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The facility will thereafter be known as the Spurrier-Snyder Rink.
The ceremony, which will be attended by Snyder, who retired in 2003 after an unprecendented 32 varsity seasons behind the bench for the Cardinals, and members of the family of Bill Spurrier, who passed away in 1999, will begin at 1 p.m. in the Freeman Athletic Center.
It will be preceded by an alumni ice hockey contest at 11 a.m. and followed by Wesleyan’s second regular-season men’s ice hockey game of the 2004-2005 season at 3 p.m. against the University of Southern Maine.
Bill Spurrier joined the Wesleyan faculty as instructor in religion in 1946 and became a full professor at the University in 1957. He remained on the faculty until his retirement in 1981, giving him 36 years at the Middletown campus.
Spurrier was coaxed in 1955 by a Wesleyan student who had attended Choate Rosemary Hall to begin a club program and use the rink at his alma mater. Spurrier, who had been a semi-pro hockey player during the 1930s, started the team and proceded to coach it for 17 years.
In 1970, following the completion of its own ice hockey facility, the Cardinals began its inaugural season as a varsity program. That spring Snyder was hired to become an assistant to Spurrier. Snyder then went on to captain the squad throughout his 33-year tenure.
Current head coach Chris Potter suceeded him in 2003-04 and is now in his second year.
"A group of alumni and former players initiated the movement to have the ice hockey facility named after these two Wesleyan legends," University athletics director John Biddiscombe said. "In addition, they also donated a large part of the funds that were needed."
"To name the recently renovated rink as a tribute to these two great men who served as teachers, coaches and mentors to hundreds of Wesleyan students is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Wesleyan athletics at its best."
