten hockey conference Dec. 6 at Wisconsin. They will host their first conference games Jan. 12 and 13 against Minnesota. The winner of the first Big Ten tournament in March will earn an automatic bid to the N.C.A.A. tournament. Although Penn State's top six scorers from last season returned, none of them have more than two years of varsity experience. Forward Michael McDonagh is the only senior on the team. The Nittany Lions will face formidable Big Ten competition, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, who are ranked in the top five in the U.S. College Hockey Online preseason poll. Those challenges await. For now, the team can revel in its new building and the success of opening night. Jensen said the expectation of the arena's opening and the resulting emotions made playing difficult at times. "I'm kind of relieved to get the first game out of the way," he said. Goodwin, who also acknowledged having some jitters early in the game, had a different thought. "I wish we could do it again," he said.