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Facilities
Charles W. "Lefty" Smith, Jr. Ice Rink (Hockey) The hockey rink at the University of Notre Dame's new ice arena will be named the Charles W. "Lefty" Smith, Jr. Ice Rink, in honor of the first coach in the program's history. Tentative plans for the $30 million facility include a capacity of 4,000 seats, locker rooms, concessions and restrooms. Naming of the rink was made possible by the generosity of the John and Mary Jo Boler family of Inverness, Ill., and Sanibel Island, Fla.; their daughter, Jill Boler McCormack `84 and her husband, Dan; and their son, Matthew Boler `88 and his wife, Christine. They were joined by the family of Frank and Mary Beth O'Brien of Albany, N.Y., who have six children who all graduated from Notre Dame, including their late son, Frankie, who played both hockey and lacrosse at Notre Dame from 1984-88. Smith came to Notre Dame in 1968 to help start the hockey program and remained the head coach of the Irish for 19 seasons before retiring in 1987 with 307 career victories. Under his tutelage, Notre Dame produced six All-Americans -- Eddie Bumbacco (1973), Bill Nyrop (1973), Jack Brownschidle (1976, `77), Brian Walsh (1977), Greg Meredith (1980) and Kirt Bjork (1983) -- and finished second in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) twice (1972-73, 1976-77). He was the WCHA coach of the year following the 1972-73 season. In 1981-82, the Irish moved to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) where Smith guided the Irish to the Great Lakes Invitational Championship and the CCHA championship that season. Among players on that team was former Irish head coach Dave Poulin. Smith remained the head coach through the 1986-87 season and retired with a career record of 307-320-30. In his 19 seasons, all 126 players who played for him completed their collegiate eligibility and earned college degrees. Smith served two years as president of the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) and also coached the Central team at the 1978 National Sports Festival. Eight members of that team would go on to be members of the gold-medal winning 1980 U.S. Olympic team. After retiring from coaching, Smith became the director of the Loftus Sports Center, now part of the Guglielmino Athletics Complex, where he remains today coordinating all events and activities. |
    
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