Koessler Athletic Center
Demske Sports Complex
Koessler Athletic Center Pool
Buffalo State Sports Arena
HSBC Arena
Amherst Pepsi Center
The focal point of all campus sports activity is the Koessler Athletic Center. Built in 1968 at a cost of $3 million, the KAC houses both the Physical Education and Athletic Departments and is the site of intercollegiate, intramural, recreation and local high school sporting events. The facility also hosts numerous concerts, comedy shows and the College's graduate school graduation ceremonies.
History
The KAC consists of a multi-purpose gymnasium, swimming pool, the Center for Athletic Training, the school's varsity weight room, a fitness center, coaches' offices and classrooms. The gymnasium underwent a face lift that was completed in 2002. The ceiling was removed, and the walls were refinished and painted. The bleachers were replaced with 1,100 chair back seats and new bleachers, bringing the capacity to 2,176. The floor was refinished and repainted, and a new sound system was installed. In addition, the lighting was upgraded and wiring was added to allow for televised games. The final touch was the addition of new scoreboards, one of which lists individual players’ points and fouls. The $1.3 million renovations were made with the help of a $1 million gift from Chester and Diane Stranczek. Over the past 10 years, the KAC has added offices for its staff on the ground level, new equipment in an expanded weight room, new offices for the Athletic Department, a new ticket office and the state-of-the-art Center for Athletic Training.
The summer of 2007 saw the redesign of the women's general locker room, as well as the addition of team locker rooms for softball, women's soccer, women's swimming and diving, women's cross country and synchronized swimming. In the summer of 2008, the school started a construction project which will result in brand new locker rooms for the men and women's basketball programs, with completion scheduled for late August. New locker rooms for baseball, men's soccer, men's cross country and men's swimming and diving are set to be completed in the final segment of the renovation plan, set to begin in the spring of 2009.
Basketball Seating Capacity
2,176
New Turf Photo Gallery
The Rev. James M. Demske, S.J. Sports Complex, built in 1989 at a cost of $4.5 million, provides a home field for Canisius College athletics. It has been hailed by the New York Times, USA Today, and The NCAA News as a model for urban campuses.History
The facility is unique for its space utilization in a compact urban setting and has set the standard for design for other schools with limited land. Built on a 14-acre parcel of land located behind the Koessler Athletic Center, the multi-use, all-purpose, all-weather A-Turf surface serves as home to the Golden Griffin soccer, lacrosse, baseball and softball teams. The field, which is fully lighted for evening activities, features grandstand seating for 1,000 and portable bleachers for 150. In addition to the field, a locker room for Canisius student-athletes and visiting opponents sits adjacent to the Koessler Athletic Center.
The Demske Sports Complex underwent a major face lift during the summer of 2008 when Canisius replaced the old AstroTurf 12 playing surface with 123,000 square feet of A-Turf. A-Turf is a multi-purpose, all-weather synthetic playing surface that is virtually unaffected by adverse weather conditions. Using natural grass as its model, A-Turf’s synthetic turf consists of a denser construction of polyethylene fibers and a high-level of specialized rubber and sand mix to increase playability and lower the G-Max rating. The lower the G-Max rating, the greater the shock absorption and less impact to the athlete. In addition to the work on the playing fields, Canisius also installed brand new scoreboards and new baseball dugouts along the first and third base sides.
The Demske Sports Complex hosted the 2004 MAAC Men’s Lacrosse League championships and will serve as the host venue for the event again in May 2009.
Capacity
1,200
| Koessler Athletic Center Pool |
The Koessler Athletic Center Pool is a 25-yard, six-lane pool and hosts meets for the men and women’s swimming and diving teams as well as competitions for the synchronized swimming program. Installed for the start of the 2005-06 season was a new scoreboard that shows the running time throughout an event. Each time a swimmer hits the touch pad at the end of the lane, the split time for that swimmer is displayed in his or her respective lane on the scoreboard. At the end of the race, final times are posted on the board until the start of the next event. The scoreboard also shows point totals for the meet for both the men and women’s teams. Recording the times in the pool are touchpads located underneath the starting blocks. These touchpads are tied into the scoreboard console, which relays the times to be displayed on the scoreboard.
History
Original construction of the facility was completed in 1968. Renovations were completed on the pool in 2005 and new scoreboards, featuring timing breakdowns for each lane, were installed in the summer of 2006.
Capacity
200
| Buffalo State Sports Arena |
The Canisius hockey team calls Buffalo State Sports Arena home and has amassed a 64-46-15 home record in nine seasons there.
History
The arena boasts seven locker rooms, including one used year-round by the Griffs. The building also has a concession area, a skate shop with sharpening and rentals, a 200x85 ice surface and a seating capacity of 1,800. The Griffs have hosted four playoff games at the Buffalo State Sports Arena and have played a number of locally televised games in their off-campus home, including the Blue and Gold's 4-3 win over Niagara Dec. 30, 2007. The facility has served as a practice arena for the National Hockey League’s Buffalo Sabres and also hosts the SABAH, "Super Sunday" High School Hockey Championships, the NJCAA Championships, the Buffalo Skating Club, the Federation High School Hockey League and several youth hockey groups.
Capacity
1,800
History
The arena is the home to the Buffalo Sabres (NHL), the Buffalo Bandits (NLL) and many forms of entertainment for people of all ages. The $127.5 million facility, located at the foot of Main Street and South Park Avenue, can seat 18,400 for basketball and 18,595 for hockey. Canisius co-hosted the NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Frozen Four at the HSBC Arena in 2003 and has twice served as the co-host for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 2004 and 2007. The men's basketball team has played a total of 43 games in the downtown facility and set a new regular season attendance record Nov. 25, 2006, when 14,823 fans came out to see the Griffs play host to Syracuse. The building has also served as the host site to four MAAC Men and Women's Basketball Tournaments, with the last occasion coming in 2005, where the Canisius women's basketball team secured the school's first MAAC women's hoops title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament.
Capacity
18,400
The Amherst Pepsi Center is the secondary home for the Canisius College hockey program. The Griffs have played 14 home games in the facility since the 1999-00 season and will return to the building's "feature rink" for four more regular season games during the 2008-09 campaign.
History
The Amherst Pepsi Center features four sheets of ice, three that measure 200x85 and one that is an Olympic-sized rink. The facility provides three ice rinks year-round and melts one sheet of ice in April to accommodate roller hockey. It is estimated that a couple of hundred hockey teams come play in the Amherst Pepsi Center through the year and there is also a figure skating club that calls the building home. The nearly 200,000 square foot building regularly plays host to the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres' practices and has been the home for the USA Hockey National Tournament in each of the last three years. The Amherst Pepsi Center will welcome the 2009 USA Hockey Disabled Festival western New York in 2009.
Capacity
1,000
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