The Gene Polisseni Center (colloquially known as the Polisseum or by its initials, the GPC) is an ice arena on the

Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private research university in the town of Henrietta in the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional ...

campus in

Henrietta, New York Henrietta is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States and a suburb of Rochester. The population of Henrietta is 47,096, according to the 2020 United States Census. Henrietta is home to the Rochester Institute of Technology and to one of t ...

. Ground was broken for the project on October 19, 2012, and the arena was officially dedicated on September 18, 2014. The arena is the home of the varsity

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

teams at RIT, replacing the Frank Ritter Memorial Ice Arena. Ritter Arena continues to be used as an ice arena.Ice Hockey Arena FAQs
/ref> The Polisseni Center serves primarily as a hockey arena (for RIT varsity hockey and local youth programs), and it will also be a multi-purpose venue. The Polisseni Center is built not far from Ritter Arena on the RIT campus, south of the Student Alumni Union, replacing portions of parking lot U."RIT Selects Official Site for New Arena"
/ref>

Fundraising efforts

Fundraising was started with a $1 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

donation from Stephen and Vicki Schultz. Naming rights were given based on a $4.5 million donation from the Polisseni Foundation (with backing from B. Thomas Golisano)"Future RIT Hockey Arena to become the Gene Polisseni Center"
/ref> and were announced on November 11, 2011 during the men's hockey game against

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

.Naming Announcement Ceremony
/ref> GPC Home of the Tigers

With arena construction being an estimated $30 million, the funding of the project has been divided into two components. The first half will be borrowed against RIT's endowment fund (worth $544 million),As of June 30, 2009. and paid back with sponsorship and ticket sales. The second half of the cost is a

grassroots fundraising Grassroots fundraising is a common fundraising method used by political candidates which has grown in popularity with the emergence of the Internet. It has been utilized by US presidential candidates like Howard Dean, Barack Obama, Ron Paul, and mo ...

effort called the Tiger Power Play. The Tiger Power Play is an effort to bring in both big name donations (like

Tom Golisano Blase Thomas Golisano (born November 14, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Paychex, which offers payroll and human resources services to businesses. Golisano owned Greenlight Networks, a fiber ...

) as well as garner support from students and alumni. Small donations could be made by cell phone text message. Larger donations have been working directly with school administration. Sales of nameplates for seats is also available, initially costing $1,000 per nameplate, and later reduced to $500.Take a Seat in the Gene Polisseni Center
/ref> J. M. Allain, former CEO of Trans-Lux and an RIT graduate, donated $1 million for a new video scoreboard.

Temporary closure

The arena was temporarily shut down on October 15, 2021 for an ammonia leak early in the morning, which also closed down the neighboring Andrews Memorial Drive and Parking Lot U. This prompted University officials to move their women's hockey exhibition game against

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

to the

Blue Cross Arena Blue Cross Arena, also known as the War Memorial, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Rochester, New York. For hockey and lacrosse, its seating capacity is 10,662. The arena opened on October 18, 1955, as the Rochester Community War Memor ...

Downtown Rochester Downtown Rochester is the economic center of Rochester, New York, and the largest in Upstate New York, employing more than 50,000 people, and housing more than 6,000. History Rochesterville, as it was once called, was founded in present day do ...

and postpone their women's hockey game against

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

to Tuesday, November 23. The arena reopened on October 29, 2021, when the women's team hosted St. Thomas and the men's team hosted Mercyhurst.

References

External links

* {{Rochester Sports Indoor arenas in New York (state) College ice hockey venues in the United States Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States RIT Tigers men's ice hockey RIT Tigers women's ice hockey Sports venues in Rochester, New York Sports venues completed in 2014 2014 establishments in New York (state)