Puckman rpihockey.net

What's New

Polls
Roster
Schedule
Game Pictures
Articles
ECAC Standings
Travel
Odds & Ends

Contact Me

The next RPI Hockey game starts in:

Timer counting down until next game

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Houston Field House
Troy, NY

Tickets

  • Tickets are available online through Ticketmaster or by phone from the Houston Field House box office (518-276-6262) if paid for with a credit card. The Big Red Freakout! will sell out early so buying tickets well in advance is a must. The Cornell and Union home games also draw good crowds, and buying tickets ahead is advisable for a good selection of seats. Other than these games, it's usually possible to get tickets for good seats on game nights. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for children, students and seniors, and $4 for RPI students with ID. All seats are reserved.
  • The visitors' section is section 1 in the diagram. The RPI students' sections are 15, 16, 22 and 33 (lots of enthusiastic cheering here, but not always G-rated) and the "townies" with season tickets sit in sections 7 and 8. Note that sections 10, 11, 12 and 13 face the stage rather than the ice and have a limited view. These sections are normally only used for sellout events.

Directions

  • From the north: Take I-87 (the Northway) to exit 7, which is NY-7. Follow NY-7 across the Hudson River to Troy. This will bring you onto Hoosick Street. *Continue up Hoosick Street through five traffic lights till you come to Burdett Avenue. Take a right on Burdett and proceed three blocks to the intersection with Peoples Avenue. Take a left up the hill - Houston Field House will be immediately ahead of you. Parking is on your right or beyond the field house on your left.
  • From the west: Take I-90 (the New York State Thruway) to exit 24. Take I-87 (the Northway) north to exit 7, which is NY-7. Follow NY-7 across the Hudson River to Troy. This will bring you onto Hoosick Street. Continue from * above.
  • From the south: Take I-87 (the New York State Thruway) to exit 23 and follow signs for I-787. Take I-787 north to exit 9 which is NY-7 east. This will bring you onto Hoosick Street. Continue from * above.
  • From the east: Follow the Massachusetts Turnpike until it becomes the New York State Thruway. Take exit B-1 of the Thruway. By doing this, you will continue to be on I-90 west. Follow I-90 till it intersects with I-787 just after crossing the Hudson River. Take I-787 north to exit 9 which is NY-7 east. This will bring you onto Hoosick Street. Continue from * above.

Arena

  • Campus map: Houston Field House is number 52, just right of top center.
  • Parking: The field house has three large parking lots with a parking charge of $3. The streets immediately around the arena are fire lanes, but if you can handle a block or so walk up a steep hill, there is ample street parking on and just off of Peoples Avenue.
  • Seating: Houston Field House seats 5,217 and is, in our totally unbiased opinion, the most comfortable arena in the ECAC for spectators. The seats are individual fold-up style with armrests. The only drawback is that the walkway is between the seats and the rink, so if you're seated in the first few rows, your view will be impeded by the constant traffic of latecomers and people enroute to restrooms and snack bars. The temperature varies significantly from the highest seats (where it is quite warm) to the seats nearest the ice (where a jacket or sweatshirt is probably necessary).
  • Food: There are concessions to both the left and right of the main entrance selling hot dogs, pizzas, curly fries and snacks. There is also a second stand on the right that sells cookies and candy. Note that soda is not available at this smaller stand.

Hotels

  • There are only two hotels in Troy: the Best Western Rensselaer Inn and the Franklin Square Inn. There are more choices in Latham which is convenient to the Northway and a short 10 minute drive from RPI.
  • Another possibility is to stay on Wolf Road in Colonie, off exit 4 of the Northway. There are a variety of hotels and restaurants here as well as ample shopping.

Restaurants

  • Troy has a variety of good restaurants, but very few chains. The closest restaurant to the Field House is the Notty Pine Tavern on 15th Street, with good pizza and a limited menu of sandwiches and Italian food. Manory's, on the corner of 4th and Congress Streets is a family diner-type restaurant that's been around forever.
  • If you want to eat where the locals eat, you have to go to the South End Tavern (also known as Marty Burke's or just Burkie's), where Friday night is seafood night. The decor is decidedly 1950s and un-classy, but lovers of fried seafood will find it worth it. A tip: unless you want to give yourself away as a newbie, don't wait to be seated. It's seat-yourself, with the line forming along the jukebox.
  • Our favorite restaurant for Italian food (which basically means our favorite restaurant period) is Testo's in North Troy. It's about a 15 minute drive from Houston Field House and gets our vote for the best spaghetti sauce anywhere. The sauce is even sold in local supermarkets. Another good choice for Italian food is Moscatiello's in North Greenbush, about 15 minutes from the Field House.
  • There are a great many more restaurants in Latham, just ten minutes away. If you go west at Northway exit 6, you'll see Carrabba's, Ruby Tuesday's, Friendly and King's (a nice little Chinese-American buffet restaurant). If you go east at the same exit, you'll see Latham Farms shopping center which has a Pizzeria Uno, a Dakota steakhouse, Panera, a Red Robin and a McDonald's. Beyond Latham Farms is Applebee's and the Vanilla Bean Bakery and Cafe (nice little upscale menu and GREAT desserts).
  • Another alternative is Wolf Road (click on "Virtual Tour" for restaurant map) in Colonie, which is mentioned above under hotels. Here you'll find P. F. Chang's and The Cheesecake Factory (both in Colonie Center), Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Outback steakhouse and Romano's Macaroni Grill among many others.

Other things to do

  • Other events at RPI, including sports.
  • Shopping: There is good shopping in Latham and on Wolf Road in Colonie, but the place to shop in the Capital District is Crossgates Mall with every store you could possibly expect and then some (over 250 at last count). Crossgates also offers movies, many restaurants, and some interesting people-watching.
  • Movies: Crossgates Mall has 18 screens and Latham Circle Mall has ten.
  • Hockey: The Albany River Rats of the AHL play at the Times Union Center in Albany.
  • Other: For information on other things to do in the Capital District area, check out http://www.albany.org.