Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena

The Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena, known colloquially as "The Ritter", is an ice arena in Rochester, New York, United States. It was home to the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers ice hockey teams from 1968 until the opening of the Gene Polisseni Center in 2014 and the Genesee Figure Skating Club. Its official capacity for ice hockey games is 2,100 (including 500 standing).
The building was erected in 1968 when RIT moved from downtown Rochester to a new suburban campus in nearby Henrietta. Frank Ritter, a furniture maker famous for his dental chairs, helped found the Mechanics Institute, a forerunner of the Rochester Institute of Technology, in 1885. The Ritter-Clark Arena on the downtown campus had previously been named in part for Frank Ritter. Frank Ritter Shumway, Ritter's grandson and a major figure in U.S. figure skating, was a generous benefactor of RIT, and he ensured that the ice rink on the new campus was named for his grandfather.
The arena is also home to the Genesee Figure Skating Club, founded in 1955 by F. Ritter Shumway.
The ice surface measures 85 feet by 185 feet (26 m by 56 m), with the goals at the north and south ends. The home bench, scorer's table, and penalty boxes are on the west side; the visiting bench is on the east side, with the men's and women's home locker rooms underneath the east bleachers. The Pike Press Box (room for 16 with 5 telephones and ethernet access) and the President's Box (stadium-style seating for 16) are two stories up from the ice surface, on the south side of the rink.
A new scoreboard was purchased and installed in time for RIT's inaugural Men's Division I season, 2005-2006. Previous renovations in 2000 improved the lighting, acoustics, and concessions in the arena.
The arena was ranked the second-best rink in the ECAC West (out of six) in 2003. (The only better rink was the Utica Memorial Auditorium, which is a professional-level hockey arena.) The Ritter is the third-highest-capacity rink in Atlantic Hockey (behind Army's and Air Force's rinks). In 2009, USCHO.com national columnist Dave Starman wrote that the Ritter was "A Great Atmosphere More Should Experience", explaining: "Between the pep band, the small size of the arena (2,100), and perhaps the best public address announcer in college hockey, the RIT Tigers have created a buzz on campus that more people should see on a national broadcast."http://www.uscho.com/news/college-hockey/id,17457/AGreatAtmosphereMoreShouldExperienceHintHint.html (registration required)
== References ==
* RIT Library file on the Arena's name
* RIT Outgrowing Ritter Arena (WHAM-TV)
== External links ==
* Official web site
Category:Division I Rinks
Category:Division III Rinks
Category:Indoor ice hockey venues in New York
Category:RIT Tigers