Quinnipiac University students can now skate for free at the M&T Bank Arena between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. every Monday.
The Student Government Association announced the new open skate night via an Oct. 9 Instagram post. Students only need to present their QCards to rent ice skates for free.
Open skate night has long been a part of intramural sports, but it required students to have their own skates, John Somers, associate director of recreation, explained.
“I’m sure you can imagine being a big hockey school, a lot of students who wanted to get on the ice who might not have their own skates,” said J.P. DiDonato, a sophomore political science and applied business double major and the sophomore class president of SGA. “So our idea was really to get skates available for students that wanted them.”
Students can also participate in informal hockey games at open puck from 7:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Mondays. Open puck is more competitive compared to open skate, but there is no set schedule or teams like in intramural hockey.
The 2026 class cabinet launched the initiative in January 2022, DiDonato said. At the end of the academic year SGA representatives approached Tom Ellett, Quinnipiac’s chief experience officer, to ask for funding because the idea was gaining popularity. Ellett was able to supply the funding, and SGA purchased 50 pairs of ice skates — which cost approximately $3,000 — as well as storage racks and other equipment needed to store the skates.
Ellett said when SGA reached out to him about the idea, he saw it as a great opportunity for students.
“I think it also fits into an activity that we honor with the national championship of hockey, that skating is important and part of our DNA so all of those things together,” Ellett said.
DiDonato said SGA also coordinated with the Recreation and Wellness center and with facilities to make sure the skates would fit in the M&T Bank Arena.
“Right now, they’re in the tunnel coming out of the hockey arena, which is really cool because when you’re going into these open skate sessions … you’re stepping right onto the ice, which is awesome,” DiDonato said.
Kaitlyn Sternhardt, a sophomore psychology major and health, wellness and accessibility senator and the secretary of SGA, was the person who found the ice skate vendor, Wesco Sports Center, in her hometown of Brookfield, Connecticut.
“I played hockey when I was little, and all my siblings and I would always go to this one specific shop,” Sternhardt said. “So I called up saying like, ‘Hey, it’s me. We’re all looking for a bunch of skates. Can you do that?’”
Over the summer, Sternhardt and DiDonato drove an hour to pick up the skates and bring them back to campus.
Somers heard about the initiative in early August but said it was difficult to find somewhere to get the ice skates sharpened. Somers went to Hamden Sport Center to get the skates — which need to be sharpened before they can be used — ready for the ice.
“They gave us a really nice deal to get the skates sharpened — they gave us like 20% off of what it would normally cost to sharpen the skates which is great,” Somers said.
After the first open skate night, Jazmin Recinos, a sophomore computer information systems major in the 3+1 program and the multicultural senator of SGA, said she predicts more students to attend in the following weeks.
“Our first night was Monday, and it was actually really successful,” Recinos said. “I came a little late so I couldn’t even get ice skates in my size because there were so many people there.”
Autumn White, a junior criminal justice and legal studies double major attended the first open skate night and said she plans to definitely come to more in the future.
“My friend Jazzy is on SGA, and I wanted to come support her and I also think it’s really cool to try different things and learn different things,” White said. “I’m trying to encourage my friends to come join different things.”
Kavya Patel, a sophomore health science major, heard about the open skate night from DiDonato, but White told her about it that day, which was why she decided to attend. She added that she missed skating since she hasn’t done it in a long time.
“I hope everyone comes, I mean I know it’s on York Hill, but let’s hope everyone on main gets the word and gets to make memories,” Patel said.
Some students were not aware of the open skate night but said they are excited about attending in the future. Emily Ericson, a junior interdisciplinary studies major, mentioned how her friends had previously discussed a similar idea since the M&T Bank Arena is not always being used.
“I’m living up on York, so it would be so easy to just go on over,” Ericson said.
