The Northtown Center at Amherst, formerly the Amherst Ice Center and the Amherst Pepsi Center, is a 1,800-seat multipurpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

Amherst, New York Amherst () is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. Amherst is an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. As of 2020, the town had a total population of 129,595. This represents an increase from 122,366 as reported in the 2010 census. The second ...

, located adjacent to the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

. The current sponsor is Northtown Auto, a Buffalo area chain of auto dealerships. The ice arena features

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

regulation-sized

ice sheets In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at La ...

as well as an Olympic-sized ice sheet, which is also capable of hosting

sledge hockey Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey in American English, and Para ice hockey in international competition, is an adaptation of ice hockey for players who have a physical disability. The sport was invented in the early 1960s at a rehabilitat ...

.Top 2 sled hockey teams in world in WNY
''WIVB-TV''. Retrieved February 23, 2012. The main ice arena has a capacity of 1,800 with the other rinks having less capacity. The facility will melt the ice of one rink in the summer to create a roller hockey rink, sports training facility, restaurant, and pro shop. It is the home to the

Bulls men's

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 ...

team competing at the ACHA Division I level in the

Eastern Collegiate Hockey League The Eastern Collegiate Hockey League was an ACHA Division I club hockey league that consisted of teams in the Northeast United States. The league consisted of 6 teams from schools in New York and Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvani ...

as well as the home of Buffalo Beauts of the

Premier Hockey Federation The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), formerly the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), is a women's professional ice hockey league located in the United States and Canada. The league was established in 2015 with four league-owned teams and h ...

, and the

Buffalo Wings A Buffalo wing in American cuisine is an unbreaded chicken wing section ( flat or drumette) that is generally deep-fried and then coated or dipped in a sauce consisting of a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and melted butter prior to ser ...

, a professional

inline hockey Roller inline hockey, or inline hockey is a variant of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a hard, plastic puck into their opponent's goal to score points. The spo ...

team competing in

Major League Roller Hockey Major League Roller Hockey (MLRH) is a limited liability company which operates multiple inline hockey leagues and tournaments. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, MLRH is one of the only full-contact inline hockey competitions in the world. ...

. Until the completion of

LECOM Harborcenter LECOM Harborcenter is an American mixed-use development in Buffalo, New York developed by Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The building occupies a full 1.7 acre city block formerly known as the Webster Block, directly across from and connected ...

, the arena was the home of the

Buffalo Jr. Sabres The Buffalo Jr. Sabres are a Junior "A" ice hockey team from Buffalo, New York. They are a part of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League. Its current head coach and general manager is Nick Tuzzolino, who played in the organization during its Buffalo ...

of the Ontario Junior A Hockey League and the practice facility for the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

.Facility
/ref> The arena is also home to several local high school ice hockey teams, and is used by local figure skating clubs, youth, and adult recreational ice hockey leagues, as well as public skating. The U.S. and Canadian sledge hockey teams faced off in a three-game exhibition at the arena in February 2012.

References

External links

Buffalo Wings Inline Hockey
{{Premier Hockey Federation Buffalo Bulls Buffalo Beauts Major League Roller Hockey Indoor arenas in New York (state) Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States College ice hockey venues in the United States Sports venues in Erie County, New York University at Buffalo 1998 establishments in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1998